The Geoffrey Beene Foundation was founded in 2006 by G. Thompson (“Tom”) Hutton, Esq. (under his discretionary authority as Executor of the Estate of Geoffrey Beene who died in 2004). The mission of the Foundation is to support critical philanthropic causes, the most important being the establishment in 2006 of the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Tom Hutton initiated and orchestrated the creation of the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center with Harold Varmus, M.D. (Nobel Laureate and former CEO of MSK), because Hutton wanted to fund new revolutionary research initiatives that would lead to new treatments for cancer patients. Since its creation in 2006, the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center has served as the nucleus for revolutionary new research approaches in preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer. Together the Geoffrey Beene Foundation and Geoffrey Beene, LLC (until 2018 when its business was sold) have been the sole funding sources and have funded approximately 150 separate new revolutionary research initiatives across all cancers to develop new treatments and diagnostics for cancer patients. The new research has resulted in major breakthroughs in multiple cancers, saving thousands of lives.

The Geoffrey Beene Foundation has also supported causes relating to educational scholarships, veterans, protection of women, children and their families, animal welfare, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, scientific awards for builders of science institutions and initiatives relating to the fashion industry, such as the creation of the Counsel of Fashion Designers of America annual Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award.