Browse abstracts and ordering information for case studies written and published by faculty at Stanford GSB.
For publicly available cases in this collection, Harvard Business Publishing and Ivey Publishing distribute in North America, and The Case Centre and IESE Publishing in Europe.
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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…
Friends of the Children was founded by Duncan Campbell in 1991. Campbell grew up in extremely challenging circumstances and wanted to use his good fortune to make an impact on the lives of children who faced the same sort of circumstances he once had….
CAMFED, or Campaign for Female Education, began in 1993 by supporting 32 children in two schools; as of 2021, it had helped more than a million girls in sub-Saharan Africa “to access school, succeed, and become leaders of change in their communities.”…
King Philanthropies (KP) was a grant-making organization that employed a highly intentional and carefully targeted approach to philanthropy. It was guided by relentless pursuit of its mission: to alleviate extreme poverty by magnifying the impact of high…
In late March 2017, Clara Miller, director and president of the F.B. Heron Foundation (“Heron”), a philanthropic institution focused on helping people help themselves out of poverty, sat down to put the finishing touches on her President’s Letter. In…
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…
In the spring of 2016, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, or SFMOMA, opened its doors for a series of celebrations following a three-year closure. The museum had much to rejoice: a $305 million renovation that included a spectacular new ten-story…
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…
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…
In January 2015, Jennifer Carolan, who had served as the managing director of the NewSchools Venture Fund Seed Fund (“Seed Fund”), spun off from the nonprofit venture philanthropy firm to create a for-profit social impact fund focused on education…
In 2015, Federica Marchionni left her position as the president of the high fashion company Dolce & Gabbana USA to become the CEO of Lands’ End. She came with a mandate to drive the $1.4 billion iconic American clothing company into the next era. This…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
