The Foundation:

Welcome to the web site
of the Berger-Marks Foundation!

If you want to help workers -- and especially women workers -- join labor unions, you've come to the right place.

The Berger-Marks Foundation, whose mission is to help organize women into unions, provides both financial support and camaraderie to people and organizations doing that work.  Through this site you can now apply online for grants, and learn about people who have received grants.  The site also features useful resources for women organizers. 

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Where we came from

The Berger-Marks Foundation was established with a bequest from the estates of Edna Berger, the first female lead organizer for The Newspaper Guild—CWA, and her husband, the legendary Tin Pan Alley song-writer Gerald Marks. Royalties from Gerald’s prolific Tin Pan Alley catalogue, including his most famous song, “All of Me,” help fund the foundation and its activities.

The Foundation is proud to honor the memory of Edna Berger, pioneer organizer for The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA) and her husband, Gerald Marks, the noted Tin Pan Alley composer. An outstanding organizer in TNG-CWA, Berger was the first international woman organizer on the TNG staff. She organized newspaper unions for many years, and a scholarship fund was set up in her name to encourage women union organizers.

Marks willed 75 percent of his estate and 75 percent of his music royalties, including those from the popular song “All of Me,” through the Newspaper Guild to fund the Foundation’s work.

Meet Edna Berger -
You would have enjoyed knowing her

Click here to learn more,
including comments by Louise Walsh

"All of me,"
the song that made it happen