SOURCE OF WEALTH: Stern, Lauer & Co., Bear Stearns
FUNDING AREAS: Arts & Culture, Education & Youth, Health & Human Services, Global & Humanitarian, Jewish Causes
OVERVIEW: Charles Bernheim and family conduct their philanthropy through the Bernheim Foundation, which, according to available tax filings, gave away around $230,000 in 2017 . The family supports a range of causes including the arts and education. New York City is an important region of giving. They also have ties to North Carolina.
BACKGROUND: Charles Bernheim graduated from Princeton University. He ran Stern, Lauer & Co., a family brokerage firm, with his late brother Leonard Bernheim Jr., until it was dissolved in 1978. Bernheim went on to become a managing director of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. before he retired.
ISSUES:
ARTS & CULTURE: Bernheim’s mother Stephanie Bernheim is a painter and photographer. The Bernheim’s have supported Joyce Theater Foundation, New York Botanical Garden, Young Concert Artists, Whitney Museum, Piedmont Players Theatre, Mass MOCA, Lee Street Theatre, The Metropolitan Museum, Metropolitan Opera, and International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).
EDUCATION & YOUTH: The Bernheims steadily support Sarah Lawrence College—both Stephanie and Rachel Bernheim graduated from the school. Other grantees have included Brooklyn Academy of Music, Fieldston School, Lawrenceville School, and Juilliard School.
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Grantees have included Center for Hearing & Communication, Center for Reproductive Rights, City Harvest, Damon Runyon Cancer Fund, Food Bank for New York City, and Hearing Loss Association of America. The family’s current health philanthropy seems to center around reproductive rights and hearing. Rachel, a native North Carolinian, has ties to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center.
OTHER: Rachel is founder and chair of human rights organization Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States, named for the humanitarian who saved tens of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Humanitarian causes are a clear interest of this funder. Grantees include Americans for Peace Now, Amnesty International, International Rescue Committee, and Friends Without a Border. The Bernheims have also supported Jewish organizations such as UJA Federation of New York, and Congregation Emanu-El.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the family’s varied philanthropy to continue in their established interests.
CONTACT:
The Bernheim Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact but below is an address:
Bernheim Foundation
c/o Charles Bernheim
33 East 70th Street
New York, NY 10021
