SOURCE OF WEALTH: ESL Investments
FUNDING AREAS: Health, Education, Policy, Greenwich Community
OVERVIEW: Edward and Kinga Lampert move their philanthropy through the Lampert Foundation. Their philanthropic areas of interest are health, education and policy, with a significant portion of their funding directed toward cancer research. They also support organizations in Greenwich, Connecticut. According to available tax filings, the Lampert Foundation disbursed just under $2.5 million in grant funding in 2018.
BACKGROUND: Edward Lampert is a graduate of Yale University. Early in his career, he worked with Daniel Och in the risk arbitrage department at Goldman Sachs. Lampert founded his own hedge fund, ESL Investments, in 1988 and became the CEO of Sears in 2013. Kinga Lampert worked as an attorney in New York City.
ISSUES:
HEALTH: The Lamperts’s health philanthropy prioritizes cancer research. Kinga Lampert is the co-chair of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The Lamperts have also supported the Breast Cancer Alliance, the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, Delete Blood Cancer and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Other past health grantees include the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation and the University Health Network in Toronto, Ontario.
EDUCATION: The couple’s support of education has prioritized the communities where they live and work. Past grantees include the Miami Country Day School, Greenwich Academy and the Brunswick School.
POLICY: The Lamperts have supported a variety of conservative and libertarian organizations. Funding has gone to the Ayn Rand Institute, the Institute for Justice and the Reason Foundation, a think tank that promotes “choice, competition and a dynamic market economy.” law firm.”
GREENWICH COMMUNITY: In Greenwich, Connecticut, where the Lampert’s own a home, the couple has supported the Bruce Museum and the YMCA of Greenwhich.
LOOKING FORWARD: The Lampert Foundation has increased its giving over the past several years. It is likely that the couple will continue its support of cancer research and other areas of interest.
CONTACT:
The Lampert Foundation
1170 Kane Concourse, No 200
Bay Harbor, FL 33154
