J. Christopher and Anne Flowers
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: J.C. Flowers & Co., Goldman Sachs
FUNDING AREAS: Global Health, Social Services
OVERVIEW: J. Christopher and Anne Flowers and conduct their philanthropy through the J.C. Flowers Foundation, which works with a wide range of partners to solve critical health and social problems affecting hard to reach, or “last mile,” communities. The foundation centers on two geographical areas: the cross-border communities of Namibia, Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and on Harlem, in New York City. According to available tax filings, the Flowers Foundation awarded just over $1.6 million in grants in 2017.
BACKGROUND: J. Christopher Flowers graduated with a degree in applied mathematics from Harvard University in 1979. He joined Goldman Sachs the year he graduated and became a partner in 1988. He is chairman and CEO of J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC, an investment company he founded in 1998.
ISSUES:
GLOBAL HEALTH: The J.C. Flowers Foundation works with "a wide range of partners to solve critical health and social problems affecting hard to reach, or 'last mile' communities." Global grantmaking focuses on the cross-border communities of Namibia, Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Flowers has long been interested in malaria. In 2004, he and the foundation launched NetsforLife. Through the years, the foundation has shifted from malaria control to outright elimination. In early 2010 Flowers joined former Coca-Cola CEO Neville Isdell on a trip to Zambia. The pair were shocked to find remote communities where malaria was still a major killer, despite the availability of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) in many areas of the country. On the heels of the trip, Flowers and Neville founded the Isdell: Flowers Cross Border Malaria Initiative, dedicated to the elimination of malaria by shrinking the malaria map.
Other partners include Roll Back Malaria Partnership, and The Global Health Group's Malaria Elimination Initiative. The J.C. Flowers Foundation, in partnership with Malaria No More UK, also, supports a pilot project in target districts in northern Namibia that will "identify 'source' communities (hotspots with higher malaria transmission) that exhibit high levels of connectivity to surrounding lower transmission communities."
SOCIAL SERVICES: The couple lives in New York City, another region of philanthropy for the foundation. The foundation is focused on Harlem and its Harlem Re-Entry Initiative. Partners include The Harlem Parole Reentry Court, housed within the Harlem Community Justice Center, which "helps parolees from the Harlem community make the transition from life in prison to responsible citizenship in the first six months of their release," and The Interfaith Center of New York, a "nationally-recognized non-profit organization that catalyzes collaborations among hundreds of grassroots and immigrant religious leaders and civic officials (judges, teachers, and social workers) to address New York’s most pressing social problems."
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the Flowers family to stick with their established interests for now.
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