Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust

Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust

The Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust was established in 2006 by Newton and Rochelle Becker, converting the wealth Newton generated as the founder of the Becker CPA Review Course and as Chairman of Luz International, a pioneer in utility-scale solar thermal energy. The entity operates as a California-based grantmaking foundation, directing its capital to protect democratic values and secure the future of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. For more than a decade, day-to-day oversight of the trust's giving sat with Dylan Tatz, a non-family executive, before the founder's son, David Becker, assumed the dual role of Managing Trustee and Executive Director. Jason Porth now serves concurrently as Executive Director and President. The trust's model is purely philanthropic, forgoing direct investments in favor of an entrepreneurial grantmaking approach. Its annual distribution supports more than 100 grantees, spreading capital across programs that span advocacy, community-building, and policy work rather than a narrow single-issue portfolio. The funding footprint is concentrated in the United States and Israel, with grants flowing to organizations that promote a democratic, pluralistic society in Israel and counter antisemitic threats in American institutions. The trust is a prominent member of the Jewish Funders Network, using that platform to syndicate learning and co-funding opportunities with other major Jewish philanthropies. The trust operates from Larkspur, California, alongside a sister entity, the Newton D. & Rochelle F. Becker Foundation, blurring the lines between a traditional foundation and a family office's giving arm. With no known external limited partners and no formal AUM publicly disclosed, the Beckers maintain tight control over both investment assets and grant selection. David Becker's leadership anchors the foundation in the family's original mission while adapting grantmaking to respond to current events in Israel and on American campuses. The structural distinction of the Becker Trust lies in its origin story: it monetized the intangibles of a CPA-review empire and the tangible assets of an early renewable-energy hardware company to fund a focused ideological mission. Unlike diversified multi-family offices, the trust's architecture shows no separation between the investment portfolio and the grantmaking function—the entire vehicle exists to convert a single family's wealth into structured, high-impact, mission-driven philanthropy. Succession planning has moved the executive suite from an external professional to a family member, signaling a deliberate tightening of governance around the founding intent.