The Starr Foundation was established in 1955 by Cornelius Vander Starr, an insurance entrepreneur who founded C.V. Starr & Co. and other companies later combined by his successor, Maurice R. Greenberg, into what became the American International Group. Starr, a pioneer of globalization, set up his first insurance venture in Shanghai in 1919. Upon his death in 1968 his estate was passed on to the foundation. Today, it gives between US$100 million and $200 million each year to charities and causes globally.
The foundation, once one of the largest in the country with an endowment of some $6 billion in 2000, has disbursed over $3.8 billion since its founding. As of 2024, it had assets of $1.7 billion. It specializes in Asian arts and cultural philanthropy, but also makes grants in other areas, including education, medicine and healthcare, and public policy.
The foundation is no longer affiliated with AIG.
Grants The following is a partial list: Grant SizeUseTime FrameLinkUS$17 million Community Center in Fort Bragg, California 2001 - 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20090919054007/http://www.mendocoastrec.org/aquatic_center-newsnav.htmlUS$100 million Create a multi-institutional cancer research consortium September 2006 http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/70702.cfmUS$50 million Starr Fund for Collaborative Science November 2006 http://newswire.rockefeller.edu/?id=544&page=engineUS$25 million Expand Harlem Children's Zone Project October 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20081119145212/http://www.starrfoundation.org/pr_harlem.htmlUS$15 million Scholarships at Brown University March 2002 https://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2001-02/01-104.htmlUS$5 million Increase the size and quality of the search inventory - New York Blood Center February 2003 US$25 million National September 11 Memorial & Museum New York City 2007 https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/nyregion/02foundation.html?&pagewanted=printUS$1.5 million Support additions to the Korean and Tibetan collections - Columbia University October 2002 http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/news/libraries/2002/2002-10-31.starr_grant.html
See also List of wealthiest foundations Florence A. Davis, Foundation President
References
External links The Starr Foundation starrfoundation.org