The Jane & Daniel Och Family Foundation

The Jane & Daniel Och Family Foundation

The Jane and Daniel Och Family Foundation was founded in 2008 as a private, grant-making 501(c)(3) organization, created by the founder of Och-Ziff Capital Management and his wife. The foundation's stated mission covers religious, educational, charitable, scientific, and literary purposes, but its grant-making pattern is concentrated: education and healthcare organizations receive the bulk of its annual distributions. Unlike many hedge-fund founders who build sprawling family offices, Och deliberately separated his investment activities — housed in Willoughby Capital — from the foundation's charitable mandate, though the boundary is porous enough that the foundation itself reports venture capital exposure. The foundation's investment strategy spans grant-making and direct venture allocations. While the foundation does not disclose its portfolio, Och's broader family-office network and the foundation's tax filings confirm deployment into venture capital strategies that complement the grant-making program. The foundation supports religious and educational institutions — consistent with the Ochs' long-standing relationships with Birthright Israel Foundation and the Robin Hood Foundation. The geographic focus is primarily domestic, with concentrations in New York and New Jersey, though grant recipients include organizations with international programs. Unlike a pure private foundation, the entity retains some investment posture, making it a hybrid charitable-investment vehicle. Daniel Och's personal net worth was estimated by Forbes at $3.7 billion as of 2021, built from the 1994 founding of Och-Ziff and its 2007 IPO. His investment arm, Willoughby Capital, operates separately, but the foundation's $500 million–$600 million in assets places it in a cohort of mid-size institutional grant-makers. The Ochs maintain deep ties to New York's philanthropic circuit: Daniel is Vice Chair of the Robin Hood Foundation and a Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art. Properties held include units at 220 Central Park South and 15 Central Park West, a Meadow Lane estate in Southampton, and a Miami Beach residence. A Bombardier Global 6000 is registered to the family. In 2019, Och stepped down as CEO of what was then Och-Ziff (renamed Sculptor) following a multi-year bribery investigation, but retained control of the foundation and his personal investment vehicles. The structural differentiator of the Och foundation is its architecture as a grant-making 501(c)(3) that simultaneously holds venture investments — a hybrid few peers replicate. Most hedge-fund founders concentrate charitable activity in donor-advised funds or pure foundations; Och's approach creates an entity that can deploy patient capital into mission-aligned venture while maintaining a traditional grant program. The succession structure remains centered on Daniel and Jane Och, with no publicly named next-generation trustees or professional staff beyond the founders.