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Non-profit

McKay Family Foundation (Los Angeles)

Website:

mckayfamilyfoundation.org/
Location:

Los Angeles, CA
Tax ID:

47-2455809
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)-PF

Budget (2023):

Revenue: $2,306,228
Expenses: $2,379,447
Assets: $1,290,266
Type:

Private Grantmaking Foundation
Formation:

2015
President:

Shira Piven

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

This profile concerns the family foundation associated with screenwriter Adam McKay. For the Oregon-based foundation associated with the family of Miles and Eleanor McKay, see McKay Family Foundation (Oregon).

The McKay Family Foundation Inc is a private grantmaking foundation based in Los Angeles, California. The foundation primarily funds left-leaning advocacy groups focused on climate policy, environmental activism, Marxist publications, and related causes. 1

The McKay Family Foundation is controlled by screenwriter Adam McKay and his wife Shira Piven, who are the foundation’s secretary and president respectively.1

Financials

In 2024, the McKay Family Foundation reported revenue of $1,517,298, expenses of $1,479,517, and net assets of $1,328,047. Contributions received totaled $1,476,014, representing 97.3 percent of revenue, while dividends provided $41,284 (2.7 percent). Charitable disbursements amounted to $1,458,764, comprising 98.6 percent of total expenses. No officer compensation was reported separately. The foundation held total assets of $1,328,047 with no liabilities. 2

Grantmaking

In 2024, the McKay Family Foundation reported a $50,250 grant to the Jacobin Foundation, publisher of the Marxist magazine Jacobin, to “the organization’s general fund to further its missions.” 3

In 2024, the McKay Family Foundation reported a $1,383,514 grant to the Climate Emergency Fund to “further its missions to transformative policy shifts around climate change.” 3 This single grant represented 94 percent of all grants and contributions paid out by the McKay Family Foundation during the 2024 fiscal year. 3 Adam McKay, secretary of the McKay Foundation, was a board member of the Climate Emergency Fund, and personally donated $4 million to the group in 2022.4

In 2024, the McKay Family Foundation reported a $25,000 grant to Yellow Dot Studios to “raise awareness and mobilize action on the climate emergency.” 3

People

As of November 2025, Adam McKay is secretary of the McKay Family Foundation. A filmmaker and screenwriter born in 1968, McKay began his career in Chicago’s improv scene, and joined “Saturday Night Live” as head writer from 1995 to 2001, then collaborated with Will Ferrell on films, including Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and The Big Short, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2016. In 2019, he founded the production company Hyperobject Industries. 5  6  7  8

McKay’s political views include favoring gun control laws, abortion, and nationalizing oil and gas companies. He has described himself as a democratic socialist and supported U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).9101112

McKay has served on the board for the Climate Emergency Fund and Just Stop Oil, and founded Yellow Dot Studios, a nonprofit video and media production organization opposed to the oil and gas industries.413

He has also sat on the cultural council for left-of-center advocacy group Represent.Us.14 In August 2025, McKay was among the 2,300 members of the Writers Guild of America who signed an open letter condemning the second Trump administration’s “unprecedented, authoritarian assault” against free speech.15

As of November 2025, Shira Piven is president of the McKay Family Foundation. Piven has been married to Adam McKay since 1999. Born in 1961, she graduated from Bennington College in 1983 with studies in drama and music, then directed plays in cities including Chicago and New York, where she founded the Water Theatre Company in 1999. Piven transitioned to film, directing Fully Loaded in 2011 and Welcome to Me in 2014, co-produced by her husband and Ferrell. She sits on the board of Jail Guitar Doors USA. 16  17

References

  1. McKay Family Foundation Inc. Form 990-PF (2023). ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, accessed November 30, 2025, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/472455809. 
  2. McKay Family Foundation Inc. Form 990-PF. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/472455809. 
  3. The McKay Family Foundation. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). 2024. Part 14, A. 
  4. Climate Emergency Fund, “Adam McKay Pledges $4 Million Donation to Climate Emergency Fund, Joins Board of Directors to Support Climate Activists,” Climate Emergency Fund, September 20, 2022, archived by the Wayback Machine on January 7, 2023, https://web.archive.org/web/20230107222308/https://www.climateemergencyfund.org/press/cef/2022-9-20-press-release
  5. McKay Family Foundation Inc. Form 990-PF. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, accessed November 30, 2025, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/472455809. 
  6. “Adam McKay,” Letterboxd, accessed November 30, 2025, https://letterboxd.com/director/adam-mckay/. 
  7. “Adam McKay,” The Second City, accessed November 30, 2025, https://www.secondcity.com/people/adam-mckay. 
  8. “Adam McKay,” Britannica, last modified October 1, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Adam-McKay. 
  9. “Hollywood stars signs pledge to control on-screen gun violence,” New York Post, June 13, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/06/13/hollywood-stars-signs-pledge-to-control-on-screen-gun-violence/.
  10. Marisa Dellatto, “Over 400 TV Writers And Showrunners Demand Abortion Protections From Major Studios, Report Says,” Forbes, July 28, 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/07/28/over-400-tv-writers-and-showrunners-demand-abortion-protections-from-major-studios-report-says/.
  11. Adam McKay, “1.5C Is Terrifying, But There Is Something We Haven’t Tried,” The Lever, November 15, 2022, https://www.levernews.com/adam-mckay-1-5c-is-terrifying-but-there-is-something-we-havent-tried/.
  12. “Artists and Cultural Leaders for Bernie Sanders,” Bernie Sanders, accessed January 4, 2016, archived by the Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20160104201830/http://berniesanders.com/artists/.
  13. J. Kim Murphy, “Yellow Dot Studios’ Staci Roberts-Steele Believes Comedy Can Save Our Planet,” Variety, May 17, 2023, https://variety.com/2023/digital/features/yellow-dot-studios-staci-roberts-steele-comedy-climate-change-1235618265/.
  14. “About RepresentUs,” RepresentUs, accessed December 2, 2025, https://represent.us/about/.
  15. Adrian Horton, “Spike Lee, Adam McKay and over 2,000 writers decry Trump’s ‘un-American’ actions in open letter,” The Guardian, August 5, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/05/spike-lee-adam-mckay-wga-trump-letter.
  16. “Shira Piven Biography,” Fandango, accessed November 30, 2025, https://www.fandango.com/people/shira-piven-532472/biography. 
  17. “Shira Piven – Biography,” IMDb, accessed November 30, 2025, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0686099/bio/. 
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: May 1, 2015

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2023 Dec Form PF $2,306,228 $2,379,447 $1,290,266 $1 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2022 Dec Form PF $1,204,906 $1,532,100 $1,363,485 $1 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2021 Dec Form PF $530,513 $150,954 $1,690,679 $1 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2020 Dec Form PF $478,667 $197,250 $1,311,120 $1 $0 $0 $0 $0
    2019 Dec Form PF $236,681 $120,297 $1,029,703 $1 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2015 Dec Form PF $230,659 $52,910 $434,825 $1 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2014 Dec Form PF $300,000 $42,924 $257,076 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    McKay Family Foundation (Los Angeles)

    11812 SAN VICENTE BLVD 4TH FL
    Los Angeles, CA 90049-6625