NEW YORK, NY — 7/24/2025 — The Board of Trustees of the Charles H. Revson Foundation today announced that Julie Sandorf, who has served as President since 2008, will step down at the end of the year. The Board has formed a search committee and has engaged PBR Executive Search to help identify the Foundation’s next President.
Under Sandorf’s leadership Revson gave away $118 million over 18 years, redefining the relatively small foundation as a major engine for improving the lives of New Yorkers. Her strategic philanthropy reinvigorated public libraries and boosted their impact, revived local journalism, established a multi-faith center for pastoral care, and spearheaded civic service and community development in Israel among other projects.
“Julie Sandorf didn’t just see the big picture and the long-term goals: She led the rest of us to them,” said Revson’s board chair, Errol Louis. “Her bold vision and deep commitment to fairness and government accountability in the service of all people have created a Foundation that is prepared to meet the challenges of the future. We are profoundly grateful for Julie’s service and inspired by the legacy she leaves behind.”
Early in her tenure, Sandorf, 67, recognized that Revson — long a national philanthropy — could have a greater impact by focusing on New York City as a laboratory for programs to improve urban life across the country. At the same time, she continued the original commitments made by Charles Revson to Jewish life, Israel and biomedical research.
Sandorf convened stakeholders from her extensive networks to tackle problems while using the Foundation’s resources to fund solutions. She pushed organizations to identify their needs, elevate issues and set ambitious goals.
Sandorf believed that philanthropy should be pragmatic, people-focused, and willing to challenge the status quo. She often looked to other cities for inspiration, asking, “In Chicago they do this, why can’t we do something like that in New York?”
For example, after learning in a casual conversation that Chicago residents with a library card could get a free pass to city museums, Sandorf sought to replicate the program in New York. Partnering with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Revson funded the research and development to launch Culture Pass. It’s now the nation’s largest partnership between public libraries and cultural institutions, offering any New Yorker with a library card the opportunity to download passes to 71 museums and gardens and 31 performing arts venues around the city.
Sandorf’s philanthropy was rooted in listening and collaboration. She challenged grantees to think about making a significant impact over time. “Under Julie, Revson didn’t strive to be innovative for innovation’s sake,” said Cheryl Cohen Effron, a longtime trustee and former board chair. “Julie was about listening to grantees and dreaming with them a little bit about what would make a really big difference.”
Transforming New York’s Libraries Through Collaboration and Advocacy
Among Sandorf’s most enduring legacies is her work with New York City’s three library systems. Following decades of public disinvestment, the city’s 207 branch libraries were closed more often than open, and service was further debilitated by more than $1 billion in capital repair needs. Sandorf recognized the value and potential of these neighborhood institutions. At one point, she convened the presidents, board chairs and chief financial officers of all three systems — in Gracie Mansion no less — to find a way to collaborate. Revson’s investments led to:
“Julie is fiercely bright, deeply committed, and when she believed an initiative would improve the lives of New Yorkers, she did everything in her power to make it happen,” said Linda Johnson, president and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library. “In the case of libraries, not only did Revson support the mission and the work, Julie persuaded other funders to join the effort. Because she truly understood the potential of libraries, Revson was an ideal funder.”
Sandorf once described entering her local Upper West Side library as an inspiration: every seat full, people of all ages and backgrounds working side by side, embodying the city’s diversity and unity.
“This is what happens,” she wrote, “when library doors are wide open. Whether you live on Central Park West or in Frederick Douglass Houses, we all belong at the library — the only public, indoor space where everyone is welcomed to gather, relax, read, work, learn, discuss, improve our lives and pursue our dreams.”
Sandorf’s approach to addressing tough issues was rooted in a deep curiosity about why city systems were so dysfunctional. For example, during a punishing heatwave in the summer of 2022, she learned that many pools and beaches were closed due to a severe shortage of lifeguards, along with byzantine rules that prevented robust recruitment. Shortly after, Revson funded a public/private task force that increased the number of lifeguards by expanding opportunities and reimagining recruitment and certification.
Revitalizing Local News for a Stronger Democracy
Sandorf also recognized the growing crisis in local journalism as a threat to civic engagement and accountability. Under her leadership, the Foundation first provided crucial grants to a variety of established and emerging New York print, digital and radio news outlets and supported professional standards and community reporting at a time when many newsrooms were shrinking.
Seeing the need for a bolder approach, Revson then leveraged its resources to attract an initial $8.5 million to launch The City, a nonprofit, digital news outlet dedicated to accountability journalism for New Yorkers. She secured a dollar-for-dollar match from philanthropist Craig Newmark, the Leon Levy Foundation and other philanthropists. Her perseverance and coalition-building helped The City quickly become a source of local reporting, often challenging city powerbrokers and amplifying communities’ voices across the five boroughs.
It was also Sandorf’s initiative that led Revson to join forces with the Center for Community Media at CUNY’s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism to create the Advertising Boost Initiative, the nation’s first and largest program directing tens of millions of dollars of city government advertising to community media outlets. Revson also funded legal support for local newsrooms and educational programs for aspiring journalists from high school to graduate school — further strengthening New York’s news ecosystem.
“Julie Sandorf has been a formidable champion of local journalism in New York City — a major force behind the creation of a new generation of nonprofit newsrooms and the passage of legislation that injected tens of millions of dollars into community media,” said Graciela Mochkofsky, dean of Newmark’s J School. “Hundreds of young journalists, especially graduate students who directly benefited from her financial support, are in her debt. I’ve been honored to partner with Julie — one of the smartest, bravest women I know.”
Supporting Jewish Life in the United States and Israel
Under Sandorf, the Foundation helped establish the Center for Pastoral Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary. The center transformed rabbinic education, and has trained dozens of chaplains of all religions. Revson also bolstered the capacity of CUNY Hillels to address the social, economic and academic needs of Jewish students at a time of rising antisemitism on campus and in the city.
In Israel, Revson helped establish the Opportunity Fund for Civic Service, a pioneering philanthropic partnership between Israeli and North American foundations to expand national civic service options. The initiative — thanks to Sandorf’s vision and coalition-building — worked with the Israeli government to give Arab youth and young people with disabilities and others at-risk the same recognition and benefits as those serving in the army. Drawing on Sandorf’s deep background in the fields of housing and community development, Revson partnered with Israeli universities and civil society organizations on innovative approaches to community revitalization and professional development in urban planning. Sandorf also initiated the Foundation’s support for investigative journalism. After the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, she recognized the role of journalists as first responders, and established a fund for front-line reporters with Shomrim — The Center for Media and Democracy in Israel.
“Whether encouraging young Arab Israelis to volunteer for civic service as a way of entering the Israeli mainstream or creating a fund to encourage unbiased reporting from Israel, Julie sought out the areas other funders had overlooked,” said Yossi Klein Halevi, author and senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. “As soon as she identified and invested in a solution, its necessity became self-evident. Julie protected her philanthropic trust as if it were her own inheritance. Her approach to philanthropy was tikkun olam without sentimentality. Big heart, hard head: She routinely fostered miracles.”
Supporting Future Biomedical Researchers
Under Sandorf’s leadership, Revson has funded 137 postdoctoral fellows in biomedical sciences across 13 leading academic institutions in the New York metro area, and instituted annual convening of Revson Biomed Fellows to showcase their research to leading scientists, alumni and peers. These fellows, from 24 countries, have produced more than 1,000 scholarly publications and assumed critical positions in academia and industry. Revson was also a founding donor of the Weizmann Institute’s Women in Science Program, supporting Israeli female postdoctoral fellows pursuing training in the U.S.’ most prestigious research labs. And, in an unprecedented partnership with the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Revson helped expand its successful program supporting minority post-doctoral researchers.
Always a defining element of Sandorf’s philanthropy was her belief in what the founding Revson President Eli Evans defined as a core value: “bet on people.”
Seventeen years ago, Alan Miller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former journalist who founded the News Literacy Project (NLP), had an idea about how to help middle and high school students discern faction from fiction on the internet. Revson gave NLP its largest grant to date in 2010 when Miller was running NLP out of his basement office in his home. Sandorf recognized that Miller not only had an important vision, but also the drive to see it through. Last year, educators in a quarter of all school districts in the country used NLP’s resources to teach almost 600,000 students.
“Julie was more than just a funder,” said Miller. “She was an active partner, engaging with our team, sharing valuable insights and guidance, and pushing us to focus on how to reach as many students as quickly as possible.”
Next year Sandorf said she will begin a writing project reflecting her long experience in housing and community development in New York City.
“Julie has transformed the Revson Foundation through a strategic use of our relatively small endowment to seed big changes,” said Errol Louis. “She identified key corners of our civic life and sought to make a difference. She recognized New York City as a laboratory for progress. We will all remember how Julie cajoled, campaigned and demanded that we do more and we do better. She brought people together to work for important change. A conversation with Julie was always an exhilarating experience. She had little patience for canned wisdom, disproven ideas and the failure to collaborate. I feel personally lucky to have worked with her. I know I speak for our entire board and staff in hailing her success and thanking her for her inspiration.”
About the Charles H. Revson Foundation
The Charles H. Revson Foundation strives to expand knowledge, advance democratic values, and pursue the public good. Through grants and fellowships in Biomedical Research, Education, Jewish Life, and Urban Affairs, we invest in a vibrant civic society that can meet the material, social, and spiritual needs of diverse communities, primarily in New York City and Israel.
For inquiries, please contact: Kiryat Hance at annoucements@revsonfoundation.org
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