Genesis Prize laureate's foundation gave $284K to J Street, NIF, Tides Foundation, and the Soros-backed Quincy Institute.
Part of the Global Jewish Philanthropy investigation.
In June 2024, the Genesis Prize Foundation honored Barbra Streisand as its 10th anniversary laureate — unanimously chosen following nominations from tens of thousands of Jews around the world. The Genesis Prize, often called the "Jewish Nobel," celebrates "outstanding individuals who serve as a source of inspiration for the next generation of Jews worldwide." Previous laureates include Michael Bloomberg, Natalie Portman, and Michael Douglas.
Streisand is Jewish. Brooklyn-born, daughter of a Jewish schoolteacher, proudly identified her entire life. She is among the most visible Jews on earth.
Her foundation — the Streisand Foundation, which she has run as sole president since 1986 — sits on $30.5 million in assets. In the last five years, it has distributed $5.5 million across 403 grants to 222 organizations. Lifetime: more than $25 million to over 800 nonprofits. The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals. Grantmaking is by invitation only. Every grant is deliberate.
Among the deliberate grants: $55,000 to J Street. $20,000 to the New Israel Fund. $139,000 to the Tides Foundation. $70,000 to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
Total: $284,000 to organizations working against the Jewish state — funded by the Genesis Prize laureate, by invitation, across multiple years.
Who Makes the Decisions at the Streisand Foundation
The Streisand Foundation (EIN 13-2620702), Woodland Hills, California. FY2024: $4.8 million revenue. $2.0 million expenses. $30.5 million total assets. The foundation files IRS Form 990-PF annually as a private foundation. All grantee data in this article is drawn directly from those public filings.
Barbra Streisand — President (1986–present). Sole final authority on all grantmaking.
Margery Tabankin — Treasurer/Secretary (1986–present). One of the foundation's key decision makers for 40 years. A progressive political strategist trained at Saul Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation in Chicago. Served as VISTA National Director under President Carter, making her the youngest person to lead the federal volunteer agency. Ran the Hollywood Women's Political Committee through the early 1990s, channeling entertainment-industry money into Democratic campaigns. Tabankin holds a senior role at other major philanthropic foundations, giving her unusual influence over the direction of progressive Jewish philanthropy in America.
Francis Smith — Executive Director (2013–present). Also serves as a political advisor to the Democracy Alliance, the left-of-center donor network co-founded by George Soros and other progressive billionaires to coordinate political giving.
Jason Gould — Board Member (Streisand's son). Lester J. Knispel — Assistant Secretary.
No independent directors. No outside oversight. No advisory board. No public grantmaking criteria. The foundation's IRS filings list its application process as "by invitation only."
$55,000 to J Street — the Organization Israel's Ambassador Called "a Cancer"
The Streisand Foundation gave $55,000 to the J Street Education Fund across three grants (2022–2024), according to its IRS Form 990-PF filings.
On May 19, 2026, Israel's Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter called J Street "a cancer within the Jewish community" at a National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism gathering at the Museum of the Bible in Washington.
"The worst thing about J Street is it's duplicitous. How can you be pro-Israel and advocate for an arms embargo on a state that's fighting a seven-front war against Iranian proxies? They are like a cancer in the heart of the Jewish community."
In April 2026, J Street published a formal policy memo calling for a "responsible and relatively rapid phase-out of all financial assistance, including for ballistic missile defense." The memo calls for ending $3.3 billion in annual Foreign Military Financing and $500 million in Department of Defense missile defense funding when the current $38 billion memorandum of understanding expires in 2028. That means Iron Dome. David's Sling. Arrow. The systems that intercepted over 300 Iranian missiles and drones on April 13, 2024.
J Street is now the mainstream Israel lobby among Democrats, endorsing more members of Congress than AIPAC. In April 2026, a record 27 Senate Democrats voted to restrict $660 million in weapons sales to Israel — at J Street's urging.
Streisand's foundation funds them. $55,000 across three years. By invitation only.
$20,000 to the New Israel Fund — Under Congressional Investigation for Illegal Electioneering
The Streisand Foundation gave $20,000 to the New Israel Fund across two grants (2023–2024).
On July 9, 2026, the House Judiciary and Ways and Means committees opened a formal investigation into the New Israel Fund.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) alleged the organization violated its tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) charity "by providing millions of dollars in funding to groups that engaged in political campaign activities in the 2019 Israeli elections." Under U.S. law, 501(c)(3) charities are "absolutely prohibited" from directly or indirectly engaging in any political campaign for or against a candidate for elected office.
The committees cited specific grants: $356,000 from NIF to Zazim, which bussed thousands of Bedouin voters to the polls as part of the opposition to Netanyahu. An additional $95,000 to Adalah, which provided legal representation to the Joint Arab List — the alliance of Arab parties that centered their 2019 campaign around ousting Netanyahu in favor of Benny Gantz.
According to NGO Monitor, NIF has donated more than $300 million to Israeli nonprofits since its founding in 1979. Among its grantees: Adalah, Breaking the Silence, +972 Magazine, B'Tselem, and Gisha — organizations primarily active in BDS and delegitimization campaigns. Breaking the Silence — NIF's largest recipient ($700,000+) — dispatches former soldiers on international tours accusing the IDF of war crimes. Birthright Israel banned NIF.
Now it is 2026, NIF is under congressional investigation for illegal electioneering, and the Genesis Prize laureate is writing them checks.
$139,000 to the Tides Foundation — Fiscal Sponsor of Terrorist-Linked Organizations and Anti-Israel Litigation
The Streisand Foundation gave $139,000 to the Tides Foundation across five years (2020–2024). The Tides Network has mobilized over $3 billion since its founding in 1976 and manages nearly 400 donor-advised funds. According to NGO Monitor's Tides profile, the foundation serves as fiscal sponsor and grant channel for some of the most active anti-Israel organizations in the United States.
Jewish Voice for Peace ($312K from Tides) — the largest Jewish BDS organization in the U.S., which describes Israel as an "apartheid state." IfNotNow ($358K) — campaigns to end American Jewish support for Israel's "occupation." CODEPINK ($293K) — organized protests at the U.S. Capitol and disrupted congressional hearings on Israel. Alliance for Global Justice ($3.5M) — fiscal sponsor of Samidoun, designated a terrorist entity by the United States and Canada for its ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Center for Constitutional Rights ($173K) — filed a federal lawsuit accusing Israel of "genocide" in Gaza.
The Tides Foundation operates as a fiscal intermediary: donors give to Tides, which then distributes to grantees. This structure provides donor anonymity. Streisand's $139,000 to Tides funds this entire ecosystem.
$70,000 to the Quincy Institute — the Think Tank Dismantling U.S.-Israel Military Ties
The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft was founded in 2019 with seed funding from George Soros's Open Society Foundations ($500,000) and the Charles Koch Foundation ($500,000). Led by Trita Parsi — formerly president of the National Iranian American Council — Quincy advocates reduced U.S. military engagement in the Middle East, conditioning military aid to Israel, and what it calls "military restraint."
Streisand gave $70,000 to the Quincy Institute across three grants (2021–2024).
Total: $284,000 to J Street, NIF, Tides, and Quincy — organizations that collectively advocate ending U.S. military aid to Israel, fund BDS campaigns, sponsor designated terrorist entities, and are under active congressional investigation.
The Genesis Prize Question
The Genesis Prize celebrates Jews who inspire the next generation. In 2024, they chose Barbra Streisand. She accepted.
Her foundation funds J Street — which Israel's ambassador calls a cancer, advocating for ending $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid. Her foundation funds the New Israel Fund — under congressional investigation for illegal electioneering in Israeli elections, banned by Birthright, and the largest funder of BDS-aligned NGOs in Israel. Her foundation funds the Tides Foundation — fiscal sponsor of Samidoun, a designated terrorist entity, and grant channel for Jewish Voice for Peace and the Alliance for Global Justice. Her foundation funds the Quincy Institute — working to dismantle the U.S.-Israel security relationship.
Every grant was made by invitation. Barbra Streisand approved every allocation. No independent director reviewed the decisions. The foundation has no public grantmaking criteria and no mechanism for accountability beyond the annual IRS filing.
What does it mean when a recipient of one of the Jewish world's most prominent honors uses her philanthropic fortune to support organizations fighting Israel's security?
Barbra Streisand knows what her foundation funds. She is the president. The grants carry her name.
Sources
All grant amounts are from the Streisand Foundation's IRS Form 990-PF filings (EIN 13-2620702), available at ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Grantmakers.io, and philanthropy.org. Tides and NIF grantee data sourced from NGO Monitor's Tides profile and NIF profile. Ambassador Leiter's remarks reported by JNS. J Street's policy memo published at jstreet.org.