The George Gund Foundation is a
charitable foundation
A foundation (also a charitable foundation) is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable act ...
established in 1952 to provide grants in the areas of the
arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...
,
civic engagement
Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to ...
,
community development
The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activists ...
,
economic development
In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and o ...
,
environmental policy
Environmental policy is the commitment of an organization or government to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues. These issues generally include air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem mana ...
, and
human services
Human services is an interdisciplinary field of study with the objective of meeting human needs through an applied knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall qua ...
,
public education
State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...
,
racial inequality
Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...
. As of 2019, the foundation had made grants totaling more than $722 million since its inception. It is the second-largest charitable foundation in Cleveland.
History
Formation
The George Gund Foundation was created in 1952 as a
private foundation
A private foundation is a tax-exempt organization not relying on broad public support and generally claiming to serve humanitarian purposes. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the U.S. with over $38 billion ...
by
George Gund II
George Gund II (April 13, 1888 – November 15, 1966) was an American banker, business executive, and real estate investor who lived in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. He inherited his father's fortune and used a portion of it to purchase ...
, a businessman living in
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
. Gund inherited a sizeable brewing industry fortune from his father. President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
signed the
Food and Fuel Control Act
The Food and Fuel Control Act, , also called the Lever Act or the Lever Food Act was a World War I era US law that among other things created the United States Food Administration and the United States Fuel Administration.
Legislative history
Th ...
into law on August 10, 1917, which banned the manufacture of retail liquor and beer for the duration of the emergency created by World War I. Unable to make beer, in May 1919 Gund purchased all 15,000 shares of the American subsidiary of the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
company
Kaffee HAG, which had developed a process for manufacturing
instant
In physics and the philosophy of science, instant refers to an infinitesimal interval in time, whose passage is instantaneous. In ordinary speech, an instant has been defined as "a point or very short space of time," a notion deriving from its ety ...
decaffeinated
Decaffeination is the removal of caffeine from coffee beans, cocoa, tea leaves, and other caffeine-containing materials. Decaffeinated drinks contain typically 1–2% of the original caffeine content, and sometimes as much as 20%. Decaffeinated ...
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
. Spending just $318,768 ($ in dollars) to purchase the company, Gund sold it to
Kellogg's
The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toaste ...
in 1927 for $10 million ($ in dollars). Gund became a major stockholder in Kellogg's, and invested in banking, insurance, and real estate. Among his investments was the purchase of a significant amount of stock in the
Cleveland Trust Company
KeyBank, the primary subsidiary of KeyCorp, is a regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the only major bank based in Cleveland. KeyBank is one of the largest banks in the United States.
Key's customer base spans retail, small b ...
, a small Cleveland bank. He was named a director of the bank in 1937, its president in 1941, and chairman of the board in 1962. Gund transformed the bank into Cleveland's largest bank; at the time of his death, it was the 18th largest bank in the United States. He was one of Cleveland's richest men at the time of his death in 1966, worth about $200 million ($ in dollars).
At the end of 1953, the George Gund Foundation had assets worth just $166,878 ($ in dollars).
The foundation received certification from the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
as a
501(c)(3) charitable organization
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 501 ...
in 1955. By 1960, it had about $30 million ($ in dollars) in assets. Disbursement of funds to various causes left the George Gund Foundation with just $16.4 million ($ in dollars) in assets by 1964. In the 1950s, the foundation focused primarily on education and grants were small, ranging from $10 to $10,000. Grant amounts began to become substantially larger after 1960.
Transition period
At Gund's death in November 1966, his estate was worth about $24.5 million ($ in dollars) after the payment of debts and fees.
The bulk of his estate went to the George Gund Foundation. With this contribution, the fund's assets rose to just over $40 million ($ in dollars).
George Gund II's death left the foundation in the hands of four trustees: His 27-year-old son,
Gordon Gund
Gordon Gund (born October 15, 1939) is an American businessman and professional sports owner. He is the CEO of Gund Investment Corporation. He is the former co-owner of the San Jose Sharks (National Hockey League) from 1992–2002, former princi ...
; George F. Karch, chairman of the Cleveland Trust Company; Frederick K. Cox, vice chairman of the Cleveland Trust Company; and Hawley E. Stark, corporate legal counsel for the Cleveland Trust Company. The latter three were all George Gund II's close friends. Stark became the foundation's president.
In 1967, 1968, and 1969, the George Gund Foundation made $9 million worth of donations, of which $6.5 million went to name buildings and programs in honor of George Gund II.
Expansion in vision
In 1969, the foundation hired its first full-time staff person.
This was James S. Lipscomb, and he served as executive director of the George Gund Foundation from 1969 until his death in June 1987. During Lipscomb's tenure, the foundation trustees began re-examining the foundation's focus and decided to widen its focus to include civic, cultural, social,
economic, and environmental needs. For the first time, the George Gund Foundation began supporting community organizations and began making grants to nonprofits working in the areas of affordable housing, child abuse prevention, drug abuse prevention, gun control, and juvenile justice.
Under Lipscomb's guidance, the foundation's assets grew significantly from 1970 to 1981, reaching $83 million ($ in dollars). By 1972,
George Gund III
George Gund III (May 7, 1937 – January 15, 2013) was an American businessman and sports entrepreneur.
Gund was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 7, 1937, to Jessica Roesler and George Gund II, a powerful banker in Cleveland. A high-school dro ...
and Albrecht Saalfield (
Agnes Gund
Agnes Gund (born 1938) is an American philanthropist and arts patron, collector of modern and contemporary art, and arts education and social justice advocate. She is President Emerita and Life Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Chair ...
husband) had joined the board of trustees,
and by 1986 there were seven staff working alongside the executive director.
The foundation made $45 million in grants from 1970 to 1981, and another $50 million in grants from 1982 to 1988.
Hawley E. Stark retired from the board of trustees in 1973, and Frederick K. Cox became the foundation's president.
Geoffrey Gund joined the board in 1976.
Henry C. Doll served as Acting Executive Director from Lipscomb's death until August 1988. He was succeeded as acting director in September 1988 by Richard M. Donaldson.
David Bergholz, the assistant director of the
Allegheny Conference on Economic Development, was named the new executive director in November 1988. He began his tenure in January 1989.
Berholz executive directorship
In 1990, the George Gund Foundation had assets of about $303.5 million ($ in dollars), and donated just over $11.9 million ($ in dollars) in grants that year alone.
Frederick K. Cox died in 1994, and Geoffrey Gund became president.
At the time he assumed the presidency, the Gund Foundation had just two full-time staff and was making about $3.5 million ($ in dollars) in grants annually.
In the 1990s, the Gund Foundation gave $15 million ($ in dollars) to the
Great Lakes Science Center
The Great Lakes Science Center is a museum and educational facility in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
Many of the exhibits document the features of the natural environment in the Great Lakes region of the United States. The facility inc ...
to help construct its building. Made to help improve the city's cultural offerings in time for the city's bicentennial in 1996, it was the largest single grant in the foundation's history. By 2002, however, the foundation had given $25 million over several years to the
Foundation Fighting Blindness
The mission of the Foundation Fighting Blindness is to fund research that will lead to the prevention, treatment and cures for the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases, including retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndro ...
.
Catherine Gund
Catherine Gund (born Catherine Gund Saalfield; 1965) is an Emmy nominated and Oscar shortlisted producer, director, writer, and activist
who founded Aubin Pictures in 1996. Gund's films have screened around the world in festivals, theaters, ...
, Agnes Gund Saalfield's daughter, joined the board in 1998.
By 2002, the Gund Foundation's board of trustees had grown to eight. Six Gund family members were on the board of trustees, including newly appointed trustee Zachary Gund (Gordon's son). The foundation had also begun to expand its grantmaking to include boosting nonprofit organizations doing good work but which needed funds to reorganize, reorient, or merely overcome bad luck in order to survive. Combined with the
recession that began in 2001, the foundation's endowment had shrunk slightly to $425 million ($ in dollars).
Bergholz retired at the end of 2002, and was succeeded by David Abbott, president of University Circle Inc.
Abbott, a former
Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban County (United States), county located in the Northeast Ohio, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.- ...
administrator, worked closely with the Gund Foundation as executive director of the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
and as executive director of the Cleveland Bicentennial Commission.
Abbott executive directorship
In 2014, the George Gund Foundation joined Cuyahoga County in launching the nation's first county-level Pay for success (PFS) project aimed at reducing the amount of time children whose families are homeless stay in foster care.
In November 2019, Geoffrey Gund retired as president of the George Gund Foundation. The board elected Catherine Gund as his successor.
At the time of Geoffrey Gund's retirement, the Gund Foundation was awarding about $25 million ($ in dollars) in grants annually and had a staff of 12. The fund had distributed $722 million in grants during its history, $584 million of which came during Geoffrey Gund's tenure as president.
With assets worth $486.9 million ($ in dollars) as of 2018, the George Gund Foundation was Cleveland's second-largest foundation, behind
The Cleveland Foundation
The Cleveland Foundation, based in Cleveland, Ohio, is the world's first community foundation and one of the largest today, with assets of $2.5 billion and annual grants of more than $100 million. Established in 1914 by banker Frederick Harris Gof ...
,
Grantmaking
The George Gund Foundation's interests include: Arts, Economic Development and Community Revitalization, Education, Environment, and Human Services. The Foundation's focus is centered in
Greater Cleveland
The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census results, the five-county ...
,
Glenn, Brandon. (July 11, 2005.) “Gund Foundation awards grants.” Crain’s Cleveland Business.
/ref> though a portion of the Foundation's grantmaking supports state and national policy making
Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...
that bolsters its work locally. The Foundation only makes grants to 501(c)(3) organizations and to qualified government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
units and agencies.
References
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Bibliography
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External links
Gund Foundation home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:George Gund Foundation
Foundations based in the United States
Organizations based in Cleveland
Organizations established in 1952
1952 establishments in Ohio