How Daniel and Bonnie Tisch Support New York Nonprofits Through the Damial Foundation

There is no shortage of philanthropists with Wall Street connections in New York, including Daniel Tisch. Tisch and his wife, Bonnie, created the Damial Foundation in 1992 and have been channeling their charitable giving through it ever since. Daniel Tisch worked at major Wall Street firms in the 1970s and 1980s, and went on to become the president and general partner of an investment fund called TowerView LLC. He has also been the director of Tejon Ranch since 2012.

The Damial Foundation does not have a website and transparency regarding its grantmaking practices is limited. Yet this funder has been awarding over $13 million in annual grants lately, with most of them going to organizations in New York City.

Here's what New York nonprofits should know about the Damial Foundation and how the Tisches award grants through their family foundation.

Four main focus areas

Judging from its recent giving, there are four areas of interest that stand out at the Damial Foundation. These are health, education, the arts and Jewish causes. The Tisches follow the Jewish faith and regularly give large sums of money to synagogues, Jewish funds and Hebrew educational institutions. Jewish grantees include the Central Synagogue, Congregation Kol Ami, Hebrew Union College’s Jewish Institute of Religion and the Jewish Communal Fund.

Meanwhile, the foundation’s arts grants go to theaters, its health grants go to hospital foundations and medical centers, and its education grants go to higher ed institutions, including New York University.

Dedication to New York City

The Damial Foundation is based in New York City, and the Tisches have remained dedicated to local grantmaking there. Palm Beach, Florida is another geographic area of interest for this funder.

Tisch family members have served on the boards of various organizations, and foundation giving often follows those affiliations. For example, Daniel Tisch is a trustee emeritus at the Suffield Academy in Connecticut, and the couple strongly support that school. Bonnie Tisch has served on the board of the Tisch MS Research Center of New York, formerly known as the Multiple Sclerosis Research Center of New York. As the renaming attests, the couple have given millions of dollars to this organization over the years.

Unsolicited requests are unwelcome

The Damial Foundation can be a challenging grantmaker to connect with and get to know. It maintains a low public profile and rarely publicizes its grantmaking activities. According to recent tax records, the foundation does not accept unsolicited funding requests and only awards grants to pre-selected organizations.

More information about this funder, including contact information to get in touch with general questions, can be found in IP’s New York City and Tri-State Funding Guide.

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