Overview

• About one fifth of contributors signed a September 18 letter urging the biennial to refuse future support from Crown Family Philanthropies.
• Signatories cite public records that the donor holds roughly a 10% stake in General Dynamics, maker of the MK-84 bomb used by Israel, and reference a UN commission’s September 16 finding alleging genocide in Gaza.
• Organizers told participants in an August 14 letter that Crown Family funds are restricted to education programming and that returning committed donations is not financially feasible.
• The biennial has not issued a new public statement in response to the latest letter, though a spokesperson shared the earlier correspondence with reporters.
• The sixth edition opened September 19 with more than 100 contributors and runs through February 28, 2026, following nine withdrawals and continuing scrutiny of past funding sources including BP and a firm linked to the US embassy in East Jerusalem.