NET WORTH: $3.7 billion
SOURCE OF WEALTH: Spear, Leeds & Kellogg
FUNDING AREAS: Education & Youth, Environment, Historic Preservation, Arts & Culture, Health & Human Services
OVERVIEW: Peter and Cynthia Kellogg conduct their philanthropy through the Peter R. & Cynthia K. Kellogg Foundation. The couple distribute grants widely to a number of organizations annually. Available tax filings indicate that the foundation awarded about $11 million in grants in 2018. Major beneficiaries include the Berkshire School, which has received over $40 million through the years. The family's interests include education, historic preservation, and the environment.
BACKGROUND: Peter R. Kellogg attended Babson College. In the early 1970s, he joined his father, James Kellogg, at brokerage house Spear, Leeds & Kellogg and took over several years later. In 2000, Peter Kellogg sold the firm to Goldman Sachs for $6.5 billion in cash and stock.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Peter Kellogg and family have given their largest gifts to the Berkshire School, where Kellogg graduated and served on the board for 26 years. Several other Kelloggs attended the school, including his father James. Meanwhile, The Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program honors their son, Ritt Kellogg, an avid outdoorsman who passed away in 1992 in a mountain-climbing accident. Through the years, the Kelloggs have given at least $46 million to the Massachusetts-based school.
Other grantees have included Alaska Mountaineering School, Charleston Collegiate School, Dartmouth College Fund, St. Lawrence University, Far Hills Country Day School, NJ Seeds, and Colorado College. Ritt was a Colorado College graduate and the school is home to the Ritt Kellogg Memorial Fund and the Ritt Kellogg Climbing Wall.
ENVIRONMENT: The Kellogg family supports select environmental organizations, often centering around the East Coast. Grantees have included American Camellia Society, American Forest Foundation, American Tree Farm System, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Audubon Society—South Carolina, Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, Friends of Hudson River Park, and New Jersey Conservation Foundation.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION: The Kelloggs have also supported Classical American Homes Preservation Trust, Bay Head Historical Society, and Bayshore Center at Bivalve, whose aim is to “inspire people to take care of the history, the culture and the environment of New Jersey’s Bayshore region through education, preservation and example.”
ARTS & CULTURE: Grantees have included Alexandria Seaport Museum, Bay Area Discovery Museum, Independence Seaport Museum, and Spoleto Festival USA, a performing arts festival in South Carolina.
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: The family also earmark funds for health and human services organizations. Cancer and children's health appear to be a top interest, as Cynthia is a neonatologist. Grantees have included Alzheimer's Association, Blythedale Children's Hospital, MD Anderson Memorial Ovarian Cancer Research, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Adaptive Sports Foundation, and Project Self Sufficiency, a "community-based program assisting low income, single parents to achieve economic independence."
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the Kellogg family's robust and varied philanthropy to continue. Down the line, we should also keep up with the couple's kids.
CONTACT:
The Peter R. & Cynthia K. Kellogg Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact but below are address and phone:
48 Wall St., 30th Fl.
New York City, NY 10005
Telephone: (212) 389-5830