Mayer & Morris Kaplan Family Foundation

Mayer & Morris Kaplan Family Foundation

Founded in 1958 by the brothers Mayer and Morris Kaplan, the Foundation formalizes a family tradition of Tzedakah rooted in a consumer-goods enterprise built earlier in the century. The trustees, led by Anne Kaplan and Mary Hasten, have shaped a multi-generational vehicle that channels the family's wealth into structured philanthropy rather than a commercial family office. From its suite on North Clark Street, the Foundation allocates the bulk of its resources to organizations that close the gap between low-income learners and postsecondary attainment. Grantmaking clusters around educational access and environmental sustainability. The Foundation favors initiatives that put first-generation students on a path to college completion, often in partnership with Chicago-based school-research and direct-service nonprofits such as the UChicago Consortium on School Research, where it maintains a seat on the Consortium Investor Council. On the climate side, the focus tilts toward education-driven clean-energy policy — an approach that firms the link between environmental outcomes and the classroom. Public record confirms sustained support for programs in Chicago, Los Angeles, and the Rocky Mountain West. The Foundation's operations trace a lean structure: a small trustee group meets regularly to review proposals, with Anne Kaplan — Vice Chair of the Joffrey Ballet, former Board Chair of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and owner of Insight Environmental Design — providing connective tissue between the foundation's grantmaking and the family's civic and arts patronage. Mary Hasten anchors the early-childhood lane as Board Chair of Start Early. The Foundation does not disclose headcount or total deployment in public filings, but the available record reflects a grantmaking pace consistent with the estimated $23 million asset base (Altss estimate). The Foundation differs structurally from most family offices in that it operates as a pure grantmaker — it holds no direct portfolio companies, takes no equity, and reports no venture-style return targets. The investment posture is programmatic rather than transactional: the Foundation's board converts a consumer-goods inheritance into multi-year grants, with an unusual geographic triangle tying together Illinois, Southern California, and the Mountain West. Succession stays within the family's trusted-advisor circle, a governance model that preserves mission continuity without a dedicated professional staff.