Duncan and Nancy MacMillan
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: Bloomberg, L.P.
FUNDING AREAS: Education, Health, Arts & Culture, Poverty
OVERVIEW: A co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., Duncan Macmillan established the Macmillan Family Foundation with his wife Nancy. The MacMillans were early signatories of the Giving Pledge. They support health, education, arts and culture, and poverty. Available tax filings show that the foundation awarded jut over $1 million in grants in 2017.
BACKGROUND: Duncan MacMillan joined the Marine Corps after graduating from high school. After serving for four years, he studied mathematics at Rutgers University. He began his career at Bankers Trust, and eventually landed at Salomon Brothers, where he met Michael Bloomberg, Thomas Secunda, and Charles Zegar. When Bloomberg was fired for opposing the takeover of the company, he invited MacMillan and the others to join him in starting a financial data company, Bloomberg L.P. Nancy MacMillan is a graduate of Connecticut College. She earned a master’s degree in economics from Hunter College and an M.B.A. from Rider University. She also worked at Bankers Trust.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION: The MacMillans’ education philanthropy prioritizes higher education. Duncan Macmillan serves on the board of the Rutgers University Foundation, where the couple has also sponsored a professorship in genomics. Nancy Macmillan serves on the board of trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. Nancy’s ‘alma mater, Connecticut College, has also received funding. Smaller donations have gone to the Peddie School, San Francisco’s Room to Read and New York’s Learning Leaders, an organization that involves parents and volunteers in instructional support for New York City students.
HEALTH: The couple’s health funding overlaps with their education philanthropy as they support medical schools at Johns Hopkins and Rutgers. Additional past health grantees include the Princeton Healthcare System, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, which provides substance abuse and addiction rehabilitation.
ARTS & CULTURE: The MacMillans support arts and cultural institutions in the New York and New Jersey area with grants ranging from $10,000 to $20,000. Past grantees include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Central Park Conservancy, Princeton’s McCarter Theater, Broadway Community and Career Transitions for Dancers. Nancy MacMillan is a trustee of the American Repertory Ballet.
NYC POVERTY: The MacMillans have supported the New York City Food Bank and the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York City-based poverty-fighting organization.
LOOKING FORWARD: The MacMillan Family Foundation held some $121 million assets in a recently reported tax year, so it is possible that the foundation’s grantmaking will increase in the future. Medical schools and arts organizations in New York and New Jersey would be likely grantees in the coming years.
CONTACT:
The MacMillan Family Foundation
℅ Geller Advisors
909 3rd Avenue, 16th Floor
New York, NY 10022
(212) 583-6001
