# Mark and Anla Cheng Kingdon Foundation

Mark and Anla Cheng Kingdon Foundation is an Endowment / Foundation based in New York, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation
- **Headquarters:** New York, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** New York, NY, United States
- **Founded:** 1997
- **Assets under management:** ~$219M (Altss estimate)
- **Website:** markandanlachengkingdonfoundation.org

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Mark E. Kingdon founded Kingdon Capital Management in 1983, growing it into one of New York's durable hedge fund franchises. He and Anla Cheng established the foundation in 1997, channeling a portion of the wealth generated by the firm into a dedicated philanthropic vehicle. The foundation's grantmaking concentrates on higher education, arts and culture, and human services, reflecting the couple's long-standing institutional affiliations: Mark Kingdon is a Trustee Emeritus and former Vice Chair of the Columbia University Board of Trustees, while Anla Cheng serves as Vice Chair of the China Institute and was elected to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Board of Trustees in 2025. The foundation's investment portfolio mirrors the Kingdon family's multi-asset-class DNA. Confirmed exposures span hedge funds — including a position in the Kingdon Offshore Master Fund — private equity, venture capital, secondaries, and special situations. The foundation has also allocated to digital assets through a Pantera Bitcoin Fund position and maintains precious metals exposure via the iShares Silver Trust. The Kingdons operate from a distinct New York footprint that includes a residential penthouse at 1107 Fifth Avenue and a commercial office at Carnegie Hall Tower. Anla Cheng, who founded the Serica Initiative to strengthen US-China understanding, is a prominent member and former trustee of the Committee of 100 and serves as Vice Chair of The Nature Conservancy's Asia Pacific Council. Their daughter, Jessica Kingdon, is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker — a creative throughline that complements the foundation's arts and culture grantmaking. Structurally, the foundation is unusual in its willingness to commit philanthropic capital to venture-stage startups and digital-asset funds alongside traditional hedge fund allocations. While most private foundations hew to conservative, income-oriented portfolios, the Kingdon Foundation's active-investment posture — deploying into early-stage companies, distressed debt, and crypto funds — places it closer to a family office in risk appetite, even as it retains a 501(c)(3) tax wrapper. This blurring of philanthropic and opportunistic investment logic is the foundation's defining architectural feature.

## Sectors

- Hedge Funds
- Private Equity
- Secondaries & Special Situations
- Startups

## People

- Mark E. Kingdon — Founder
- Anla Cheng — Founder

## Questions

### Which sectors does the foundation explicitly avoid?

No explicit sector exclusions are publicly documented. The foundation's grantmaking and investment patterns suggest an emphasis on financial services (via Kingdon Capital exposure), technology (via venture and digital assets), and arts and culture (via Anla Cheng's board roles and the couple's contemporary Chinese art collection). Hard-negative screens — such as fossil fuel divestment or defense exclusions — have not been publicly articulated.

## Related profiles

- [Community Foundation of Collier County](https://altss.com/profile/community-foundation-of-collier-county)
- [The Collins Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/the-collins-foundation)

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Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/mark-and-anla-cheng-kingdon-foundation

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