Posted on July 3, 2009

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Meyerhoff Family Philanthropy Shifts Grantmaking Focus to Struggling Middle Class

The Baltimore-based Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds, which for years worked to assist high-profile causes in Israel and cultural institutions in the United States, is shifting its focus to address Baltimore's struggling middle class, the Baltimore Sun reports.

The shift in focus comes amid a leadership change at the $100 million group of funds, as Terry Meyerhoff Rubenstein succeeds her father, Harvey "Bud" Meyerhoff, as director, and her three siblings take on greater responsibilities related to the operation of the funds.

In the past, the family's philanthropy had supported organizations such as the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Baltimore's symphony hall, which bears the family's name. "The year 2009 is the one where we reset the clock," said Rubenstein. "The needs of the middle class is an area that most funders don't think about."

Rubenstein said her new goal is to help keep working families in Baltimore. Groups that might benefit from the shift in focus, which is due in part to a decline in the value of the funds' endowment of roughly 25 percent, include those working to improve schools, parks, and neighborhoods. Later this year, the funds, which pay out approximately $5 million a year, will begin providing support for computer access at public libraries, improvements at city parks, and college tuition for students from families that are stretched financially despite having well-paying jobs.

"[The shift in giving] is a bold move," said Trudy Jacobson, managing director of development of the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Associations. "[Terry] is saying something that a lot of people have been talking about. We are now recognizing that the middle class [is] its own distressed community. Terry saw a real opportunity [and] she had the strength of conviction...to say that instead of looking more globally, maybe it's better to look more locally."