College Presidents for Civic Preparedness

Civility Nonprofit

College Presidents for Civic Preparedness

Background

College Presidents for Civic Preparedness (CPCP), founded in 2023, is a network of more than 100 college and university leaders. It is hosted by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars. According to the group’s membership page, its goal is “to build campus cultures where all students…feel empowered to engage in civil discourse, identify reliable information, and solve problems together.” A number of member presidents are quoted in the coalition’s promotional materials, including Dartmouth College president Sian Leah Beilock and University of Pittsburgh chancellor Joan Gabel. CPCP’s programs include: a Faculty Institute that helps faculty incorporate civil discourse into courses; Confidential Forums for Presidents, which covers topics such as “campus pluralism, student protests, and effective strategies for fostering civil discourse”; an interactive student module called Dialogue in Practice; and Campuswide Immersion, a multi-year initiative designed to integrate civil discourse and other “civic skills” across participating campuses. In August 2026, CPCP reported that the Faculty Institute included 72 Faculty Fellows.

Notable People

Rajiv Vinnakota

president of ICS and leader of College Presidents for Civic Preparedness

In June 2024, Vinnakota published an Inside Higher Ed op-ed that offered “recommendations for campus leaders as they prepare for student protests to resume this fall”; in a sub-section titled “Masks off,” he wrote that “protesters should be required to show their faces” because “[a]nonymity undermines the spirit of open dialogue.” (Demonstrator face-covering restrictions have been promoted by conservative and right-wing groups such as ACTA, The Heritage Foundation, Manhattan Institute, and the Trump administration, as well as Israel advocacy groups like the Anti-Defamation League; by contrast, representatives of the ACLU and its New York chapter have argued against bans on face covering, noting that peaceful protesters may wear masks as protection from surveillance and doxxing—and similar concerns about restrictions on protesters’ use of masks have been raised by the U.N. Human Rights Committee, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International.)

Notable Funders

Einhorn Collaborative

$10 million (2026)

Founded by hedge fund billionaire David Einhorn, a former Cornell trustee. In a November 2023 op-ed for The Cornell Daily Sun, Einhorn urged Cornell to subject certain pro-Palestinian protest speech—particularly “From the river to the sea,” which he characterized as “antisemitic” and “eliminationist”—to the university’s discrimination and harassment policies, and argued that Cornell should act on complaints to “disincentivize” such speech. David Einhorn is the son of climate change skeptic Stephen Einhorn, who was a member of the advisory council for Turning Point USA as of April 2026. Stephen and his wife Nancy Einhorn also make large donations to the right-wing Bradley Impact Fund. According to a report by The Grio and One Wisconsin Now, Stephen and Nancy were accused of involvement in voter-suppression campaigns in Wisconsin during the election cycles of 2010 and 2012. (They denied any wrongdoing.) David Einhorn’s 2007 book is dedicated to his parents and describes how they furnished more than half of the funds with which he launched his hedge fund. (In June 2026, a representative for Einhorn Collaborative told The Guardian: “Einhorn Collaborative and the Einhorn Family Foundation are separate entities that hold different missions and opinions. A lot of our work is recognizing that people can have different opinions and to be able to respectfully disagree.”) For reference, see Einhorn Collaborative (established by David Einhorn) tax filings for 2024, 2023, and 2022; separately, see Einhorn Family Foundation (established by Stephen and Nancy Einhorn) tax filings for 2025, 2024, and 2023.

John Templeton Foundation

$2.6 million (2025)

Established by billionaire investor John Templeton. The foundation was led from 2015 to 2025 by his granddaughter, Heather Templeton Dill. It is now headed by the former CEO of Christianity Today, which describes itself as a “globally minded evangelical magazine.” Templeton makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing advocacy organizations such as State Policy Network and Mercatus Center, and Atlas Network (all three of which are described by Greenpeace as “Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Groups”). The foundation also has documented ties to the Koch Network. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Templeton’s giving.

One8 Foundation

$328,000 (2023-2024)

Established by billionaire hedge fund founder Jonathon Jacobson and his wife, Joanna Jacobson. Joanna Jacobson has drawn scrutiny for her financial and organizational support of charter school expansion in Massachusetts. The One8 Foundation makes significant investments in Israel advocacy groups such as Birthright Israel. In October 2023, Joanna Jacobson joined Seth Klarman (see Klarman Family Foundation) and three other Harvard alumni in signing an open letter to Harvard University’s leadership, accusing them of failing to confront a “meteoric rise in antisemitism” on campus following October 7, 2023; Jacobson and the co-signers called on Harvard to regulate protests and require students to take a semester-long course in “productive discourse.” Similarly, Jonathon Jacobson played a key role in the campaign against former president Liz Magill at the University of Pennsylvania for allegedly tolerating “antisemitism.” For reference, see One8’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, and 2022.

See also: Nantucket Project.

The Tepper Foundation

$250,000 (2024)

Established by billionaire hedge fund founder, David Tepper. The foundation is a major donor to the Anti-Defamation League and also funds anti-BDS groups such as Israel on Campus Coalition (which the Center for Constitutional Rights describes as an organization that “coordinates anti-Palestinian advocacy groups”). In November 2023, the foundation invested $2 million in a “Security Fund to Protect College Campuses and Jewish Meeting Places Amid Rising Antisemitism” and collaborated with Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization) to “identify college campuses that require increased security for their students.” For reference, see the Tepper Foundation’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Arthur Vining Davis Foundations

$150,000 (2023)

AVDF has made significant grants to Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization) and Tablet magazine (a self-described “Jewish, Zionist publication” whose editor-in-chief has called on Jewish communal groups to replace leaders who do not explicitly support Israel). Refer to UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on AVDF’s giving.

F. M. Kirby Foundation

$30,000 (2024)

Kirby makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing groups such as Manhattan Institute, American Enterprise Institute, and the Federalist Society, along with the anti-union advocacy group National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Refer to UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Kirby’s giving.

Black Family Philanthropies

Amount not identified; funding relationship documented here

Tied to the fortune of billionaire Leon Black, who co-founded Apollo Global Management with Marc Rowan. In June 2026, Reuters reported that Black had been summoned to testify before a congressional panel investigating the government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Black Family Philanthropies is led by Black’s children, one of whom is Trump appointee Benjamin Black. A closely related funder, The Debra and Leon Black Family Foundation, has a history of funding explicitly Zionist groups, including Birthright Israel and Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (which collects donations for IDF soldiers). For reference, see Black Family Philanthropies’ tax filings for 2025, 2024, and 2023, and the Debra and Leon Black Family Foundation’s tax filings for 2017, 2016, and 2015.

Klarman Family Foundation

Amount not identified; funding relationship documented here

Established by billionaire hedge fund founder Seth Klarman. Klarman is co-owner of The Times of Israel, and he cites “support for the State of Israel and the Jewish people” as a philanthropic priority in his 2013 Giving Pledge (co-signed with his wife, Beth). The Klarman Family Foundation gives large amounts to pro-Israel and Zionist organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization). In October 2023, Klarman joined Joanna Jacobson (see One8 Foundation) and three other Harvard alumni in signing an open letter to Harvard’s leadership, accusing them of failing to confront a “meteoric rise in antisemitism” on campus following October 7, 2023; Klarman and the co-signers called on Harvard to regulate protests and require students to take a semester-long course in “productive discourse.” See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Klarman’s giving to pro-Israel causes.

Charles Koch Foundation/Stand Together Trust

Amount not identified; funding relationship documented here

Established by billionaire oil fortune heir, Charles Koch, the foundation has been a major funder of right-wing infrastructure for several decades. Koch invests millions into the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups, including climate change denial organizations such as CO2 Coalition. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Koch’s giving.

Lubetzky Family Foundation

Amount not identified; funding relationship documented here

Established by billionaire KIND Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky, co-founder of Builders Movement. In 2024, the foundation donated $60,000 to American Friends of LIBI (which supports the Israel Defense Forces). Lubetzky also participated in a private WhatsApp group whose communications were obtained by The Washington Post; the Post reported that members discussed how to influence New York City's and Columbia University's response to the spring 2024 encampment and that Lubetzky was part of an April 26, 2024 Zoom call with Mayor Eric Adams. After the call, Lubetzky circulated proposed actions that included contacting Columbia's president and trustees and resharing a link through which supporters could contribute to Adams's reelection campaign. Asked by the Post about the messages, Lubetzky emphasized the importance of building bridges between Black and Jewish communities. Lubetzky served on the board of the staunchly Zionist Anti-Defamation League from 2018 to 2024 and he delivered these remarks at a November 2023 ADL event:

There’s a lot of challenges on college campuses. The anti-colonial ideology is so rigid. It’s an us vs. them ideology. … The extremists that are calling “from the river to the sea”...they’re causing antisemitism [and] they’re also preventing this conflict from getting resolved.

See also: Viewpoints Project; Stanford University.

The Starr Foundation

Amount not identified; funding relationship documented here

The foundation’s longtime chair was billionaire insurance company executive Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg; it is now chaired by Greenberg’s son, Jeffrey W. Greenberg. Starr has awarded grants to a number of pro-Israel and conservative causes such as America-Israel Friendship League (which celebrates its opposition to divestment efforts on its organizational history page), the Manhattan Institute, and the Hudson Institute. They are also a longtime funder of NYPD’s International Liaison Program, which embeds NYPD officers with law enforcement in Israel and elsewhere to “gather information on international counterterrorism efforts and report in real-time to their counterparts back home.” For reference, see Starr’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.