Druckenmiller, Fiona and Stanley

Fiona and Stanley Druckenmiller

Year

Affiliation

Druckenmiller Foundation

Areas of Focus

Health | Education | Child Welfare | Income Inequality

Once you make a lot of money, it’s incredibly enjoyable to give it away. It’s a way to satisfy the soul.

Fiona and Stanley Druckenmiller exemplify the art of quiet philanthropy. Although they shun publicity, the institutions that benefit from their abundant support heartily commend their generosity. The causes they have adopted—medical research, education and the alleviation of poverty—are ever in need.

Perhaps Stanley Druckenmiller’s Pittsburgh roots led him to be inspired by Andrew Carnegie. Like him, Druckenmiller is known for being fiercely competitive in business (and golf), setting the highest possible standards and pulling out all the stops to succeed. He resembles Carnegie in achieving success at a young age, in his willingness to take significant risks to reap extraordinary returns, and, happily, in his eagerness to use the fruits of his success to make a difference in people’s lives. After many years of generous support to various causes, Druckenmiller went even further, donating an additional $705 million to his family foundation. These funds have already begun to flow out to worthy institutions. One early beneficiary was the Harlem Children’s Zone, an outstanding organization he helped build. He chairs the board of this community-based nonprofit, which serves approximately 17,000 children, combating poverty through education, health care, and job training.

Fiona Druckenmiller, has also had a stellar financial career, and devotes great time and effort to the family’s philanthropy. A trustee of New York University’s Langone Medical Center and a constant advocate for its work, she joined her husband in giving $100 million to launch its Neuroscience Institute, because, as she noted, “Breakthroughs in neuroscience and stem cell research will yield huge benefits in both quality and length of life…. The brain is one of the last great frontiers in medicine, and advances in related research could help both the individual and society function at a higher level.” An ordained interfaith reverend, she is also a member of the leadership council of the New York Stem Cell Foundation and has served on the board of many organizations devoted to education, the arts, human rights, and medical research.

We wholeheartedly applaud Fiona and Stanley Druckenmiller because of the sacrifices they have made, the care and concern they lavish on the causes they espouse, and the example they set by giving of their wealth in the same adventurous spirit with which they earned it.

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Danforth Family, The

The Danforth Family

Year

Affiliation

Areas of Focus

Science

Andrew Carnegie predicted that the day would come when we would not care how much wealth a man possessed, but how well he has served his fellows: “what he has done to make the world or the little spot where he was born a little better than he found it.” The Danforth family, we are told, have been inspired by Carnegie to live as he believed and to help make a better world.

In serving the city of St. Louis and the nation through three generations, the Danforth family exemplifies the very best that a determined individual and an outstanding family can accomplish for the benefit of others. It was eighty-four years ago that William H. Danforth, a pioneer of industry who founded Ralston Purina Company, along with his wife, Adda, and children, Donald and Dorothy, created the Danforth Foundation. Working through this foundation, the family began the practice of giving unstintingly of its time and wealth for the betterment of communities and institutions in their home city of St. Louis, and for the improvement of education throughout the United States.

The mission of the foundation has evolved to meet an ever-changing inventory of local and national needs. But what has never changed is the family’s generosity, manifested in more than $1.2 billion provided through some 4,700 grants that have touched the lives of tens of thousands of Americans. In 1998, knowing that the foundation was not intended to extend into perpetuity, with great foresight the family undertook a new philanthropic venture, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. They dedicated the center to improving nutrition and helping to feed the hungry, to preserving and enhancing the environment, and to making their city the world center for plant science. The foundation’s final endowment grant of $70 million was given to the Plant Science Center to help fulfill that promise.

Dr. William Danforth, is recognized as an esteemed physician and exceptional professor of medicine and as the chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis, an institution he guided to national stature and to which he remains committed today. John Danforth, is a dedicated public servant, who for eighteen years was a preeminent senator from the state of Missouri. A gifted statesman, he was appointed special envoy to Sudan and later represented the United States as Ambassador to the United Nations, where he focused on ending the twenty-year civil war in Sudan. Dr. William Danforth and Senator John Danforth, are acknowledged for their individual accomplishments as well as the family’s longstanding and exemplary work in philanthropy.

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Crown Family, The

The Crown Family

Year

Affiliation

Areas of Focus

Arts | Education | Environment | Health

The Crown family is honored for their exceptional philanthropic achievements over the course of seventy-five years. The family embodies the time-honored values of hard work and helping the less fortunate, part of an admirable and enduring inheritance. Like Andrew Carnegie, the family forebears, Arie and Ida Crown, came to this country in the 19th century in search of a better life.

A believer in character, friendship, honor, and integrity, Henry Crown insisted that in America anything was possible—if you were willing to work for it. Demonstrating remarkable talent and ingenuity, along with a tremendous work ethic, Henry and his brothers launched the Material Service Corporation in 1919, which survived the Great Depression to become one of the most successful enterprises in America.

Beginning in 1947, the family has annually dedicated significant resources to philanthropy. In gratitude for opportunities only possible in the United States, they have given back abundantly to country and community. They have increased their philanthropy in pace with the family’s continued success, supporting numerous national and international organizations.

The Crown family’s generosity has extended to the arts, civic affairs, education, environmental projects, health, human services, and Jewish causes. From numerous basic research programs at Israeli institutions to the public school system in Chicago, their concern for others extends to more than 600 institutions annually. While their outreach is broad, their efforts consistently focus on building opportunities for others and addressing the needs of individuals at risk.

Through the decades, the family’s legacy of commitment to the care of others has been passed on to their children and grandchildren. Today even the great-grandchildren of Arie and Ida Crown are involved in helping to ensure continuation of the work all four generations have embraced as a core value of the family. We greatly esteem the social contract of engagement, trust, and participation by which they address the need for social change. On behalf of the many individuals and organizations that benefit from
their unflagging generosity, we honor the kindness and the steadfast commitment of the Crown family.

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Koç Family, The

The Koç Family

Year

Affiliation

Areas of Focus

Education | Health | Arts

The late Vehbi Koç, the patriarch of the Koç family, founded his businesses upon the belief that his successes should go hand-in-hand with the prosperity of Turkey and the well-being of its people. This deeply held conviction fueled Vehbi Koç’s achievements as an entrepreneur and a humanitarian. We honor Rahmi Koç as the representative of the entire Koç family, which continues his father’s great legacy of giving.

Andrew Carnegie believed that wealth is a sacred trust that must be used for the good of the community and Rahmi Koç’s commitments epitomize this ideal. We recognize him for his exemplary philanthropic accomplishments in the fields of education, health and culture.

Through the work of the Vehbi Koç Foundation, the first private foundation in Turkey and now one of Europe’s largest, he has sought to improve the quality of Turkey’s healthcare system, to advance the country’s education and to promote the cultural resources of Turkey through the many museums and research centers charged with protecting the country’s heritage. Alongside the Foundation’s investments, the Koç group of companies carries out multiple philanthropic initiatives. In addition, the family has supported many primary and secondary schools and founded Koç University, whose laudable mission is to provide Turkey’s young people with a world-class education, to advance the frontiers of knowledge and to benefit Turkey and humanity at large. Here in New York City, there will soon be a major announcement about their giving in the field of the arts. Koç family, we salute you for your continuing and outstanding philanthropy.

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Weill, Joan and Sanford

Joan and Sanford Weill

Year

Affiliation

Areas of Focus

Peace Building | Health | Education

The more we can do to create a better society, that benefits more people, the better chance we have that our society will continue to grow and prosper.

Joan and Sanford Weill are honored today for their remarkable philanthropic contributions to medicine, education, and the arts. They have donated many hundreds of millions of dollars that have helped to heal suffering patients, teach knowledge-hungry students and transmit music to generations of grateful music lovers. Their largesse has helped revitalize esteemed institutions including New York’s Carnegie Hall, a member of our own Carnegie family, as well as the Weill Cornell Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences and the Weill Bugando Medical Complex in Tanzania, which proudly bear their name.

Joan Weill is an indefatigable supporter of cultural, civic and philanthropic endeavors. Her generosity, along with her distinguished record of service, has benefitted a host of institutions, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation and Citymeals-on-Wheel, to name but two.

Sanford Weill has drawn on his vast experience as a leader in our country’s financial sectors to launch such impressive initiatives as a joint public-private sector partnership with the New York City Board of Education that established the Academy of Finance to prepare high school students for careers in financial services. He is the founder and chairman of the National Academy Foundation, which oversees more than 500 career-themed academies.

But that is not all. According to a recent issue of BusinessWeek, Weill giving has totaled more than $800 million. Their generosity, along with their distinguished record of service, has benefitted numerous organizations including Sidra, a teaching hospital to be completed in 2011 in Qatar; New York Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

If Andrew Carnegie were alive today, he would thank Joan and Sanford Weill for their imaginative giving, a testament to the fact that we cannot take our wealth with us because shrouds have no pockets.

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Bloomberg, Michael R.

Michael R. Bloomberg

Year

Affiliation

Areas of Focus

Health | Arts | Education | Environment

Making a difference in people’s lives—and seeing it with your own eyes—is perhaps the most satisfying thing you’ll ever do. If you want to fully enjoy life—give.

Like Andrew Carnegie, Michael Bloomberg is truly a self-made man. In 1981, he began a small start-up company, Bloomberg LP. Today, that company has over 275,000 subscribers to its financial news and information services. Bloomberg embodies the spirit of Andrew Carnegie: he holds dear the conviction that with great wealth comes great responsibility. As his historic public service and consummate philanthropy so clearly illustrate, he has embraced his responsibilities with great humility, yet with exuberance, dedication, and selflessness. His altruism is evident in every corner of New York City and well beyond our borders.

In 2001, he was elected the 108th mayor of New York City. Under his leadership, the city has flourished. Crime is down to record lows, high school graduation rates have reached record highs, New Yorkers are living longer than ever, and the city gets greener and greater every day. But today, we celebrate his philanthropy.

His support in the areas of public health, medical research, education, arts and culture, and social services is extraordinary. But what truly sets him apart is his approach to giving. He has not only generously funded tried and true institutions; he has taken risks on less proven programs and smaller organizations. He brings resources and attention to causes that have long been ignored—focusing on issues that are both specific and solvable, like his groundbreaking programs to reduce tobacco use, improve global road safety, and remove illegal guns from the streets of our cities. And across all of his giving there is a focus on innovation and a rigorous assessment of data.

We all rejoiced in the fact that the Chronicle of Philanthropy named him the country’s leading individual living donor in 2008.

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Moore, Betty and Gordon

Betty and Gordon Moore

Year

Affiliation

Areas of Focus

Science | Environment | Health

We strive to achieve measurable outcomes on important issues in these areas, and we believe in taking risks in order to innovate and learn.

Betty and Gordon Moore are an extraordinary couple. We honor them today for their great benevolence over many decades. They are committed stewards of our planet, but have not forgotten their nation, nor their native San Francisco where their multifaceted gifts bear the mark of their care. But most of all, they champion basic science and the health of science-based institutions.

Through the work of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which they established in 2000 with a gift of some $5 billion, they have made great strides maintaining the Amazon basin; fighting the extinction of our earth’s rarest species; preserving marine ecosystems and advancing the field of marine microbiology; safeguarding the salmon of the Pacific Northwest; improving patient care and nursing in Bay Area hospitals; and supporting San Francisco’s science museums.

Today we also celebrate, Gordon Moore, as co-founder of Intel, a founding father of Silicon Valley, a seminal figure in the history of computing, and past distinguished Chairman of the Board of the California Institute of Technology.

Betty and Gordon Moore embody Andrew Carnegie’s deeply held belief that with education humankind can “erect the structure of an enduring civilization.” Their foundation’s $300 million commitment to Caltech, matched by their personal gift of $300 million, made the venerable Caltech the recipient of the largest-ever donation to an institution of higher learning, to the great benefit of the university’s students, science departments, Thirty Meter Telescope, and many other projects. But Caltech is not alone. They have supported such eminent institutions as the University of California at Berkeley and others that, like their foundation, are committed to basic science and excellence. Betty and Gordon Moore are and will remain an inspiration to current and future generations. This nation, indeed all nations, are grateful to you.

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Tata Family, The

The Tata Family

Year

Affiliation

Areas of Focus

Disaster Relief | Education | Child Welfare

Apart from values and ethics which I have tried to live by, the legacy I would like to leave behind is a very simple one – that I have always stood up for what I consider to be the right thing, and I have tried to be as fair and equitable as I could be.

The founder of the Tata family’s fortunes was Jamsetji Tata who was an Indian pioneer industrialist. The family are Indian industrialists and philanthropists who founded iron and steel works, cotton mills and power plants that contributed to India’s industrial development.

The family gives away between 8 and 14 percent of the net profits from its controlling company each year to myriad causes: science, medicine, social services, health, civil society and governance, rural welfare, performing arts, education and the needs of children. Tata family funding has established pioneering institutions in social sciences, cancer research and treatment and tropical disease research. The family’s philosophy of “constructive philanthropy” has become embedded in its businesses, and has played a role in changing the traditional concept of charity throughout India. The family is considered one of the few philanthropic forces in the country with the potential to facilitate collaborative action on the problems that threaten individual, local and national development.

Ratan Tata will accept the Award on behalf of the family. He is a director on the boards of AlcoaInc., Mondelez International and Board of Governors of the EastWest Center. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of University of Southern California, Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors, X Prize and Cornell University. Tata is a member of the Harvard Business School India Advisory Board and previously a member of the Harvard Business School Asia Pacific Advisory Board. He received the Padma Bhushan in 2000, one of the highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India. Mr. Tata is a strong proponent of corporate social responsibility, striving to give his company’s philanthropic initiatives focus and to build awareness of important issues such as literacy, microfinance and water conservation among other grassroots community initiatives.

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Mellon Family, The

The Mellon Family

Year

Affiliation

Areas of Focus

Environment | Economic Development | Education | Child Welfare

The Mellon family fortune originated with Mellon Bank, founded in 1869. The Family’s impact on philanthropic giving began with Andrew Mellon’s donation in the 1930s of his extensive art collection to provide the beginnings of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. as well as the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. In 1969 Andrew’s children Paul and Ailsa established the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which supports museums and art conservation as well as higher education and scholarship, information technology research, performing arts, conservation and the environment.

In Pittsburgh, the family helped to create and continues to support Carnegie Mellon University, named in honor of the family, as well as for its founder, Andrew Carnegie, who was a close associate of the Mellons. The Pittsburgh-based Richard King Mellon Foundation has funded the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, the linchpin of the area’s biotechnology sector and supports schools, hospitals and a myriad of causes throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Nationally, the Richard King Mellon Foundation has led the way in land preservation purchasing more than 2 million acres in fifty states, ensuring that this land will remain undeveloped and available for public enjoyment.

Other family philanthropists include William Larimer Mellon, who founded Carnegie Mellon’s business school; Sarah Scaife, a supporter of many Pittsburg institutions; and their many descendants. Different branches of the Mellon family who represent the breadth of the family’s giving will accept the award, including members of the Andrew Mellon family and the Richard King Mellon Family.

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Heinz Family, The

The Heinz Family

Year

Affiliation

Areas of Focus

Arts | Environment | Science | Sustainable Development

Henry J. Heinz was born in 1844 in the Birmingham section of Pittsburgh. He began his business by peddling prepared horseradish. After entering into a partnership and forming Heinz & Noble, they sold the product in clear bottles to prove that unlike some foods, it was totally unadulterated. Heinz bought out his partner and through his benevolent management style made the H.J. Heinz company a pioneer in labor relations. He worked tirelessly against a large segment of the processed food industry to gain passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. It inaugurated the modern food industry and guaranteed purity to all consumers. Years of hard work and innovation made the man and his products internationally known and respected.

The Heinz family’s sustained philanthropic giving has supported the environment, education, economic opportunity and the arts as well as efforts to enhance the lives of women and children.

In 1995, the family made one of the largest grants ever to benefit the environment – 20 million to establish the Washington, D.C.-based H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. The Center brings together representatives of business, government, the scientific community and environmental groups to collaborate on the development of fair scientifically sound environment policies.

Teresa Heinz will accept the award on behalf of the family. She is chairman of the Heinz Family Philanthropies and the Heinz Endowments, two of the nation’s most innovative philanthropic institutions. She is the creator of the prestigious Heinz Awards, an annual program recognizing outstanding vision and achievement in the arts; public policy; the environment; the human condition; and technology, the economy, and employment.

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