The Zeist Foundation

The Zeist Foundation

George and Jean Brumley established The Zeist Foundation in 1989 as a vehicle for family philanthropy in Atlanta, Georgia. Their daughters, Co-Presidents Nancy Brumley Robitaille and Marie Brumley Foster, have led the foundation into its second generation, with third-generation members Nicholas Foster and Harrison Hackett now serving on the board. The foundation maintains an estimated $239 million endowment (Altss estimate), focused on improving outcomes for children and youth. The foundation pairs grantmaking with direct community investments. Its stated focus areas are education, healthcare, and arts and culture for underserved children in the Atlanta region. On the investment side, the endowment pursues a broad mandate including buyout, growth equity, early-stage venture, distressed debt, natural resources, and fund-of-fund commitments. Direct holdings include a residential property and a mixed-use community learning center on Hardee Street in Atlanta's Edgewood neighborhood, where the foundation has concentrated community-development capital. The foundation operates from its own commercial office at 3715 Northside Parkway NW. Management-side personnel include Treasurer and Director R. Brad Foster and professional staff member Eileen Higgins, who participates in the Family Office Exchange Senior Management Council and the Atlanta Estate Planning Council. The foundation also maintains membership in the Southeastern Council of Foundations and the National Center for Family Philanthropy. Recent regulatory filings confirm a steady annual grant footprint in the low eight figures, weighted toward Atlanta-based charter schools, health clinics, and neighborhood arts programming. The Zeist Foundation is structurally distinct from a typical grantmaker because of the way it integrates mission-related real estate assets directly onto its balance sheet. It owns and operates a residential cooperative through Mayson Avenue Cooperative, LLC alongside a community garden, giving it an operational role in the neighborhood rather than a purely transactional funding posture. This blurring of philanthropy and direct community-development ownership is the foundation's strongest differentiator.