Robert and Kate Niehaus
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: GCP Capital
FUNDING AREAS: Global Development, Education, Health, NYC Community.
OVERVIEW: Robert and Kate Niehaus conduct their philanthropy through the Robert and Kate Niehaus Foundation, which according to available tax filings, gave away around $3.1 million in 2017. The couple's philanthropy focuses on the Northeast, particularly New York City. Large sums have also gone to Niehaus' alma mater, Princeton. Niehaus has also chaired the board of Acumen, a global venture fund that uses entrepreneurship to tackle poverty.
BACKGROUND: Robert H. Niehaus graduated from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1977, and from Harvard Business School in 1982. He spent 17 years at Morgan Stanley & Co., where he was a managing director in the merchant banking department from 1990 to 1999. Niehaus joined Greenhill & Co. in 2000 as a managing director to form Greenhill Capital Partners. Niehaus founded GCP Capital in 2009 and currently serves as chairman of GCP Capital and Greenhill Capital Partners.
ISSUES:
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: Niehaus once chaired the board of Acumen, a "nonprofit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of poverty” in regions of Latin America, West and East Africa, and Pakistan. Grantmaking in this area has also included support of Touch Foundation, a "secular, non-profit organization committed to improving the health of the Tanzanian population by strengthening the health system across the different levels of care," and Asia Society, where Niehaus is a trustee.
EDUCATION: Niehaus' alma mater, Princeton University, is home to the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Niehaus has also been part of Princeton University Investment Company (‘PRINCO”), which oversees Princeton’s endowment. Support has also gone to Harvard Business School. Niehaus is interested in education reform, mainly in New York. He has supported Student Sponsor Partners, which addresses the "high school dropout crisis in New York City by providing low-income students with a high school education,” and is a vice chair of the board. Money has also gone to Teach for America, Classroom Inc, and the Cooke Center, which provides educational services to children and young adults with special needs
HEALTH: The couple has steadily supported Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where Kate Niehaus has been a patient advisor and a member of the hospital Ethics and Quality Assessment Committees. Interests here are also personal, as Kate has had breast cancer and melanoma. The couple has also sent millions to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation throughout the last decade.
NYC COMMUNITY: Recently, money has gone to the Museum of the City of New York, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York Catholic Foundation, and Good Shepherd Services, "a social service and youth development agency serving vulnerable New York City children and families " In nearby Rye, New York, the Don Bosco Community Center of Port Chester has received support.
LOOKING FORWARD: Niehaus is still very much engaged in business, but there has been a gradual uptick in his giving lately. While this funder is generally regionally focused, Niehaus's work with Acumen and other global development outfits should be watched as well.
CONTACT:
The Robert and Kate Niehaus Foundation doesn't provide a clear avenue for grantseekers to get in touch, but below is an address:
The Robert and Kate Niehaus Foundation
770 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021
LINK:
