Druckenmiller Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Druckenmiller Foundation supports K-12 education, higher education and the greater New York City area. 

IP TAKE: This funder maintains a low profile, limiting information about its grantmaking practices. The Druckenmiller Foundation does not appear to accept applications for funding at this time. This is not an accessible or particularly supportive foundation. Funding here seems to target the founder’s personal interests and affiliations and prioritize established and large organizations that are already well-known and don’t need much help scaling up.

PROFILE: Stanley Druckenmiller founded the hedge fund Duquesne Capital Management, which he ran until he retired in 2010. His retirement coincided with a huge uptick in his philanthropy, channeled through the Druckenmiller Foundation, which he runs with his wife, Fiona, a Wall Street executive turned business owner. Founded in 1993, the foundation's recent tax filings show about $1 billion in assets and giving that has surpassed $100 million a year. The foundation broadly invests in K-12 education, higher education, the environment and the New York area. This funder does not maintain a website, limiting the information available about its specific funding priorities. 

Grants for K-12 Education

The main beneficiary of the Druckenmiller Foundation’s K-12 grantmaking is the Harlem Children’s Zone, a New York City organization that runs charter schools and other community programs for children, and where Stanley Druckenmiller serves at the chair of the board. Other grantees include Teach for America, the mentoring program PeerForward and Blue Meridian Partners, a philanthropic collaborative that aims to broaden the impact of the most effective nonprofits working with underprivileged children and youth in the United States. New York City private schools that have received grants include the Spence School and the Episcopal School of the City of New York. 

Grants for Higher Education

Like many philanthropists, Druckenmiller’s largest gifts in higher education stem from ties with his family's alma maters. Aside from giving more than $40 million to his alma mater, Bowdoin, he has given $17 million to Stanford, his daughter Hannah's school. Similarly, he gave $5 million to Brown University, which his daughter Tess attended. He has also made smaller grants to Barnard, his wife’s alma mater, and the Central European University, which was founded by his long-time friend George Soros. At New York University, the foundation has supported the Langone Health Neuroscience Institute with a gift of $100 million. 

Grants for Public Health and Diseases

Health has not been one of the Druckenmiller Foundation in past years, but the foundation recently announced a gift of $100 million to New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for the establishment of Fiona and Stanley Druckenmiller Presidential Innovation Fund, “which will seed projects in translational cancer medicine.” An earlier multi-million-dollar gift to Memorial Sloan Kettering saw the establishment of the Fiona and Stanley Druckenmiller Center for Lung Cancer Research. Stanley Druckenmiller is a member of the cancer center’s board of trustees.

Grants for the Environment, Animals, Wildlife and Climate Change

Recent years have seen an uptick in Druckenmiller’s support for organizations working in land, water and animal conservation, as well as climate change mitigation. The foundation provides ongoing support to the Wildlife Conservation Society, New York City’s Central Park Conservancy and the Environmental Defense Fund, which received $3.4 million in a recent year.

Grants for the New York/Tri-State Area

The Druckenmiller Foundation supports a broad range of health and arts and culture organizations that serve the greater New York City area. In health, the foundation has given to the Northwell Health System, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the New York City Mission Society, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital and the South Hampton Hospital Foundation. Arts funding has gone to leading cultural institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, the American Museum of Natural History, Harlem’s Apollo Theater and the Horticultural Society of New York. 

Important Grant Details:

The Druckenmiller Foundation made about $35 million in grants in a recent year. Druckenmiller’s grants tend to be large, ranging from $10,000 to several millions. The foundation’s average grant size is about $100,000. Grantees tend to be prestigious and well-known institutions and organizations, and New York City is a clear geographic area of priority. For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s recent tax filings

The Druckenmiller Foundation does not maintain a website and does not appear to accept applications for funding at this time. The foundation may be reached by telephone at 212-830-6650. A mailing address is provided below. 

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CONTACT: 

The Druckenmiller Foundation

40 W. 57th St., 25th Fl. 

New York, NY 10019-4001

(212) 830-6650