Key Takeaways
- • Bernard Selz, hedge fund manager and founder of Selz Capital (portfolio valued over $500 million), and his wife Lisa have donated more than $3 million to anti-vaccine organizations, according to Washington Post reporting.
- • The Selz Foundation has provided approximately three-fourths of funding for the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), a three-year-old anti-vaccine charity where Lisa Selz serves as president, contributing $1 million of the organization's $1.4 million in 2014 revenue.
- • ICAN, headed by former daytime television producer Del Bigtree, promotes messaging that characterizes measles as a "trivial childhood illness" and frames vaccine decisions as matters of parental choice, contributing to measles outbreak proliferation across the country.
- • The Selz Foundation's stated philanthropic focus encompasses humanitarian, educational, geriatric, homeopathic, animal causes and the arts, according to LaGuardia Community College Foundation disclosures where Lisa Selz previously served as a board member.
Summary
Bernard Selz, founder and head of Selz Capital, a hedge fund managing a portfolio exceeding $500 million, and his wife Lisa have emerged as significant financial backers of the anti-vaccine movement, having contributed more than $3 million to anti-vaccine organizations. The couple's private foundation, the Selz Foundation, has become a primary funder of vaccine skepticism advocacy groups, according to reporting by the Washington Post.
The Selz Foundation's most substantial single commitment has been to the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), a nonprofit organization founded approximately three years prior to this reporting. The foundation accounts for roughly three-fourths of ICAN's funding base. In 2014 alone, the Selz Foundation contributed $1 million to ICAN, which reported total revenue of $1.4 million that year. Lisa Selz holds the position of president at ICAN, positioning the couple at both the financial and operational center of the organization's activities.
ICAN is led by Del Bigtree, a former daytime television show producer who has publicly characterized measles as a trivial condition and advocated for parental discretion in vaccination decisions without medical qualification. The organization's messaging has coincided with measles outbreaks across the United States, most notably in Brooklyn, where Bigtree stated that individuals "should be allowed to have the measles if they want the measles." This rhetoric frames vaccine-preventable disease exposure as a matter of personal choice rather than public health risk.
Lisa Selz previously worked in financial services at Manufacturers Hanover Trust and luxury retail at Tiffany and Co. before assuming management responsibilities for the couple's foundation starting in 1993. The Selz Foundation's stated philanthropic mission encompasses humanitarian causes, education, geriatric services, homeopathic treatments, animal welfare, and the arts—a portfolio that now demonstrably includes substantial support for anti-vaccine advocacy.
The Selz Foundation's most substantial single commitment has been to the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), a nonprofit organization founded approximately three years prior to this reporting. The foundation accounts for roughly three-fourths of ICAN's funding base. In 2014 alone, the Selz Foundation contributed $1 million to ICAN, which reported total revenue of $1.4 million that year. Lisa Selz holds the position of president at ICAN, positioning the couple at both the financial and operational center of the organization's activities.
ICAN is led by Del Bigtree, a former daytime television show producer who has publicly characterized measles as a trivial condition and advocated for parental discretion in vaccination decisions without medical qualification. The organization's messaging has coincided with measles outbreaks across the United States, most notably in Brooklyn, where Bigtree stated that individuals "should be allowed to have the measles if they want the measles." This rhetoric frames vaccine-preventable disease exposure as a matter of personal choice rather than public health risk.
Lisa Selz previously worked in financial services at Manufacturers Hanover Trust and luxury retail at Tiffany and Co. before assuming management responsibilities for the couple's foundation starting in 1993. The Selz Foundation's stated philanthropic mission encompasses humanitarian causes, education, geriatric services, homeopathic treatments, animal welfare, and the arts—a portfolio that now demonstrably includes substantial support for anti-vaccine advocacy.
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