Mimi Sternlicht
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: NA
FUNDING AREAS: Social Change & Global, Education & Youth, Health
OVERVIEW: Mimi Sternlicht conducts philanthropy through the MK Reichert Sternlicht Foundation and the Barry and Mimi Sternlicht Foundation. She supports her alma mater Brown University. Other interests include health and social entrepreneurship.
BACKGROUND: Mimi Sternlicht graduated from Brown University in 1983. She worked in marketing and advertising industry and in 2013 launched Bread Ventures, a marketing, branding, investment and business development firm. Sternlicht is the former wife of real estate mogul Barry Sternlicht.
ISSUES:
SOCIAL CHANGE & GLOBAL: Sternlicht sits on the board of Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), “a grassroots movement that catalyzes large-scale transformation in urban slums by providing critical services for all, community advocacy platforms, and education and leadership development for women and girls.” The organization, which Sternlicht steadily supports, helps build schools and healthcare centers in Kenyan slums. “I’m most engaged in projects where entrepreneurship, education, and design collide to affect social change,” Sternlicht once said.
Via her MK Reichert Sternlicht Foundation, she also supports places like New Profit, which “brings together the catalytic principles of venture capital with deep experience in social impact to drive breakthroughs in social problem-solving”; Grameen America; and IDEO.org, which “partners with organizations and communities to design products and services that disrupt inequality and expand opportunity.”
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Sternlicht generously supports her school Brown University, from where her ex-husband Barry, and daughter Adrienne also graduated. The Sternlichts help fund the nascent health and wellness center and residence hall. Via her foundations, she has also supported places like Columbia University, and Harlem Village Academies, where she started and continues to run a college mentoring program for promising students. She also recently joined the New York board of One Goal Graduation, which helps guide high school students through college.
HEALTH: The Sternlichts are strong backers of diabetes research. Some of this health grantmaking is personal— Sternlicht’s son has Type I diabetes and her mother has Parkinson's. Sternlicht also appears to have an interest in reproductive health and backs Planned Parenthood. In 2021, Sternlicht established Foundation House, a learning center near Greenwich, Connecticut, that focuses on health and wellness.
OTHER: Sternlicht appears to have an interest in historic preservation and is an advisory board member of National Trust for Historic Preservation, which she steadily supports. She also supports the United States Equestrian Team Foundation and Greenwich Riding & Trails Association. Adrienne is a professional show jumper who’s been riding horses since she was a kid. Sternlicht also directs money to a donor advised fund at ImpactAssets, obscuring the full scope of her giving.
LOOKING FORWARD: In the wake of a divorce, Sternlicht family philanthropy appears to still be going strong. Mimi Sternlicht’s particular interest in social entrepreneurship should be watched going forward.
CONTACT:
Sternlicht’s foundations do not provide a clear avenue for getting in touch but below are addresses:
MK Reichert Sternlicht Foundation
Foundation Source 501 Silverside Rd.
Wilmington, DE 19809
(800) 839-1754
Barry and Mimi Sternlicht Foundation
Foundation Source 501 Silverside Rd.
Wilmington, DE 19809
(800) 839-1754
