The Zegar Family Foundation

The Zegar Family Foundation

Established in 2007 in New York, the Zegar Family Foundation channels wealth created by Charles Zegar, a co-founder of Bloomberg L.P. Alongside co-founder and managing director Merryl Snow Zegar, the foundation structures its giving around a commitment to measurable, tangible impact, a direct reflection of the data-driven culture at the terminal company that generated the underlying wealth. The foundation pursues a buyout-oriented investment strategy, directing capital toward initiatives where its gifts can create significant leverage. While specific portfolio company names are not publicly detailed, this approach implies concentrated, transformative investments rather than broad-based, smaller grants. Geographic deployment remains rooted in New York, though the foundation's mandate extends to global causes where its resources can make a meaningful difference. With an Altss-estimated corpus of $219M, the foundation operates as a lean entity. Since 2010, Charles and Merryl Zegar have been signatories of The Giving Pledge, committing the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. The foundation maintains memberships in Philanthropy New York and the Council on Foundations, placing it within a community of strategic institutional givers. No recent operational events, such as new hires or major grant cycles, could be verified from public sources. Structurally, the foundation's identity is inseparable from the Bloomberg co-founder ecosystem — Charles Zegar, Michael Bloomberg, Thomas Secunda, and Duncan MacMillan — a cohort of technologists who each built distinct philanthropic vehicles. The Zegar foundation operates with a lean, family-led governance model that prioritizes direct oversight over a large institutional staff, distinguishing it from larger, more bureaucratic peers.