Community

Fifteen Group is proud of its community engagement. Through The Fifteen Group Foundation and IS15 Foundation, we have designed, created, and funded several major initiatives:

Ian Sanders serves on the Kellogg Real Estate Advisory Council
Mark Sanders serves as a member of the University of Southern California Price Board of Councilors.

Northwestern University
Undergraduate Real Estate Program

In collaboration with Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Kellogg created new courses and professional development opportunities designed to shape sophisticated real estate professionals with strong analytical skills and broad perspectives on macro and urban economics. The catalyst for the new undergraduate programming was a gift to Kellogg and Weinberg College from Ian Sanders ’91. In addition to supporting new courses taught by Kellogg faculty, Sanders’ gift established the Fifteen Group Real Estate Fellows Program. Each year, 15 undergraduate students are selected for the fellowship, which will offer professional development with emphasis on the real estate industry.

Northwestern University
Sanders Seminar in History

The establishment of the Ian Sanders Chair of History comes with a special charge: teaching the annual Sanders Seminar. What makes this new seminar unique is that it will not focus on a specific era, country, or topic—instead, its aim, ambitious and universal, is to bring students into the thought world of historians, where they can explore the deepest and most enduring questions. The by-application-only, highly select program is designed to be a “must take” class for the most ambitious students, with an underlying philosophy that the ability to consume and parse high volumes of information, figure out what’s important, analyze it, and develop clear, convincing, and effective written arguments are skills that translate to all disciplines. Our goal is for students to exit this program as dynamic critical thinkers and fantastic writers, and with an enduring intellectual self-confidence.

General Philanthropy

Through its affiliated foundations, Fifteen Group has also regularly supported children’s arts, athletics, education, and enhancement programs in South Florida, southwest Colorado, and southern California.

We have been active supporters of the Posse Foundation. Posse identifies high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes and places them in supportive, diverse teams—posses—of 10 students. Posse’s partner colleges and universities award Posse Scholars four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships.

In Los Angeles, in addition to also supporting educational programs such Puente Learning Center, we have also been active supporters of organizations that have focused on both sectarian and non-sectarian gang diversion, rehabilitation and re-entry programs.