Joseph and Marie Field
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: Entercom Communications
FUNDING AREAS: Arts & Culture, Education & Youth, Environment, Global Development
OVERVIEW: Joseph and Marie Field make grants through the Joseph and Marie Field Foundation, which prioritizes arts and cultural institutions in the Philadelphia area. Field also supports his schools. Through the Joseph and Marie Field Environmental Foundation, meanwhile, Field and other family members steadily support select environmental organizations.
BACKGROUND: Joseph M. Field graduated with a B.A from the University of Pennsylvania and an LL.B. from Yale Law School. He practiced law for more than a decade in New York (including as an Assistant United States Attorney) and in Philadelphia. He went on to found Entercom Communications, a broadcasting company and radio network based in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
ISSUES:
ARTS & CULTURE: The Fields have a strong interest in the arts, particularly music. Field has served on the boards of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, Settlement Music School, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and has a D.M. from the Curtis Institute of Music. Marie studied piano at the Manhattan School of Music and is a retired teacher. Through the Joseph and Marie Field Foundation, the couple has supported National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia Art Museum, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Museum of the American Revolution, Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, and Musicopia.
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Field supports his schools UPenn (home to the Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice, and Research), Yale Law School, and Curtis Institute of Music. Field is also a major donor of Central High School in Philadelphia, where he graduated. He has given at least $10 million to Central High.
The couple has supported Settlement Music School and Progress Now Education Fund, which works with state partners to "promote progressive ideas and causes through earned media strategies and cutting-edge new media."
ENVIRONMENT & GLOBAL: Apart from the Joseph and Marie Field Foundation, Field, Marie, and other family members make grants through an organization called the Joseph and Marie Field Environmental Foundation. Grantmaking through this charity has been under $700,000 annually recently and appears to support conservation, including work in Africa. Grantees include African Wildlife Foundation, Amboseli Trust for Elephants, Conservation International, Environmental Defense Fund, NRDC, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Wilderness Society, where one of the couple's sons, David, current CEO of Entercom, sits on the board.
A component of the Fields' giving through this charity involves global development. They have supported Innovation: Africa, a nonprofit which "brings Israeli solar, water and agricultural innovations to rural African villages"; and Lambi Fund of Haiti, "a diverse group of individuals from many walks of life who work together toward economic justice, democracy and alternative sustainable development in Haiti."
OTHER: The Fields have supported Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and its neurovascular research. They have supported International Rescue Committee and Media Matters for America.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the Field family's steady giving to continue. Giving by couple's children and spouses should be watched as well.
CONTACT:
Joseph and Marie Field Foundation
c/o E.R. Boynton 30 Valley Stream Parkway
Malvern, PA 19355
(610) 660-5616
Joseph and Marie Field Environmental Foundation
c/o E.R. Boynton 30 Valley Stream Parkway
Malvern, PA 19355
(610) 660-5616
