For years now, we’ve been mapping out the top donors hailing from some of the biggest industries in the country, whether that’s Silicon Valley, Wall Street or Hollywood philanthropy. More recently, we’ve been taking a closer look at real estate givers — looking at developers, builders, investors and real estate owners. The real estate sector has been another of the most powerful engines of wealth creation in this country, and some of the titans in this field are directing a portion of their wealth toward philanthropic causes.
Another theme we’ve been exploring is how the nation’s demographics, and with them its donor landscape, are changing. By 2050, America will be majority nonwhite, and as the country becomes more diverse, the face of philanthropy is changing. We’ve been tracking a growing list of people of color who’ve had success in their respective business sectors and then gone on to major philanthropy. Most recently, I dug into the top donors of color from the tech industry, a sector that is notoriously lacking in diversity.
Real estate is another sector that continues to be dominated mostly by white men. A 2020 study on gender and diversity in commercial real estate found that women still hold just 9% of C-suite positions in commercial real estate. And a Bella Research Group and Knight Foundation study from a few years prior found that 75% of senior executive jobs in the U.S. commercial real estate industry were held by white men, while only 1.3% were held by Black men.
That said, there are some real estate moguls of color, and several have thrown major funding behind charitable causes. Who are they? What do they support? Here’s a rundown of some of the bigger names and how they give.
Wayne Jordan and Quinn Delaney
Black real estate mogul Wayne Jordan and his wife, lawyer Quinn Delaney, founded the Akonadi Foundation, one of earliest place-based family foundations to make racial justice a central focus of its giving. The foundation works in the couple’s home base in the Bay Area, with a particular focus on Oakland.
Akonadi recently committed $12.5 million to an initiative it calls All in for Oakland, which aims to end the criminalization of Black youth and other youth of color. The foundation is known for its multiyear support and putting power directly into the hands of grassroots leaders. “You have to make a commitment so that they [grassroots organizations] can do their work and know that the funding will be there year after year,” Jordan once told me.
Alberto and Olga Maria Beeck
Born in Lima, Peru, Alberto Beeck fled to the United States after his country’s 1968 military coup. Maria was born in Cuba. Alberto started his career in investment banking and went on to become a partner of VH Properties and director of Virgin Hotels. To date, they have followed a familiar path among emerging high-dollar philanthropists, making some big gifts to higher education institutions.
The couple have thrown a lot of support toward Olga’s alma mater, Georgetown University, including a $10 million gift to create the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation. The center supports fellows and Georgetown students to carry out its mission to “improve systems that are the foundation for daily life, using data, design, technology and policy as instruments for equitable societal change.”
The Beecks continue to support Georgetown through their family foundation. Beeck also chairs Lumni, a global organization that provides students with grants for education. Adamant about bolstering philanthropy in the Hispanic diaspora, Alberto once invested in a reality television show in Colombia that highlighted the work of what he calls “supersocial entrepreneurs.”
Sonny Kalsi
Kalsi is the co-chief executive officer of BentallGreenOak, a leading global real estate investment management advisor and provider of real estate services. He was recently appointed to the global board of directors of Room to Read, a leading global education organization focused on children’s literacy and girls’ education, and has been supporting the organization for years. Kalsi does not yet appear to have a formal family foundation, but seems particularly interested in education and the arts.
Humberto and Czarina Lopez
Humberto Lopez was born in Mexico and moved with his family to Nogales, Arizona, after his father passed away. He enrolled in Cochise College and later attended University of Arizona, receiving an accounting degree in 1969. Lopez worked as an accountant in the audit department of Deloitte Haskins & Sells in Los Angeles, where he developed a knack for real estate. In 1975, Lopez cofounded HSL Properties, which owns and operates thousands of multifamily units across 38 communities in Arizona.
The H.S. Lopez Family Foundation, meanwhile, supports a long list of causes in education, health and welfare, largely in the Tucson, Arizona, area. The foundation backs a lot of pretty traditional nonprofits supporting youth, such as YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs, along with some K-12 schools and universities and a grab bag of other mostly local causes. Other notable grantees include the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, Nogales Unified School District and United Way, whose Southern Arizona chapter Humberto once chaired.
Martin Z. Margulies
Raised in Washington Heights in Manhattan, Martin Margulies graduated from the Wharton School. He is a South Florida-based residential real estate developer and a top art collector. Martin established Margulies Collection at The Warehouse, a private Miami art space. The Warehouse is operated and funded by the Martin Z. Margulies Foundation, which works for the study and enjoyment of the visual arts. Major gifts include Kehinde Wiley’s “Saint John the Baptist” at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Martin made a $20 million gift to Lotus House, a Miami homeless shelter for women and infants, where he serves on the board of Lotus Endowment Fund. He also gave $2.5 million for the construction of the Overtown Youth Center in downtown Miami.
Quintin and Diane Primo
Quintin E. Primo III graduated with a B.S. in finance from Indiana University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He cofounded Capri Capital Partners, a real estate investment management firm headquartered in Chicago. Quintin and Diane Primo serve as cochairs of the Primo Center for Women and Children in Chicago, which provides family shelter and permanent supportive housing, healthcare, early childhood development and supportive services to homeless families in Chicago. The center was founded by his father, Bishop Quintin Primo Jr., a pioneering black clergyman. The Primos support other Chicago institutions, as well.
Prem Puri
Cofounder of Custom Homes of Maryland, Prem Puri began building single-family homes in Virginia in the early 1980s. He established the low-profile DD Puri Foundation, which focuses on higher education for refugees in East Africa; education for deaf and blind children in Punjab, India; and funding emergency surgeries, also in Punjab, India. Prem’s daughter Amita serves as president of the foundation.
Dennis Wong
Dennis J. Wong is cofounder of SPI Holdings, now known as Verbena Road Holdings. The Harvard alum has been at the head of the company for nearly three decades, and also created the Dsea Wong Foundation in 2007, which has a strong focus on the Bay Area community. Grantees have included San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where Wong served on the board, and Nueva School. Once part owner of the Golden State Warriors, Wong is now vice chair of the Los Angeles Clippers, owned by his former Harvard roommate billionaire Steve Ballmer. Dennis also lists his family office in Texas. All that is to say, the priorities of the Desa Wong Foundation may change in the coming years.