Charles H. Revson Foundation
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Formation | 1956 |
---|---|
Headquarters | New York, NY, United States |
Chairman | Cheryl Cohen Effron |
Key people | Julie Sandorf (President) |
Revenue (2017) | $6,148,911[1] |
Expenses (2017) | $7,904,801[1] |
Website | revsonfoundation.org |
The Charles H. Revson Foundation was founded in 1956 by Charles H. Revson, the founding President of Revlon Cosmetics as a vehicle for his charitable giving. He willed half of his estate to the Foundation upon his death.[2] Julie Sandorf has been the President of the Foundation since January 2008.[3]
Background
The Foundation was started as Revson and others provided over $10 million
In 1978, the Foundation began a formal grant-making process, and since that time, has disbursed a total of 145 million dollars. The Foundation's endowment has grown to 200 million dollars, and it now disburses over 9 million dollars annually. The Foundation has been responsible for such projects as the
In 2003, after 25 years, Eli Evans stepped down as the foundation's president, handing over the reins to
After Lisa E. Goldberg's sudden death on January 21, 2007, the position was vacant until filled by Julie Sandorf, formerly the executive director of Nextbook, in January 2008.
Board of directors
- Cheryl Effron, Chair
- Gerald Rosenfeld, Treasurer
- Sharon Greenberger, Secretary
- Stacy Dick
- Dr. Steven Hyman
- Dr. Robert Kingston
- Reynold Levy
- Errol Louis
- Charles H. Revson Jr.
- Pamela Wasserstein
Directors Emeritus
- Robert S. Rifkind Partner, Cravath Swaine & Moore
- Philip Leder
- Lisa E. Goldberg
- Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Helaine M. Barnett
- Victor Barnett
- Alice Chandler
- Robert Curvin
- Suzanne Gluck
- Jeffrey Goldberg
- Jerome Groopman
- Beatrix Hamburg
- Matina Horner
- Arthur Levitt Jr.
- Ruth B. Mandel
- Dr. Paul A. Marks
- Martha Minow
- Matthew Nimetz
- Louis Perlmutter
- John C. Revson
- Clifford Tabin
- Harold Tanner
- Benjamin Buttenwieser
- Red Burns
- Joshua Lederberg
- Adrian W. DeWind
- Harry Meresman
- Simon Rifkind
Program areas
With Revson's giving as a guide, the board of directors for the foundation has established four program areas:
Urban affairs
The Foundation, based in New York City, focuses its urban program on the city's future. It seeks to enhance the capacity of individuals, organizations, and the public sector to improve New York and the lives of those who live and work there.
Developing leadership for New York is the goal of one group of foundation grants. These programs identify talented individuals, bring them together for learning, training, and the exchange of ideas, and build networks equipped to address the challenges of tomorrow. "Leaders are like dancers; they are born with talent but have to learn the steps," commented one participant. The programs build bridges across sectors, like neighborhood organizations and the business community, the school system and arts institutions, by including women and men from many fields and introducing them to players from diverse areas. They give leaders — and potential leaders — an opportunity to deepen their knowledge, gain skills, be exposed to different viewpoints and experiences, learn, and grow.
The transfer of responsibility for many programs from Washington to state and
The Foundation has supported a variety of
Education
The education program has a focus of making the government more representative of, and more responsive to, its
Citizen organizations play a critical part in the democratic system, monitoring government policy and reporting the results to the public. This helps the government to be more accountable to the citizens.
Communications technology is focused on by the Foundation via television and the Internet. A part of the Communications program seeks innovative uses of technology to communicate with citizens and encourage their participation.
Public interest legal organizations are used in representation of individuals and strategies to improve law enforcement, thereby providing an important mediating link between citizens and the government. To attract talented people to public interest work, the Foundation has supported programs that place law students, especially
Biomedical research
The program in biomedical research is devoted to strengthening basic research through support of programs at key institutions in New York City and in Israel, and to encouraging international cooperation in science in the Middle East.
The Foundation funded
In 1987, the Foundation made a challenge grant that led to substantial government and private contributions, leading eventually to the 1993 establishment of the Israel Science Foundation (ISF)[1], to provide a steady source of funding. To further encourage innovation, the Foundation helped launch an initiative to support research in promising fields that are new or have been neglected in Israel.
Jewish Philanthropy and Education
The Jewish Philanthropy and Education program strives to increase knowledge and understanding of the Jewish heritage using media, research, and leadership training. It endeavors to increase awareness of Jewish history and culture and to build bridges between people of diverse backgrounds.
A central aspect of this program is that television and film are powerful tools, and are used to educate children about history and engage viewers in novel ways. In this grant period, an interfaith video series featuring Bill Moyers discoursing on the Book of Genesis reached a large number of people. Rechov Sumsum (the Israeli version of Sesame Street) also came out during this time and via this method. It was designed to teach Israeli and Palestinian youngsters about each other. The Jewish Heritage Video Collection.
A portion of the program is devoted to projects that use telecommunications technology to create innovative educational resources. For example, Heritage: Civilization and the Jews has been issued as an interactive DVD-ROM, and the internet is the location for a unique "virtual archive" on Jewish women. A new film uses the archive of videotaped Holocaust testimonies gathered by Yale University to communicate the experience of the Holocaust.
In Israel, the Foundation has directed its resources to critical issues, including a new initiative on the environment. It has continued to support graduate fellowships in Jewish studies. A final group of grants supported efforts to improve understanding between
Program themes
Following extensive discussions with leading thinkers in other foundations, academia, government, science, and the arts, the board also identified as priorities four themes that would be reflected across the above program areas:
- the future of New York City,
- the accountability of government,
- the changing role of women, and
- the impact of modern communications on education and other areas of life.
See also
- Charles H. Revson
- Revlon
- Philanthropy
- Foundation (charity)
References
- ^ a b "Charles H. Revson Foundation, Inc" (PDF). Candid. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). sipa.columbia.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 September 2006. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Julie Sandorf | The Charles H. Revson Foundation". revsonfoundation.org. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
- ^ "About Gotham Gazette".
External links
- Charles H. Revson Foundation (website)