Alex von Furstenberg: Improving people’s lives and strengthening communities through philanthropy

Most philanthropists like Alex von Furstenberg believe that giving to the needy is a privilege, an opportunity, and a responsibility. Thanks to the contributions of such people, numerous organizations are able to find proper funding to improve the lives in thousands of communities around the world.

Alex von Furstenberg. Image Credit: sunshineleneforlife.com

The Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation, an organization led by Mr. Furstenberg, is a private family foundation that aims to make a positive impact on the world by “improving people’s lives and strengthening communities.” The Foundation believes that this can be accomplished by supporting various 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that provide people with different opportunities to improve their lives.


Over the years, the Foundation has helped several organizations working in sectors such as community building, education, human rights, arts, health, and environment, spending more than $30 million in grants.

“Alex von Furstenberg is the director and secretary of The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation and serves on the board of Friends of the High Line.”

Alex von Furstenberg. Image Credit: flickr.com/photos/ayashok

Included in the list of organizations that benefited from the Foundation’s philanthropy are:


• Community building – Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, Central Park Conservancy, and Comfort Zone Camp.

• Education – American Friends of the College of Judea, Brown University, and Exceptional Education Outreach.

• Human rights – Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith, Human Rights Campaign, and Human Rights Watch.

• Arts – Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Roundabout Theater Company, and CAA Education Foundation.

• Health – ACRIA, AMFAR, and Continuum Cancer Centers.

• Environment – CAF America, Conservation International, and Friends of ARK.

View the complete list of organizations supported by the Foundation by visiting www.alexvonfurstenberg.com. More information about Alex von Furstenberg can also be accessed through the site.

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Alex von Furstenberg and CAA Foundation: Creating positive social change through popular culture

Through The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, Alex von Furstenberg is able to expand his horizons and walk outside the tracks of the corporate world. He sponsors a number of charitable causes and pursues innovative programs that aim to suppress the unsettling repercussions of poverty, social injustice, and environmental degradation.

Alex von Furstenberg. Image Credit: alexvonfurstenberg.com

One of the organizations that Mr. von Furstenberg actively supports is the CAA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Creative Artists Agency that uses popular culture as a creative means to make positive social change. An integral part of its culture, charity serves as CAA’s doorway to understanding the conditions of poor children and communities worldwide. It encourages volunteerism, facilitates strategic partnerships, grants financial contributions, and provides in-kind donations.

Alex von Furstenberg. Image Credit: blog.artandwriting.org/

Founded in 1996, CAA Foundation empowers employees, companies, artists, athletes, and business executives like Alex von Furstenberg to use their time, talents, and resources “to make a difference, to be of service, and to improve conditions worldwide.” Through employee involvement and client service, the foundation is able to service local and global communities. It utilizes volunteer initiatives—students and student leaders mentorship, school beautification projects, free arts programs, and pro-social vocations—to propagate social development, mitigate global climate change, and encourage personal accountability and responsibility among its members.


CAA’s corporate clients play a crucial role in the establishment of the Foundation as an independent, well-heeled organization in the philanthropic society. They help it facilitate cause-marketing partnerships and provide counsel on how to advance community activities.


For more information about Alex von Furstenberg and his humanitarian works, visit AlexvonFurstenberg.com.

Alex von Furstenberg. Image Credit: alexvonfurstenberg.com

Alex von Furstenberg and the Brown University: Achieving scholastic excellence through high-quality education

Alex von Furstenberg received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University in 1993. He resides in Malibu, California with his family.

Founded in 1764, Brown University is the third oldest institution of higher education in New England and seventh oldest in the United States. It is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was originally called College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations during the reign of King George III.

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It was Brown that pioneered in the nation the acceptance of students from all religious affiliations. Academically, it comprises The College, Graduate School, Alpert Medical School, and the School of Engineering. In addition, its international programs and curricula are organized through the Watson Institute for International Studies.

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Alex von Furstenberg aims to broaden the academic understanding of the youth through educational plans and other philanthropic grants.

A well-recognized research university that houses 689 full-time faculty members and 2,000 graduate students, Brown has successfully produced five professors and two alumni who have been honored as Nobel laureates. This propelled the university to add 100 more professors to its roster in the recent decade through the Boldly Brown campaign.

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On one hand, the university offers more than 70 curricular programs for undergraduates, ranging from Egyptology to cognitive neuroscience. On the other hand, graduate students can enroll in more than 70 programs, which include interdisciplinary opportunities in molecular pharmacology and physiology and a master’s program in acting and directing through the Brown/Trinity Repertory Consortium.


For more information about Alex von Furstenberg and his academic background, visit AlexvonFurstenberg.com.

Alex von Furstenberg: Sustaining the spirit of free inquiry

Promoting, passing on, and protecting knowledge and understanding in a spirit of a free inquiry burn at the core of Alex von Furstenberg. The same philosophy is at the heart of Brown University, an independent, coeducational Ivy League institution, in keeping its commitment to its diverse community of students and faculty members.

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Individual and institution are further, and inexorably, linked by the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, a private family foundation that supports various direct-service organizations. Mr. von Furstenberg, a Bachelor of Arts graduate in Brown, is the director and secretary of the Foundation.


Brown was the first Ivy League school to accept students from all religious affiliations. Women were admitted for the first time to its campus in 1891. In the almost three centuries of its existence, the pillar of higher education has placed importance on its curriculum.

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Alex von Furstenberg is an alumnus of Brown University, one of the many beneficiaries of the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation. Institution and organization are both advocates of academic freedom.

The Brown Curriculum

A liberal approach to academics has been alive in Brown University since its inception. The institution has traditionally encouraged its students to study broadly and deeply, to engage in self-examination, and to build a moral core.


This liberal arts approach has been challenged over time, with changes ranging from enabling students to "study what [they] chose, all that [they] chose, and nothing but what [they] chose" to giving them “the right to choose, the right to fail, and above all the freedom to direct their own education.”

Alex von Furstenberg Photo Credit: Cosmosmagazine.com

Learn more about the Brown Curriculum at www.brown.edu. Visit www.alexvonfurstenberg.com for more information about Alex von Furstenberg and his family’s private foundation.

Alex Von Furstenberg: A look into the Research to Prevent Blindness

Alex Von Furstenberg is a philanthropist who supports various health organizations including Research to Prevent Blindness. He is the Director and Secretary of Diller-Von Furstenberg Family Foundation.


The report compiled by the American Academy of Ophthalmology states that 3.6 million people (mostly aged 40 and above) are visually impaired, while one million are legally blind. Despite the alarming rate of visual impairment and blindness, people must understand that blindness is a condition that can sometimes be prevented with proper eye care and efficient treatment.

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The Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB), a leading private voluntary health organization, helps reduce the cases of blindness by conducting eye research directed at the prevention and treatment of vision problems.


To efficiently conduct its research, funding is essential for the organization. Alex Von Furstenberg and the Diller-Von Furstenberg Family Foundation are among the entities that support RPB. Through funding, the organization is granted with scientific manpower, cutting-edge technological equipment, and adequate research facilities. These are all necessary in the pursuit of understanding and coming up with innovative treatment for vision problems.

Alex Von Furstenberg Photo Credit: RPBusa.org

Alex Von Furstenberg Photo Credit: Howstuffworks.com

For over 50 years, RPB has been providing eye research funds to leading scientific institutions across the country.


Moreover, a big portion of the contributions gathered by the organization is used for eye research, and only two percent is set aside for the organization’s fund raising.


For more of Alex Von Furstenberg’s grantees, visit www.alexvonfurstenberg.org.

Alex von Furstenberg and the Naked Heart Foundation: Aiding children through play

A father himself, businessman and philanthropist Alex von Furstenberg has contributed much to organizations that aim to uplift the lives of underprivileged youth the world over. Among these organizations is the Naked Heart Foundation, which is dedicated to providing safe playgrounds for children in Russian cities.

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The Naked Heart Foundation is built upon the child’s fundamental need to play; hence it is often taken for granted. Nonetheless, play deprivation is a serious matter that can hamper a child’s development. Children in poor urban areas are more likely to be play-deprived because of the socioeconomic and environment factors that keep them from fulfilling their need to play.

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Alex von Furstenberg, a native of New York, is Director and Secretary of the Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation.

Understanding this fact, the Naked Heart Foundation aims to provide the children of impoverished families in Russian cities a safe place to play. The playgrounds constructed by the organization cater to children of all conditions and abilities, and are designed to fascinate the children’s imaginations and to stand in stark contrast to the urban environment. Over 65 playgrounds have been built overall, varying in sizes and costs.

The organization was founded in 2005 by Natalia Vodianova as a streamlined one-person organization. Today, the foundation still consists mainly of four employees; two in Russia and two managing affairs internationally. More information on the organization and its history can be accessed here.

Alex von Fursternburg Photo Credit: fashionmodeldirectory.com,

Learn more of Alex von Furstenberg’s charity works from his official website.

Alex von Furstenberg and helping transform the High Line

Alex von Furstenberg Photo credit: Davidberko​witz

Transformation plays a vital role in improving lives. Alex von Furstenberg and the Diller – von Furstenberg Family Foundation (DVFFF) played a huge role in transforming High Line from an illustration of disuse and dilapidation to a colorful garden—an example of meaningful change right at the western part of Manhattan.



The High Line was formerly an elevated railroad that ran along Manhattan’s West Side. Built in the 1930s, it was meant to raise trains up to 30 feet above ground-level traffic to avoid accidents. In the 1950s, the interstate trucking industry developed, greatly reducing rail traffic in the High Line. Its use gradually waned until the tracks were used for the last time in 1980.

Alex von Furstenberg Photo Credit: lensepix

Two decades later, Alex von Furstenberg and the DVFFF donated $20 million to the City of New York—the largest single donation made for a public park. The sum was to be used for the completion and maintenance of High Line Park, now a colorful aerial garden overlooking Manhattan’s West Side, a far throw from the old railway that almost got demolished had concerned individuals not interfered. The railway’s gravel had given way to flowers of different hues, and most of the tracks disappeared beneath mats of verdant grass and low plants.



The High Line is proof that with proper support, change and progress are possible. With help from concerned individuals and entities, what was once an eyesore became a place of beauty—inviting more and more people as additional sections of the park are developed and opened to the public.

Alex von Furstenberg Photo credit: Davidberko​witz

Learn more about Alex von Furstenberg and his philanthropy at www.alexvonfurstenberg.org.