The Eisner Foundation

The Eisner Foundation

Michael Eisner created The Eisner Foundation in 1996 with his wife Jane, two years before stepping down as CEO of Disney. Jane Eisner, a former editor, took the presidency, while Michael's entertainment proceeds — including income from his private investment firm, Tornante Company — seeded the endowment. The foundation operates from Beverly Hills and limits its institutional footprint to Los Angeles County and New York City, re-granting to organizations with demonstrable intergenerational programs. Unlike most foundations that separate youth and aging grantmaking, Eisner mandates that both populations must be served within the same program. The portfolio spans early childhood education, elder services, arts access, and community development — but only where grantees connect generations under one roof. The foundation makes both program-related grants and, more recently, mission-aligned investments in ventures that advance intergenerational models. In recent years it has funded The Motion Picture & Television Fund's childcare and elder care integration, as well as ONEgeneration, an Encino-based organization that combines adult day care and child development on a single campus. Geographic focus remains tight: Southern California organizations dominate, with select New York City partners included through the Eisner family's bi-coastal networks. Trent Stamp has led daily operations as CEO since 2008. Under Stamp, the foundation has professionalized its grantmaking while maintaining the Eisners' hands-on involvement — Jane Eisner remains President and an active program reviewer. The foundation holds roughly $170 million (Altss estimate) and is not structured as a multi-family office; there are no known LPs beyond the Eisner family. Stamp has embedded the foundation in broader philanthropy infrastructure: he chairs the Audit Committee of Southern California Grantmakers and sits on the Advisory Board of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging. Michael Eisner maintains separate investment vehicles through Tornante, and the foundation operates independently of those private-market pursuits. Campus-adjacent real estate includes the foundation's Beverly Hills headquarters and the Eisner Malibu Estate, though neither houses program operations. Structurally, The Eisner Foundation anchors its legitimacy not in check size but in thematic purity — it is among the largest US foundations exclusively committed to intergenerational programming. While most peers treat intergenerational grants as a subcategory, Eisner's 990s confirm that nearly all of its giving flows through the same dual-focus screen. Succession intent remains family-led: Stacey Bendet, founder of Alice + Olivia and daughter-in-law to the Eisners, represents board continuity into the next generation. This singular mandate, combined with formal ties to Grantmakers in Aging and Generations United, positions the foundation less as a passive disbursement engine and more as a policy advocate for generational integration.