Our History

Late 1960s – Eli and Edythe Broad establish The Broad Foundation as a platform for giving.

1980 – Early in the Broads’ support of downtown Los Angeles, Eli becomes the founding chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Twenty eight years later, the Broads pledged $30 million to help stabilize the art institution.

1984 – The Broad Art Foundation is established as a pioneering lending library dedicated to increasing public access to contemporary art. To date, the foundation has loaned artworks to museums throughout the world more than 9,000 times.

1991 – The Broads endow the newly named Broad College of Business at Eli’s alma mater, Michigan State University, with a $20 million donation, at the time the largest commitment ever made to a public business school.

1997 – Eli Broad provides critical leadership, stepping in to close a major funding gap during the construction of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which had been stalled. His persistent and crucial leadership cemented its path to completion.

1999 – SunAmerica, the second of two Fortune 500 companies Eli started, is sold to AIG for $18 billion. The Broads begin full-time philanthropy, formally establishing The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

2000 – Eli and Edythe Broad expand the Foundation’s focus and commitment to advancing public education, scientific and medical research, and the visual and performing arts.

2000 – Eli founded the Grand Avenue Committee, articulating a vision for a cultural center of Los Angeles. A year later, the City and County established the Grand Avenue Joint Powers Authority allowing the committee to holistically develop empty municipal parcels, paving the way for Grand Park, The Broad and The Grand towers.

2001 – The Broad Center is founded to train leaders across the country in school management, focusing on transforming public education through leadership.

2001 -The Broad Foundation establishes the Broad Medical Research Program to fund innovative research in inflammatory bowel disease. With international collaboration, the program will give $44.1 million to nearly 400 projects for pilot research. Many projects will ultimately be granted NIH funding thanks to an early, experimental investment from BMRP.

2002 –  Houston Independent School District wins first annual Broad Prize for Urban Education, which was established by The Broad Foundation to honor large urban public school districts that demonstrated strong academic gains for low-income students. The $1 million prize would be distributed among graduating seniors for college scholarships.

2002 – The Broad Center for Biological Sciences at Caltech, a 120,000-square-foot, five-story research facility in Pasadena, opens with Eli declaring, “the 21st century will be a golden age for biology.”

2003 – With help from Edythe’s conviction, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard is established as an independent research institution to fulfill the promise of genomic medicine – three years after the completion of the Human Genome Project, which Broad scientists helped create and lead.

2005 – The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation invest in stem cell research and establish UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center and  UCSF Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research.

2005 – The Foundation expands nationwide efforts to strengthen urban public school systems through leadership development and innovation.

2006 – The Foundation established the third stem cell research center,  USC Broad Institute for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine.

2008 – A major gift helps create the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, expanding access to contemporary art.

2008 – The Broad Foundation kickstarts Teach For America endowment.

2008 – The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage, now named BroadStage, opens at Santa Monica College attracting international productions of theater, dance, film, opera, musicals, symphony and chamber orchestras to Los Angeles.

2009 – Following through on Eli’s Grand Avenue vision, Bunker Hill is tapped as the future site of The Broad in downtown Los Angeles. A year later, Eli and Edythe unveil plans for the new contemporary art museum.

2010 –  Eli and Edythe Broad are among the first signatories of The Giving Pledge, committing to give away 75% of their wealth to charitable causes during or after their lifetimes.

2012 – Eli And Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University opens.

2013 –  Broad Medical Research Program (BMRP) merges with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America to continue funding early career scientists and unconventional approaches to understanding inflammatory bowel disease.

2015 – Great Public Schools Now – later renamed GPSN – launches to expand access to high quality public schools in Los Angeles, particularly for low income students.

2015 – The Broad museum opens on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, making world-class contemporary art free and accessible to the public.

2019 – The Broad Center moves from Los Angeles to the Yale School of Management with a $100 million gift from The Broad Foundation to continue training education leaders to strengthen public school systems nationwide. 

2020 – The Broad Foundation launches its investing in the future of L.A. grantmaking strategy to advance catalytic change and expand opportunity for all Angelenos across three interconnected focus areas: skills-building, career pathways and civic engagement.

2021 – Eli Broad dies on April 30, 2021. His vision endures through institutions and grantmaking shaping education, science and the arts.

2022 – The Broad Foundation provides seed funding to establish The Expanded Learning Alliance (ExpandLA) to dramatically increase access to out-of-school enrichment  programs for LA’s students.

2024 – The Broad Foundation joins other philanthropies to launch the L.A. Local News Initiative, a nonprofit news organization committed to revitalizing local journalism and neighborhood-level reporting. The organization incorporates as The LA Local in 2025.

2024 – The Broad Foundation’s investments help secure more than $337 million in public funding to expand career pathways for high school students, accelerate green jobs and support economic development and high-quality careers.

2025 – The Broads fulfill their Giving Pledge goal of giving away 75% or more of their wealth to charitable causes, gifting more than $4 billion to education, science, the arts and their adopted hometown of Los Angeles.