December 9, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
David Gelbaum, a former hedge-fund manager who has made large donations anonymously, confirmed that over the past five years he has given a total of nearly $388-million to three organizations.
The disclosure came after Mr. Gelbaum was named in a New York Times story that cited unnamed board members of the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the recipient groups, as its source.
Mr. Gelbaum recently notified those three organizations that he would be unable to make his typical large gift in 2010 because of financial losses, a move that will leave big holes in the groups’ budgets.
In his statement, Mr. Gelbaum said his investments in “alternative, clean energy companies have placed me in a highly illiquid position as a result of the general credit crisis in the American and world financial systems.” He said he hoped his disclosure would prompt other donors to contribute to the groups.
Mr. Gelbaum said he has given the ACLU a total of $93.5-million in the last five years.
During that same time period, he gave $246.6-million to the Iraq Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund at the California Community Foundation and $47.7-million to the Sierra Club Foundation.
Mr. Gelbaum said in the announcement that he conducts his philanthropy through a combination of donor-advised funds, personal donations, and what he described as “other philanthropic vehicles.”
Before the statement late Wednesday, many nonprofit observers expressed strong criticism for the ACLU board for disclosing Mr. Gelbaum’s identity.
