Case Studies

This case profiles Ford Foundation president Darren Walker and his goal of reimagining philanthropy in order to build a more just and fair world. Specifically, it looks at how the Ford Foundation has reorganized so as to catalyze leaders and organizations…

This case highlights how corporate philanthropies are distinct from other philanthropic institutions in terms of motivations, incentives and giving models. The case focuses on how Google.org leverages their assets to support the missions and initiatives…

Before becoming an entrepreneur and investor, Peter Thiel pursued a more conventional, white-collar path.  He moved between jobs as a judicial clerk, a lawyer, and a Wall Street trader.  In 1998, Peter Thiel cofounded PayPal with Max Levchin.  In 2002…

When Judith Rodin became president of The Rockefeller Foundation in 2005, she identified a pressing need to re-organize the foundation to meet the challenges in an increasingly complex world. Rodin also recognized that for philanthropy to make meaningful…

Established in 1999, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation aims to transform the lives of children living in urban poverty through better health, education, and family economic stability.  Initially focusing on Central Texas, the foundation rapidly expanded…

The Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF) was established in 2008 to improve the lives of individuals by strengthening our social, governmental, and economic systems.  Cofounders Laura and John Arnold sought to deploy the majority of their wealth, time…

In 1994, Arthur “Buzz” Schmidt, GuideStar’s founder, launched an organization with a staff of five. The organization, then known as Philanthropic Research, was formed with the simple goal of making basic information on nonprofits easily available to…

In 2010, Cari Tuna quit her job at the Wall Street Journal to work full-time on developing a giving strategy for herself and her husband—Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. In May 2011, the couple created the philanthropic foundation Good Ventures. Tuna…

By 2014, Palantir Technologies, a fast growing Silicon Valley company with global impact at the heart of its mission, had spent several years donating the same software to nonprofits that it sold to commercial customers to help solve some of the world’s…

In 2000, Charles Best, a social studies teacher working in a school in the Bronx, New York, scraped together $2,000 to pay an overseas web designer to build a rudimentary website he had designed using pencil and paper.  On the website, teachers could post…

On joining the Gap Foundation, Bobbi Silten saw an opportunity to tie Gap Inc.’s philanthropic strategy more closely to its business interests, expertise, people, and assets. When looking at the communities from which it sourced its products, Gap Inc. saw…

Following an employer’s liquidity event, Linda Shoemaker and her husband, Steve Brett, unexpectedly came into significant financial resources. As a result, they founded the Brett Family Foundation, which Shoemaker ran as president. Based on her experience…

John Goldman is a sixth generation San Franciscan and a descendant of Levi Strauss, the entrepreneur who started the apparel company that bore his name. For generations, philanthropy has been an important part of the Goldman family’s lives and for John…

In 1998, Laura Arrillaga launched the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (“SV2”) with two objectives: 1) providing Silicon Valley donors with philanthropic experience and education that would empower their personal giving; and 2) awarding local nonprofits…

Barbara Meyer, founder and president of the Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation was not always comfortable with the wealth she inherited from her father. Meyer was 24 when her father died in 1965, leaving her several thousand dollars in UPS stock. By 1984, the…

Tom Siebel, founder of Siebel Systems, created the Siebel Foundation in 1996. In 2005, Siebel came to learn about the prevalence and devastating economic and human costs of methamphetamine (“meth”) abuse across the country, particularly in Montana. Meth…

In 1999, the Germany-based Bertelsmann Foundation and the U.S.-based Charles Stewart Mott Foundation jointly established the Transatlantic Community Foundation Network (“TCFN”). TCFN was a learning organization comprised of community foundations and…

In 1972, Robert Wood Johnson, who built Johnson & Johnson into the world’s largest health and medical care products company, founded the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Its mission was improving the health and health care of all Americans. The foundation…

In 1913, Benjamin Altman made a capital stock investment (the stock was from his department store B. Altman & Co.) to create the Altman Foundation. Since that time, the foundation has both honored Mr. Altman’s vision of serving New York City’s…

The Global Fund for Women (“Global Fund”) was a funding intermediary that made grants to seed, support and strengthen women’s rights groups outside the United States. Global Fund grantees worked to provide women with economic opportunities and…

In 1999, eBay’s first president and entrepreneur Jeff Skoll founded the Skoll Foundation. When eBay went public in 1998, Skoll gained sizeable wealth overnight and decided to actively engage in philanthropy. Through his foundation, Skoll sought to fund…

Immediately after the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks, the New York Community Trust (“the Trust”) and the United Way of New York City (“UWNYC”) collaborated to create the September 11th Fund (“the Fund”). The Fund’s mission was meeting the…

In 2000, Jed Emerson founded the Center for Blended Value, a think tank based in Colorado that promoted the concept of “blended value” investments. Emerson applied the concept of blended value to criticize the traditionally impermeable wall between…

In 1999, Eli and Edythe Broad established the Broad Education Foundation on the area of Kindergarten through 12th (K-12) public education reform. By 2004, the Broads had committed nearly $500 million to the education foundation. While many educational…