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KORET FOUNDATION
The Impact of Strategic Philanthropy
ABOUT KORET
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Seeded with the estates of Joseph and Stephanie Koret, whose Koret of
California sportswear line was a leader in women’s fashion, the Koret
Foundation plays an essential role in creating positive impact through
strategic philanthropy.
For more than 30 years, the Koret Foundation has been guided by a
commitment to funding innovative programs that make a lasting difference in the communities we serve.
Guided by our entrepreneurial spirit, we focus on core program areas,
including education; economic development in Israel; arts, culture, and
civic institutions; and Jewish Peoplehood.
At Koret, we work to find and fund lasting solutions that help communities
thrive. Our collaborative approach leverages our giving and empowers
organizations to develop creative solutions to challenges facing our
community. To us, that is the true impact of strategic philanthropy.
“…the Koret Foundation plays
an essential role in creating
positive impact through
strategic philanthropy.”
Koret Board President Tad Taube and Foundation
Founder Joseph Koret, 1979
2007 Koret Prize Winner
Elie Wiesel
The Koret Foundation is symbolic of my belief that individual acts of
goodness can help change the world.
verse by Isaiah, a cadence by Shakespeare, or the elegance of an idea
by Plato. Learning, therefore, is what brings people together.
The Koret Foundation honored me with its Koret Prize in 2007. I join
those whose lives have been touched by the Foundation in marking
our gratitude to this wonderful organization and its significant accomplishments over the past three decades. Gratitude is a sentiment that
I cherish. Gratitude helps define our humanity, and as beneficiaries
of the Foundation’s positive impact, we should share our gratitude to
Joseph and Stephanie Koret, Susan Koret, Tad Taube, and the
Foundation’s board members for their many accomplishments.
The Koret Foundation is at the forefront of bringing people together
through its educational initiatives. Koret’s Task Force on K-12
Education has raised the bar, demonstrating the important changes
that must be made to help our young people to be great thinkers —
today and in the future. The Task Force’s action-oriented recommendations will have a positive impact on pedagogy at a national level
for decades to come.
What sets the Koret Foundation apart is its unwavering effort to find
long-lasting solutions that improve people’s lives. From education to
the economy, from arts and culture to Jewish Peoplehood, from the
San Francisco Bay Area to Israel, the Koret Foundation has led the
way in making groundbreaking grants that have had a profound impact on our community.
Koret’s commitment to education is at the heart and soul of the Foundation’s work: learning is the best antidote to and against ignorance,
fanaticism, and hatred. As I have said in the past, when we learn, no
matter who we are and where we come from, we share the wonder of a
Finally, I am moved by the leadership role the Koret Foundation has
seized along with its sister philanthropy, the Taube Foundation for
Jewish Life & Culture, in the Jewish Peoplehood movement. Judaism
and humanity must go hand in hand, for Judaism integrates individual
aspirations with universal values, fervor with rigor, legend with law. I
have stated it many times: The mission of the Jewish people has never
been to make the world more Jewish, but to make it more human.
Jewish Peoplehood highlights the cultural values that we share as
Jews and that we share with the world, too. Thus, Jewish values are
the very foundation of the Western culture we so cherish.
I wish the Koret Foundation, its grantees and beneficiaries a happy
and successful future.
Koret President Tad Taube,
Board Chair Susan Koret,
and CEO Jeff Farber
The Impact of Strategic Philanthropy
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The last two years have produced economic challenges not seen since the Great Depression; Jewish and
general community family service agencies across the
Bay Area have seen a marked increase in requests for
financial help, counseling, and job placement assistance. While the economy shows signs of improvement, the effects of the crisis may be felt for years to
come. Koret’s immediate and ongoing response to the
need, demonstrated by two successive $1-million
grants for emergency economic assistance, epitomizes
our grantmaking philosophy: innovative, thoughtful,
rigorous, and caring.
We find, fund, and work to build the capacity of initiatives and institutions that have demonstrated measurable impact. We evaluate our grants to ensure that our
partnerships will have long-term positive effects on
the communities we serve. We help new programs
grow, and we remain committed to supporting those
organizations with whom we have longstanding,
productive relationships. In the Bay Area, we have
built strategic partnerships with arts and cultural
institutions, with the Jewish community, and with
those working to reform K-12 education. In Israel,
we have invested millions of dollars in programs
that support Israel’s security and economic expansion.
This Community Report tells the stories of some of
the organizations we have supported for many years,
demonstrating the impact of strategic philanthropy.
We are pleased to announce the launch of the KoretTaube Initiative on Jewish Peoplehood, a program
that will generate a sense of pride in Jewish heritage
through recognition of the vibrant knowledge, experience, and culture of the Jewish people that constitutes
a cornerstone of Western civilization. Through this
Community Report we are pleased to share the results
of our work to strengthen Bay Area communities, to
improve K-12 education, and to promote economic
expansion in Israel.
Susan Koret, Chair
Tad Taube, President
Jeffrey A. Farber, CEO
“…We find, fund, and work
to build the capacity of
initiatives and institutions
that have demonstrated
measurable impact.”
E D U C AT I O N
1996 Koret Prize Winner
The Hon. George P. Shultz
The Koret Foundation embodies the principles and beliefs One marvels in anticipation at what the organization will
that have guided me through a long and rewarding career be able to accomplish over the next three decades as it
builds on its legacy of service.
in public service.
This commitment to public service — truly serving the
public — enriches, inspires, and motivates all of those
fortunate enough to be touched by the good works of
the Foundation and its dedicated members.
The Koret Foundation honored me with its Koret Prize
in 1996. Sufficient time has elapsed for me to now
recognize the impact the Foundation has had on those
it has served over the last three decades.
Through imagination, inspiration and initiative, Koret’s
accomplishments in education, economic development,
culture, and the arts, have been game-changing.
The Koret Foundation has been guided by a commitment
to public service — making its mark by finding and
funding long-lasting solutions that improve people’s lives
through education, the arts, culture, economic development or any of a number of initiatives.
So it is only fitting that the Koret Foundation enjoy a
very happy and fruitful future in serving the public good.
Answering Opportunity’s Knock
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Every child deserves the opportunity to receive a highquality education and a competitive marketplace
increases the odds of realizing this fundamental
American birthright.
In many ways, America’s K-12 public education system
is a government monopoly handicapped by all the
constraints implicit in bureaucratic overreach. Our
strategy is to exert external market pressure on public
school districts to encourage excellence. Rather than
working within bureaucracies, we support superior
alternatives, often charter schools, creating a powerful
driver for public schools to improve — and the
children are the winners.
At the core of the Foundation’s education strategy is
the policy work of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. Based at the Hoover Institution at Stanford
University, the three pillars of the task force’s policy
recommendations are choice, transparency, and
accountability. With public school funding dependent
on student enrollment, losing students means losing
money. When confronted with charter schools, vouchers,
and other forms of competition, public schools are
highly motivated to find ways to improve.
Our experience and hard data demonstrate this works:
Koret-supported charter schools include the highest
achieving middle and high schools often serving disadvantaged students in the State of California. By widely
disseminating this data and sharing the models that
produce it, children everywhere can benefit.
We seek to influence education policy, to ensure
parents good choices, to support and replicate the
highest-performing academic models, and to improve
educational leadership. Through this strategy, we are
creating opportunities for all students to realize their
American dreams.
Koret-supported Charter Schools:
American Indian Public High School
American Indian Public Charter School
Middle School I
American Indian Public Charter School
Middle School II
Delancey Street Foundation
Life Learning Academy
KIPP Bayview Academy
KIPP Bridge College Prep Academy
KIPP Heartwood Academy
KIPP King Collegiate Academy
KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy
KIPP San Jose Collegiate Academy
KIPP Summit Academy
Oakland Charter Academy High School
Oakland Charter Academy Middle School
Koret Task Force Chairman
Chester E. Finn Jr.
Koret Task Force: A Decade of Innovative Policy
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In 1999, Koret Board President Tad Taube and
Hoover Institution Director John Raisian had a
vision: a new, multidisciplinary model for addressing serious societal challenges. At the top of their
list was public education.
book, Our Schools and Our Future...Are We Still at
Risk?, revealed the little progress made in the 20
years since the National Education Commission
published A Nation at Risk, documenting needed
education reforms.
Over a series of meetings and months, they fleshed
out the model and recruited a blue-ribbon panel
of scholars from a variety of academic disciplines
to bring their perspectives to bear on improving
the nation’s public schools. While each scholar
held a full-time position, Hoover provided meaningful financial incentives to focus their attention on the collective effort. To support the initial
work, Koret awarded a grant of $1.25 million to
be used to entice the scholars to work together to
provoke education reforms.
Meeting several times a year, Task Force members
have developed the camaraderie and jocularity
needed to challenge each other’s positions —
accruing to the rigor of the policy stances developed.
Based on Task Force policy recommendations, the
Koret Foundation embraces school choice by
funding top-performing charter schools. Transparency and accountability are also central to the Task
Force’s education reform policies.
Today, the Koret Task Force is a nationally respected
authority on K-12 education reform. Chaired by
Chester E. “Checker” Finn Jr., the Task Force has
consulted for the states of Texas, Florida, and Arkansas, as well as the U.S. Department of
Education. Original research findings are
published in scholarly journals, the mainstream media, books, and monographs. Its journal, Education Next, is considered by many to be the premier
publication on public education; its path breaking
The Koret Task Force has worked so well that,
based on the Task Force model, Hoover recently
spawned seven new working groups: the KoretTaube Task Force on National Security and Law;
the Task Force on Virtues of a Free Society; the
Working Group on National and Global Economic Markets; and the Task Force on Property Rights,
Freedom, and Prosperity are already at work. With
this innovative model of applied scholarship,
Hoover and Koret have built and demonstrated
an interdisciplinary framework for addressing the
most challenging issues of the day.
Paul Peterson and Herbert Walberg of the Koret Task
Force on K–12 Education Reform at the Hoover
Institution at Stanford.
The Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow is held each summer in the first week of July.
JEWISH PEOPLEHOOD
Legacy and Vision:
The Koret-Taube Initiative on Jewish Peoplehood
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For thousands of years, the concept of Jewish Peoplehood has inspired, intrigued, vexed, and perplexed Jews and non-Jews alike.
food, and art. Today, Jewish identity is often defined by tradition,
heritage, culture, and family.
Is Jewish Peoplehood a culture? A religion? A nation? What does it
mean to be Jewish in the contemporary era?
Now, as always, the story of the Jewish people is a story of constant
renewal. The spirit and vitality of the Jewish people has long been
recognized and shared through the perpetuation of Judeo-Christian
values regardless of the language spoken, the terrain trod, or the
cuisine consumed.. A history of learning and leadership has followed the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora.
Love of education, appreciation of community, a common culture, and pastrami on rye. Mix together in equal parts and you
have the makings of a people — the Jewish people.
Simply stated, Jewish Peoplehood is the all-encompassing content
that links Jews throughout the world and throughout the generations, one to the other. It includes the study of Jewish history,
Jewish literature, Jewish religion, Jewish culture, Jewish politics,
and Jewish communal institutions. As the foundation for Western
culture, Jewish Peoplehood is a concept evolving with each
generation and each new Jewish life.
For many Jews in America — and indeed, throughout the world
— the principle form of Jewish expression is no longer exclusively found in the synagogue but rather in Jewish humor, music,
To better understand and evolve a positive Jewish identity, the Koret
Foundation and Taube Philanthropies have launched the Jewish
Peoplehood Initiative – a multi-million dollar effort including
capital projects, general operating support, and funding for
Jewish cultural programs in the San Francisco Bay Area, Poland,
and Israel.
The initiative will focus on collaboration among Jewish organizations celebrating the connection, continuity, and culture that
come from diverse Jewish traditions.
Partial list of organizations supported:
Bay Area Jewish Community Centers
Campus Chabad Centers, San Francisco Bay Area
The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco
Galicia Jewish Museum, Krakow, Poland
Jewish Genealogy & Family Heritage Center,
Warsaw, Poland
Jewish Chaplaincy at Stanford University Medical Center
Jewish Culture Festival, Krakow, Poland
Jewish Family & Children’s Services of San Francisco
Jewish Home of San Francisco
Jewish Studies Programs, Bay Area Universities
Koret Israel Economic Development Funds, Israel
Koret School of Veterinary Medicine
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Museum of the History of Polish Jews,
Warsaw, Poland
Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life, Palo Alto
As the most comprehensive senior service in Northern California, JFCS’s Seniors at Home
makes it possible for older adults to live independent and full lives. Geriatric specialists,
nurses, and trained volunteers support thousands of seniors in their own homes.
Jewish Family & Children’s Services:
On the Job for the Jewish People
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Two years after the Gold Rush began, San Francisco was a rough,
roaring boom town of 21,000 who came to strike it rich or to sell
goods to the miners who moiled for gold in the fields. But not
all succeeded in their gutsy quests; some grew sick or penniless.
Many died. So in 1848, immigrant pioneer August Helbing and
a dozen others formed the first charitable organization west of
the Mississippi “to afford aid and relief to indigent, sick and
infirm Jews; to bury the dead; and in general to relieve and aid
coreligionists who might be in poverty or distress.”
In 1980 — still on the job for the Jewish people — the
organization applied for and received a modest grant for
senior services, launching a love affair between Jewish Family
& Children’s Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin
and Sonoma Counties (JFCS) and a fledgling philanthropy
called the Koret Foundation.
In the 30 years since that first Koret grant was awarded, we have
collaborated with JFCS to provide support in extreme need. We
helped JFCS resettle thousands of Soviet émigrés who flooded
the Bay Area in the late 1980s and early 1990s carrying nothing with them but their good names. More recently, we have
funded support programs serving thousands who have lost
their homes and jobs in the current economic emergency. Year
in and year out, we support the delivery of holiday baskets to
area seniors. JFCS facilities in San Francisco and Palo Alto carry
the Koret Family Resource Center name.
Today, JFCS provides 65,000 people every year with high quality social services to help them through personal crises, life
transitions, and other challenges. Continuing the work of
August Helbing, Executive Director Dr. Anita Friedman — the
most recent addition to Koret’s Board of Directors — remains
on the job for the Jewish people.
“…We have
partnered with
JFCS to provide
support in
extreme need.”
A rts , C u l ture , a n d C ivic I n stitutio n s
2000 Koret Prize Winner
Music Director, San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas
At a time when ensuring an appreciation for and support
of the arts is more challenging than ever, the Koret Foundation
continues to lead by example in offering tangible support for
arts programs in our communities.
How important is this work? To quote Henry Miller:
‘Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life.’
To me, one of the greatest responsibilities we have as a
society is to ensure that young people understand how music
works and what it means. Those who know music, who
know the arts, can experience a deeper sense of life itself.
And that’s what makes the Koret Foundation’s commitment
to the arts so important.
As Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, I am particularly appreciative of Koret’s contributions to the musical
arts, especially its continued support in making our music
available to the widest possible audience through our radio
initiatives. Koret’s partnership has been invaluable.
After performing for audiences around the world, from
all walks of life, experienced or new to classical music,
I have come to see the arts as the essence of who we are.
Our society is strengthened whenever people, especially
young people, are given the opportunity to directly share
this legacy.
So it is with pride, affection, and appreciation that I congratulate
Koret on all its successes and wish it the very best on its
journey ahead.
Music Director Nicola Luisotti conducts for
San Francisco Opera
Cultured Pearls
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When a region’s culture and arts thrive, the region thrives. Not only local people, but those
from the suburbs or even farther away are drawn to enjoy the arts as entertainment. They
may dine or shop or spend the night, quickening the economy. Additionally, thriving arts
organizations create jobs, another force for economic growth. We support arts and culture
in the Bay Area because when they prosper, the economy prospers and the community benefits.
San Francisco is home to world-class cultural institutions, from the symphony, the ballet,
and the opera to the myriad and diverse performing arts companies and museums. Our
focus is on strengthening the area’s cultural institutions and helping them expand to the
broadest audience possible. We also fund public libraries, public affairs, and large human
services organizations as part of our work to strengthen the cultural, intellectual, and social
fabric of the area.
In addition, we help cultural organizations take advantage of new technologies to reach
broader audiences. The Koret-Taube Media Suite at San Francisco Opera is a digital control
center that transmits opera performances to parks (even ballparks!) around the area and via
high-definition video to movie theaters nationwide.
Koret-supported Arts, Culture, and Civic Organizations
(partial list):
American Conservatory Theater
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
California Academy of Sciences
Commonwealth Club of California
The Contemporary Jewish Museum
The Exploratorium
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
KQED
The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito
San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR)
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony broadcasts performances locally and on a national network
with funding from Koret. Our support for website enhancements helps organizations
interact with their audiences in personally meaningful ways.
All this is our effort to enrich the lives of the millions who visit the Bay Area each year, and
the millions blessed to call the Bay Area home.
San Francisco Zoological Society
San Jose Museum of Art
The Tech Museum of Innovation
The rooftop sculpture garden at SFMOMA
SFMOMA:
Keeping an Eye on the Future
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Innovation and excitement continue to attract tourists
and residents to the San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art (SFMOMA) as it celebrates its 75th year.
From humble beginnings in a modest space on the
fourth floor of the War Memorial Veterans Building
to its current home in a stunning five-story, stepped
brick building topped by a grand circular turret and
ocular skylight, SFMOMA has become an icon of the
city’s skyline and an anchor of the revitalized South
of Market arts corridor.
Our partnership spans three decades, including capital,
exhibition, and general operating support, as well as
development of the Koret Visitor Education Center —
a dynamic, high-tech operation that invites teachers,
students, and visitors to delve deeper into the origins
and underpinnings of contemporary art.
Since 1983, Koret has awarded more than $7 million
in grants to SFMOMA, reflecting our belief that build-
“Our partnership spans three decades,
including capital, exhibition, and
general operating support, as well
Today, more than 800,000 visitors flock to the museum
as development of the Koret Visitor
each year for rotating exhibits and a glimpse at some
of the museum’s 26,000 artworks. Its Rooftop Garden
Education Center – a dynamic,
features a stunning combination of sculpture and city
high-tech operation that invites
views, including the many neighboring arts organizateachers, students, and visitors to
tions that we support — The Contemporary Jewish
delve deeper into the origins and
Museum, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the
Museum of the African Diaspora, to name a few.
underpinnings of contemporary art.”
ing the capacity and quality of arts organizations spurs
economic growth and vitality.
From an initial collection of 36 pieces, unprecedented
acquisitions culminating in the Fisher collection of
modern art have secured SFMOMA’s international
reputation as the premier institution for contemporary
art outside of New York. Our shared leadership and
vision for the arts reinforce our support for this worldclass destination.
ISRAEL
President of Israel
Shimon Peres
I have had the opportunity to work with the Koret Foundation in my previous capacity as
Vice Prime Minister and to understand how the Koret small business and microfinance
programs have become successful models for working directly in the private sector to
further these important objectives. My recent visit with this year’s Koret-Milken Institute
Fellows reinforces my belief that we can rely on the commitment and leadership of the
next generation.
Koret’s economic development and fellowship programs in Israel have made a world of
difference and continue to help move our country to a responsible free market economy.
My very best wishes for continued success.
Koret in Israel:
Expanding the Economy One Business at a Time
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Our unwavering advocacy for Israel comes in two
forms: We are stalwart in our support for Israel’s
security; and we plan for a future, however distant,
when Israel can shift her focus from precaution
to the pursuit of prosperity — the sign of a truly
thriving democracy.
In the Bay Area, our efforts focus on the region’s
college campuses, seizing the free-speech mantle to speak out for Israel. We help our Bay Area
partners bring Israeli advocates to campus to
combat the demonization that can otherwise
exist among students and faculty. We send
students and faculty to Israel to have their own
experiences and formulate their own thoughts
on matters pertaining to the Middle East. And
we support community expressions of support
for the Jewish state through books, lectures,
film, and the arts.
Our premier programs in Israel invigorate the
private sector, both through economic policy
reform and small business lending. Our KoretMilken Institute Fellows program selects promising young economists to aid members of Israel’s
parliament in developing free-market programs
the legislators can enact.
Koret Israel Economic Development Funds
(KIEDF) was established in 1994 as a mechanism
to encourage small business growth — the driving
force in stimulating the free-market development
and creating jobs. Placing collateral deposits in
partner banks, and prescreening loan applicants
to assess their stability, we have demonstrated
that small business lending makes good business
sense. Loans assist both Jewish and Israeli-Arab
owned businesses, from Jewish-owned machine
shops in the North to Bedouin women making
and selling garments in the Negev. The program
“allows us to get a loan without selling our souls
to the bank,” one recipient explained.
Koret in Israel has facilitated more than $220
million in financing, supporting more than 8,000
small businesses and creating some 40,000 jobs.
In 16 years, only 1.5 percent of the loans have
gone unrepaid — almost none. What began as a
modest experiment to explore how philanthropy
could spur free-market economic growth is now
Israel’s dominant private-sector small-business
development program and the model for the
government’s own small-business loan program.
The goals are to ensure a bright future for Israel
as a stronghold of democracy in the Middle East
and to build a thriving, free-market economy.
Koret School of Veterinary Medicine:
Retaining Israel’s Brain Trust
38
Long after he had struck success, Koret benefactor
Joseph Koret remembered lying in bed, a new émigré
to America, his tummy rumbling with hunger. When
he grew up and made his fortune, he vowed to do something to alleviate the problem.
World hunger is now understood as a problem of distribution: The world has enough food, but its distribution,
unfortunately, is often subject to political manipulation.
But back in the ‘80s, scholars the world over believed a
shortage of food was hunger’s culprit. Food production
was widely studied — at the Food Research Institute at
Stanford University, as well as research centers throughout
the world. A veterinarian who believed he understood
how to increase the number of eggs a hen lays mesmerized Joe. The two became fast friends and colleagues. The
rest, as they say, is history.
The veterinarian was on the Hebrew University faculty
and Koret — now in his 80s — shuttled between San
Francisco and Israel several times, each time becoming
more attached to the school. With the launch of a capital
campaign to erect a new veterinary school building,
the friendship was sealed: Koret’s multi-million-dollar
grant named the school, and support has been steady
ever since.
The Koret School of Veterinary Medicine centers its teaching and research on its Middle East locale, producing a
cadre of veterinarians with expertise in regional climatic,
zoologic, and environment sciences. Since its opening in
1985, it has become an international leader in caring for
pets as well as in research on the health, safety, and
production of Israel’s livestock. With the anticipated
legalization of horse racing in Israel, a new focus is on
equestrian medicine. Exchanges with experts at the UC
Davis vet school have helped the Israelis get up to speed.
Of the thousand members of the Israel Veterinary Medical
Association, some 60 percent graduated from the Koret
School, widely considered the best in the region.
With the support of Foundation Chair Susan Koret,
a passionate animal lover, Koret is proud to support
the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem.
“With the launch of a capital
campaign to erect a new vet
school building, the friendship
was sealed: Koret’s multimillion dollar grant named
the school, and support has
been steady ever since.”
Koret Board Chair Susan Koret and President Tad Taube visit the future site
of the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine at the Hebrew University, 1982.
A new state-of-the-art veterinary school building was completed in 2010.
Collaboration with UC Berkeley and fellow philanthropists resulted in a new
home for the Judah L. Magnes Museum collections within the Bancroft Library.
PARTNERSHIPS
Collaboration + Leverage = Impact
41
We live in the heart of the most entrepreneurial environment in the United States, if not in the world.
Silicon Valley has been the product of collaborating
venture capitalists who have pooled their financial
resources in order to create maximum impact in their
support of high technology and biosciences. Moreover,
many large real estate ventures have pooled resources
of investors, developers and financial institutions.
Now, our philanthropic institutions are learning to
collaborate with one another in order to enhance the
impact of their philanthropic dollars and also to be
able to support organizations at levels they otherwise
could not reach. Koret is at the forefront of this movement toward collaboration.
In Israel, we partner with the Milken Institute on policy
research projects that promote economic expansion
through free-market principles. Young, promising
economists are selected as Koret-Milken Institute
Fellows who work with Knesset members to develop
policies conducive to small business growth.
At the Hoover Institution and the Stanford Institute for
Economic Policy Research, our collaborative efforts have
pioneered the applied scholarship model; impact projects through the United Way and Jewish Community
Federations touch the lives of millions; and many arts,
culture, and civic institutions are enhanced by philanthropic partnerships initiated by Koret.
Our collaboration with UC Berkeley, philanthropist
Warren Hellman, the Judah L. Magnes Museum, and
Taube Philanthropies has resulted in a new permanent
home for the museum’s prized Judaica collections
within the special collections of the renowned Bancroft
Library. Another collaborative effort with Hellman
and the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties has
strengthened the federation’s reorganization efforts.
Koret collaborations (partial list):
Bay Area Chabad Houses
Bay Area Jewish Community Centers
Bay Area Jewish Community Federations
California Academy of Sciences
Fine Arts Museums
Hillel Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
Hoover Institution
Judah L. Magnes Museum
In pursuit of a shared goal to cultivate a thriving
Jewish community and to explore and celebrate our
Jewish heritage, we are collaborating with the Taube
Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture to support the
Koret-Taube Initiative on Jewish Peoplehood at Jewish
community institutions. The Taube-Koret Campus for
Jewish Life in Palo Alto, opened in 2009, has created
a new way of community life on the South Peninsula
by virtue of creating this state-of-the-art campus that
is the largest capital project in Bay Area Jewish community history.
With philanthropic best practices calling for collaboration, Koret is at the forefront of 21st-century giving.
Leveraging the value added in collaboration extends
our impact and improves communities. In other words,
COLLABORATION + LEVERAGE = IMPACT.
Koret Israel Economic Development Funds
Koret-Milken Institute Fellows
Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Palace of Fine Arts
San Francisco Opera Media Suite
San Francisco Zoo
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Stanford University, Department of Athletics
Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life
UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
Statements of financial position
YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2009
AND 2008
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents 2009
2008
$28,524,674 $28,300,630
329,935 322,274
140,980,125 128,071,883
118,204 -
4,922,266 8,466,767
Excise tax receivable
111,182 -
Other assets and prepaid expenses
680,251 710,116
Program related investment
500,000 -
Accrued interest and dividends
Investments, at fair value
Investments, deferred compensation plan
Redemptions receivable
Rental properties Split interest agreement
229,020,000 238,950,000
9,226,785 8,631,690
Total assets
$414,413,422 $413,453,360
LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities
Excise tax payable
Grants payable
Deferred compensation
Notes payable Deferred excise tax liability
Total Liabilities
$894,319 $792,017
-
$31,456
30,380,578 37,799,756
118,160 -
97,867,012 97,867,012
2,212,780 2,285,577
131,472,849 138,775,818
282,940,573 274,677,542
Net assets
Total liabilities and net assets
$414,413,422 $413,453,360
Per independent auditor report prepared by Seiler LLP dated August 18, 2010
Revenue
Net revenue from rental operations,excluding interest and depreciation
Change in fair market value of real estate
Net loss from real estate
Statements of Activities
2009
2008
$9,008,284 $9,101,874
(10,438,635)
(44,258,188)
(1,430,351)
(35,156,314)
Interest income
258,915 1,052,877
3,195,650 5,157,936
Net gain (loss) on sales of investments
(26,485,011)
1,650,215
Net change in fair value of investments
49,755,124 (70,644,123)
652,539 (1,852,385)
27,377,217 (64,635,480)
64,269 520,369
26,011,135 (99,271,425)
3,591,557 3,325,107
356,383 442,051
45,203 (347,294)
3,993,143 3,419,864
22,017,992 (102,691,289)
(13,754,961)
(23,994,618)
(13,754,961)
(23,994,618)
8,263,031 (126,685,907)
274,677,542 401,363,449
Dividends
Change in value of split interest agreement
Net revenue (loss) from investments other than real estate
Other income
Total revenue (loss)
Expenses
General & administrative expense
Portfolio managers and custodian fees
Provision for (benefit of) federal excise taxes
Expenses Before Grants
INCREASE (DECREASE) IN NET ASSETS BEFORE GRANTS
GRANTS AWARDED
INCREASE (DECREASE) IN NET ASSETS
NET ASSETS, BEGINNING OF YEAR
NET ASSETS, END OF YEAR
$282,940,573 $274,677,542
Years Ended December 31, 2009
and 2008
44
advisory directors
Arnold Eisen
The Hon. George P. Shultz
The Hon. Pete Wilson
Susan Koret, Chair
Susan Koret is lifetime chair of the board of the Koret Foundation. Born in Seoul, South Korea, she immigrated to the United States where, in 1979, she married Joseph Koret and converted to Judaism. Since the
death of her husband in 1982, she has sustained and enhanced his philanthropic legacy through devoted
commitment to the Foundation. She is an active investor and a strong supporter of San Francisco’s cultural community and minority ethnic communities, involving herself in programs ranging from the arts to
youth education.
board of directors
Emeritus Directors
Eugene Friend
Stanley Herstein
The Hon.Tad Taube, President
The Hon. Tad Taube serves as president of the Koret Foundation and chairman of Taube Philanthropies. He
is chairman and founder of the Woodmont Companies, a diversified real estate investment and management
organization. At his alma mater, Stanford University, Mr. Taube is founder and advisory board chair of the
Taube Center for Jewish Studies, as well as a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Overseers of
the Hoover Institution. The Republic of Poland has awarded Mr. Taube Poland’s highest civilian medal —
The Commander’s Cross — and named him Honorary Consul for the San Francisco peninsula region.
Richard Atkinson
Retired as the president of the University of California in 2003, Richard Atkinson has also served as
chancellor of the University of California, San Diego. As director of the National Science Foundation, his
national and international science policies included negotiating the first memorandum of understanding
in history between the People’s Republic of China and the United States. Dr. Atkinson was a longstanding
faculty member at Stanford University whose research explored problems of memory and cognition. He
developed one of the first computer-controlled systems for instruction — a prototype for the commercial
development of computer-assisted instruction, which focused primarily on reading for young school children.
Michael J. Boskin
Michael J. Boskin is the Tully M. Friedman Professor of Economics and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, as well as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
An advisor to governments and global businesses, Dr. Boskin has chaired both the President’s Council of
Economic Advisers and the highly influential blue-ribbon Consumer Price Index Commission. He is the
author of more than 100 books and articles and is internationally recognized for his research on world
economic growth, tax and budget theory and policy, and other subjects
Anita Friedman
Dr. Anita Friedman has served for 30 years as executive director of Jewish Family and Children’s Services of
San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties – one of the largest family service institutions
in the United States. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, she is a frequent lecturer and writer on issues
of Jewish communal service, mental health and innovative business models for the provision of human
services. She has consulted with the State of Israel’s Ministry of Social Affairs on best practices in serving
children and families, and her breakthrough work to acclimate Soviet Jews to American life has won her
accolades from dignitaries the world over.
Robert Friend
Robert Friend is president of Howard Properties of San Francisco, a privately held real estate investment
company. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, he serves as president of the Friend Family Foundation, chairman of UCSF’s Diabetes Advisory Committee, and chairman of Summer Search San
Francisco, a program that challenges low-income high school students to develop character and leadership
by providing year-round mentoring, life-changing summer experiences, college advising, and a lasting support network. In addition, Mr. Friend is a member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee at UCSF and
serves on the boards of several other philanthropic foundations.
Richard L. Greene
Richard L. Greene is a specialist in tax law and a founding partner of the law firm Greene, Radovsky,
Maloney, Share & Hennigh. He is a frequent lecturer in the tax field and has taught at major Bay Area
law schools. He has also served as co-chairman of the executive committee of the State Bar of California
Taxation Section, past president of the San Francisco Barristers Club’s Tax Section, and president of the
San Francisco Tax Litigation Club. In addition, Mr. Greene serves as a director, trustee, or advisory-board
member of several other private charitable foundations.
F. Warren Hellman
F. Warren Hellman is the found of Hellman & Friedman LLC, a leading private equity investment firm that
has raised over $25 billion in capital since 1984. He is a director of various public and private companies,
including D.N. & E. Walter & Co. and the Sugar Bowl Corporation. His civic and philanthropic activities
include serving as past chairman and current trustee emeritus of The San Francisco foundation, member
of the Advisory board of the Walter A. Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley; trustees emeritus of The
Brookings Institution, among many others.
The Hon. Abraham D. Sofaer
The Hon. Abraham D. Sofaer is the George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow at the
Hoover Institution. He previously served as a federal district judge in New York and as legal adviser to the
U.S. Department of State. As a professor of law at Columbia University, he focused on separation of powers issues in American government. He has also served as assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District
of New York, and as a clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals and to an associate justice of the Supreme Court.
Currently, he concentrates on anti-terrorism issues, international law, diplomacy, and national security.
46
board of directors
advisory board
staff
Susan Koret, Chair
Tad Taube, President
Richard Atkinson
Michael Boskin
William Coblentz
Robert Friend
Anita Friedman
Richard Greene
Abraham Sofaer
Arnold Eisen
Warren Hellman
The Hon. George P. Shultz
The Hon. Pete Wilson
Amy Chan, Accounting Assistant
Debra England, Senior Program Officer
Danielle Foreman, Program Associate
Claudia Hardin, Chief Financial Officer
Adam Hirschfelder, Program Officer
Sara Kamalski, Office Manager and Executive Assistant
Rozalia Kats, Grants Associate
Elaine Lai, Controller
Kirsten Mickelwait, Communications Officer
Maryanne Olson, Program Assistant
Pamela Payad, Accounting and Administrative Assistant
Ashley Rodwick, Program Assistant
Ferdie Sarmiento, Investment Accountant
Stephanie Titus, Grants Manager
Susan G. Wolfe, Director, Grantmaking Programs and Communications
e x e c u t i ve d i r e c t o r
&
ceo
Jeffrey A. Farber, CEO
Joel N. Shurkin, Writer | Casey Dillon, Designer | Susan Wolfe, Editor | Special thanks to Singer Associates
PHOTO credits
p. 5 photo courtesy Koret Foundation archives • p. 6 photo by Drew Altizer • p. 8 photo by John Blaustein • p. 12 photo by Michael Winokur • p. 16, 17 photos courtesy Hoover Institution • p. 18 photo courtesy Jewish Culture Festival, Krakow •
p. 26 photo courtesey San Francisco Symphony. Inset photo by Susan Schelling • p. 28 photo by Terrence McCarthy/San Francisco Opera • p. 30 photo by Drew Altizer • p. 34 photo by Emil Salman/Genie • p. 37 photos by Miki Koren Studios •
p. 39 photo courtesey Koret Foundation Archives; photo courtesy The Hebrew University of Jerusalem • p. 40 photo by David Schmitz, courtesy UC Berkeley and the Magnes Collections at Bancroft Library
© 2010 Koret Foundation
Printed with UV inks which are V.O.C. free.
www.koretfoundation.org