Children's Aid Society Endowment Fund

Children's Aid Society Endowment Fund

The Children's Aid Society Endowment Fund was established in 1994 to provide a permanent source of financial stability for The Children's Aid Society, a nonprofit founded by Charles Loring Brace in 1853 to serve New York City's orphaned and vulnerable children. Phoebe Boyer, who became President and CEO in 2014 after serving as Executive Director of the Robertson Foundation, leads the organization and stewards the endowment alongside a board that includes Richard R. Buery, Jr., former CEO of the Society and current CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, and Matt Fassler, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs. The endowment supports a broad array of direct-service programs spanning foster care, community schools, health clinics, and youth development. Assets are managed to fund these operations, with a significant portion of the corpus tied to a real estate portfolio that includes commercial buildings and mixed-use properties across Manhattan and the Bronx — notably the headquarters at 117 West 124th Street and the Elizabeth Home for Girls in the East Village. Brace Memorial Farm in Westchester County represents a land asset historically used for educational and recreational programming. The investment posture is fundamentally aligned with sustaining these physical and programmatic assets in perpetuity. While specific deployment figures are not publicly disclosed, the endowment's estimated $342 million asset base (Altss estimate) is woven into the operational fabric of an organization that serves over 40,000 children and families annually. The board's Real Estate Committee, chaired by Anne Jeffries Citrin, signals the importance of direct property oversight within the portfolio. In May 2024, the Society completed a renovation of its headquarters to expand community-school space, illustrating how capital projects flow from the endowment's real-asset base. The organization maintains professional network ties through memberships in the Association for a Better New York and the Human Services Council, reinforcing operational governance without formal co-investment structures. The endowment's structural distinction lies in its deep integration with a multi-service charity that operates over 45 sites across New York City. Unlike many foundations that are primarily grant-making entities, this fund is anchored by a physically owned operational footprint — school buildings, clinics, and shelter homes — that directly houses the programs it finances. The governance structure, with real estate expertise embedded at the trustee level, creates a hybrid model where asset management is inseparable from the physical delivery of social services.