BROOMFIELD, COLO.—Vail Resorts, Inc. announced that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz has exercised stock appreciation rights (SARs) that were set to expire in 2022, and will be making a charitable donation of 100 percent of the proceeds received. After withholding shares for payment of the exercise price and taxes, Katz received 91,661 shares of Vail Resorts stock from the SARs exercise. These shares will be sold, and the full proceeds will be donated. Based on the closing market price on the date of exercise of $319.94 per share, the donation is equal to approximately $29.3 million.
The donation by Katz, and his wife Elana Amsterdam, New York Times bestselling author and founder of Elana’s Pantry, will be made to the family’s charitable trust and foundation. The $29.3 million brings the total amount donated in the past five years by Katz and Amsterdam to nearly $150 million. Since it was founded in 2016, the Katz Amsterdam Foundation has focused on improving access to behavioral and mental health services in mountain communities and expanding programs to connect underserved youth to winter sports.
Supporting Racial Justice Initiatives
The Katz Amsterdam Foundation also announced a new nationwide focus area related to racial justice. With support from Jessyca Dudley and Bold Ventures, a strategic advisory firm that works to transform and democratize philanthropy, the Foundation is working through a strategic planning process that will identify key issue areas where the Foundation can make a meaningful impact and best align with current efforts to advance racial justice.
To launch the commitment to this new focus area, Katz and Amsterdam are awarding $2 million in grants to support racial justice organizations across the country. These grants support existing social and racial justice efforts, create proximity to lived experiences of others, and help build networks of BIPOC leadership.
“Elana and I are so grateful for the impact our partners in mountain communities have made to improving mental and behavioral health support—especially as the pandemic has amplified the mental health challenges all of us are facing,” said Katz. “We remain very committed to supporting the continued work of all of these critical organizations, with particular attention to behavioral health equity, to ensure we are providing the needed care and services to all groups within our communities. We launch this new national focus on racial justice with an understanding that there is much to learn from talented leaders and organizations who fight to make progress against injustices every day. We look forward to better understanding the challenges and inequities faced by so many and how we can best partner and support efforts to transform systems.”
The announced grants are in addition to the combined $1 million in grants awarded to the Equal Justice Initiative and the Know Your Rights Camp by Katz and Amsterdam in 2020. Last year, the couple also awarded $1.5 million in grants to organizations supporting youth in urban centers across North America, and $3.3 million in COVID-19 emergency relief and behavioral health grants in mountain communities.
