Snapshot: Dedicated philanthropists with significant political influence in Massachusetts, the Hostetters command the attention of Democrats despite not being exclusively liberal donors.
Location: Boston, MA
Giving Focus: Education, Arts, Climate Change
Top Recipients: House Majority PAC, various Democrat campaign funds
Background: Amos and Barbara Hostetter are one of Boston’s most influential couples. Their wealth comes from Amos’s years as a television executive—he co-founded Continental Television in the 1960s and sold it in 1996 for $11 billion. He and Barbara, herself a former women’s clothes manufacturer, then founded the Hostetter Foundation—now the Barr Foundation—and have been using their charitable giving to establish themselves in New England for decades.
A graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Business School, Amos has served on Amherst’s board since 1989, overseeing a near doubling of the school’s endowment and helping expand scholarships for lower-income students. He and his wife, through the Barr Foundation, funded a variety of cultural and educational projects quietly, intentionally keeping a low profile until the 2010s, when they began funding efforts to combat climate change. “It was an opportunity to use our voice,” Barbara said in 2010 as the couple committed $50 million to fight climate change over the next decade. Amos has since become co-chair of the Green Ribbon Commission with Boston’s Mayor Marty Walsh to improve the city’s sustainability.
It’d be hard to overstate the Hostetters’ influence in New England. Outside of the couple’s consistent giving to Boston’s largest institutions—including universities, local art museums and a $600,000 gift to the Boston Globe—their Barr Foundation has become an institution itself in New England. The foundation has backed many of the largest projects in Boston, and former Barr Foundation fellows often go on to high places in the city. In general, Amos and Barbara have given to Democrats and liberal causes, donating consistently to the DNC, Democratic senate campaign funds, and general-election donations to the Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden presidential campaigns. However, the couple has a notably moderate bent--Amos and Barbara attempt to get in early with powerful people, seemingly regardless of party. They gave small but early donations to Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign and Jeb Bush’s 2016 effort. The couple also supported Republican Charlie Baker’s successful run for governor in 2015, a connection that raised eyebrows when Hostetter gave $2 million to a Baker-supported ballot initiative to expand charter schools. Most recently, the Hostetters gave to the Republican-led anti-Trump Lincoln Project, further cementing their centrist position.
Takeaways: The Hostetter’s influence grew from strong philanthropic investment in their local Boston area. From the outside, BT readers can see how regular, deep investment in a community can have lasting results and make a person’s giving more impactful. To get deeper insights from the Hostetters, we can look no further than Barbara’s own writing on philanthropy. In one co-written article she describes the need for foundations to “share power” and ensure partner non-profits are rooted in the issues they’re tackling, so as to avoid making partners feel like “a ‘contractor’ hired to advance a foundation’s agenda.” Hostetter’s writing could be helpful to BT readers interested in a leadership position at a philanthropic organization.