Jeffrey and Penny Vinik
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: Vinik Asset Management
FUNDING AREAS: Education, Youth, Arts & Culture, Human Services, Religion, Health
OVERVIEW: Jeffrey and Penny Vinik established the Vinik Family Foundation in 1997. The foundation invests “in imaginative and inspired initiatives with an emphasis on education and the arts.” According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded $10.2 million in grants in 2017. The Viniks specific philanthropic initiatives include education, youth, arts and culture, human services, religion and health.
BACKGROUND: Jeffrey Vinik grew up in New Jersey. He graduated from Duke University and Harvard Business School. Vinik ran Fidelity’s Magellan Fund and later founded Vinik Asset Management. In 2010, he purchased the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team, and the couple relocated to Tampa, which has become a geographic priority for much of their philanthropic work.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION: The Viniks have regularly supported Jeffrey’s alma maters—Duke and Harvard. Prominent among their many donations to these universities was a $10 million grant in 2012 to support faculty addressing “complex societal challenges” including energy, global health, brain sciences and the environment at Duke. The Meadowbrook School in Weston, Massachusetts, which was attended by all four of the Viniks’ children, has been another recipient of funding. Additional past education grantees include Tulane University, Tampa Preparatory School, Harvard Business School and Riverdale Country School, which Jeffrey attended as a child. The Viniks also donated a parcel of land worth $12 million to the University of South Florida-Tampa.
YOUTH: The Viniks’ funding in this area has prioritized underserved and at risk youth. Past grantees include Tenacity, an organization that supports “underserved Boston youth with year-round programs that combine education fitness and life skills,” and Right to Play, which uses the “transformative power of play—playing sport and playing games—to educate and empower children facing adversity.” Other past grantees include the Harlem Children's Zone, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay and Build the Thunder, a campaign to expand youth hockey in the Tampa Bay area.
ARTS & CULTURE: The Viniks’ giving in the area of arts and culture has prioritized Boston and the Tampa Bay Area. Penny Vinik serves on the board of trustees of the Tampa Museum of Art. Other past recipients include the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Museum of Science and Industry; the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida; the Boston Children’s Museum; the Florida Aquarium; the New England Aquarium; Tampa’s Straz Center for the Performing Arts and Hampton Arts Management, an organization that supports “artists and artistic communities in the Tampa Bay area.”
HUMAN SERVICES: The Viniks’ grantees in this area have also been concentrated in the Tampa Bay Area. Past recipients of funding include the United Way Suncoast, the St. Petersburg Free Clinic, Legal Aid of Manasota, and the Spring of Tampa Bay, an organization that aims to "prevent domestic violence, protect victims and promote change in lives, families and communities," Jeffrey Vinik has also pledged $10 million to create a veterans program though the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team.
RELIGION: The Viniks have supported Christian and Jewish causes including Florida’s Idlewild Baptist Church, the Jewish National Fund, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Tampa Jewish Community Center and Federation and the Holmes Presbyterian Church.
HEALTH: The Viniks’ have supported health broadly. Past grantees include the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, the American Cancer Society, Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Sertoma Speech and Hearing Foundation.
LOOKING FORWARD: The Viniks will likely increase their involvement in the Tampa area with an emphasis on arts and culture.
CONTACT:
The Vinik Family Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact, but below is an address and phone number:
Vinik Family Foundation
401 E. Jackson St., Ste. 2525
Tampa, FL33602
Telephone: (813) 229-0420
