The Tow Foundation

The Tow Foundation

Leonard and Claire Tow established the foundation in 1988 after building Century Communications and related carriers. Leonard served as chairman until his death in 2025. Emily Tow, their daughter, became president and has led grant strategy since the early 2000s. The endowment originated from the sale of cable and telephone assets, with Frontier Communications and AMC Networks positions traceable to that history. The foundation allocates across public equities, corporate bonds, and government securities, with reported holdings of $123 million in stocks and $82 million in bonds as of the 2023 990-PF. It also maintains limited-partner positions in Golub Capital and Citibank offshore vehicles. Grant deployment spans the United States, with repeated commitments to New York institutions including Barnard College, Brooklyn College, and Columbia University. Co-investments occur through direct gifts rather than fund commitments, and the foundation has supported Bard Prison Initiative and New York Genome Center programs. Nineteen staff manage operations from the New Canaan headquarters. Emily Tow joined the board of Exponent Philanthropy and previously chaired Philanthropy New York. In March 2025 she spoke at the PEAK2025 convening on evaluation methods for justice-focused philanthropy. The foundation signed the Giving Pledge in 2012 and received the Council on Foundations Critical Impact Award in 2008. Family trustees retain voting control over grant approvals while day-to-day investment execution sits with Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch Trust. This separation keeps capital allocation inside the family yet outsources custody and manager selection to regulated banks, a structure that has remained stable across two generations.