Susan Sandler

Background

Susan Sandler attended Stanford University, where she met Steve Phillips, a left-of-center political operative and later founder of the Democracy in Color advocacy organization; the couple married in 1992. Through the 1990s and early 2000s, Sandler and Phillips began making political investments independently of Sandler’s parents, establishing a donor-advised fund at the San Francisco Foundation focused on racial minority-led organizations, and participating in regional donor networks that developed into later national infrastructure. She became a board member of the Democracy Alliance, the coordinating consortium of major left-of-center donors established in the mid-2000s and sat alongside Phillips as a fixture in the national network of left-of-center electoral philanthropists. Sandler was a co-chair of the Sandler Foundation, the family’s primary philanthropic vehicle founded by her parents, alongside her brother James Sandler. ^{1 4 5}

In 2019, Sandler co-founded SJS Partners with her brother James Sandler, a grantmaking organization that directed funds to left-of-center causes, including the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which is managed by Arabella Advisors, and the Center for American Progress Action Fund. In 2018, Sandler and her husband also co-founded the Sandler Phillips Center, a vehicle for research and strategic investments in left-of-center electoral infrastructure; its projects included a post-2016 election analysis, efforts to retake the Democratic House majority in 2018, and a sustained effort to shift Georgia into electoral contention. ^{6 5}

Political Activities and Contributions

Susan Sandler was a prolific contributor to Democratic candidates and left-wing electoral infrastructure across multiple cycles. She described herself as the first and largest individual donor to the independent effort supporting then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, directing more than $2 million into what became an $11 million voter mobilization effort; she also described herself as the lead financial supporter of Kamala Harris‘s 2010 California Attorney General campaign. In 2018, Sandler directed approximately $6 million into voter-turnout work in Georgia to support Stacey Abrams‘s gubernatorial bid. ^{7 1}

In 2019, Sandler provided the $1 million contribution that constituted nearly the entirety of Dream United’s fundraising haul, a super PAC organized by her husband Steve Phillips to back U.S. Senator Cory Booker‘s (D-NJ) 2020 presidential campaign. Dream United dissolved in November 2019 after Sen. Booker publicly disavowed super PAC support, with the group acknowledging it had fallen well short of its $10 million fundraising target. ^{8 7}

Susan Sandler Fund

In September 2020, while in her fourth year of treatment for glioblastoma, Susan Sandler announced the creation of the Susan Sandler Fund, committing $200 million toward organizations focused on voter registration and civic power in racial minority communities. The fund was housed at the Sandler Foundation and directed by Vivian Chang, a former senior officer at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network and the East Bay Community Foundation. ^{5 3}

The fund’s initial nine grantees were concentrated in Sun Belt states, which have rapidly shifting demographics, and focused on voter registration among racial-minority populations. They included the Arizona Center for Empowerment, the New Georgia Project, New Florida Majority, New Virginia Majority, PICO California, the Texas Organizing Project, the State Power Caucus, the Asian American and Pacific Islander Civic Engagement Fund, and Advance Native Political Leadership. ⁵

Board Positions

Before her death, Sandler sat on the boards of the Center for American Progress, Community Change Action, the Democracy Alliance, and the Learning Policy Institute. ¹