Maugha Kenny
Vice President, Finance and Secretary of the Board of Trustees
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- Full Name
- Maugha Kenny
- Title
- Vice President for Finance
- Firm
- Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
- Firm Type
- Private operating foundation / 501(c)(3) grantmaking foundation
- Investment Stage
- Non-dilutive grants and fellowships; no verified angel or seed-stage startup investing found
- Check Size
- Up to $25,000 for Dissertation Fieldwork, Post-PhD Research, and Engaged Research Grants; about $7 million awarded annually in grants and fellowships
- Target Company Profile
- Anthropology scholars, doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, independent scholars, conferences/workshops, and public-anthropology initiatives
- Sector Focus
- Anthropology, including sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, biological anthropology, archaeology, public anthropology, engaged/community-based research, ethnographic film, writing, conferences, and archives
- Geographic Focus
- Worldwide
- Location
- New York, New York, United States
Background
Maugha Kenny is Vice President for Finance at the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, a New York-based private operating foundation founded in 1941 to support anthropology and anthropologists worldwide. The foundation’s official team page lists Kenny with she/her pronouns, the title Vice President for Finance, and the email address [hidden]
Public IRS-derived filings list Kenny as “VP Finance & Secretary” for the foundation. ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer shows her as a key employee/officer in the 2024 filing, filed November 14, 2025. The same filing reports the Wenner-Gren Foundation with $210.6 million in total assets and $12.9 million in charitable disbursements for fiscal year 2024.
Kenny has been part of Wenner-Gren’s leadership for many years. A 2016 Current Anthropology article on the foundation’s 75-year history names her as Vice President for Finance during the 2008 financial crisis, when she worked with then-president Leslie Aiello to manage the foundation’s endowment and grant outflows during market stress. Philanthropy New York also listed her as a 2016 presenter for a Foundation Administrators Network session on working with professional employer organizations.
LinkedIn lists Kenny as based in Glen Rock, New Jersey, with experience at the Wenner-Gren Foundation and education at NYU Stern School of Business from 1986 to 1990. I did not find a verified public biography with earlier employers, degree details, or a direct headshot image.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- No verified evidence was found that Maugha Kenny is an angel investor, seed investor, or direct startup investor. The available sources point to a finance and governance role at a private foundation.
- Wenner-Gren’s stated mission is to help anthropologists “advance anthropological knowledge, build sustainable careers, and amplify the impact of anthropology within the wider world.”
- The foundation supports individual research through Dissertation Fieldwork Grants, Post-PhD Research Grants, and Engaged Research Grants, each with a stated maximum of $25,000.
- The foundation says it has “no preference for any methodology, research location, topic, or subfield” for its core research grants, while particularly welcoming proposals that integrate two or more subfields and pioneer new approaches.
- Eligible applicants are anthropology doctoral students, doctorates in anthropology, independent scholars, and in some programs teams working with non-academic partners or communities.
- Wenner-Gren’s FAQ says it welcomes applicants of any citizenship working anywhere in the world, under the motto “Supporting anthropology worldwide!”
- Review criteria emphasize original, significant anthropological research; ethics and feasibility; field permissions; and a review process using external experts.
Notable Investments
- Centerbridge Capital Partners V — listed by Private Equity International as one of Wenner-Gren Foundation’s known fund commitments; commitment date and amount are behind a paywall.
- Moonrise China Partners II — listed by Private Equity International as one of the foundation’s known fund commitments; details are not publicly visible on the free page.
- Moonrise China Partners I — listed by Private Equity International as one of the foundation’s known fund commitments; details are not publicly visible on the free page.
- Helen Macdonald, University of Cape Town — 2024 Wenner-Gren grant listed by Cause IQ for “Reimagining Anthropological Knowledge: Perspectives, Practices, and Power,” $20,000.
- Constance Smith, University of Manchester — 2024 Wenner-Gren grant listed by Cause IQ for “Unbuilding: On the Legacies and Afterlives of Designed Environments,” $19,069.
- Gloria Moreno, University of Turin — 2024 Wenner-Gren grant listed by Cause IQ for “La Perla: Crafting Manhood and Desirability in Havana,” $12,800.
- Preetika Nanda, University of California, Irvine — Dissertation Fieldwork Grant approved April 9, 2025 for “Ground-up Forensics: Sikh Survivance, Refusal(s) and Spatio-Corporeal Violence in Punjab, India.”
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