Charles and Seryl Kushner
/save for OVERVIEW profile
NET WORTH: $500 million, estimated
SOURCE OF WEALTH: Kushner Companies
FUNDING AREAS: Jewish Causes, Education, Health & Human Services
OVERVIEW: Charles Kushner, his wife Seryl and family move their philanthropy through the Charles and Seryl Kushner Charitable Foundation, which gave away around $230,000 in a recent year. The Kushners are strong supporters of Jewish institutions in the United States and Israel. The family's philanthropy centers on the East Coast, particularly New Jersey and New York.
BACKGROUND: Charles Kushner grew up in New Jersey. His parents were Holocaust survivors who came to America in the 1940s. Kushner attended NYU and Hofstra, later turning a construction business begun by his father into a private real estate empire called Kushner Companies. Kushner was sentenced to two years in federal prison in Alabama after pleading guilty to 18 felony counts but was released within a year. He's the father of Jared Kushner, son-in-law and advisor to President Donald Trump.
JEWISH CAUSES: The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy and Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School are Modern Orthodox Jewish schools in New Jersey that the Kushner family help fund. The schools bear the name of Kushner's father and mother. The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy/Rae Kushner Hebrew Academy houses a program of the SINAI Special Needs Institute, an organization "dedicated to serving the educational, psychological and emotional needs of Jewish children and young adults." The family has strongly supported the Ramaz School. Other grantees include Jewish National Fund, The Frisch Schoo, Park Avenue Synagogue, and Israel Cancer Research Fund.
EDUCATION: Supported has gone to Hunter College Foundation, Columbia University (Taub Institute), CUNY Graduate School, and NYU School of Law.
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Grantees include Catholic Charities and the Eric Trump Foundation.
LOOKING FORWARD: Grantmaking has been on the decline at the foundation but perhaps there will be an uptick. Son Jared Kushner, who has taken the reins at his father's company, is also the husband of Ivanka Trump, and should be watched carefully in the coming years.
CONTACT:
Charles and Seryl Kushner Charitable Foundation
18 Columbia Tpke.
Florham Park, NJ 07932
(973) 822-0050
LINK: Kushner Companies
