SOURCE OF WEALTH: Caytronics, GoodTimes Entertainment, GT Interactive Software Corporation, Midtown Equities
FUNDING AREAS: Jewish Causes
OVERVIEW: Joe Cayre and his wife Trina move philanthropy through the Joe and Trina Cayre Foundation, which gave away around $2.3 million in a recent year. The couple’s giving strongly focuses on Jewish causes, particularly Jewish schools, as well as community and religious organizations. Brooklyn is an important region of giving.
BACKGROUND: Joe Cayre was born into a Syrian Jewish family and spent his teenage years in Miami. In the 1970s he founded Caytronics, which became one of the largest Spanish record and music publishing companies in America. He and his brothers also co-founded Salsoul Records. In the 1980s, Cayre established GoodTimes Entertainment, a movie licensing and production company that distributed video programs. He followed that up with GT Interactive Software Corporation, which developed and distributed entertainment and educational games and software, including megahit video games like Doom, Duke Nukem and Quake. In 2000, Cayre founded Midtown Equities to begin expanding and actively managing his previously acquired real estate holdings.
ISSUES:
JEWISH CAUSES: The Cayres have supported UJA Federation, Yeshivah of Flatbush, World Center Synagogue Moussayouf, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Congregation Share Zion, and Sephardic Rabbinical College. They support causes in Israel and have directed grants to Migdal Ohr, whose “two residential campuses along with 160 youth clubs provide educational frameworks and social guidance for over 10,000 children and teenagers from underprivileged and dysfunctional homes across Israel every day.”
OTHER: While Jewish causes constitute a bulk of the foundation’s annual giving, the couple have directed modest sums to other causes, including health and policy organizations. Grantees have included Mayo Clinic Rochester, Dysautonomia Foundation, and the Roe Foundation, which "continues to provide financial support to free-market policy groups across the country,"
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the couple’s steady support of select Jewish organizations to continue. The foundation also appears open to applications from grant seekers.
CONTACT:
Applications should be submitted to:
Joseph Cayre
141 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10010