# Morris Goldseker Foundation

Morris Goldseker Foundation is an Endowment / Foundation based in Baltimore, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation
- **Headquarters:** Baltimore, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Baltimore, MD, United States
- **Founded:** 1975
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** goldsekerfoundation.org
- **LinkedIn:** https://goldsekerfoundation.org/

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Morris Goldseker Foundation was established in 1975 from the estate of Baltimore real estate investor Morris Goldseker, beginning its grantmaking the following year. Sharna Goldseker, Morris's great-niece, now chairs the board, while day-to-day operations are led by President & CEO Matthew Gallagher, the former chief of staff to Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. The founding chairman, Sheldon Goldseker — Morris's nephew — passed away in 2023, marking the close of a half-century of direct family oversight. The foundation executes a place-based strategy almost entirely within Baltimore, mixing neighborhood-level community development, education funding, and nonprofit capacity-building. It operates a program-related investment (PRI) portfolio alongside traditional grants, using instruments designed to recycle capital into local projects including the Parity West Baltimore housing initiative and mixed-use revitalization through ReBUILD Metro. Institutional advisory relationships with Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, and The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore help anchor its selection process. While the foundation does not publicly disclose its asset total, it maintains a physical headquarters at 1040 Park Avenue in Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood — the Symphony Center — and participates in the Maryland Philanthropy Network, where it was a founding member formerly known as the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers. Sharna Goldseker separately built 21/64, a national nonprofit consultancy that trains philanthropic families and advisors on next-generation governance, giving her a dual role as local funder and field-level influence broker. Structurally, the foundation is unusually insular: a single-city mandate governed by a family chair and an executive director drawn from state government, with no outside wealth-management CIO or multi-asset outsourcing disclosed. Its grantee partnerships with Johns Hopkins and Morgan State function as a standing advisory network rather than a formal investment committee — a governance model that reinforces its identity as a Baltimore institution first.

## Sectors

- Community Development
- Education
- Nonprofit Organizational Development

## People

- Sharna Goldseker — Chair of the Board
- Matthew D. Gallagher — President & CEO

## Questions

### Who makes investment decisions at the Morris Goldseker Foundation?

Grantmaking and program-related investment decisions are executed by the foundation's professional staff under President & CEO Matthew Gallagher, with board oversight from Chair Sharna Goldseker. The foundation does not appear to employ a dedicated chief investment officer or outsource asset management to an OCIO, reflecting its relatively modest scale and program-first orientation. The advisory selection committee, which includes representatives from Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University, provides institutional input on grantee selection.

### How is the foundation connected to 21/64?

Sharna Goldseker, the foundation's board chair, is the founder of 21/64, a independent nonprofit practice that advises philanthropic families on multigenerational engagement and governance. While 21/64 operates separately from the Goldseker Foundation, the two share DNA: 21/64 gives Goldseker a national platform on family philanthropy, while the foundation itself remains rooted in Baltimore grantmaking. Goldseker is also a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow, appearing in that capacity alongside her foundation and 21/64 roles.

### What is a program-related investment, and how does the foundation use them?

Program-related investments are below-market loans or equity investments that count toward a foundation's distribution requirement while also generating potential return of capital. The Goldseker Foundation maintains a PRI portfolio targeting Baltimore real estate and community development projects, including Parity West Baltimore and ReBUILD Metro mixed-use revitalizations. These vehicles allow the foundation to recycle capital locally rather than expending it in one-time grants.

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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