Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation supports education, criminal justice reform, LGBTQ freedom, Alzheimer’s research and athletic programs for the disabled. New York City is a geographic area of priority. 

IP TAKE: The Loeb Foundation’s largest area of giving is currently K-12 education. Daniel Loeb serves on the board of New York’s Success Academy charter school network, which is the foundation’s largest recipient. This funder tends to support large national organizations with which it has forged ongoing relationships, the exception being New York City, where it has supported some smaller organizations. Overall, however, new grantseekers will find this an inaccessible funder.

The foundation is relatively approachable. Prospective grantees may reach out to the staff at Loeb’s New York City-based investment company, Third Point LLC, for information about funding opportunities. 

PROFILE: Founded in 2000, the Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation is run by hedge fund billionaire Daniel S. Loeb and his wife, Margaret M. Loeb. Daniel Loeb studied at the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University, and then worked at a series of jobs in the financial industry. In 1995, he founded Third Point Management, a New York City-based hedge fund that manages about $17 billion. Margaret Loeb is a graduate of Brown University and New York University’s Silver School of Social Work. Their foundation makes grants for education, criminal justice reform, LGBTQ rights and Alzheimer’s research. A fifth initiative, “American Heroes,” celebrates disabled athletes and U.S. Navy SEALS. This funder prioritizes organizations in New York City. 

Grants for K-12 Education 

K-12 education is the Loeb Foundation’s largest area of giving. Grantmaking aims to “ensure all children have equal access to high quality education.” The foundation’s largest recipient is Success Academy Charters Schools, a network of over 40 public charters schools for which Daniel Loeb serves as a trustee. Other K-12 grantees in the New York area include the Harlem Children’s Zone, the leadership development program Prep for Prep and Expand ED Schools, which coordinates after school programming for elementary and middle schools in New York City’s five boroughs. Other grantees include Teach for America, the Foundation for Excellence in Education, the Child Mind Institute and the Partnership for Inner City Education, a network of Catholic schools in New York City and Cleveland. 

Grants for Higher Education 

The Loeb Foundation does not name higher education as an area of grantmaking focus, but taxes show that it has supported Brown University, Columbia University and Heterodox Academy, an organization that aims to “improve the quality of research and education in universities by increasing open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement.” 

Grants for Criminal Justice Reform

Loeb’s criminal justice funding supports initiatives that aim to “ensure every American receives fair treatment under the law.” Its grantees in this area include well-known national initiatives and think tanks including the Innocence Project, the Equal Justice Initiative, the Marshall Project, Families Against Mandatory Minimums and the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. 

Grants for LGBTQ Causes

The Loeb Foundation names LGBTQ freedom as an area of grantmaking interest, although this is one of the foundation’s smaller areas of giving. Grantmaking supports policy development and legislation aimed at ending discrimination, and Daniel Loeb personally backed the push to pass same-sex marriage legislation for New Yorkers in 2011. The foundation’s main recipients in this area are Freedom for All Americans and the American Unity Fund. 

Grants for Disease Research 

The Loeb Foundation gave $15 million to establish the Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimer’s Disease at the Carl Icahn Medical School at New York’s Mount Sinai Health System. Named for Loeb’s father, the center aims to streamline research by calibrating findings from the fields of genomics, bioinformatics imaging and clinical drug trials. 

Grants for Military and Veterans’ Causes

While support for the military and veterans’ causes is not a major grantmaking area, the foundation has given to the Navy Seal Foundation through its American Heroes program.

Other Grantmaking Opportunities 

The Loeb Foundation’s American Heroes program supports athletic programs and competitions for disabled athletes. Its grantees in this area include the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation and the Challenged Athletes Foundation. 

Important Grant Details:

The Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation makes about $10 million in grants a year, with grants ranging from $5,000 to over $3 million. The foundation’s average grant size is about $25,000. This funder tends to support large national organizations and some smaller outfits in the New York City area. For additional information, see the foundation’s recent tax filings

This funder does not appear to accept unsolicited proposals for funding or provide information about how to get in touch. Daniel Loeb’s investment company, Third Point LLC, may be contacted via email or telephone at 212-715-6707. 

PEOPLE:

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