She has been involved with the board of the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) and its precursors in New York City for over 25 years.
After the property was sold to Westchester County, she donated funds for the William and Mildred Lasdon Memorial Garden to the park.
[3][5] She was interested in three-dimensional art formed of clay, fiber, glass, metal and wood, and was particularly attracted to ceramics.
Her personal collection included works by Robert Arneson, Bennett Bean, Anthony Caro, Michele Oka Doner, Viola Frey, Sergei Isupov, Diane Itter, Anne Kraus, Linda MacNeil, Judy Kensley McKie, Marilyn Pappas, Grayson Perry, Adrian Saxe, and Terry Evans[10] among many others.
In 2002, it moved to 2 Columbus Circle and became the Museum of Arts and Design, a transition that increased its attendance more than tenfold.
The project was planned around the collection of oral histories from 100 artists working with clay, fiber, glass, metal and wood.
She funded the creation of the Nanette Laitman Clinical Scholars Program in Public Health at Weill Medical College, Cornell University in 2006.