Charles H. Revson Foundation Names Julie Sandorf as New President.

New York, October 8, 2007
The Board of Directors of the Charles H. Revson Foundation announced today its selection of Julie A. Sandorf as the next president of the Foundation. Ms. Sandorf succeeds Lisa E. Goldberg, who passed away suddenly in early 2007.

“With Julie as president, the Revson Foundation will continue its distinctive tradition of innovative projects and its commitment to betting on talented people,” said Dr. Philip Leder, Chair of the Foundation's Board of Directors. Dr. Leder is Andrus Professor and Emeritus Chair of the Department of Genetics at Harvard University Medical School.

Ms. Sandorf is Co-Founder and Director of Nextbook, a national organization dedicated to the creation and promotion of Jewish literature, culture, and the arts. From 1991 to 1999, she was President of the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), a national organization she founded that worked with over 200 nonprofits across the United States to deliver permanent solutions to chronic homelessness.

Since 1999, Ms. Sandorf has also served as Senior Program Consultant to the Rockefeller Foundation, the Oak Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is on the Advisory Board of the Oak Foundation and a board member of the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing and the Center for Urban Community Services. Before founding CSH, she was a Program Director at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), where she forged a groundbreaking public-private partnership to revitalize distressed neighborhoods throughout New York City. Ms. Sandorf will assume her position at the Revson Foundation in January 2008.

“I am thrilled to be chosen as the third president of the Revson Foundation. Revson has long been considered the gold standard in philanthropy for its imaginative grant making and lasting impact,” said Ms. Sandorf. “It is especially meaningful to follow Eli Evans, Revson’s esteemed founding President, and Lisa Goldberg, whom I admired so much for her brilliance and grace.”

Among the Foundation’s signatures is its commitment to new media and technology. Under Eli Evans’ leadership, the Foundation helped to launch and support public television series such as Genesis: A Living Conversation with Bill Moyers, which brought together scholars, artists, and theologians of many faiths; Shalom Sesame, the Israeli version of Sesame Street; Heritage: Civilization and the Jews with Abba Eban; and Eyes on the Prize, documenting the history of the civil rights movement. It also supported the development of Encarta Africana, combining text, illustrations, film, and music into a comprehensive encyclopedia of Black history and culture.

Lisa Goldberg made expanding access to and enhancing the educational uses of the Internet a priority of the Foundation. A passionate supporter of young people, she introduced several initiatives to identify and nurture the next generation of leaders, particularly in the areas of media and technology, Jewish culture, and social justice.

Ms. Sandorf brings to the Revson Foundation strong interest and experience in these arenas. She shares the Foundation’s approach to grant making, amplifying the influence of initial grants by building partnerships with other funders and organizations. Martha Minow, Chair Elect of the Foundation and Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard University, commented, “Julie Sandorf's remarkable accomplishments include developing supportive housing to assist persons with disabilities and launching inspired partnerships that join libraries, traditional and Internet publishing, and writers on Jewish themes. Under Julie’s leadership, we look forward to developing and deepening our support of creative thinking and palpable change.”

About the Charles H. Revson Foundation
The Charles H. Revson Foundation makes grants in the program areas of urban affairs, education, Jewish philanthropy and education, and biomedical research policy. Across program areas, its grant making has reflected an interest in the future of New York City, the accountability of government, the impact of modern communications technology, and the changing role of women. Established in 1956 by Charles H. Revson, the founder of Revlon, Inc., the Revson Foundation has an endowment of approximately $180 million and distributes $8-10 million annually in grants. The Foundation is known for prospecting new ideas and forging partnerships to nourish them.

The Foundation’s devotion to making democracy work has guided its support for organizations that monitor government policy and report to the public, such as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the Children's Defense Fund, and Project Vote Smart, a comprehensive national data bank enabling Internet users to find the positions and voting records of all thirteen thousand candidates for state and federal office, and to get local information on where and when they can register to vote.

A key commitment of the Foundation is investing in talented people. The Charles H. Revson Fellows Program on the Future of the City of New York brings midcareer professionals with a record of community leadership to Columbia University for study and reflection. In biomedical research, the Revson Fellowships at preeminent research institutions in New York and Israel enable recent M.D.s and Ph.D.s to pursue postdoctoral work in laboratories of established scientists. Reflecting its founder’s commitment to Jewish education and to Israel, the Revson Foundation was a founding supporter of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, the Jewish Funders Network, the Yale Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, and the Jewish Women’s Archive, among other institutions.

The Foundation helped to establish the Israel National Science Foundation and to expand the mission of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, an independent think tank that conducts policy research on the economics, politics, and the environment of Israel.

In addition to Philip Leder and Martha Minow, the Foundation’s Board of Directors includes Charles H. Revson, Jr., Red Burns, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Ph.D., Suzanne Gluck, Jerome E. Groopman, M.D., Ruth B. Mandel, Louis Perlmutter, Clifford J. Tabin, Ph.D., and Harold Tanner.