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- Assets: $149,275,171 (2005)
- Grants Awarded: $7,979,470 (2005)
Jacob Merrill Kaplan (1891-1987) established the J. M. Kaplan Fund in 1945 with the proceeds from the sale of his Welch Grape Juice Company. He served as President of the Fund until 1977, at which time his daughter, Joan K. Davidson, took over that position -- which she would hold until 1993. After leaving for two years to serve in the administration of Governor Mario Cuomo (D - New York), she rejoined the Kaplan Fund in 1995 as a Trustee and President Emeritus. Under Ms. Davidson's stewardship, the Kaplan Fund has developed into a strong supporter of leftist agendas in the areas of civil liberties, human rights, civil rights, social justice, the arts, and the environment.
From 1993 to 2000, the Fund was co-chaired by Richard D. Kaplan (Jacob Kaplan's son) and Betsy Davidson (Joan K. Davidson's daughter); these two helped propel the Fund further toward the left end of the political spectrum. Today, Jacob Kaplan's four children and seven grandchildren comprise the Fund's Board of Trustees. They have aggressively supported activist organizations that advocate on behalf of expanded rights for illegal immigrants.
The Kaplan Fund's North American Migration Program calls for "the right of citizens of any member country of NAFTA (or an expanded hemispheric version) to reside and work in any other member country" (emphasis added). Under such an arrangement, illegal immigration from countries such as Mexico would no longer exist -- because all migration would be considered permissible and would thus go unregulated. A notable beneficiary of the Kaplan Fund's philanthropy is the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Coalition, an open-borders group that seeks to secure amnesty and full civil rights for illegal aliens, as well as immigration policy reforms that include no provisions for any future restrictions on immigration. The Kaplan Fund's "Migrations" program also supports programs that "assure the well-being of recent immigrants"; "provide services to new arrivals"; "facilitate immigrants' links to their home communities"; "improve conditions of employment and reward entrepreneurship"; and "provide access to information on housing, education, jobs, health, or government services."
Three-fifths of the Kaplan Fund's grants are non-discretionary and focus on the environment, the arts, and immigration. The remaining two-fifths are earmarked for specific recipients selected by the Fund's individual Trustees and focus on civil liberties, human rights, civil rights, social justice, the arts, and publishing endeavors.
The Kaplan Fund's Environmental program is subdivided into three geographic domains: In New York City, it seeks to "preserve and improve parks [and] public spaces," and to "advocate for more and better mass transit, regulate truck and auto traffic, [and] enhance pedestrian mobility." In North America generally, the program "supports the conservation of important ecosystems that straddle national frontiers." And worldwide, it "supports the development of international laws and procedures to safeguard the ecological integrities of the high seas."
The Kaplan Fund also has a Historic Preservation program that seeks to "preserve the physical integrity of historic sites" locally, regionally, and worldwide. The recent focus has been on Islamic nations, where many sites are in danger of destruction by Muslim radicals who wish to destroy all non-Muslim art and architecture.
Among the recent recipients of Kaplan Fund grants are the American Civil Liberties Union; Alliance for Justice; the Tides Foundation; the Tides Center; the Waterkeeper Alliance; the Migration Policy Institute; the Rockefeller Family Fund; the Union of Concerned Scientists; Food First; The Nation Institute; the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund; the Environmental Defense Fund; the World Wildlife Fund; Essential Information; the Center for Reproductive Rights; Trust for Public Land; the Natural Resources Defense Council; the World Resources Institute; the Center for Reproductive Law & Policy; Sea Web; the Sierra Club; the Blue Earth Alliance; the Center for a Sustainable Economy; the League of Conservation Voters; the Open Space Institute; Environmental Advocates; the National Trust for Historic Preservation; the National Environmental Trust; the Rocky Mountain Institute; the Wildlands Project; the Union of Concerned Scientists; the Ecology Action Centre; Fundacion Arrustad; Fundacion Vida Silvestre; the American Farmland Trust; the Rainforest Alliance; the Land Institute; the Wilderness Society; the Institute for Media Analysis; the International Labor Rights Fund; the World Conservation Union; the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter; the Mexico-North Research Network; Riverkeeper; the Southern Poverty Law Center; the Sustainable Development Institute; the Nature Conservancy; the Wildlife Conservation Society; and the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.
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