Tikvah Fund

Tikvah Fund
Established1992 (1992)
TypeNonprofit
Headquarters165 East 56th Street
Location
  • New York City, New York, United States
Chairman
Elliott Abrams
Key people
Zalman Bernstein
Websitetikvahfund.org

The Tikvah Fund (Hebrew: קרן תקווה) is an American politically conservative[1][2][3][4] nonprofit charitable foundation whose stated mission is to promote Jewish thought and ideas.[5]

Activities

As of 2011, the Tikvah Fund held assets worth more than $162 million.[6] That year, it provided a four-year $12.5 million grant to the Shalem Center to form an American-style liberal arts university in Israel, now Shalem College. The fund had supported the Shalem Center for the previous decade as well.[7]

The Tikvah Fund has funded several publications, including Commentary, Mosaic and its predecessor Jewish Ideas Daily, the Jewish Review of Books,[4] and Mida.[8] Shalem Center also sponsored neo-conservative magazine Azure and the Fund was behind academic journals Hebraic Political Studies and Toronto Journal of Jewish Thought.[6] A typical article in Mosaic in 2025, by an emeritus professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, said "there is not a scintilla of truth" in claims of apartheid and genocide.[9]

The Fund also organizes the Jewish Leadership Conference, a politically conservative Jewish conference.[10] Invitees in 2022 included Mike Pompeo, who served as Secretary of State under Donald Trump, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, and Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis.[1] Picketers attended to oppose DeSantis' speech.[11]

It runs a fellowship programme named after Charles Krauthammer which is awarded to aspiring writers, journalists, scholars, and policy analysts'.[12]

In September 2025, the fund was awarded $10.5 million by the National Endowment for the Humanities, allegedly "to combat antisemitism". It was the largest single grant in NEH history.[13]

Leadership

Robert Hertog (director of Alliance Capital Management) was chairman of the Tikvah Fund in 2011.[7] Neal Kozodoy was senior director as of 2010.[14] As of 2022, Eric Cohen was chief executive and Elliot Abrams was chairman.[1][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Barron, James (May 13, 2022). "Invitation to DeSantis Creates Clash at a Jewish Museum". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Fox, Mira (June 22, 2022). "This law professor argued that Reform Jews aren't devout enough to merit religious freedom". The Forward. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  3. ^ a b Henry, Jacob (May 6, 2022). "Did a New York Holocaust museum ban Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis? Depends whom you ask". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  4. ^ a b Waxman, Dov (2016). Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict Over Israel. Princeton University Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780691168999.
  5. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (November 9, 2012). "A Patron's Passion for History on Display". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  6. ^ a b Braiterman, Zachary (2011-09-13). "Conservative Money and Jewish Studies: Investigating the Tikvah Fund". eJewishPhilanthropy. Retrieved 2026-01-03.
  7. ^ a b Lidman, Melanie (May 4, 2011). "Shalem Center gets major grant for college". The Jerusalem Post.
  8. ^ Tucker, Nati (June 11, 2013). "Some News Websites Can Forgo the Paywall--in Israel, too". Haaretz. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  9. ^ "American Jewry's Anti-Semitism Reckoning". Tikvah Ideas. Retrieved 2025-10-23.
  10. ^ Stack, Liam (June 11, 2022). "DeSantis Event at Chelsea Piers Faces Backlash Over L.G.B.T.Q. Rights". The New York Times.
  11. ^ Papenfuss, Mary (June 13, 2022). "NYC Protesters Blast Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis At Conservative Event". HuffPost.
  12. ^ Ken Silverstein, How a Hedge Fund Manager and Right-Wing Donor is Financing an Israeli Influence Op Masquerading as a Journalism Project,' CounterPunch 21 June 2024.
  13. ^ Dayanim, Nira (15 September 2025). "NEH awards its largest-ever grant, worth $10.4M, to Tikvah Fund for 'Jewish Civilization Project' to combat antisemitism". eJewishPhilanthropy.
  14. ^ Cohen, Patricia (June 11, 2010). "Commentary Is All About Commentary These Days". The New York Times.

Further reading

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