Key Takeaways
- • Englander Foundation closed 2024 with just $93,552 in its accounts, and its annual payout has hovered under $500,000 in recent years, far below the scale of Millennium Management's nearly $100 billion in assets under management.
- • The foundation's giving is concentrated almost entirely on Jewish religious groups and yeshivas, largely in South Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn, according to Inside Philanthropy's review of public filings.
- • Grantmaking peaked at nearly $18 million in 2007 and fell to $529,201 by 2011; it has not topped $1 million in the past decade and made just one grant each in 2023 and 2024.
- • A separate Englander-linked entity, the 136 Fund, holds nearly $12 million in assets but has made no grants in recent years, instead paying $1.3 million in 2023 and nearly $700,000 in 2024 in premiums on an $11-million-plus life insurance policy.
- • Englander's spokesperson said the research does not capture his full giving, which is made privately; Inside Philanthropy says the visible record is limited, and Forbes assigns him a philanthropy score of 1.
Summary
Israel "Izzy" Englander, founder of Millennium Management, runs a firm with more than 7,000 employees and nearing $100 billion under management, according to Inside Philanthropy. Forbes estimates his fortune at close to $30 billion. Despite that scale, the Englander Foundation's public giving is modest and geographically narrow. The New York-based foundation closed 2024 with $93,552 in its accounts, and none of its regular contributions over the past decade has topped six figures. Its payout has recently hovered under $500,000 a year, and it issued just one grant in each of 2023 and 2024, including two $500 awards in 2022.
The foundation's grants have focused almost entirely on Jewish religious organizations, including congregations and yeshivas, with most recipients located within a few blocks of each other in South Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn. Inside Philanthropy notes that even earlier grants to nonreligious groups largely went to Jewish-affiliated nonprofits. Englander's most notable nonprofit affiliation is a board seat at the Met Council, a Jewish antipoverty organization, which he joined in 2014. According to OpenSecrets, his political contributions, which appear to have ended in 2006, went to Jewish politicians including Sens. Joe Lieberman and Chuck Schumer.
The foundation's funding was once far larger. It peaked at nearly $18 million in 2007, with awards to Bobover Yeshiva Benei Zion ($3.7 million), Mesivta Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin ($2.5 million), Yeshiva University High Schools ($1.1 million) and Yaldei Zion ($3.3 million). By 2011, giving had fallen to $529,201. Inside Philanthropy observes that the decline predates the couple's marital difficulties, which public accounts date to 2016 and 2017; the divorce settlement was reached in 2023.
The 136 Fund, which Englander controls according to its incorporation documents, holds nearly $12 million in assets, about 128 times the Englander Foundation's total. It moved over $100 million to a donor-advised fund over several years in the last decade, but has made no grants recently. Instead it has paid $1.3 million in 2023 and nearly $700,000 in 2024 in premiums on an $11-million-plus life insurance policy, and it is unclear who the policy covers.
Englander's spokesperson said the Inside Philanthropy analysis "does not capture the scope" of his giving, which he has chosen to conduct privately, and did not respond to a detailed fact-check. Englander could be giving more through donor-advised funds or anonymous awards; Weill Cornell Medicine credited him in 2023 with a "transformational gift" without specifying an amount. Englander is unmarried, and none of his three adult children sits on the foundation board, according to its most recent 990, whose other board members appear to be employees of his family office, EFO Management LLC.
The foundation's grants have focused almost entirely on Jewish religious organizations, including congregations and yeshivas, with most recipients located within a few blocks of each other in South Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn. Inside Philanthropy notes that even earlier grants to nonreligious groups largely went to Jewish-affiliated nonprofits. Englander's most notable nonprofit affiliation is a board seat at the Met Council, a Jewish antipoverty organization, which he joined in 2014. According to OpenSecrets, his political contributions, which appear to have ended in 2006, went to Jewish politicians including Sens. Joe Lieberman and Chuck Schumer.
The foundation's funding was once far larger. It peaked at nearly $18 million in 2007, with awards to Bobover Yeshiva Benei Zion ($3.7 million), Mesivta Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin ($2.5 million), Yeshiva University High Schools ($1.1 million) and Yaldei Zion ($3.3 million). By 2011, giving had fallen to $529,201. Inside Philanthropy observes that the decline predates the couple's marital difficulties, which public accounts date to 2016 and 2017; the divorce settlement was reached in 2023.
The 136 Fund, which Englander controls according to its incorporation documents, holds nearly $12 million in assets, about 128 times the Englander Foundation's total. It moved over $100 million to a donor-advised fund over several years in the last decade, but has made no grants recently. Instead it has paid $1.3 million in 2023 and nearly $700,000 in 2024 in premiums on an $11-million-plus life insurance policy, and it is unclear who the policy covers.
Englander's spokesperson said the Inside Philanthropy analysis "does not capture the scope" of his giving, which he has chosen to conduct privately, and did not respond to a detailed fact-check. Englander could be giving more through donor-advised funds or anonymous awards; Weill Cornell Medicine credited him in 2023 with a "transformational gift" without specifying an amount. Englander is unmarried, and none of his three adult children sits on the foundation board, according to its most recent 990, whose other board members appear to be employees of his family office, EFO Management LLC.
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