SOURCE OF WEALTH: Polaris Venture Partners, investor, media executive
FUNDING AREAS: Education & Youth, Jewish causes, Arts & Culture
OVERVIEW: Alan Spoon and his wife Teri conduct their philanthropy through the Alan and Terri Spoon Family Foundation. Spoon supports his schools, as well as Jewish causes and the arts. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded just under $725,000 in grants in 2018.
BACKGROUND: Alan G. Spoon graduated with an S.B. and an S.M. from MIT and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1976. He worked for the Washington Post Company, ultimately serving as president until 2000. Spoon was a general partner at Polaris Venture Partners, a private investment firm that provides venture capital and management assistance to development-stage information technology and life sciences companies.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Spoon supports his alma maters MIT and Harvard Law School. He is a board member of edX, an MIT/Harvard global online education platform. The couple has also supported the Norwood School in Bethesda, Maryland.
JEWISH CAUSES: Grantees include Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Hebrew College, and Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts.
ARTS & CULTURE: Terri is an overseer at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, both of which the couple support. She holds a degree in human environment and design and has an interest in photography. Other grantees include Smithsonian Institution, where Spoon is a regent emeritus.
OTHER: The Spoons have supported Women for Human Rights, Council on Foreign Relations, and Henry Ford Health Center.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the couple to stick with their select interests. Apart from Boston and the Mid-Atlantic region, Detroit, Terri’s hometown, may also emerge as an area of giving.
