Keren Keshet - The Rainbow Foundation

Keren Keshet - The Rainbow Foundation

Keren Keshet - The Rainbow Foundation was established in 1999 by financier Zalman Chaim Bernstein, the founder of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., and is currently led by his widow, Mem Dryan Bernstein. The foundation's corpus originates from the sale proceeds of the Bernstein research and investment management firm, which built a reputation for rigorous, independent equity analysis on Wall Street. The foundation operates as a private philanthropy, distinct in structure from the better-known AVI CHAI Foundation, which Zalman Bernstein also endowed. Keren Keshet deploys capital across two distinct tracks. Its grant-making arm supports Jewish educational and cultural programs, focusing on cultivating Jewish leadership in the United States, Israel, and the former Soviet Union. In parallel, the foundation pursues a direct buyout investment strategy, allocating to private Israeli companies. Confirmed positions have included healthcare and biotech ventures such as BrainsWay, a neurostimulation device company, where the foundation invested alongside prominent co-investor Michael Steinhardt. The geographic footprint of its mission-driven capital centers on New York, Jerusalem, and communities across the former Soviet Union. The foundation maintains a lean operational profile managed from New York, with trustees including longtime Bernstein advisor Arthur W. Fried. Its known real asset holdings include a commercial property at 1210 Scott Street in San Francisco, home to the Jewish Community High School of the Bay, and participation in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Acquisition Fund. The foundation is a member of Philanthropy New York, the regional association of grantmakers. In recent years, the philanthropic side of the enterprise has continued its quiet support of initiatives that strengthen Jewish identity, reflecting the founder's stated lifelong commitment to the Jewish people. The foundation's dual mandate — direct private-equity-style investment in Israeli industry paired with traditional grant-making to Jewish nonprofits — sets it apart from most endowed philanthropies. Rather than outsourcing the endowment to external managers and focusing solely on charitable distributions, Keren Keshet actively participates in buyout rounds, aligning its investment activity with a broader mission to support Israel's economic and technological development. This blended model, governed by a tight group of trustees closely linked to the founder, makes its capital both philanthropic and catalytic.