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- Assets: $937,882 (2005)
- Grants Received: $480 (2005)
- Grants Awarded: $507,173 (2005)
The Streisand Foundation was established and endowed in 1986 by the popular entertainer Barbra Streisand. Renowned for her theatrical and musical talents, Ms. Streisand has also carved a niche for herself as a highly visible, outspoken advocate for Democratic Party candidates and leftist causes, and she uses her Foundation to support organizations that share her political and social ideals.
The Streisand Foundation focuses its philanthropy on leftist groups in the fields of environmental activism, civil rights, race relations, civil liberties, gay rights, voter education, women's rights (including abortion rights), nuclear disarmament, gun control, poverty, and AIDS.
In 1993, in the wake of the infamous Rodney King riots of the previous year, the Streisand Foundation established, as one of its highest priorities, grantmaking projects targeting "economically disadvantaged youth in Los Angeles." The central premise underlying the creation of these projects was Ms. Streisand's belief that the riots ultimately stemmed from the economic hardship and pervasive discrimination faced by the black residents of South-Central Los Angeles; that violence and rioting are, at their root, understandable (albeit unfortunate) responses to intolerable social conditions which must be addressed; and that seemingly inexplicable and random acts of arson, looting, and murder are best understood as the perpetrators' desperate cries for help in the face of persistent societal injustice.
The Executive Director of the Streisand Foundation (and also of Steven Spielberg's Righteous Persons Foundation) is Margery Tabankin of Tabankin Associates. In one recent year, these two foundations paid Tabankin $405,000 and $166,000 in consulting fees, respectively. Tabankin, who also sits on the directors' board of the Proteus Fund, is the former Director of the Hollywood Women's Political Committee and was Director of VISTA under the Carter Administration.
Ms. Tabankin is the protege of Stanley Sheinbaum, who is currently a board member of the Streisand Foundation. Sheinbaum was a founding member of People for the American Way. He also served on the executive boards of Americans for Peace Now and the Cambridge Foundation for Peace. He was a funder of the radical magazine Ramparts and head of the southern California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Among the myriad beneficiaries of Streisand Foundation grants are: the Tides Center; the Tides Foundation; the Natural Resources Defense Council; the League of Conservation Voters; the American Oceans Campaign (Oceana); the Rainforest Action Network; the Earth Day Network; the Center for Science in the Public Interest; the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; the Economic Policy Institute; Defenders of Wildlife; the Environmental Defense Fund; the Earth Action Network; Physicians for Social Responsibility; the Center for Public Interest Research; the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); Environmental Working Group; Common Cause; Oxfam America; the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG); the Children's Environmental Health Network; Adopt-A-Minefield; the Children's Defense Fund; Aid for AIDS; Voting for America; the Citizenship Education Fund; the Environmental Media Association; the Human Rights Campaign Foundation; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); the Institute for America's Future; Equality Now; the Center for Responsive Politics; Homies Unidos; the Center for Public Integrity; Americans for Peace Now; the Liberty Hill Foundation; the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU); the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD); Rock the Vote Education Fund; Alliance for Justice; Human Rights Watch; the Foundation for National Progress; the Nation Institute; People for the American Way (PFAW); the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL); Rachels Network; the Peace Action Education Fund; Planned Parenthood; the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation; Seeds of Peace; Treepeople; the Violence Policy Center; and the Vital Voices Global Partnership.
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