Selz Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Selz Foundation is the charitable vehicle of veteran financier Bernard Selz and his wife, Lisa. This foundation supports higher education in various disciplines, professorships, lecture series and research. It is a major supporter of anti-vaccination pseudoscience and activism.
IP TAKE: This Selzes have funneled millions into the anti-vax movement, which taints their work in other areas. The Selz Foundation lacks transparency and does not maintain a website. This is neither an accessible or approachable funder - by design.
PROFILE: The Selz Foundation is the philanthropic vehicle of Bernard Selz, founder of Selz Capital and his wife, Lisa, who acts as president of the foundation. Bernard Selz is a graduate of Columbia University. Early in his career, he worked at the financial firms Lazard Frères and Seiden & De Cuevas. In 1973, he co-founded the investment firm Furman Selz, and in 2004, he founded Selz Capital, a hedge fund. Lisa Pagliaro Selz is a graduate of Goucher College. The Selzes are collectors of medieval art and artifacts. The foundation has a minimal media presence, but tax filings suggest the foundation supports the arts and social sciences.
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
The Selz Foundation is a major supporter of anti-vaccination pseudoscience and “research” into the supposed connection between vaccines and autism. Lisa Selz is the current president of the Informed Consent Action Network, which was founded by a grant from the Selz Foundation in 2016. With an operating budget of over $1 million, ICAN is one of the biggest advocates for anti-vaccination pseudoscience, misinformation, and activism in the United States. The Selz Foundation is also a major funder of the Strategic Autism Initiative which promotes the erroneous connection between vaccines and autism. SAI was founded by disgraced medical researcher Andrew Wakefield, whose publications initially popularized the idea.
Grants for Higher Education and Humanities Research
The foundation’s support of humanities research stems mainly from its arts funding. Selz's alma mater, Columbia University, is home to the Lisa and Bernard Selz Professorship in Medieval Art, as well as the Lisa and Bernard Selz Professorship in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology. Other past grantees include the College of the Redwoods, the Goucher College Prison Education Partnership, Hunter College, the Pratt Institute and Marymount Manhattan College, which used funding to support its Bedford Hills Correctional Facility College Program. Internationally, the foundation has supported the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology at Oxford University.
Important Grant Details:
Grants generally range from $25,000 to $250,000, but some may range into the millions.
This funder does not accept unsolicited applications for funding.
The Selz Foundation tends to provide ongoing support to its grantees.
Contact information is provided below.
PEOPLE:
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CONTACT:
Selz Foundation, Inc.
1370 Ave. of the Americas, 24th Fl.
New York City, NY 10019
Telephone: (212) 554-5044
Contact: Bernard T. Selz, Pres.
