P.O. Box 1590
Arlington, VA
22210

• Assets: $806,158 (2005)
• Grants Awarded: $311,500 (2005)

Philip M. Stern (grandson of Sears, Roebuck & Company Chairman Julius Rosenwald) established the Stern Family Fund -- arranging for it to be endowed immediately upon his death, which occurred in 1992. In the tradition of his grandfather, Stern stipulated that his Foundation should cease operations within a generation after his death, so as to prevent it from someday, under the leadership of his successors, embracing philanthropic priorities inconsistent with his particular values and ideals. In accordance with his wish, the Stern Family Fund is expected to spend all of its assets before the year 2015, at which time it will close its doors forever. "We inherited this belief from my great-grandfather," says David Stern, son of Philip and current President of the Stern Family Fund. "Foundations [typically] become almost more interested in their own preservation than in doing the social change work they were set up to do." David Stern is also a member of Equal Justice Works, a public interest law organization representing myriad leftist organizations.

The Stern Family Fund states that its mission is "to [aid] citizens striving to guarantee responsiveness of public and private institutions that wield substantial power over their lives." Reasoning from the premise that American society is rife with economic and social injustice, the Fund directs its philanthropy toward:

The Stern Family Fund oversees two distinct grant-making programs. One, called Public Interest Pioneers, provides large grants that serve as seed money for the creation of new organizations or the development of new projects within existing organizations. The second, called the Strategic Opportunity program, provides smaller grants to aid existing groups that have specific and immediate financial needs.

Specifically, Stern Family Fund grants are earmarked for: government and corporate accountability projects; campaign finance reform initiatives; efforts to bring about proportional [racial, ethnic, and gender] representation in the workplace; voter registration drives; efforts to prevent corporate exploitation of tax incentives and subsidy programs; radical environmentalism; remedies for the allegedly inequitable allocation of legal services; farm worker organizing; Freedom of Information Act lawsuits; community legal advocacy; and investigative reporting.

The Fund's Executive Director is Elizabeth Collaton, Senior Policy Analyst for Pollution Prevention and Waste Reduction at the Northeast-Midwest Institute in Washington, D.C.

Among the many recent recipients of Stern Family Fund grants are: the Tides Foundation; the Tides Center; Essential Information; the Center for Media and Democracy; Public Citizen; the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); Action Without Borders; the Center for Environmental Politics; the Fund for Justice; Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action; the New Mexico Environmental Law Center; the Center for Digital Democracy; Rights Action/Center for Economic Justice; the Proteus Fund ; the Public Justice Foundation; the Center for the Economy and the Environment; the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy; Grassroots Leadership; the Clean Elections Institute; the People of Faith Network; Maine Equal Justice Partners; the Progressive America Fund; the International Media Project; the Colorado Progressive Coalition; the Common Sense Foundation; the Community Rights Counsel; Putting the Pieces Together/North Dakota Progressive Coalition; and the San Francisco Foundation Community Initiative Funds (for MoveOn.org).