# Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust is an Endowment / Foundation based in Larkspur, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation - **Headquarters:** Larkspur, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Larkspur, CA, United States - **Founded:** 2006 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** beckertrust.org - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/newton-and-rochelle-becker-charitable-trust ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About 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. ## Sectors - Energy Transition & Renewables - Education ## People - Newton Becker — Founder - Rochelle Becker — Founder - David Becker — Managing Trustee and Executive Director - Jason Porth — Executive Director and President ## Questions ### What is the wealth origin of the Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust? The trust's assets originate from two parallel careers of its founder, Newton Becker. He built the Becker CPA Review Course, a major professional-education business, and later served as lead investor and Chairman of Luz International, an early pioneer in utility-scale solar-thermal power plants. The combination of educational-services cash flows and renewable-energy exits provided the capital base for the trust's formation in 2006. ### Is the Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust related to the Becker CPA Review Course today? No, the trust is a separate philanthropic entity and does not hold an ownership stake in the Becker CPA Review Course. The course, which Newton Becker founded, was sold to Devry Inc. long before the trust's formation. The trust was funded by the liquidity event from that sale and other ventures, but it operates independently as a California grantmaking foundation with no operational tie to the professional-education business. ### What is the trust's posture on program-related investments or mission-related investing? The trust files as a private foundation and its publicly observable activity is almost entirely categorized by grantmaking, not direct venture investments. While its Altss internal strategy tags reference venture capital, there is no public disclosure of a formal program-related investment (PRI) allocation or a venture-style portfolio. An allocator should anticipate that the balance sheet overwhelmingly consists of traditional grant-making distributions rather than a blended impact-investing book. ## Related profiles - [IUPAT DC5](https://altss.com/profile/iupat-dc5) - [Tuskegee University](https://altss.com/profile/tuskegee-university) --- Last updated: 2026-07-06T00:36:39.131Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/newton-rochelle-becker-charitable-trust Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology