Adelson Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Adelson Family Foundation was created by the late Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam. It focuses its support primarily on programs that benefit the State of Israel and the Jewish people. The foundation does not currently accept unsolicited proposals.
IP TAKE: Technically, this funder has a web presence and an active website that outlines its funding priorities and grantmaking guidelines. In practice, however, it is a website in name only. The information it provides about the foundation’s funding activities is limited, and in its present incarnation, it functions more as a public memorial for Adelson than it serves the foundation. This is not an accessible or transparent funder.
Additionally, the status of the foundation is unclear following Adelson’s death, and it remains to be seen in which direction Miriam Adelson intends to take it, or if indeed it will be shuttered.
PROFILE: Established in 2007, the Adelson Family Foundation was founded by the late Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam, and is the source of his giving to Jewish-related causes. (A different foundation established by Adelson is laser focused on medical research.) Born in 1933, Adelson grew up sleeping on the floor of a Boston tenement house and bought his first newspaper corner with a small loan from his uncle when he was 12 years old. He attended City College of New York but did not finish. In 1995, Adelson sold the Comdex tech conference for $862 million and then spent $1.5 billion building the Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Before his death in 2021, he was known as “Kingmaker” in political circles because of his money’s influence in advancing conservative causes, including supporting Donald Trump’s two presidential campaigns with almost $200 million in donations. The Adelson Family Foundation’s grantmaking is focused “primarily on programs that benefit the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”
Grants for Jewish Causes
The Adelson Family Foundation is concerned with Jewish causes around the world, taking a decidedly pro-Israel stance. This reflected in Adelson’s philanthropy and can be seen as also extending into his very visible and large monetary support of the Republican party and its candidates for multiple levels and branches of government.
In terms of his philanthropy, the Adelson Family Foundation supports charitable organizations located primarily in Israel and the United States. This includes funding of Israel advocacy and defense, Israel studies and Holocaust and anti-Semitism awareness.
Birthright Israel is a major grantee. The foundation has given tens of millions to the organization. Another youth-focused organization that the foundation has funded is B'nai B'rith Youth Organization. The Adelsons also founded the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Campus in Las Vegas, "the only school in Nevada built on the Jewish ethos of community, service, innovation and discourse." The school offers classes from classes from 18 months through 12th grade. Other education grantees include a mix of Israel and U.S. organizations, including American Friends of Ariel University, which supports Ariel University in Israel; Gateways Access to Jewish Education, which offers programs and services to children with special needs and educational challenges in Greater Boston's Jewish day schools; Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto; Metrowest Jewish Day School; and Rashi School in the Boston Area.
A number of organizations that Adelson funds aim to shift policy and attitudes pertaining to Israel and the Jewish people. These include Christians United for Israel, which defines itself as "the largest pro-Israel grassroots organization in the United States;" Endowment for Middle East Truth, a "Washington, D.C. based think tank and policy center with an unabashedly pro-America and pro-Israel stance;" Friends of Israel Initiative; Middle East Media and Research Institute; This World The Jewish Values Network; and Rethink Israel Initiative, a media effort to bolster the perception of the State of Israel.
Adelson has also given millions to SpaceIL, an Israeli nonprofit founded by three young engineers at the end of 2010, answering the Google Lunar XPRIZE challenge. The foundation has also supported the U.S. Holocaust Museum and Friends of Israeli Defense Force, among others.
Important Grant Details:
It is unclear whether the family's robust giving will continue following Adelson’s death in early 2021.
The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for funding. However, it invites new grantseekers to review its grantmaking guidelines here.
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