A billion-dollar foundation without a website is a bit of a transparency paradox.
Such an institution — which obviously could afford to put up an internet shingle — has chosen not to volunteer any information, meaning would-be grantees must rely on third parties for clues to its priorities and passions. Yet the donor has also opted into mandatory disclosure by using a private foundation, so every single grant will ultimately become public, even though such revelations could be avoided by opting for a donor-advised fund or LLC. (These foundations could escape even this belated disclosure by sending their grant dollars to the ‘black box’ of a DAF, but those on this list mostly do not.)
In short, such foundations are publicly visible entities, but only if you know where to look. Earlier this year, inspired by the then-viral term “stealth wealth” — i.e., luxury fashion items invisible to the untrained eye — I came up with a tongue-in-cheek label for such operations: “stealth philanthropies.” Like their wearable counterparts, these foundations have all the modesty of a luxury garment without a flashy brand name, while still being visibly high end to the knowledgeable eye.
Of course, many donors have long opted for anonymity, whether for religious reasons, humility or simply a desire not to be bothered. Nor does a website always shed much light on a funder, particularly if it doesn’t include recipient names and grant amounts.
But I believe these stealth philanthropies — a term I define as foundations with 10-digit endowments and IRS filings but without websites, LinkedIn pages or virtually any other public presence on the web — are a useful, if indirect, barometer in a sector that is increasingly reliant on the ultra wealthy and largely opaque (if flexible) donor-advised funds.
Below are five stealth philanthropies of various provenances, each of which rank among America’s largest private foundations. Some have been around for many years, even decades, and seem to have a long-term commitment to keeping a low profile. Others have only recently mushroomed in size thanks to billion-dollar infusions, and may leave stealth mode in the years to come. Yet all of them, at least in my view, offer a window into the varying dynamics of the megadonors who are increasingly dominating the philanthropic sector.
Gottesman Fund: A newly massive family grantmaker
This family philanthropy has been around since the 1960s. But it was only in 2023, following the death of cofounder David “Sandy” Gottesman, that its endowment climbed to $1.3 billion. Not to mention that his widow, Ruth Gottesman, who has long served as the fund’s co-president, made national headlines for a $1 billion donation in 2024 to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
What will the Gottesman Fund do with those new assets? Historically, the foundation has focused on Jewish causes, along with grants for education, public health, housing and homelessness, and arts and culture. Immediate evidence suggests that won’t change much. In 2023, when the fund’s annual grantmaking nearly tripled to $85 million, top recipients included several longtime grantees, the PEF Israel Endowment Funds ($22.7 million), the American Museum of Natural History ($4.7 million), Mount Sinai Health System ($4.1 million), Yeshiva University ($3 million) and American Friends of Leket Israel ($2.4 million).
Related: A Huge Gift to Cut Medical School Tuition Looks to Make a Dent in a Deep Systemic Problem
Tansy Charitable Foundation: A low-profile former hedge funder’s operation
Eric Wepsic is in his mid-50s, is newly retired, and has a grantmaking operation, Tansy Charitable Foundation, that reported $1.2 billion in assets at the end of 2024. The stage is set, in other words, for the former hedge fund manager to play out a major philanthropic act or two. But so far, the low-profile math whiz — whose wealth was once reported to top $9 billion — has stayed behind the curtain.
Tansy’s grantmaking hews to practices often preached but not always practiced: big, unrestricted awards go year after year to a small pool of recipients. In 2024, for example, the foundation sent awards to Partners in Health ($10 million), the Carter Center ($7 million), the Hertz Foundation ($2.5 million) and Community Partners International ($2.5 million). All four are regular recipients. There is one relative newcomer: GiveWell, a nonprofit guided by effective altruist principles that hosts a number of pooled giving funds and which first received support from Wepsic in 2023, got $17 million.
Related: Is Former Hedge Fund Manager and Likely Billionaire Eric Wepsic Poised to Give Bigger?
Hess Foundation: New Jersey grantmaker once highlighted for secrecy
Founded in the 1950s, this Parsippany, New Jersey-based foundation had the unfortunate distinction of earning a 2015 IPPY for “Worst Reviewed Foundation.” Hess received a withering assessment that year in Philamplify, a past initiative of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. Aaron Dorfman, NCRP’s executive director, called it “by far the least transparent foundation of its size that we’ve ever seen.”
Little seems to have changed. The foundation still has no website, LinkedIn page or other public presence, nor does it list any staff on its tax filings. But Hess has grown bigger. Its endowment reached $1.07 billion in 2023, in part thanks to incoming contributions. Every year since 2018, a trust has sent the foundation annual checks for exactly $21,547,444.
Grants — which totalled $41 million in 2023 — have largely favored major institutions, particularly in Pennsylvania (e.g., Philadelphia Orchestra, University of Pennsylvania). Other top destinations include New York (Lincoln Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art), Massachusetts (Harvard Business School, Deerfield Academy), and Washington, D.C. (Center for Strategic and International Studies, Children’s National Medical Center).
Red Gates Foundation: New mega philanthropy emerged from early death
This Richmond, Virginia-based behemoth was born, as sometimes happens in philanthropy, out of misfortune. William Hunter Goodwin III — the son of businessman and Virginia powerbroker William H. Goodwin Jr. — died in 2020 at age 51, following a battle with cancer. Two years later, his estate transferred more than $2 billion to his Red Gates Foundation, which the same year reported unrealized losses of $703 million, bringing the endowment to its current level of about $1.4 billion, still qualifying the operation as the second-largest foundation in Virginia.
In 2023, its first substantial year of grantmaking, Red Gates focused on a classic philanthropic combo: eds and meds. It issued nearly $72 million in grants that year and approved future payments totaling $157 million. Top recipients included the Commonwealth Foundation for Cancer Research ($47 million, with $68 million more in commitments), Virginia Tech ($12.5 million), Northstar Academy ($3.5 million) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center ($1 million). Big pledges went to the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute ($37.5 million) and a center for people with disabilities, The Virginia Home ($25 million). Every single gift went to a Virginia nonprofit.
Related Inside Philanthropy Resources:
For Subscribers Only
Koum Family Foundation: A billionaire WhatsApp founder’s grantmaker
Jan Koum, the cofounder and former CEO of WhatsApp, actually has two under-the-radar philanthropies. The $2.3 billion Koum Family Foundation and the K18N Foundation, a $1.5 billion fund I reported on late last year, which also has no website. But the latter’s grantmaking is largely a mystery. K18N sent its inaugural round of grants, totaling $19 million, to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation — it is technically a “supporting organization” of SVCF -– and it is unclear whether that sum will be used by the community foundation or distributed via a donor-advised fund.
Koum Family Foundation, by contrast, is a regular private foundation and lists its grants each year. Nearly all go to Jewish organizations, mostly in New York and California. In 2023, most favored grantees included the European Jewish Association ($10.8 million via two grants), Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS ($4 million, two grants), Oshman Family Jewish Community Center ($2 million), Jewish Family and Children’s Services ($2 million). One of the few major non-Jewish recipients is Stanford University ($3.8 million).
Related: Tech Philanthropy Watch: WhatsApp Founder Jan Koum Has a New $1.5 Billion Fund
Michael Kavate covers climate philanthropy and billionaire donors. He welcomes all feedback, tips and requests.
