Ariadne Getty

Ariadne Getty is the president and executive director of the Ariadne Getty Foundation (AGF), which since 2004 has partnered with non-profit organizations worldwide to improve the lives of individuals and communities through financial investments and social activism.

Ariadne’s philanthropy is guided by the belief that targeted donations, supported by her activism, empowers organizations and are the most efficient and effective use of the foundation’s resources to bring about change. At the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, she announced a $15 million lead gift to support the work of GLAAD’s Media Institute to reverse the erosion of LGBTQ rights and inspire activism. Over a three-year period, the funds will be used to train as many as 10,000 activists, leaders and storyteller; ensure GLAAD continues to consult on pertinent tv, studio and streaming content storylines; and enable research to measure attitudes towards LGBTQ people.

Through her foundation, Ariadne Getty has donated more than $5 million to the Los Angeles LGBT Center.  Most recently, in 2018 she made a $4.5 million donation to the Center’s new sprawling two-acre campus which opened in April 2019.  Named after her foundation, the donation was made to build two buildings, the Ariadne Getty Foundation Youth Academy and the Ariadne Getty Foundation Senior Housing. Today, the Los Angeles LGBT Center provides services for more LGBTQ people than any other organization in the world.

In addition to financial contributions, Ariadne donates her time and energy to causes she supports. As a member of GLAAD’s board of directors since 2016, she works tirelessly to inspire and motivate others to better understand and accept the LGBTQ community.  In 2018 GLAAD renamed their longstanding award to The Ariadne Getty Ally award and the Los Angeles LGBT Center honored her with their Vanguard award.  In 2019, Ariadne was recognized by award-winning magazine Variety as Philanthropist of the Year, as well as being honored with the Washington Blade Lifetime Achievement Award by the LGBTQ community’s oldest and renowned publication Washington Blade magazine. The magazine recently celebrated its 50^th anniversary and is the only LGBTQ publication credentialed as part of the White House press corps.

Ariadne joined the inaugural board of the Better World Fund in 2016 – an education and advocacy nonprofit that backs United Nations initiatives, and a supporter of the UN Foundation. Working alongside fellow board members Ted Turner, Kofi Annan, Muhammad Yunus and Queen Rania of Jordan, global issues such as climate change, gender inequality, women’s health and the plight of refugees are issues the organization actively addresses.  In this role, in 2016 Ariadne went to Uganda and collaborated with top regional officials in these African countries to improve living conditions in the refugee camps.  Her goal was to advance the adoption of solar paneled suitcases which enabled health workers to improve the quality of care for laboring mothers and directly decreased the infant mortality rates.   By the end of January 2016, the solar suitcases were all successfully installed. On another trip Ariadne sponsored, she went to the Democratic Republic of Congo with senior United States congressional staffers who assessed the status of civil unrest to determine if more peacekeepers were needed.

Beyond her philanthropic work, Ariadne is the CEO of her son, August’s international couture fashion line, August Getty Atelier and her daughter, Natalia’s (Nats) lifestyle brand company, Strike Oil, both of which are headquartered in Los Angeles. Ariadne is also an accomplished photographer.  She was born in Italy and currently resides in Los Angeles.