NET WORTH: Unknown
SOURCE OF WEALTH: Vinik Asset Management
FUNDING AREAS: Education, Youth, Arts & Culture, Human Services, Religious, Health
OVERVIEW: Jeffrey Vinik and his wife Penny move their philanthropy through the Vinik Family Foundation. The couple was once rather focused on Boston where they lived but since they moved to Florida, the Sunshine State has increasingly been in the spotlight. The couple has supported education, including Vinik's alma maters Duke and Harvard Business School. Arts and culture and human services are other interests.
BACKGROUND: Jeffrey Vinik grew up in New Jersey and attended Duke University and Harvard Business School, where he graduated in 1985. In the world of finance, Vinik made his name running Fidelity’s Magellan Fund and later Vinik Asset Management. He later purchased the Tampa Bay Lightning and moved to Florida. Lately, Vinik has also turned to real estate ventures.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION: Vinik recently gave University of South Florida-Tampa a gift of land valued at $12 million. His support for alma mater Duke University included a $10 million faculty challenge fund to support professors who focus on "complex societal challenges such as engineering and related areas in energy, global health, brain sciences. and the environment." Funding to Meadowbrook School in Weston, Massachusetts, where the couple's four children all went, included a $5 million gift in 2012. The Vinik Family Foundation has recently supported Harvard Business School, Noble and Greenough School, Tulane University, Worcester Academy, Riverdale Country School, and Inner-City Scholarship Fund, among others.
YOUTH: Support has gone to Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, Big Brothers of Mass Bay, Tenacity, which supports "underserved Boston youth with year round programs that combine education, fitness, & life skills", Right to Play, which uses the "transformative power of play—playing sport and playing games—to educate and empower children facing adversity," and Harlem Children's Zone. In late 2015, Vinik donated $6 million toward the "Build the Thunder" campaign, partnering with the NHL to expand youth hockey in the bay area.
ARTS & CULTURE: Recently giving has gone to Hampton Arts Management, a "nonprofit organization created in 2010 to develop artists and artistic communities in the Tampa Bay area," Museum of Science and Industry, Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, FL, Museum of Fine Arts Boston (which has received millions), Boston Children's Museum, Florida Aquarium, New England Aquarium, and Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa.
HUMAN SERVICES: Grantees include United Way Suncoast in Tampa, The Spring of Tampa Bay, whose mission is to "prevent domestic violence, protect victims and promote change in lives, families and communities," St. Petersburg Free Clinic, and Legal Aid of Manasota. He also pledged $10 million over five years to create the Heroes program, an initiative through the sports team Vinik owns, the Tampa Bay Lightning, to honor Veterans.
RELIGIOUS: The couple has recently bankrolled Idlewild Baptist Church, Jewish National Fund, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Tampa JCC & Federation, and Holmes Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Association, which has received a steady stream of $1.25 million annually of late via the Vinik Family Foundation.
HEALTH: Grantees include Pediatric Cancer Foundation, American Cancer Society, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Sertoma Speech and Hearing Foundation. He's also donated property of his to USF in order for them to build a new medical school in the downtown area.
LOOKING FORWARD: In his 50s, Vinik has been a Renaissance man of sorts, with a number of different business interests. For now, Vinik has been increasingly focused on his new home base in Tampa, though this may change down the line. A few years ago, it's worth mentioning that the Viniks pledged more than $10 million through the Lightning Foundation over five years to support the Tampa community.
CONTACT:
The Vinik Family Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact, but below is an address and phone: