SOURCE OF WEALTH: Keystone Group
FUNDING AREAS: Education & Youth, Health & Human Services, Texas Community
OVERVIEW: Robert and Anne Bass conduct their philanthropy through the Anne T. & Robert M. Bass Foundation. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded over $2.6 million in grants in 2017 and over $13 million from 2014 to 2017. The couple’s giving prioritizes education and human services, centering around the Fort Worth area. They are also supporters of the arts.
BACKGROUND: Born in 1948, Fort Worth native Robert M. Bass graduated from Yale University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 1959, he inherited $2.8 million from his uncle, oil tycoon Sid Richardson. He began his business career at Wells Fargo Bank and returned to Fort Worth after graduating from Stanford. Bass is president of Keystone Group, where he is responsible for investments in securities, financial services, manufacturing, information services, real estate, oil, and gas. He is also founding partner of the Oak Hill Venture Partners and chairman of Aerion Corporation.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Robert and Anne both hold degrees from Stanford and have given $30 million to the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The family has also supported Duke University, which one of their children attended. They gave $10 million to the school in the 1990s and later created Bass Connections, a program designed to encourage interdisciplinary study and collaboration between the university’s students and faculty with a $50 million gift. The couple has supported Rockefeller University and Anne’s undergraduate alma mater, Smith College, home to the Bass Chair in Earth Systems and GeoSciences.
Apart from higher education, the couple have given particularly strong support to Brite Divinity School (home to the Bass Conference Center), Middlesex School, and Trinity Valley School, the recent recipient of a seven-figure gift. Anne is an honorary trustee of Brite Divinity. Robert and Anne are Middlesex School parents and pledged $25 million to the school. They have also shown support for nonprofits such as Boys & Girls Clubs, Gill Children’s Services, and Woodside School Foundation.
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: The Bass foundation has supported Salvation Army, The Women’s Center of Tarrant County, United Community Centers, Presbyterian Night Shelter, and James L. West Alzheimer Center.
TEXAS COMMUNITY: The Basses have supported arts and cultural institutions such as Texas Ballet Theater, on whose board Bass and Anne both serve. They have helped fund All Saints Episcopal Church.
OTHER: In recent years, Bass has made several sizable donations to Jackson Laboratory, a medical research institute in Bar Harbor, Maine.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the couple’s steady giving to continue tracking with these interests. Down the line, the next generation of Bass giving may show new directions.
CONTACT:
Anne T. & Robert M. Bass Foundation
201 Main Street, No 2300
Fort Worth, TX 76102
