SOURCE OF WEALTH: Tyndall Management
FUNDING AREAS: Medical Research, Jewish Causes, Global
OVERVIEW: Jeffrey and Nancy Halis conduct their philanthropy through the Halis Family Foundation. Halis steadily supports his alma mater, MIT. Another interest is Jewish causes. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded nearly $2.5 million in grants in 2017.
BACKGROUND: Jeffrey Halis has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MIT Sloan School of Management in 1976. After graduating from Sloan, he joined Citibank, where he spent five years on liability management. He then became an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Halis went on to found Tyndall Management, an investment firm specializing in publicly traded securities.
ISSUES:
MEDICAL RESEARCH: Halis steadily supports his alma mater, MIT, particularly in science and medical research. Support has gone to the Gabrieli Lab and dyslexia research. Halis has a family history of dyslexia and Alzheimer’s disease.
The family has funded a brain scanner, along with the Simons Foundation, at The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, and supported Project Prakash, which works with ophthalmologists in India to conduct studies with individuals who gained sight late in life.
Other grantees include Washington University in St. Louis and Rockefeller University.
JEWISH CAUSES: Halis’s late mother Loraine was born in Munich and fled to London during World War II, before reuniting with family in New York. The couple have supported Jewish organizations Facing History and Ourselves, Jewish Home Lifecare, and The Blue Car, which provides “direct financial assistance to needy Holocaust survivors.”
GLOBAL: The couple have supported Coghill Foundation, providing pass-through grants to Asociación Juvenil Proyecto Aldeas in Guatemala, which works to educate and empower underprivileged children.
OTHER: The family has supported groups such as Alzheimer’s Association and Lincoln Center.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the Halis to stick with their prior interests, notably support of MIT and the Jewish community.
CONTACT:
Halis Family Foundation
c/o Tyndall Management LLC
150 East 58th Street, 14th Floor
New York City, NY 10155
