# The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation is an Endowment / Foundation based in New York, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation - **Headquarters:** New York, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** 375 Park Avenue, Suite 3601, New York, NY 10152, United States - **Founded:** 1955 - **Assets under management:** $647M (Altss estimate) ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Founded in 1955 by Horace W. Goldsmith, the foundation channels the fortune he built through H. W. Goldsmith and Company, a New York investment partnership. The foundation's grantmaking concentrates on cultural institutions, Jewish and Israeli charitable organizations, hospitals, and higher education. It operates without a public website or fundraising apparatus, reflecting an institutional preference for privacy and direct relationships over visibility. The foundation's investment engine runs on a mix of public equities, fixed income, and a pronounced buyout allocation. Direct real estate anchors the portfolio — most visibly, the Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue, a trophy office tower that houses the foundation's own offices on the 36th floor. The buyout sleeve concentrates on middle-market and growth equity managers, favoring long-duration partnerships over rapid fund cycling. The foundation does not disclose a formal geographic mandate, but its grantmaking and real estate holdings remain centered in New York and the Northeastern United States, with programmatic giving extending to Israel-based organizations. Day-to-day oversight rests with William A. Slaughter as CEO and Charles L. Slaughter as CFO, a family-linked leadership structure that has held steady for decades. The foundation previously counted Goldman Sachs senior directors Richard L. Menschel and Robert B. Menschel as trustees, connecting it to a wider network of institutional investment thinking. The Slaughter family's governance extends into cultural and educational boardrooms: William Slaughter serves as a trustee of the Barnes Foundation and the National Constitution Center, while Charles Slaughter sits on the Yale School of Management Board of Advisors. Adjacent philanthropic vehicles — the Charina Endowment Fund and the Vital Projects Fund — operate alongside the Goldsmith Foundation, sharing a trustee lineage and an address at the Seagram Building. The foundation's defining structural choice is its refusal to solicit outside capital. Unlike university endowments or community foundations that balance donor intent with fundraising, the Goldsmith Foundation's entire grantmaking budget is produced internally by its own portfolio. That closed-loop model — no donors, no fundraising team, no public reporting beyond the IRS Form 990-PF — makes it a pure expression of endowment investing, answerable only to its trustees and the original wealth creator's mandate. ## Sectors - Education - Healthcare Services - Real Estate ## People - William A. Slaughter — Managing Director and CEO - Charles L. Slaughter — Managing Director and CFO ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation? William A. Slaughter, the foundation's Managing Director and CEO, oversees the investment portfolio alongside CFO Charles L. Slaughter. The foundation has historically maintained ties to Goldman Sachs through former trustees Richard L. Menschel and Robert B. Menschel, but day-to-day investment management and manager selection rests with the Slaughters, who direct allocations across public equities, buyout funds, and direct real estate. ### Does the foundation own the Seagram Building outright? The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation holds a controlling interest in the Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue and maintains its offices on the 36th floor. The landmark Mies van der Rohe tower, completed in 1958, represents the most significant single asset on the foundation's balance sheet and produces material rental income that contributes to the endowment's annual grantmaking capacity. ### What is the foundation's relationship to the Charina Endowment Fund and the Vital Projects Fund? The Charina Endowment Fund and the Vital Projects Fund are separate philanthropic vehicles that share a trustee lineage with the Goldsmith Foundation. Richard L. Menschel served as chairman of the Charina Endowment Fund, and Robert B. Menschel chaired the Vital Projects Fund until his death in 2022. All three entities operated from the Seagram Building at times, but they remain legally distinct with independent grantmaking programs and investment portfolios. ### Does the foundation accept grant applications from the public? The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation does not maintain a public website, issue requests for proposals, or outline a publicly accessible grant application process. Its giving operates through direct relationships with institutions, concentrating on performing arts, museums, hospitals, and universities — primarily in the Northeastern United States and Israel — making unsolicited outreach effectively impossible. ## Related profiles - [College of the Ozarks](https://altss.com/profile/college-of-the-ozarks) - [United States Holocaust Memorial Museum](https://altss.com/profile/united-states-holocaust-memorial-museum-ushmm) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/the-horace-w-goldsmith-foundation Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology