Washington is one of the most philanthropically-minded cities in the country. Local philanthropists have made national headlines for their generous gifts (for example, Roger and Victoria Sant’s recent $15 million donation to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History), innovative ways of giving (by many Venture Philanthropy Partners), and lasting contributions to art and culture in the nation’s capital (Wallace and Billie Holladays’ founding of the National Museum for Women in the Arts). Our “Philanthropic 50” pays tribute to these and other prominent contributors who not only give generously, but influence others to do so as well.
John E. “Chip” Akridge
A leader in green giving, this well-known developer founded the Trust for the National Mall, a non-partisan effort to help preserve America’s ‘front yard’ in 2007. With the current estimate for restoration of the 700-acre park at a hefty $350 million, Akridge personally donated $250,000 to found the trust and has helped raise more than $3 million for initial operations. Also a trustee for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Maryland Nature Conservancy, he has developed more than $2 billion in real estate through his eponymously named company and has remained a positive voice in the current economy, preaching patience and the reality of cycles in the real estate market.
David and Katherine Bradley
One of Washington’s most philanthropic couples, the Bradleys have allocated substantial funds from the estimated $300 million sale of the Advisory Board and Corporate Executive Board companies to the CityBridge Foundation, which has increasingly focused on creating educational opportunities for low-income children in Washington. In 2006, the foundation announced the Early Years Education Initiative, a five-year, $8 million plan to improve early education for young children in the District. The Initiative includes the launch of new charter school programs and the recruitment and training of teachers. More recently, CityBridge has expanded its work to the K-12 sector, supporting Michelle Rhee’s D.C. Public School reform efforts and joining the New Schools Venture Fund D.C. Schools Collaborative. Katherine Bradley chairs the board of Teach for America – Metro-D.C. She is also a board member of the KIPP Schools (National), America’s Promise, the Washington Ballet, and Fight for Children. David Bradley serves on the local KIPP-DC board.
Calvin and Jane Cafritz
As the senior heir of one of the capital’s largest real estate dynasties, Calvin Cafritz was left in charge of the clan’s philanthropic endeavors when his mother, famed hostess Gwen Cafritz, left her estate to the previously established Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation to improve the quality of life for residents of the Washington, D.C. area. When his brothers Carter and Conrad sued, Calvin settled by relinquishing some of the assets, but the move has hardly diminished the foundation’s staggering record of support ($153 million donated in the last 10 years; over $16.6 million just last year) for a myriad of causes that include the Kennedy Center, George Washington University, the Phillips Collection, Washington Ballet, Brookings Institution, the Holocaust Museum, and the National Student Partnership.
Steve and Jean Case
Having made his fortune as a co-founder of AOL, it’s apt that Steve Case continues to forge ahead in an online medium while giving back. The Case Foundation changes with the times, adapting the long arm of charity to reach those hard-to-scratch places (Africa, the younger generation, the Internet, etc). In 2008, the Cases launched online contests to give away $750,000 in total awards to the charities that attracted the most users on Facebook. Jean Case, who frequently blogs and Twitters about philanthropy, also serves as chair of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation and as co-chairwoman of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership.
Betty Brown Casey
Maryland developer Eugene B. Casey’s widow has used his millions to endow numerous causes, most notably the Washington National Opera. In 1996, Betty Casey bought the old Woodward & Lothrop department store at 10th and F streets N.W. for $18 million with a visionary concept to turn it into a monumental new home for the company. When reconfiguration costs soared and the opera elected to remain at the Kennedy Center, she sold the site to developer Douglas Jemal for a $10 million profit and turned the cash over to the opera’s endowment fund. That – plus additional contributions over the years – has earned her the unprecedented title of lifetime chairman. As head of the Eugene B. Casey Foundation, the benefactress directs donations to many other causes each year as well, including local hospitals, hospices, schools, and colleges.
Dick and Lynne Cheney
Some may be surprised to learn that the busiest day in the former vice president’s press office was not during the Scooter Libby shakedown or his hunting mishap in Texas, but tax day, when the Cheneys released their financial disclosure forms. While some folks might balk at the size of the Halliburton earnings, it’s usually not discussed how the couple’s blind trust is doling out approximately $7 million a year to help important causes. The annual list includes Capital Partners for Education and George Washington University’s Cardiothoracic Institute (a cause near and dear to the former Veep’s heart, quite literally).
A. James and Alice Clark
In the lineup of area contractors, Clark Construction Group, Inc. is a first world power. With some 400 big- name builds in and around the Washington area, including 17 Metro stations, FedEx Field, the Harman Center for the Arts, and the Verizon Center, this mega philanthropist also donated a $30 million scholarship endowment to the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, his alma mater, and $10 million to Johns Hopkins’ Whiting School of Engineering for the next generation of big builders. Each year Clark’s construction company sponsors the District of Columbia Building Industry Association Community Day, improving local parks and community centers.
Bill and Hillary Clinton
The former president may, as he wrote in his memoirs, have had the smallest net worth of any president in U.S. history when he was inaugurated, but since leaving office he and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, have pulled in well over $100 million from royalties, speaking fees and other earning opportunities. The couple also founded the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a non-partisan catalyst for action supported by heads of state and other leaders. CGI has made commitments valued at $46 billion since 2005. They have also raised millions for The Clinton Foundation, which focuses on pressing current issues such as fighting childhood obesity and creating sustainable development in Africa.
Jack Davies
A small-town boy from the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, Davies enjoyed helming the rocket-fueled thrill ride that was AOL’s international division in the mid-’90s with colleagues Ted Leonsis and Len Leader. The latter introduced Davies to Venture Philanthropy Partners founder Mario Marino. Davies became heavily involved with VPP, which he considers “probably the most significant thing that has happened [to him] since leaving AOL.” A driving force in the philanthropic community and a consummate networker, Davies serves on the boards of Heads Up, the See Forever Foundation, and the Community Foundation.
Louisa du Pont Copeland Duemling
The daughter of Lammot du Pont Copeland is most passionate about environmental causes. She has donated to conservation in and around the District, and has given generously to the National Building Museum and other pet causes. Currently active in the Delaware Nature Society, she is a former trustee of the Maryland/DC Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and serves as a member of the board of managers of Mount Cuba Center, her family’s former estate, which she helped turn into a non-profit horticultural institution. Duemling gave $250,000 to the University of Delaware to name the dean’s suite in Du Pont Hall in memory of her uncle, Pierre S. du Pont.
Richard Fairbank
As CEO of Capital One, Fairbank revolutionized the credit card industry. Among other pioneer moves, he was one of the first to realize that credit card reports offered virtual “blueprints” of consumer habits which could then be sold to marketing/ad companies. He gives generously to his alma mater, Stanford University, to America’s Promise, and is a member of CECP (Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy), and of the Council for Service and Civic Participation. The year 2009 proved to be a big one for Fairbank, a partner in Lincoln Holdings LLC (which owns the Capitals and the Mystics). Capital One acquired Chevy Chase Bank in February and Richard Fairbank made the top ten for highest executive pay last year at $73.17 million.
Huda and Samia Farouki
Huda Farouki is a Jordanian-American who made his fortune in finance, construction and shipping companies that operate in the Middle and Far East, Northern Africa and Europe, and in 2004 received big government contracts for his work in Iraq. Farouki and his wife, Samia, are stalwarts of the local charity circuit, and are generous supporters of the Arab-American Cultural Foundation, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Teach for America (she serves on the board) and the Kennedy Center. This year, the couple made a seven-figure gift in support of the Kennedy Center’s Festival of Arab Arts and funded Arab arts presentations for five years to come, along with co-chairing the Center’s International Committee.
Ken and Bonnie Feld
The late Shirley Feld was said to have had a buzzer under the carpet by her foot to coordinate the mood of her guests with the schedule of the kitchen; this spirit of showmanship is also present in her son, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Kenneth Feld. In 2008, the Feld Foundation donated $300,000 to the Duke Ellington School of the Arts to help the production of the “The Wiz,” one of the most expensive high school musicals to date. In the past few years, Ken Feld has donated over $5.5 million in tickets to the Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Toys for Tots, and the Special Olympics. Both Felds are involved with Signature Theatre, chairing its Stephen Sondheim gala in 2009.
Raul and Jean-Marie Fernandez
At the helm of the Fernandez Foundation, this couple looks to give the next generation a lucky break through scholarships, free laptops and mentoring, similar to the help Raul Fernandez received before founding his $200 million business Proxicom. As a founding investor of Venture Philanthropy Partners, he wrote a seven-figure check to that organization. Both are committed to supporting causes to improve the lives of needy Washingtonians and have given generously to the National Zoo, Children’s National Medical Center, and St. John’s College High School, among other causes and institutions in town.
Michelle DiFebo Freeman
Wife of the late Montgomery County developer Joshua Freeman, Michelle Freeman is the founding president and chairwoman of the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation, president and chairwoman of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation, and the owner and a board member of the Carl M. Freeman Companies. After the death of her husband in a helicopter crash in 2006, Freeman, through the Carl M. Freeman Foundation, gave $2 million to the Landon School to construct the Joshua M. Freeman Center for Athletic Achievement, and other gifts to the South Coastal Library and Beebe Medical Center in Delaware and Project Change in her late husband’s honor. The Carl M. Freeman Foundation was an early joiner of Venture Philanthropy Partners with a $1 million commitment, and has donated $2 million to United Jewish Appeal (UJA).
Morton and Norma Lee Funger
In 2007, these major Kennedy Center and National Symphony Orchestra supporters established a seven-figure gift over eight years to preserve the Center’s ability to confidently plan for the future. Morton Funger, a principal of Ralmor Corporation and chairman of the board of Community Realty Co., serves as a trustee of George Washington University (which named Funger Hall in his honor in recognition of a major gift), the World Presidents Organization, the Trustees Council of the National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Dulles Center.
Steve and Diane Goldberg
In 2008, the couple’s donations to the Children’s National Medical Center surpassed $50 million, including a $25 million matching gift to fund a new wing. While he’s been building a successful real estate development firm, she’s been volunteering at the Children’s National Hospital since 1983. It wasn’t until their donation was marked as one of the year’s largest gifts, that this very philanthropic couple was recognized for decades of multi-million-dollar donations. Diane (recipient of the Washington Life Substance & Style award 2004) and Steve Goldberg have also been major funders to the Wiezmann Institute of Science and the Arc Theater and are benefactors of the Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund.
Donald Graham and Katharine Weymouth
This uncle-niece duo is synonymous with The Washington Post and the Washington Post Company, a conglomerate of smaller media entities with the Post as its crown jewel. The Post’s Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, endowed in 1944 by Eugene Meyer and his wife, Agnes, is a powerhouse that gives away millions annually (approximately $10 million last year) to a variety of causes including hunger and the arts. Graham also serves as chairman of the D.C. College Access Program, as a director of the Summit Fund of Washington, and founded the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan.
Sidney and Jane Harman
Harman International founder and Shakespeare Theatre endower ($19 million) Sidney Harman gives back through the Harman Family Foundation, which won the 2007 Wilmer Shields Rich Awards for Foundation Communications in the category of Independent, Family, and Operating Foundations. With his currently beleaguered politico wife, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), by his side, they generously donate to causes that support education innovation and the arts.
Teresa Heinz
A generous spirit plus a personal fortune of approximately $550 million (she just missed making the Forbes 400 this year) and control of a myriad of family-related endowments allow Teresa Heinz to be one of the country’s most generous donors to causes that include global warming and human rights. Although she was first married to the late Republican Sen. H. John Heinz II, an heir to the Heinz foods product fortune, and is currently married to Sen. John F. Kerry, a Democrat, Heinz avoids partisanship where major contributions are concerned. She is regarded as a visionary in philanthropic circles, especially for the annual six-figure Heinz Awards bestowed upon ground-breaking innovators in widely diverse fields.
Helen Lee Henderson
A major patron of the arts who works behind the scenes and is now at the helm of the HRH Foundation – founded by her mother, Helen Ruth Henderson – she has contributed generously to many area institutions including the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre and the National Gallery of Art. Henderson started as a $50 donor to the Kennedy Center in 1996, and has now contributed multiple seven-figure donations toward the Center’s international work as well as setting up several charitable gift annuities. Her generosity to the Kennedy Center has allowed Michael Kaiser to plan for and present all of the major international festivals of the last six years, as well as the Sondheim Festival in 2002. Henderson is former director of the Pittsburgh Public Theater and the Asolo Theater Company in Florida.
Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay
The Holladays, established real estate developers, were among the first to apply the revisionist approach to art collecting, devoting 20 years to assembling works by women. However, the second step was to display this astonishing collection for public consumption, and with this in mind, Wilhelmina Holladay transformed the former Masonic Temple on the corner of 13th Street and New York Avenue into the National Museum of Women in the Arts. In late 2008, Mrs. Holladay published the book, “A Museum of Their Own: National Museum of Women in the Arts,” which chronicles her journey towards creating the museum and fighting to get female artists recognition.
Sheila Johnson
A founder with her former husband, Robert, of Black Entertainment Television, Johnson has quickly become one of the area’s most high-profile philanthropists. Media giant Viacom bought BET in 2002 for about $3 billion, and the couple reportedly split about $1.6 billion in proceeds from the deal. She donated $4 million to CARE in 2007, $2.5 million for a performing arts center at the private Hill School, $5 million to UVA for the Sheila C. Johnson Center of Human Services, and recently gave another $4 million to her alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Music.
Jeong and Cindy Kim
This 2006 Washington Business Hall of Fame inductee earned money for college working nights at a 7-Eleven, then went on to launch Yurie Systems, which he sold in 1998 (at age 37) to Lucent Technologies for $1.1 billion. The ex-Navy man, whose personal share from the sale was $500 million, is heavily involved with the University of Maryland as a jointly appointed faculty member, building donor (the Jeong H. Kim Applied Sciences Building), and a $5 million dollar supporter of UMD’s A. James Clark School of Engineering. Kim is also part- owner of the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals and a key supporter of Venture Philanthropy Partners.
James V. “Jim” Kimsey
Founder of AOL, the West Point grad generously supports his alma mater as well as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. He established the Kimsey Foundation in 1996 to focus attention on improving education and social conditions for young people in Washington through generous giving and strategic partnerships. Born in Washington and raised in Arlington, Kimsey is an alumnus St. Johns College High School and has served on the board of Georgetown University. Heavily entrenched in the arts community, Kimsey served as chairman of the Washington Opera, and the Executive Committee of the National Symphony Orchestra and was appointed to the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center by President Clinton and again by President Bush in 2006. In 2000, Jim Kimsey gave a $10 million gift to the Kennedy Center and has been a major donor ever since. Part of his gift established an endowment so that every 5th grader in Washington has a chance to come to the Kennedy Center each year. Kimsey also serves as the Chairman of the International Commission on Missing Persons, headquartered in Sarajevo, with offices in Iraq and Colombia.
Austin H. Kiplinger
The son of W.M. Kiplinger, the founder of Kiplinger Washington Editors, Austin Kiplinger followed his father’s lead as a major collector of Washingtoniana. He championed the creation of a city museum for the District of Columbia and gives generously ($1 million) and passionately to the Historical Society of Washington, where the library is named for him. He established the Kiplinger Program at Ohio State in honor of his father, has been on the board of Cornell University since ’61 and serves as chairman emeritus of the Tudor Place Foundation and on the boards of the Federal City Council, National Symphony Orchestra, Levine School, and National Press Foundation. The Kiplinger Foundation is a major donor to public broadcasting and educational causes.
Robert and Arlene Kogod, Robert and Clarice Smith
It’s hard to look at a major building in Washington without detecting a Kogod/Smith touch. For years, these brother-in-laws were at the helm of the Charles E. Smith real estate empire and helped to expand it into a billion-dollar-plus enterprise. Kogod recently donated the courtyard to connect the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum at a cost of $25 million. Smith donated the Robert H. Smith School of Business ($15 million) at the University of Maryland in addition to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the school. The Smiths also donated the Robert H. and Clarice Smith Auditorium at Mount Vernon and the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello. Recently, both families committed $10 million for a transformational renovation of the Charles E. Smith Center at George Washington University.
Ted and Lynne Leonsis
An original AOL investor, Leonsis formed Lincoln Holdings, which owns 100 percent of the Washington Capitals as well as a 45 percent interest in Washington Sports and Entertainment, the holding company for properties including the Washington Wizards, the Mystics, the local Ticketmaster franchise, and the Verizon Center. Leonsis has been a member of Best Buddies since 1999, is involved with Hoop Dreams, and YouthAIDS, and also sponsors the Leonsis Foundation, dedicated to creating “opportunities for children that enable them to reach their highest potential.”
Ted and Annette Lerner
The Washington metro area is dotted with Lerner real estate, including White Flint, Tysons Corner and Dulles Town Center. With a net worth of $3.2 billion, his commitment to the region is also shown in such projects as Bethesda’s Imagination Stage children’s theater and the expansive Nationals ballpark, of which he is the principal owner. Lerner and his wife, Annette, have given substantial gifts to George Washington University, and their synagogue, Ohr Kodesh, a conservative congregation in Chevy Chase. The couple recently gave $3 million to GW’s law school for a new public interest and public service law program.
Samuel and Robert Lehrman
The grandchildren of Giant Foods co-founder Samuel Lehrman direct the Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Foundation (named for their parents), whose mission is to support and enrich Jewish life in Washington, D.C., Israel, and throughout the world. Contributions in this area include the District of Columbia Jewish Community Center, the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, the Sixth & I Street Historic Synagogue, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Jewish Social Services Agency. The siblings’ mutual interests help propel the foundation’s multi-year support of the arts, health care, the environment, and education.
Forrest, John and Jacqueline Mars
The candy clan has amassed a serious fortune (each sibling has approximately $9 billion) by producing the candy covered treats that don’t melt in your hand at Mars & Company. In 2008 they strengthened they dynasty by purchasing the Wrigley chewing-gum company for $23 billion. Through the years they’ve helped to support a rainbow of causes, endowing professorships at Yale University in their late father’s name, underwriting productions of the Washington National Opera, and supporting the Sporting Library in Middleburg.
J.W. “Bill” Marriott, Jr., Richard E. Marriott
One of the largest personal foundations in the city with over $350 million in assets under management, The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation (now under the direction of J.W. Marriott, Jr. and Richard E. Marriott) supports secondary and higher education, mentoring and youth leadership programs, organizations that help provide relief from hunger and disasters, and people with disabilities, among other causes. Established by the Marriott family in 1965, much of the Foundation’s support is awarded to human service organizations in the Washington area such as Capital Area Food Bank, D.C. Central Kitchen, Food & Friends, and Teach for America. The Foundation has provided significant support to select colleges and universities with hospitality programs. Some of the more recent grants including $5 million to the Culinary Institute of America, $1.7 million to Florida International University for the Marriott Tianjin China program, and $600,000 in support of Marriott Hospitality Center at Montgomery College.
Jaylee Mead
It is no exaggeration to say that the local performing arts scene would not be what it is today without the considerable gifts of Mrs. Mead and her late husband, Gilbert. The couple contributed an estimated $50 million from Mr. Mead’s Consolidated Papers fortune to local theaters, including the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, the Studio Theatre (which named a new stage in their honor), the Cathedral Choral Society, and the Flashpoint arts center. The Meads have committed $35 million to Arena Stage for a new facility to be called the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, and gave generously to Signature Theatre, where the Mead Lobby is named in their honor.
Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, ?Catherine Conover
Other American dynasties may have given more, but no one can match the Mellons for arts philanthropy. Andrew Mellon was one of the greatest art acquisitors of all time. His Vermeers, and Rembrandts formed the nucleus of the National Gallery of Art’s initial collection, to which his children, Paul and Ailsa, later added monumental gifts. Paul’s widow, “Bunny,” now in her late 90s, supports conservation and equestrian pursuits as well as the arts.Most of her remaining collection will revert to the National Gallery at her death. Her step-daughter, Catherine Conover, is the founder of Island Press, a small D.C.-based environmental book publisher, and a generous donor to environmental causes.
Henry and Wendy Paulson
The former secretary of the treasury made his fortune while serving as CEO of Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s largest and most successful investment banks. An avid nature lover, Paulson has been a member of The Nature Conservancy for decades and was the organization’s board chairman and co-chair of its Asia-Pacific Council, where he worked with former president of the People’s Republic of China Jiang Zemin to preserve the Tiger Leaping Gorge in the Yunnan province. He donated $100 million worth of his Goldman Sachs stock in 2006 to a family foundation dedicated to conservation and environmental education and has reportedly pledged his entire fortune to the same cause upon his death.
Abe and Irene Pollin
When there is already a street in Washington named after you (Abe Pollin Way), you are doing something right in the world of philanthropy. The owner of the Washington Wizards and the Verizon Center, along with his wife Irene, recently donated $1 million to the Society for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy – CUREPSP – a rare neurological disease which Mr. Pollin was diagnosed with several years ago. Abe Pollin helped fund the restoration of the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue and now serves as president of the board. Irene Pollin, a women’s health advocate, founded Sister to Sister: The Women’s Heart Health Foundation, in 2000 and currently serves as chairwoman. Together the couple re-launched Abe’s Table, a program to feed the underserved in the D.C. community, and give yearly six-figure donations to local public schools.
Mitch Rales and Steve Rales
These very private billionaires who run the show at the Danaher Corporation make philanthropy a priority. Mitch is a major donor to the National Gallery of Art, lending works by the likes of de Kooning and Rothko, and providing funds through the Glenstone Foundation for important acquisitions. Currently on the board of the Hirshhorn Museum, the trustees’ council of the National Gallery of Art, and the board of the SEED Foundation, Mitch Rales has been amassing a significant collection of modern and contemporary art at his Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Md. Rumor has it that he may one day donate this multi-million-dollar gallery as well. Steve Rales is a major supporter of the Washington Ballet as well as his alma mater DePauw University, and served as executive producer on two major films, “The Darjeeling Limited” and “The Fantastic Mr. Fox.”
Russ and Norma Ramsey
Chairman and CEO of Ramsey Asset management, Russ Ramsey is a lifelong Washingtonian who serves as chairman of George Washington University, where over the last five years, he and his wife have donated generously (including $1 million to the Ramsey Student Investment Fund, a portfolio managed by M.B.A. students). Founding investors of Venture Philanthropy Partners, the Ramseys also head the W. Russell and Norma G. Ramsey Foundation, and have given generously to the D.C. Capital Area’s Big Brothers Big Sisters and causes dedicated to at-risk families.
Catherine Reynolds
One of the area’s most high-profile philanthropists, Reynolds found herself in the spotlight when she pledged $38 million to the Smithsonian Institution to create an exhibit to honor American heroes. Her heavy hand in the details angered many curators and historians – which resulted in Reynolds withdrawing her gift. Though critics continue to chatter about Reynolds’ supposed love of the limelight, praise is due for her large-scale philanthropy targeted towards education and the pursuit of excellence through the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation. The foundation pledged $100 million to the Kennedy Center (which was never paid, as it was contingent on federal support), but continues to sponsor major exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art, provide scholarships for low-income students in Washington, and support Ford’s Theatre, the Capital Area Foodbank, Charity Works, and the Children’s Inn at NIH, as well as Harvard and NYU.
Joe Robert Jr.
When he wanted to make sure his contributions were meaningful, the self-made real-estate businessman established Fight for Children and it’s annual “Fight Night” and “School Night,” which have raised more than $105 million to support over 150 youth-serving organizations. Recently the Children’s National Medical Center has broken ground on a wing Robert funded with $25 million. A trustee of the Kennedy Center, he also serves as chairman of Business Executives for National Security, a group that gathers businessmen and entrepreneurs to provide non-partisan, free advice to national security leaders. Now battling serious illness, he remains an ever-present force whose giving has extended to cancer-related charities.
David and Alice Rubenstein
This former Jimmy Carter aide is the co-founder of the Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private-equity firms. His notable bequests include $5 million to Johns Hopkins University to help build a new outpatient facility for children and young adults; giving millions to Duke University; $5 million to Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2008; and serving on the boards of the Kennedy Center and Johns Hopkins University. The Rubensteins give multiple six-figure gifts to the Kennedy Center every year in support of special programming. When a rare copy of the Magna Carta was in jeopardy of leaving the U.S., this history buff came up with $21.3 million to ensure its new home would be in the U.S. Capitol. His wife Alice founded Alaska House New York and the Alaska Native Arts Foundation.
Jeanne Ruesch
After the death of foreign exchange and precious metals investor Otto Ruesch in 2004, his widow was elected to replace him as chairwoman of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, where they had spearheaded the effort to raise $100 million for the now-canceled Frank Gehry wing. Although she has given up the top post, she remains a sustaining trustee on the museum’s board where her continued direction and substantial gifts will help move the museum in a “new direction” as it shifts focus to repairs of the existing structure. Ruesch also supports many other causes, including the Kennedy Center, Levine School of Music, Washington Performing Arts Society, Sibley Memorial Hospital, and National Rehabilitation Hospital (which received a $500,000 gift in 2008).
Roger and Vicki Sant
Washington’s super benefactors have set the standard for local giving, coupled with hands-on involvement in their favored causes. They have donated $9 million to the Phillips Collection, over $20 million to the World Wildlife Fund to protect the Amazon, and more than $25 million to restore the Mesoamerican reef between Mexico and Honduras, a cause to which they are deeply devoted. In mid-2008, the low-key couple donated $15 million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to support the new Sant Ocean Hall, bringing their contributions to the museum’s ocean project to $25 million. Also major donors to the National Symphony Orchestra (as of 2008, they have donated $20 million for the endowed conductor’s chair), the Sants have almost single-handedly preserved the ability of the NSO to attract and afford a top music director. Heavily involved with the Kennedy Center, the couple started an endowment 10 years ago and have continued to add to it over the years to the point where they have become the Center’s largest, single donors.
B. Francis “Frank” Saul II
Although the founder of B.F. Saul Real Estate Investment Trust sold Chevy Chase Bank to Capital One in February for $520 million in cash and stock, he remains a generous financial contributor to the National Gallery of Art and Catholic Charities. Though notably press-shy, he permitted the Smithsonian Institution’s Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars to give him its Award for Public Service in recognition of his philanthropy and local board service in 2007.
Albert and Shirley Small
Longtime supporters of the University of Virginia and avid book and manuscript collectors, the couple pledged $2.5 million toward the construction of UVA’s special collections library that bears their name and houses Mr. Small’s expansive collection of autographed documents and rare, early printings of the Declaration of Independence. The Smalls also give generously to the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Foundation for the National Archives, Tudor Place Foundation, the Kennedy Center, Aspen Institute, and the Manuscript Society.
Dan Snyder
Notoriously private about his personal and family foundation giving, the owner of the Washington Redskins donated $6 million to the Children’s National Medical Center after his daughter was born prematurely. He also donated $1 million to the victims of 9/11, over half a million to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and generously to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Though still worth $1 billion, Snyder’s fortune fell by 20 percent in the last year, due in part to the falling stock market and his shares of Six Flags amusement park (he serves as chairman of the board) tumbling by 90 percent.
Michael Sonnenreich
The chairman and CEO of Kikaku America International and president and CEO of Glocal Communications Corp. Ltd. of London, has served as president of the Washington Opera since 2002 and helped transform the capital’s opera into a world class company. He was instrumental in recruiting Plácido Domingo as artistic director and helped cast Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, and Stephen Breyer in small roles in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus when it opened in 2003. Very much involved in the local philanthropic community, Sonnenreich helps drive giving in Washington for numerous arts organizations. The pharmaceutical executive has been a trustee and board member of the Scientific American, Medical Tribune International, Continental Steel Inc, Clark University, and the Maret School.
George and Tricia Vradenburg
Yet another AOL early investor, he is president of the Vradenburg Foundation, which supports capacity-building efforts in arts, culture, health, education, and security. As chairman of the Phillips Collection, he spearheaded fundraising for the museum’s most recent addition. He and his wife have donated generously to the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, the Survivors’ Fund (for the families of 9/11 victims at the Pentagon), the Washington Scholarship Fund, and the National Alzheimer’s Gala. They also publish Tikkun, a progressive Jewish magazine.
Mark Warner and Lisa Collis
Known for giving millions to his own political races, Warner has, for decades, been giving equally as much to charitable causes such as healthcare, education and the environment (the couple donated $1.5 million to the Nature Conservancy for conservation in the Allegheny Highlands.) The Old Dominion’s junior senator also formed the Virginia Health Care Foundation, the Virginia High-Tech Partnership, and helps the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and Venture Philanthropy Partners. His wife Lisa heads the Collis-Warner Foundation, which supports health and child abuse initiatives.
Tony and Bea Welters
Tony Welters, who made his fortune in the health insurance industry, started giving away major money more than 30 years ago and has, with his wife Bea, set a leadership philanthropy standard in the African-American community. They established a seven-figure Kennedy Center endowment through their foundation for training young African-American artists and donate generously to the Center’s education department. They give to the National Symphony, the Smithsonian, Wolf Trap, the Horatio Alger Scholars Program, and the Library of Congress, and have built and funded summer camp and year-round programs for at-risk D.C. youth in Wolftown, Va., which they support through their AnBryce Foundation.
