# Moriah Fund

Moriah Fund 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:** 1985
- **Assets under management:** $72 million (Altss estimate)
- **Website:** moriahfund.org
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-moriah-fund

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Moriah Fund was established in 1985 by Robert and Clarence Efroymson, channeling the family's Midwestern retail and real estate fortune into what became a dual-purpose vehicle: a traditional Tikkun Olam grantmaker alongside a direct-venture portfolio generating returns to replenish the grants budget. Mary Ann Stein, Robert's daughter and Gideon's mother, served as founding president for 34 years before stepping into the chairwoman emerita role upon her death in 2023. The foundation operates from a single floor at 57 Warren Street in Tribeca. The fund's investment posture is unusual for a private foundation its size. Rather than outsourcing to external managers, Moriah directly deploys into venture capital — confirmed through a strategy classification spanning multiple general venture exposures and a portfolio footprint that includes the commercial asset Argyle Holdings LLC in Northern Manhattan. The geographic aperture is dual-track: domestic US real assets and venture stakes sit alongside a grantmaking program focused on civic engagement, education, and women's rights in the US, Israel, and globally. The foundation's scale is lean: roughly $72 million in assets, run by a tight family-governance structure with Gideon Stein as president, Dorothy Stein as secretary, and no publicly listed investment staff beyond the board. Adjacent to Moriah, the family maintains the Efroymson Family Fund — a separate philanthropic vehicle — and has left its mark on the Midwest through the Efroymson Family Entrance Pavilion at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The family's network footprint extends through Mary Ann Stein's long presidencies at the New Israel Fund and Americans for Peace Now, and through Robert Stein's founding role at Democracy Alliance — connections that shaped Moriah's grantmaking partnerships but appear separate from its investment decision-making. What distinguishes Moriah structurally is its endowment-as-VC strategy: rather than applying the typical 5 percent payout rule to a market-indexed portfolio, the foundation directly pursues venture returns, effectively running its corpus like a family office while operating under foundation tax rules. This hybrid design means grantmaking capacity is directly tied to the venture book's performance — a feedback loop that imposes discipline on both sides of the house and makes Gideon Stein, in practice, the chief investment officer of a $72 million perpetual fund for social justice.

## People

- Gideon Stein — President
- Mary Ann Stein — Founding President and Chairwoman Emerita
- Robert Efroymson — Co-founder
- Clarence Efroymson — Co-founder
- Dorothy Stein — Board Member and Secretary

## Questions

### How does the Moriah Fund generate the capital it grants out?

Unlike most foundations that outsource endowment management, Moriah directly invests its corpus in venture capital — the internal research record tags six distinct venture strategy classifications across what is roughly a $72 million asset base (Altss estimate). It also holds direct commercial real estate, including interests in Northern Manhattan through Argyle Holdings LLC.

### How is the Moriah Fund related to the Efroymson Family Fund?

Both are separate philanthropic entities tied to the Efroymson family. The Efroymson Family Fund operates as a distinct vehicle, and the founders — Robert and Clarence Efroymson — seeded the Moriah Fund in 1985 with Mary Ann Stein as its founding president. No public source describes a shared staff or shared investment committee between the two entities.

## Related profiles

- [Morehead State University Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/morehead-state-university-foundation)
- [Peterson Institute for International Economics](https://altss.com/profile/peterson-institute-for-international-economics)

---

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

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/moriah-fund-inc

Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology