Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund

The Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund started in 1946 when family members created the Galveston Fund. It was their belief that money should be set aside to help those in Galveston so that when the need arose, then there would be a vehicle to attend to those in need. The Fund started with a corpus of $50,000 and has grown through wise investing along with additional contributions from family members to over forty million. The name was changed in 1950 to the Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund in order to honor progenitors.

Today, the Fund’s Board consists of nine family members along with two outside directors and meets two times a year. The focus continues to be on Galveston Island with 95% of grant funds distributed there.

The Fund addresses needs in the five broad areas of human services, health, education, arts, and community development including environmental issues and historic preservation. For years the Fund has had a program related investment (PRI) program in place, which provides below-market rate loans to non-profits for charitable activities.