SOURCE OF WEALTH: Zweig-DiMenna Associates, Cofounder & Managing Director
FUNDING AREAS: Arts & Culture, Historic Preservation, Community Development,
OVERVIEW: Joseph DiMenna is a trustee of Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) in New York, which has received $1.2 million per year from 2012 to 2014 through the DiMenna Foundation. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded $1.1 million in grants in 2017.
DiMenna has also supported New York Historical Society, with a museum that bears his name, and his alma mater, Fairfield University. DiMenna and his wife Diana are also avid art collectors.
BACKGROUND: Joseph DiMenna attended the Charles F. Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University in Connecticut. While still in school, he wrote a letter to Martin Zweig, the man behind the highly regarded Zweig Forecast, whose investment picks regularly outperformed the market. Zweig liked what DiMenna had to say, hired him as a summer employee and in 1984, the pair cofounded Zweig-DiMenna Associates, a hedge fund that posted upwards of $3.5 billion in assets under management in a recent year. Zweig passed in 2013, and DiMenna serves as managing director.
ISSUES:
ARTS & CULTURE: DiMenna and Diana are avid art collectors, as well as collectors of rare books and historical documents. The New York Historical Society is the site of the DiMenna Children’s History Museum in recognition of a $5 million gift by the couple in 2010. The Orchestra of St. Lukes, a chamber music orchestra based in New York City received a $5 million gift from the couple last decade and is now part of the DiMenna Center for Classical Music. Support has also gone to the Met, the American Museum of Natural History, the School of American Ballet, and the Baryshnikov Arts Center.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: DiMenna is yet another hedge funder who has bankrolled Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), the multi-faceted community organization that runs charter schools and programming for children and their families. DiMenna sits on the board of HCZ, which has received around $1 million annually over the last few tax years we have available. Support has also gone to the Robin Hood Foundation and the Salvation Army.
OTHER: DiMenna has been a supporter of his alma mater, Fairfield University. A $5 million gift established the DiMenna-Nyselius Library at the school. In the past, support has also gone to Central Park Conservancy and St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
LOOKING AHEAD: Of late, Harlem Children’s Zone has been the main (if not sole) beneficiary of DiMenna’s annual grantmaking, and he has not indicated any change in plans on the horizon.
CONTACT:
The DiMenna Foundation does not provide a clear avenue for grantseekers to get in touch with the couple, but an address is below
The DiMenna Foundation
10 E. 67th Street
New York, NY 10065
