Real estate mogul Charles B. Kushner is the founder of Kushner Companies, which boasts a multi-regional portfolio valued at more than $15 billion. In 2016, Forbes estimated the family’s net worth at $1.8 billion. But as President Donald Trump came to power, the Kushner family was in the news for other reasons—Charles Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
At the time, I dug into the family’s Charles and Seryl Kushner Charitable Foundation, a low-profile family foundation that’s been around for years. Grantmaking touches Jewish causes and special education, with an eye toward the New York metropolitan area and Israel.
Several members of the Kushner family are on the foundation’s board. They include Charles—who was in the news back in the mid-2000s after he pleaded guilty to 18 felony counts and served a short time in prison—as well as his wife Seryl. Jared Kushner was once on the board, but has not made an appearance there since Trump resided in the White House, according to available public tax filings.
However, another Kushner, Josh, remains a director of the foundation’s board. Who is Josh Kushner, and what do we know about his philanthropy and that of his wife, supermodel Karlie Kloss? Here’s a rundown.
Josh and Karlie
Jared’s younger brother Josh Kushner is a New Jersey native who attended Harvard College and Harvard Business School, graduating with his MBA in 2011. Josh is at the helm of Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm that has some $16 billion in assets under management. He’s also the co-founder of healthcare company Oscar Health.
Karlie Kloss is also an entrepreneur and angel investor in more than a dozen companies in the wellness, tech and fashion spaces. The couple were among the top donors to Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’ GoFundMe effort for Ukraine, making a $250,000 donation via their Josh Kushner and Karlie Kloss Foundation. That campaign, by the way, raked in other major gifts from other Silicon Valley figures including Larry Ellison and Ron Conway.
Information on the Josh Kushner and Karlie Kloss Foundation is hard to come by, and it’s possible the couple have set up a donor-advised fund, which may further limit the transparency of their grantmaking. However, the couple have been quite public with their political views, which do not align with those of some better-known members of the Kushner clan. Josh is lifelong Democrat who did not vote for Trump in 2016. He also supported the anti-gun demonstration March For Our Lives. Karlie, meanwhile, encouraged her fans via her YouTube channel to register to vote and vote by mail in the 2020 election because “we all deserve change in November.”
Kode With Klossy
We can derive some clues about the couple’s future giving from Karlie and her organization, Kode With Klossy, a free coding camp for girls aged 13 to 18 that operates across the United States. Since 2015, more than 8,000 students have participated in the camp.
“A lot of our scholars often might be one of the few young women in the classroom if they’ve even had the opportunity at all at their school to take a class. And that can be really discouraging,” Karlie told People. “I really try and help these young women realize that they have infinite potential and that they truly not only deserve to be in this space and be leaders in this industry, but we’re relying on them to be the thought leaders of tomorrow.”
Karlie became interested in empowering young women with STEM skills because of her experiences in Silicon Valley. Inspired by a meeting with Kevin Systrom, an Instagram co-founder, Karlie took a two-week coding bootcamp at the Flatiron School in New York. The following year, she started the coding scholarship program at the school, initially supporting 21 students. Kode With Klossy seeks both diverse and qualified applicants, with 75% of scholars identifying as people of color.
Kode With Klossy says that 65% of its alumni have gone on to major or minor in computer science or engineering, compared to 3% of women nationally. More recently, the organization has also turned its attention to supporting teachers, and launched a program for K-12 educators.
Looking ahead, advocating for women and girls in STEM and beyond could be an important part of this couple’s philanthropy. Besides money, Karlie Kloss also has an enormous platform to fundraise and rally others around important causes, including 10.3 million Instagram followers, 5.5 million Twitter followers, and nearly 765,000 Youtube subscribers.
Jewish causes are another potential interest, and have been a long-standing cause for the broader Kushner clan. Charles Kushner is the son of Holocaust survivors, and two New Jersey schools, Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy and Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, bear the names of Josh Kushner’s grandparents.