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Secunda Family Foundation
Thomas and Cynthia Secunda formalized their philanthropy with the 2006 launch of the Secunda Family Foundation in New York. The wealth behind the foundation...
Secunda Family Foundation
Thomas and Cynthia Secunda formalized their philanthropy with the 2006 launch of the Secunda Family Foundation in New York. The wealth behind the foundation originates from Thomas Secunda's role as a founding partner of Bloomberg LP, the global financial-data and media company he built alongside Michael Bloomberg. The Secundas became signatories of The Giving Pledge in 2011, publicly committing to give away at least half of their wealth during their lifetimes or in their wills. Grantmaking concentrates on large-scale conservation, national and local parks, healthcare, Jewish initiatives, and artificial-intelligence research. The foundation's pattern favors direct grants to institutions rather than program-related investments or venture-philanthropy structures. Public commitments include substantial, multi-year backing of the National Parks Conservation Association, where Thomas Secunda served as Chairman of the Board, and local park restoration projects. The geographic footprint is primarily domestic, centered on New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the family maintains significant residential and recovery-related interests after the 2017 hurricanes. Team structure remains intentionally compact, with Jarrod Neal Bernstein serving as General Counsel and leading the foundation's U.S. Virgin Islands recovery effort. The Secundas operate without a sprawling investment staff; the endowment corpus, estimated at roughly $183 million, is invested through external managers rather than an in-house chief investment officer. Thomas Secunda's board seats — including the Intrepid Museum Foundation and Manhattan Theater Club — map closely to the foundation's cultural and educational grant targets, while Cynthia Secunda's involvement keeps the family's operating footprint personal. Structurally, the foundation behaves as a spend-down vehicle for a living donor rather than a perpetual institution. Its grant pace and Giving Pledge adherence mean the endowment is a transitory pool of capital, not a multi-generational store of assets — a posture that distinguishes it from foundation endowments designed to preserve principal indefinitely.
General information
Firm type
Endowment / Foundation
Year founded
2006
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Principals
Thomas Secunda
Co-Founder
Cynthia Secunda
Co-Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes the grantmaking decisions at the Secunda Family Foundation?
Thomas and Cynthia Secunda drive all major grant decisions directly, operating without a professional CEO or CIO. Jarrod Neal Bernstein serves as General Counsel and handles operational execution, including the U.S. Virgin Islands recovery work. The foundation does not publish a formal grant committee or external advisory board structure.
What is the foundation's relationship with Bloomberg Philanthropies?
There is no formal institutional overlap. Thomas Secunda co-founded Bloomberg LP with Michael Bloomberg, and both are signatories of The Giving Pledge, but the Secunda Family Foundation operates as an entirely separate entity from Bloomberg Philanthropies with its own grantmaking priorities and governance.
Does the foundation accept unsolicited grant proposals?
The foundation does not publicly solicit proposals and generally operates through curated, long-term relationships with named institutional partners such as the National Parks Conservation Association. No open application process or request-for-proposal calendar is published.
How is the foundation's endowment invested?
The endowment corpus, estimated at roughly $183 million, is managed through external managers rather than an internal investment team. The foundation has not disclosed its specific asset allocation or named its investment managers, consistent with its lean staffing model.
What is the foundation's commitment to the U.S. Virgin Islands?
The Secunda family maintains a residential presence on St. John and, through the foundation, has active recovery and conservation efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Jarrod Neal Bernstein, the foundation's General Counsel, leads those initiatives. Specific grant amounts and project partners have not been broadly publicized.
Does the foundation plan to exist in perpetuity?
No. The Secundas' 2011 Giving Pledge commitment to give away at least half their wealth implies a finite lifecycle for the foundation's corpus. The grantmaking pace and the absence of perpetual-endowment language point to a deliberate spend-down model.
Which sectors does the foundation explicitly fund?
Grants concentrate on AI research, national and local park conservation, healthcare, and Jewish communal initiatives. Thomas Secunda's board affiliations — the National Parks Conservation Association, Manhattan Theater Club, and Intrepid Museum Foundation — provide additional signal on arts, culture, and military-history causes.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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