SOURCE OF WEALTH: Founder, Perry Capital
FUNDING AREAS: Education, Children, Health, Jewish Causes
OVERVIEW: Richard and Lisa Perry donate a lot of money to educational causes, as well as to nonprofits that make children’s lives better. They also support Jewish causes. They conduct some of their philanthropy through the Richard C. and Lisa N. Perry Foundation. Available tax filings reveal that the foundation did not make any grant awards in 2017.
BACKGROUND: Richard Perry graduated from Wharton School and NYU. He got his got start in investment banking start at Goldman Sachs. In 1988, he co-founded hedge fund Perry Capital, which closed in 2016. Since 2012, Perry has owned a controlling interest in Barney’s New York.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION: In 2013, Perry donated $10 million to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, to establish a the Perry World House, a hub for students, faculty, visiting scholars, and policymakers to talk about solving the world’s most pressing issues.
HEALTH: Richard Perry once stood on the lawn of his North Haven home dressed in head-to-toe pink watching paddle boats race on the Bay to raise $615,000 for breast cancer research. He and wife Lisa hosted the fundraiser along with breast cancer survivor Maria Baum and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). They got big names in finance and design to attend and fork over sizable donations.
CHILDREN: Perry also has a deep concern for education in underserved New York neighborhoods. He was on the board at Harlem Children’s Zone, which works to strengthen pre-K through college education for Harlem youth. He also has board seats at the Allen Stevenson School (of which he is an alumnus), and UPenn. He gives to Facing History and Ourselves, an organization that sends educators into schools to combat racism, antisemitism, and prejudice by teaching the history of the holocaust and other contemporary genocides.
JEWISH CAUSES: Via their Richard C. and Lisa N. Perry Foundation, the Perrys direct steady donations to UJA Federation of New York. Other grantees have included Birthright Israel Foundation. Perry was also on the board and has supported The Israel Project, a D.C. based organization that serves “media, policymakers, and the public” by providing current information on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as neighboring countries.
LOOKING FORWARD: Born in 1955, it looks like Perry will choose a slow retirement. He may continue to focus on accumulating wealth for some years before he turns all his energy to philanthropy, but he still finds time to lend his weight to many causes.
CONTACT:
The Richard C. and Lisa N. Perry Foundation does not have a clear avenue for approaching the couple for support, but an address is provided below:
130 E 59TH ST 7TH FLR RM 726
NEW YORK, NY 10022
