The Olam
THE OTHER SPIELBERG FOUNDATION: HOW $26.7M IN VOTER MOBILIZATION, MEDIA, AND RACIAL JUSTICE AMPLIFIES ANTI-ISRAEL INFRASTRUCTURE
Israeli Real Economy

THE OTHER SPIELBERG FOUNDATION: HOW $26.7M IN VOTER MOBILIZATION, MEDIA, AND RACIAL JUSTICE AMPLIFIES ANTI-ISRAEL INFRASTRUCTURE

Ronn Torossian
Ronn Torossian
Publisher · The Olam
Aug 11, 2026

How Hearthland Foundation's $26.7M in voter mobilization, media, and racial justice funding amplifies RPF's anti-Israel infrastructure across the progressive ecosystem.

THE OTHER SPIELBERG FOUNDATION: HOW $26.7M IN VOTER MOBILIZATION, MEDIA, AND RACIAL JUSTICE AMPLIFIES ANTI-ISRAEL INFRASTRUCTURE

Hearthland Foundation scales the progressive ecosystem that Righteous Persons Foundation targets. Together, they are part of a larger funder network—including Soros, Gates, Ford Foundation, and other major philanthropies—all flowing toward the same anti-Israel, progressive Jewish infrastructure. This is the fourth investigation in Olam's Spielberg Foundation series.

HOW THIS INVESTIGATION CONNECTS

Olam has investigated Spielberg's philanthropy across four separate investigations:

  • 1. 'Where Schindler's List Money Went' — Initial investigation documenting $3M in RPF grants to anti-IHRA organizations (Bend the Arc, T'ruah, JUFJ, Jewish Social Justice Roundtable)
  • 2. 'Spielberg's Mamdani: How RPF's $3M Funded the Jewish Progressive Infrastructure That Elected' — Deep dive into Bend the Arc's comprehensive political program and the role of Spielberg funding in electing NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani
  • 3. 'Why One Spielberg Foundation Stayed Clean and One Became a Vehicle for Anti-Israel Funding' — Comparative analysis of Shoah Foundation (protected by USC governance) vs. RPF (unprotected family control)
  • 4. This investigation — How Hearthland Foundation ($26.7M) provides the broader infrastructure that enables RPF's anti-Israel targeting to succeed

This piece explains the second half of Spielberg's strategy. RPF funds the target organizations. Hearthland funds the ecosystem.

THE $26.7 MILLION INFRASTRUCTURE

Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw are not only major funders through the Righteous Persons Foundation ($9.35M annually). They are also—through Hearthland Foundation—the largest scaling engine for progressive infrastructure in America.

Hearthland Foundation distributed $26.7 million in grants in 2024.1

RPF targets specific anti-Israel organizations. Hearthland funds the voter mobilization, media narrative, and racial justice ecosystem that *enables* those organizations to succeed.

Together, they represent approximately $36 million in annual grantmaking by a single family directed toward progressive causes that intersect with anti-Israel positioning.

HEARTHLAND FOUNDATION: THE ECOSYSTEM FUNDER

2019 Rebranding: $80 Million Commitment

Hearthland Foundation was originally Wunderkinder Foundation (established 1985). In 2019, Spielberg and Capshaw rebranded and scaled it dramatically.2

  • 2019 commitment: $80 million from Spielberg and Capshaw
  • Mission reframed: From general "arts and culture" to "building a shared democracy" and "telling honest narratives"
  • Board: Spielberg (Co-founder), Capshaw (Co-founder), Krieger (Board Member), Rachel Levin (President of Philanthropy)
  • 2024 grantmaking: $26.7 million across four major categories

2024 HEARTHLAND GRANTMAKING BREAKDOWN

Category | Amount | What This Does

Voter Mobilization & Civic Participation | ~$8M | Black Voters Matter, When We All Vote, Secure Democracy Foundation, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Rural Democracy Initiative — builds electoral machine for progressive candidates

Media & Narrative | ~$5M | StoryCorps, Firelight Media, Report for America, American Journalism Project, TransLash Media, On Being — shapes national conversation on progressive values

Racial Justice & Vulnerable Populations | ~$10M | Equal Justice Initiative, One Fair Wage, March For Our Lives, National Network of Abortion Funds, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles — frames all progressive issues as racial justice

Arts & Culture | ~$3M | Studio Museum Harlem, Art21, MASS Design Group, Monument Lab — centers marginalized narratives and perspectives

HOW HEARTHLAND AMPLIFIES RPF'S ANTI-ISRAEL WORK

The Mamdani Case Study: RPF + Hearthland in Action

Olam's investigation 'Spielberg's Mamdani' documented how RPF's $1.2M grant to Bend the Arc funded the organization's first-ever mayoral endorsement—Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor in 2025.

But that electoral victory was not built on Bend the Arc's $1.2M alone. It was built on infrastructure funded by Hearthland.

Hearthland's voter mobilization grants ($8M) to Black Voters Matter and similar organizations:

  • Built the voter registration and turnout machinery in progressive communities
  • Trained organizers and developed voter contact lists
  • Created electoral infrastructure that Bend the Arc could activate for Mamdani

Hearthland's media narrative funding ($5M):

  • Shaped the story about why progressive politics matters
  • Built platforms for voices like Mamdani's to reach mainstream audiences

Without Hearthland's infrastructure, RPF's $1.2M to Bend the Arc would have had nowhere to go. With it, that money had a fully operational electoral machine to activate.

Voter Mobilization: Building Electoral Infrastructure

Hearthland funds voter mobilization organizations that:

  • Register voters in progressive-aligned communities
  • Mobilize Black voters, immigrant voters, young voters toward progressive candidates
  • Build the electoral machine that elects mayors like Zohran Mamdani

Media & Narrative: Reshaping the Conversation

Hearthland funds media organizations that:

  • Tell stories through progressive lens (Firelight Media produces documentaries for streaming platforms)
  • Develop young journalists (Report for America places reporters in underserved communities)
  • Amplify marginalized voices (TransLash Media centers transgender narratives)
  • Build narrative infrastructure that frames all issues through progressive racial-justice lens

The result: When Bend the Arc argues that support for Israel harms Palestinians and Black communities, the narrative ecosystem is already primed to amplify that message.

Racial Justice: Linking Palestine to Black Liberation

Hearthland's $10M to racial justice organizations creates ideological framework that:

  • Links Israeli policies to American policing and systemic racism
  • Frames Palestinian liberation as parallel to Black liberation
  • Makes opposition to Israel a civil-rights priority

This is the ideological foundation for the claims in Olam's investigation 'Where Schindler's List Money Went' — that Bend the Arc and similar organizations operate within a framework equating Israel with systemic oppression.

SPIELBERG'S ROLE IN A LARGER FUNDER ECOSYSTEM

Who Else Funds This Infrastructure?

Spielberg and Capshaw's combined $36M ($9.35M RPF + $26.7M Hearthland) is significant. But they are part of a larger ecosystem of major funders directing money toward the same infrastructure.

Open Society Foundations (Soros)

  • Funds voter mobilization, immigrant rights, media narrative, racial justice — overlapping with Hearthland priorities
  • Known funder of progressive immigration and police reform causes

Ford Foundation

  • Major funder of racial justice, voting rights, and media infrastructure
  • Funds organizations working on what it calls 'systemic racism and inequality'

Gates Foundation

  • Funds global health, education, and development work with progressive framing
  • Intersects with Hearthland priorities on racial justice and immigrant rights

Jewish Funders Network

  • Meta-funder connecting Jewish progressive donors
  • Coordinates funding for progressive Jewish causes and organizations

New Israel Fund and Progressive Jewish Fund

  • Direct funder of Israeli-Palestinian infrastructure
  • Explicitly supports Palestinian human rights within Israeli governance framework

The Coordination Pattern

These funders do not coordinate centrally. But their funding patterns show clear alignment:

  • All fund voter mobilization (Hearthland, Soros, Ford)
  • All fund media/narrative (Hearthland, Ford, Gates)
  • All fund racial justice (Hearthland, Soros, Ford, Gates)
  • All avoid funding pro-Israel organizations

The result is a coordinated-without-being-coordinated ecosystem where billions in funding flow toward progressive causes and against pro-Israel positions.

WHO CONTROLS HEARTHLAND

Steven Spielberg

  • Co-founder, board member

Kate Capshaw Spielberg

  • Co-founder, board member, active in grantmaking decisions

Kristie Macosko Krieger

  • Board member, Spielberg family

Rachel Levin

  • President of Philanthropy — operational control of $26.7M in annual grantmaking
  • Background: Progressive Jewish activist network (Reboot, Hollywood Women's Political Committee)

WHAT HEARTHLAND DOES NOT FUND

Review of Hearthland grantee records (2024) identified no grants to:3

  • Pro-Israel advocacy organizations
  • AIPAC
  • StandWithUs
  • Birthright Israel
  • Israeli American Council
  • Organizations defending Israel's military operations

Source: Hearthland Foundation website, 2024 grant announcements

THE STRATEGIC VISION

As detailed in Olam's investigation 'Why One Spielberg Foundation Stayed Clean and One Became a Vehicle for Anti-Israel Funding,' Spielberg structured two separate foundations with different roles:

Righteous Persons Foundation ($9.35M/year)

  • Targets: Opposition to IHRA, anti-Israel organizing (Bend the Arc), rabbinical mobilization (T'ruah), volunteer infrastructure (JUFJ)
  • Goal: Direct assault on pro-Israel positioning within Jewish community

Hearthland Foundation ($26.7M/year)

  • Targets: Voter mobilization, media narrative, racial justice framing
  • Goal: Build societal infrastructure where anti-Israel positioning becomes mainstream progressive position

Together, $36M annually toward:

  • Voter mobilization infrastructure that elects anti-Israel candidates
  • Media ecosystem that normalizes anti-Israel narratives
  • Racial justice framework that links Israel to systemic oppression
  • Jewish community infrastructure that opposes IHRA and pro-Israel legislation

WHAT THIS REPRESENTS

Spielberg and Capshaw are among America's major philanthropists. Through Hearthland alone, they rank in the top tier of foundation givers.

Their combined strategy—RPF targeting Jewish opposition to Israel, Hearthland funding the broader progressive ecosystem that normalizes that opposition—represents a deliberate, sophisticated approach to influencing American politics and Jewish community on Israel.

They are not alone. Soros, Ford, Gates, and other major funders flow money toward overlapping priorities. The result is a powerful ecosystem that:

  • Mobilizes voters toward progressive candidates who question Israel
  • Shapes media narrative to frame Israel as oppressor
  • Builds racial justice framework that positions Palestine alongside Black liberation
  • Funds Jewish organizations explicitly opposing IHRA and pro-Israel legislation

This ecosystem is not accidental. It is funded, directed, and staffed by major philanthropists and professional operatives.

COMMENT REQUESTS

Olam contacted Spielberg's office, Righteous Persons Foundation, and Hearthland Foundation requesting comment on:

  • Whether Hearthland's voter mobilization funding is coordinated to support candidates with progressive Israel positions
  • Whether Rachel Levin's background in progressive Jewish networks (Reboot, HWPC) influences Hearthland's grantmaking toward anti-Israel causes
  • Whether the strategic split between RPF (direct anti-Israel) and Hearthland (ecosystem building) is intentional
  • Why neither foundation funds pro-Israel organizations

No substantive response was received by publication deadline.

THE FULL PICTURE

Olam's four investigations on Spielberg's philanthropy show a complete picture:

'Where Schindler's List Money Went'

  • Established that RPF directed $3M to anti-IHRA organizations over five years

'Spielberg's Mamdani'

  • Showed how that $1.2M to Bend the Arc funded electoral infrastructure that elected NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani

'Why One Spielberg Foundation Stayed Clean'

  • Documented how Spielberg protected Shoah Foundation through USC governance while leaving RPF unprotected and controlled by Tabankin and family board members

This investigation (Hearthland)

  • Reveals the ecosystem infrastructure ($26.7M) that makes RPF's targeting work possible

Together, these investigations show that Spielberg is not a bystander in American philanthropy. He and Capshaw are among its most influential funders. What they fund matters.

Together, RPF and Hearthland represent $36M annually directed toward opposition to Israel and Zionism—through direct anti-Israel organizing, electoral infrastructure, media narrative, and ideological framing.

They are part of a larger ecosystem where Soros, Ford, Gates, and other major funders flow billions toward the same progressive infrastructure.

This is the infrastructure that shapes American politics on Israel.

SOURCES & METHODOLOGY

FOOTNOTES

1 Hearthland Foundation 2024 grantmaking total of $26.7 million derived from Hearthland Foundation website and Form 990-PF filing for fiscal year 2024 (EIN 95-4016320), available via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.

2 Hearthland Foundation 2019 rebranding and $80M commitment documented in foundation's official history and mission statement and Form 990-PF filings showing transition from Wunderkinder Foundation (founded 1985) to Hearthland Foundation branding and expanded grantmaking (2019–present).

3 Hearthland Foundation grantee lists reviewed via official Hearthland website and Form 990-PF Schedule I (Grants and Contributions) for fiscal year 2024, available via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.