Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation

Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation

The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation was created in 1948 by Morris Cafritz, a Washington real estate developer, and his wife Gwendolyn. Their son Calvin Cafritz served as chairman until his death in 2023; his widow Jane Lipton Cafritz now holds the roles of chairman, president, and CEO. The foundation remains the largest private grantmaker focused solely on the District of Columbia metro area. Grantmaking covers five program areas and totals roughly $20 million per year. The foundation supplements distributions with net rental income from commercial properties it owns outright, including 1825 K Street NW, 1725 Eye Street NW, 1310 L Street NW, and 3701 N Fairfax Drive in Arlington. Additional holdings include the Art Place at Fort Totten mixed-use project and a joint-venture interest in Riverdale Park Station in Maryland. These assets sit alongside a small historical equity position in UniCredit S.p.A. recorded in 2010 filings. Sixteen staff manage operations from a single office in Washington. The foundation maintains memberships in Grantmakers in the Arts and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. It also holds service relationships with Colliers for leasing, Bank of America for investment advice, Ivins Phillips & Barker for legal counsel, and State Street Bank as custodian. No material governance or personnel changes have occurred in the past twenty-four months. Ownership of operating real estate companies Calvin Cafritz Enterprises and The Cafritz Company creates a direct link between property performance and charitable distributions. This structure separates the foundation from typical endowments that rely on external managers and instead ties payout capacity to in-house asset management.