Erwin Rautenberg Foundation

Erwin Rautenberg Foundation

The Erwin Rautenberg Foundation is a private philanthropic entity created to deploy the wealth generated by Erwin Rautenberg's shipping and logistics enterprise, Air-Sea Forwarders, Inc. Operating from Santa Monica, the foundation's mandate is focused almost exclusively on strengthening Jewish causes, with a grantmaking footprint concentrated in Los Angeles, Israel, and select national programs. Thomas B. Corby, a longtime accountant and confidant of the founder, serves as President, a structure typical of closely held foundations where the founder's trusted advisor, rather than a next-generation family member, holds operational control. Unlike foundations that diversify aggressively across asset classes, the Rautenberg Foundation's corpus appears anchored by its founder's original commercial real estate holdings and liquid assets. Grantmaking targets Jewish education, human services, and leadership development. A signature initiative is the Rautenberg New Leaders Project, operated in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, which identifies and cultivates emerging lay leaders. The foundation does not operate a public website or solicit unsolicited proposals, a posture common among private non-operating foundations that already maintain a curated pipeline of grantees. No public-facing fund commitments or direct-investment programs are known. The foundation's operational structure outsources significant administrative and grantmaking advisory functions to the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, where President & CEO Marvin I. Schotland also holds a board seat at the Rautenberg Foundation. This interlocking relationship centralizes investment strategy and philanthropic vetting under a single institutional partner, a model that reduces internal staffing needs. Total assets are estimated at approximately $56 million based on recent filings, placing it in the mid-tier of private family foundations nationally. The foundation distinguishes itself structurally by outsourcing both investment management and grantmaking intelligence to an external community foundation partner—an arrangement more common among small-to-midsize private foundations seeking to avoid the operational drag of a standalone staff.