{{Short description|Three nonprofit organizations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} The '''Scaife Foundations''' refer collectively to three foundations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: the Allegheny Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and the Scaife Family Foundation. A fourth foundation, the Carthage Foundation, was folded into the Sarah Scaife Foundation in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scaife.com/carthage.html|title=The Carthage Foundation|publisher=Scaife Foundations}}</ref> The Sarah Scaife Foundation and Scaife Family Foundation are major funders of American conservative causes.<ref name="Stanley-Becker" /><ref name="Kurtz" /><ref name=":0" />
==Allegheny Foundation== Richard Mellon Scaife endowed the foundation and served as its founding chairman. It "concentrates its giving in the Southwestern Pennsylvania area and confines most of its grant awards to programs for historic preservation, civic development and education."<ref>{{cite web |title=Allegheny Foundation |url=http://www.scaife.com/alleghen.html |publisher=Scaife Foundations |accessdate=14 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Allegheny Foundation |url=https://fconline.foundationcenter.org/fdo-grantmaker-profile/?key=ALLE001 |publisher=Foundation Directory Online |accessdate=14 April 2020}}</ref>
When Scaife died in 2014, he left assets worth $364 million to the Allegheny Foundation. In 2015, the Allegheny Foundation distributed over $25 million to 81 different organizations. The foundation's largest donations went to Point Park University for the Pittsburgh Playhouse and the Center for Media Innovation. The Boys & Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania, Saint Vincent College, the Extra Mile Education Foundation, Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania, and the Ligonier Valley YMCA all received gifts of $1 million or more.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lord |first1=Rich |date=January 14, 2017 |title=Enlarged Allegheny Foundation gushes with grants |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2017/01/15/Enlarged-Allegheny-Foundation-gushes-with-grants/stories/201701050148 |accessdate=14 April 2020 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |publisher=}}</ref>
The Foundation has EIN 25–6012303 as a 501(c)(3) Private Nonoperating Foundation; in 2024 it claimed $35,738,844 in revenue and total assets of $595,889,485.<ref>{{cite web |title=Allegheny Foundation |url=https://app.candid.org/profile/7288590/allegheny-foundation-25-6012303 |website=candid.org |publisher=Candid. |access-date=12 February 2026}}</ref>
==Sarah Scaife Foundation== The Sarah Scaife Foundation, named after Sarah Scaife, does not award grants to individuals. It concentrates its efforts towards politically conservative causes focused on public policy at a national and international level.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/local/2014/10/25/Scaife-related-foundations-poised-to-take-bigger-stage/stories/201410250058|title=Scaife-related foundations poised to take bigger stage|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=25 October 2014|first=Rich|last=Lord}}</ref>
The organizations it has supported include the George C. Marshall Institute, Project for the New American Century, the Institute for Humane Studies,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scaife.com/sarah2011.pdf|title=Sarah Scaife Foundation Annual Report|date=2011|access-date=25 July 2016}}</ref> Reason Foundation,<ref>{{cite news |last=Stewart |first=James B. |date=13 June 2012 |title=How Broccoli Landed on Supreme Court Menu |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/business/how-broccoli-became-a-symbol-in-the-health-care-debate.html?pagewanted=all |work=The New York Times}}</ref> and Judicial Watch.
The foundation has EIN 25–1113452 as a 501(c)(3) Private Non-operating Foundation; in 2024 it claimed $28,045,542 in total revenue and $1,026,059,315 in total assets.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sarah Scaife Foundation Incorporated |url=https://app.candid.org/profile/7289812/sarah-scaife-foundation-incorporated-25-1113452 |website=candid.org |publisher=Candid. |access-date=12 February 2026}}</ref>
==Scaife Family Foundation== The Scaife Family Foundation has funded conservative causes.<ref name="Stanley-Becker">Isaac Stanley-Becker & Craig Timberg, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/07/trumps-allies-turned-online-campaign-quest-unmask-ukraine-whistleblower/ Trump's allies turned to online campaign in quest to unmask Ukraine whistleblower], ''The Washington Post'' (November 7, 2019).</ref><ref name="Kurtz">Howard Kurtz, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/11/05/reasons-altered-rationale/b25e1b6e-4c23-4d9d-a3df-69ae6171c4dc/ Reason's Altered Rationale], ''The Washington Post'' (November 5, 2001).</ref> The Scaife Family Foundation has financially backed ''Reason'' magazine<ref name=Kurtz/> and the RealClearInvestigations website.<ref name=Stanley-Becker/> According to Colin Schultz, writing for Smithsonian magazine in 2013, Scaife Foundations was among the largest contributors to the "climate change counter-movement" from 2003 to 2010.<ref name="SmithSon_2013-12-23">{{cite magazine |last=Schultz |first=Colin |date=23 December 2013 |title=Meet the Money Behind the Climate Denial Movement |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meet-the-money-behind-the-climate-denial-movement-180948204/ |magazine=Smithsonian |accessdate=10 June 2019}}</ref>
The Scaife Family Foundation is controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife's daughter Jennie; who, according to 2014 article in ''Inside Philanthropy'', shifted over time from funding conservative groups to becoming "almost exclusively a supporter of animal welfare and other humanitarian issues."<ref>David Callahan, [https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/economic-policy-research/2014/6/9/ghost-of-the-past-hardly-scaifes-philanthropic-empire-is-thr.html Ghost of the Past? Hardly: Scaife's Philanthropic Empire Is Thriving]{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}, ''Inside Philanthropy'' (June 9, 2014).</ref> The family foundation has donated significant sums to the University of Pittsburgh.<ref>Ade Adeniji, [https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/higher-education/2015/4/21/a-look-at-the-sarah-scaife-foundations-higher-ed-grantmaking.html A Look at the Sarah Scaife Foundation's Higher Ed Grantmaking] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223192912/https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/higher-education/2015/4/21/a-look-at-the-sarah-scaife-foundations-higher-ed-grantmaking.html |date=23 December 2020 }}, ''Inside Philanthropy'' (April 21, 2015).</ref>
The foundation has EIN 25–1427015 as a 501(c)(3) Private Nonoperating Foundation; in 2024 it claimed $17,845,279 in total revenue and $176,749,400 in total assets.<ref name="Scaife Family Foundation">{{cite web |title=Scaife Family Foundation |url=https://app.candid.org/profile/7274699/scaife-family-foundation-25-1427015 |website=candid.org |publisher=Candid |access-date=12 February 2026}}</ref> It lists its mission as "Grants to support and develop programs that strengthen families, address issues surrounding the health and welfare of women and children, promote animal welfare, and that demonstrate the beneficial interaction between humans and animals; Support also for conservation, and early intervention and prevention efforts in the area of drug and alcohol addiction."<ref name="Scaife Family Foundation"/>
==See also== * List of Mellon family foundations
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.scaife.com/ Scaife Foundations website] * [http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientsoffunder.php?funderID=5 Allengheny Foundation grant recipients from 1985-2006] * [http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientsoffunder.php?funderID=4 Carthage Foundation grant recipients from 1985-2003] * [http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientsoffunder.php?funderID=4 Sarah Scaife Foundation grant recipients from 1985-2003] * [http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientsoffunder.php?funderID=2 Scaife Family Foundation grant recipients from 1985-2001]
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Category:Political organizations based in the United States Category:Foundations based in the United States Category:Conservative organizations in the United States