Sarah Miller Coulson

SOURCE OF WEALTH: Time Warner; ClearShot Communications

FUNDING AREAS: Education, Arts & Culture, Human Services, Environment & Animals, Health

OVERVIEW: In 2000, Coulson and her husband Frank (who died in 2011) established the Frank L. and Sarah Miller Coulson Foundation. Coulson via the foundation prioritizes support for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic in her grantmaking. She supports select arts organizations, as well as schools with connections to the family. Health is another funding priority; Johns Hopkins received particularly large sums. The forces here are personal.

BACKGROUND:  Sarah Miller Coulson was born and raised in Pennsylvania and attended Mount Holyoke College and Columbia University, where she got an MBA. Coulson went on to work in various financial roles with Time Warner Inc., most notably at HBO and Comedy Central, where she was a member of the original start-up team as its CFO and executive vice president. Coulson has gone on to work in telecommunications, helping start ClearShot Communications.

ISSUES:

EDUCATION & YOUTH: Coulson via her foundation has recently supported her alma maters Mount Holyoke and Columbia Business School. Other grantees have included University of Pennsylvania, Frank Coulson’s school.

ARTS & CULTURE: Significant past grantees include Mount Vernon Ladies Association, where Coulson sits on the board as a regent from Pennsylvania. The organization describes itself as the “first national historic preservation organization and is the oldest women's patriotic society in the United States.” Other past grantees have included Philadelphia Orchestra Association, American Revolutionary Museum, Free Library of Philadelphia, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Orchestra (where Coulson sits on the board), and The Barnes Foundation, “an American educational art and horticultural institution.”

HUMAN SERVICES: Grantees include Bethesda Mission and Hobe Sound Community Chest.

ENVIRONMENT & ANIMALS: A component of this funder’s grantmaking prioritizes support for environmental and animal organizations like Humane Society of Harrisburg Area, Main Line Animal Rescue, PETA, NRDC, Morris Animal Refuge, and World Wildlife Fund.

HEALTH: Frank Coulson, a Goldman Sachs partner, passed away in 2011 from lung cancer. Coulson and Frank were major donors to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, the site of the Sarah Miller Coulson and Frank L. Coulson Professorship in Medicine. Coulson, via her foundation, continues support Johns Hopkins and sits on the board of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

LOOKING FORWARD: Though it is unclear how much money is on hand, expect Coulson to continue to support her interest areas.

CONTACT:

The Frank L. and Sarah Miller Coulson Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact but below is an address:

The Frank L. and Sarah Miller Coulson Foundation
1100 Barberry Rd.
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

LINK:

·      Sarah Miller Coulson Linkedin Profile