The Werner Family Foundation

The Werner Family Foundation is a tightly held, invitation-only philanthropic vehicle reflecting the personal charitable priorities of Thomas and Jill Werner and their extended family. Thomas Werner, best known as co-founder of Carsey-Werner Productions (The Cosby Show, Roseanne, That '70s Show) and former co-owner of the Boston Red Sox, has built a philanthropic portfolio that mirrors his personal geography across three core cities: Los Angeles (current professional base), Milwaukee (deep community and family ties), and Greater Boston (two decades of Red Sox co-ownership, 2002-2022).

The foundation, administered through entertainment business managers Gelfand Rennert & Feldman LLP in Century City, has operated since 1988 and maintains $20.5 million in assets. All five directors — Thomas, Jill, Edward Werner, Carolyn Werner Haney, and Amanda Werner Wise — are family members serving without compensation, indicating a tightly held family office with no professional grant staff and no programmatic infrastructure.

The single most important characteristic for prospective grantees: this foundation does not accept unsolicited applications. The website thewerner.org does not host application materials (it is currently a Cloudflare-parked domain with no content), no grants page URL is published, and every major grant intelligence database flags it as preselected-only. Application instructions on file explicitly indicate "none." The path to funding runs exclusively through personal relationships with Werner family members or their associates.

First-time access typically requires: a demonstrable connection to organizations the Werners already support (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, After-School All-Stars, LA Parks Foundation, University School of Milwaukee); board-level overlap with Werner-affiliated institutions; or introductions through Gelfand Rennert & Feldman LLP, which serves as the administrative interface.

The foundation strongly favors long-term partnerships over one-off awards — Dana-Farber received 4 grants totaling $1.53M; After-School All-Stars, LA Parks Foundation, Ploughshares Fund, and Yale each received 4 grants. First-time prospective grantees should plan a relationship cultivation window of 1-3 years before any funding consideration.

The Werner Family Foundation's grantmaking data reveals a highly concentrated, loyalty-driven funding portfolio. Across 116 tracked grants totaling $4.63 million, the median grant is $10,000 with an average of approximately $39,920. The range spans from $3,500 (Friends of Ringgold Park, a neighborhood park in Milwaukee) to $500,000 (Wilshire Boulevard Temple, across 2 grants), though large anchoring gifts significantly skew the average upward.

Grant concentration is extreme by any benchmark: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute alone received $1.532 million across 4 grants — approximately 33% of all tracked giving in the database. The top 5 recipients account for an estimated 65% of total historical giving: Dana-Farber ($1.532M), Wilshire Boulevard Temple ($500K), After-School All-Stars ($380K), Los Angeles Parks Foundation ($330K), and University School of Milwaukee ($276K). This leaves approximately 111 remaining grantees sharing the remaining 35%, most receiving amounts between $5,000 and $25,000.

Annual giving by fiscal year per IRS 990-PF filings: - FY2018: $1,880,938 (peak) - FY2019: $1,101,500 - FY2020: $1,270,531 - FY2021: $1,190,500 - FY2022: $1,068,246 - FY2024: $1,134,297

Assets grew from $14.2M (FY2011) to $20.5M (FY2024). Revenue derives almost exclusively from investments — $655,772 in dividends and $2.5M in asset sales in FY2024, with zero outside contributions.

Programmatic breakdown (estimated from grantee purpose statements): health and cancer research ~35% (dominated by Dana-Farber); K-12 and higher education ~30%; Jewish community services ~15%; arts, culture, and parks ~10%; human services and mental health ~10%.

Geographic distribution: California (31 grants), Wisconsin (29 grants), and Massachusetts (26 grants) together represent approximately 75% of all grant activity. Texas receives 12 grants, primarily for Jewish community services in Austin and children's health in Austin.

The Werner Family Foundation occupies a mid-tier position among private family foundations, with $20.5 million in assets and approximately $1.1 million in annual giving. This places it above the typical small family foundation ($1-5M assets) but well below large regional philanthropies. The table below compares Werner to three thematically and geographically adjacent family foundations operating in Jewish community, education, and human services:

*Peer figures are approximate estimates based on publicly available IRS 990 filings.*

Three patterns emerge. First, all comparable foundations in the Jewish philanthropy and family foundation space operate by invitation only — this is sector norm, not unique to Werner. Second, Werner's giving concentration (33% to a single grantee) is unusually high even by family foundation standards, where top grantees typically represent 10-20% of giving; this signals an extraordinarily personalized portfolio. Third, at a ~5.4% payout rate ($1.1M / $20.5M assets), the foundation tracks near the IRS minimum distribution threshold of 5%, suggesting conservative grantmaking relative to asset size — and potential for increased giving if assets continue to appreciate.

No news announcements, leadership changes, or program updates for The Werner Family Foundation were found through web research covering 2025-2026. The foundation maintains no active public communications presence; its website (thewerner.org) currently serves only as a Cloudflare-parked placeholder domain with no content.

The most recent available IRS data is from a Form 990-PF filed September 1, 2024 (fiscal year 2024), reporting: - Total assets: $20,497,286 (up from $19.2M in FY2022) - Total giving: $1,134,297 - Number of grants: 31-36 awards (sources vary slightly) - Notable FY2024 grantees: Temple Emanu-El of Closter ($200,000), University School of Milwaukee ($142,630), After-School All-Stars ($100,000)

Asset growth of approximately $1.3 million between FY2022 and FY2024 reflects healthy investment returns. Total FY2024 revenue of $3,154,488 included $655,772 in dividends and $2,498,716 in asset sales, with $0 in outside contributions.

The leadership structure — Thomas Werner (President), Jill Werner (VP), Edward Werner (Secretary/Treasurer), Carolyn Werner Haney (Director), and Amanda Werner Wise (Director) — appears unchanged across all available 990 filings spanning 2011-2024. All officers continue to serve without compensation, consistent with a family-operated vehicle rather than a professionalized foundation.

Tip 1 — Internalize that this is relationship-only. The Werner Family Foundation accepts no unsolicited proposals. The website is inactive, no RFP is published, and grant intelligence platforms uniformly flag this funder as preselected-only. Drafting a cold application is a guaranteed dead end; every minute should instead go toward relationship cultivation.

Tip 2 — Enter through current grantees. The most reliable introduction pathway runs through organizations the Werners already fund. If your organization has professional or board connections to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, After-School All-Stars, LA Parks Foundation, University School of Milwaukee, Wesleyan University, Yale University, or Shalom Austin, leverage those relationships explicitly to request introductions to Werner family representatives.

Tip 3 — Match geography precisely. Giving is anchored in Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and Greater Boston. Organizations outside these three metros face a steep uphill path unless their work is in Jewish community services (Austin, TX has precedent) or children's cancer research at an academic medical center (national scope applies there).

Tip 4 — Lead with cancer research or K-12 education. Dana-Farber's $1.532M share of total tracked giving — 33% — signals cancer research and treatment as the highest-priority cause. Independent K-12 education in Milwaukee and LA is a consistent second. Jewish community programming is a reliable third. If your mission spans more than one, emphasize the intersection.

Tip 5 — Cultivate at public events. Milwaukee Film Festival events, LA Parks Foundation galas, and Dana-Farber fundraising dinners are venues where Werner family members are engaged. Seek board co-service opportunities where family members are already active.

Tip 6 — If invited to correspond: Contact via Gelfand Rennert & Feldman LLP at 1880 Century Park East, Suite 1600, Los Angeles, CA 90067, telephone (310) 553-1707. Keep initial communications to a single page: mission, geography, Werner-aligned program, and specific ask. No cold email exists; no web form exists. Do not send a full proposal unless explicitly requested.

Tip 7 — Plan a multi-year arc. The typical Werner grantee relationship spans 4+ grants over multiple years. Treat first contact as the beginning of a 1-3 year relationship, not a single transaction.