About The Diane & Marc Spilker Foundation
The Diane & Marc Spilker Foundation was founded in 1997 by Diane and Marc Spilker. Diane and Marc Spilker formed the New York City-based foundation to support a wide range of philanthropic endeavors relating to public policy, health care, education, Jewish causes and community initiatives.
Both alumni of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Diane and Marc Spilker have provided grants through the Diane & Marc Spilker Foundation to the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania’s Scholarship Fund. Along with Apollo Global Management co-founder Marc Rowan, a fellow Penn alum, the foundation also helped to establish The Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative (Penn Wharton PPI) in 2012. The Penn Wharton PPI is a hub for public policy research and education with one overarching goal across its Philadelphia and Washington, DC offices: to leverage the University’s resources to foster better-informed policymaking on issues related to business and the economy. Marc Spilker currently serves on the board of Penn Wharton PPI.
Another educational institution the Diane & Marc Spilker Foundation has supported is The Hewitt School, an independent K-12 girls’ school. Diane Spilker has served on The Hewitt School’s board of trustees for the last ten years, and also has served as a member of the executive committee and chair of the capital campaign. In addition, The Diane & Marc Spilker Foundation has also provided funding to Harlem Village Academies, the Gateway Schools, Student Sponsor Partners, Harlem RBI, Say Yes to Education, and American International Education Foundation (AIEF).
The Spilkers are also deeply involved in Third Way, a non-profit think tank working to influence national policies. Marc Spilker serves on the Third Way board of trustees and he is the founder of Third Way’s Capital Markets Initiative (CMI). Third Way’s CMI works to educate legislators and their staffs on the importance of capital markets — how they work, what value they add, and what can happen when they go off course. CMI produces a range of timely and accessible financial primers and policy papers and hosts a popular Capital Markets 101 Lecture Series with highly sought after speakers on financial topics from throughout the country.
The Marc & Diane Spilker Foundation supports Central Synagogue in New York, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and UJA Federation of New York. The foundation supported an exhibition, Chasing Dreams: Baseball & Becoming American at The National Museum of American Jewish History. The exhibition weaves together the history of American sport, leisure, and national identity with the history of Jewish integration into American life.
Diane and Marc Spilker have continuously advocated against anti-Semitism throughout their careers and have also served as producers of three award-winning, critically acclaimed PBS specials: Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence (2007), Jerusalem: Center of the World (2009) and The Jewish Journey: America (2015).
Other beneficiaries of the Diane & Marc Spilker Foundation include NYU Langone Foundation, American Red Cross, Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Partners in Health, and Mount Sinai Medical Center.