OVERVIEW: The Perelman Family Foundation and the Perelman Family Charitable Trust represent the philanthropy of the billionaire Ronald O. Perelman. Giving encompasses higher education, health, diseases, Jewish causes, arts and culture and mental health.
IP TAKE: The Perelman Family Foundation and the Perelman Family Charitable Trust support elite universities, major research hospitals and other highly recognizable organizations. This is not a funder for grassroots or medium-size organizations.
The Perelman organizations are not transparent or accessible, so it will be exceptionally difficult to gain their attention. In addition to a mailing address and phone number, a link to the contact page for Ronald Perelman’s company, MacAndrews & Forbes, is provided below.
PROFILE: The New York City-based Perelman Family Foundation and the Perelman Family Charitable Trust together represent the philanthropy of Ronald Perelman. A Giving Pledge signatory, Perelman is a billionaire and the chairman and CEO of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, the company best known for its hostile takeover of Revlon in 1985. The Perelman Family Foundation names women’s health, education and arts and culture as funding priorities, but grants also support Jewish causes, disease research, public health and mental health. The Perelman Family Foundation maintains a simple webpage, limiting information about its specific funding goals and priorities. The Perelman Family Charitable Trust, meanwhile, maintains an exceptionally low profile, but tax filings reveal a grantmaking profile that is very similar to that of the Perelman Family Foundation.
Grants for Diseases, Public Health and Women and Girls
The Perelman Foundation names women’s health as a grantmaking priority, and Ronald Perelman has personally spearheaded several largescale women’s health initiatives over the years. In 1994, Perelman funded the establishment of the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program, which “was responsible for the development of Herceptin, the first genetically-based treatment for a major cancer to be approved by the FDA, which currently cures more than thirty percent of breast cancer cases in women.” In 2012 Perelman partnered with Barbara Streisand to found the Women’s Heart Alliance, which supports research and raises awareness for heart disease in women. Perelman’s second wife, Claudia Cohen, died after battling ovarian cancer, which has become another priority for the Perelman Foundation; New York’s Weill Cornell Medical Center is home to the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Health. Other grantees in women’s health include the National Breast Cancer Coalition and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance.
In addition to funding initiatives for women’s health, the Perelman Family has made many grants for public health and disease research over the years. New York University’s Langone Medical Center is home to the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine and the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology. In recent years, the foundation has also given to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, the Michael Wolk Heart Foundation, the United Hospital Fund of New York, the South Hampton Hospital Foundation and the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence.
Grants for Education
A significant portion of the Perelman Family Foundation’s grantmaking supports education, with the largest grants supporting programs at elite, private universities. In the 1990s, Perelman bankrolled Princeton University’s Perelman Institute for Judaic Studies. Via his foundation, Perelman has also provided ongoing support to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, where the Perelman Quadrangle and the Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics are named for him. Perelman serves on the board of Columbia University’s Business School, which has also received millions in ongoing support.
K-12 education represents a much smaller portion of the Perelman Foundation’s grantmaking for education, with grants mainly supporting private schools in New York City. Recent grantees include Saint Ann’s School, St. Bernard’s School and the Nightingale-Bamford School.
Grants for Jewish Causes
Neither the Perelman Foundation nor the Perelman Family Charitable Trust names Jewish causes as a priority funding area, but recent many grants have supported Jewish causes in the U.S., focusing on Orthodox Judaism and religious education. According to tax filings, the foundation provides annual support to Machne Israel of Philadelphia, which is an Orthodox community in the Lubavitch tradition. Other grantees include Brooklyn’s Associated Beth Rivka School for Girls, the Congregation Beth Chabad of Downtown Detroit, the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Ronald Perelman has served on the boards of trustees of several arts organizations, and these organizations have received ongoing support from the Perelman Foundation. Grantees include the Apollo Theater, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ford’s Theater, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center in New York.
Grants for Mental Health
Mental health is a smaller area of grantmaking for the Perelman Family Foundation. In recent years, the foundation has made grants to the Child Mind Institute, which works with “children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need to thrive.”
Important Grant Details:
The Perelman Family Foundation made about $3 million in grants in a recent year, while the Perelman Family Charitable Trust gave away about $23 million. Grants mostly ranged $5,000 to $500,000, and it is unclear if some of Perelman’s larger gifts to universities and hospitals stem from his foundation, his family’s charitable trust or his personal fortune. Across both vehicles, Perelman’s largest giving areas appear to be Jewish causes, health and higher education, with a strong focus on the greater New York City area. For additional information about past grants, see the tax filings of both the Perelman Family Foundation’s and the Perelman Family Charitable Trust.
This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding. Grantseekers who feel they are a good match for the Perelman philanthropies may reach out at the address or phone number provided below or send a message via the MacAndrews and Forbes contact page.
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LINK:
CONTACT:
Perelman Family Foundation
38 East 63rd St.
New York, NY 10065
(212) 572-8600