Case Studies

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…

In 2007 a group of eight friends wanted to give. With so many charities out there, the friends wanted to know which ones were doing the most good. They had two basic questions: (1) what did the charitable organization do with donors’ money and (2) what…

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…

When Jacob Harold became head of the Hewlett Foundation’s Philanthropy Program, he began to see GuideStar as much more than just a website. GuideStar was the result of founder Arthur “Buzz” Schmidt’s vision of bringing transparency and accountability to…

Community service had a long history of success at NIKE. Often, employees did not even see their work as “volunteering”—they felt like they were doing what they loved and making a difference to the people around them. Despite this enthusiasm, corporate…

Community service had a long history of success at NIKE. Often, employees did not even see their work as “volunteering”—they felt like they were doing what they loved and making a difference to the people around them. Despite this enthusiasm, corporate…

In the Fall of 2007, Jacob Harold, the Philanthropy Program officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Menlo Park, California, was on his way to meet with Paul Brest, the Foundation’s president. Harold had set up a meeting with Brest, also the…

Acumen Fund was founded in 2001 to provide modest amounts of capital, together with business expertise, to help build thriving enterprises that would serve large numbers of poor people. In 2004, Acumen Fund invested in the Series B round of WaterHealth…

In 1988, Paul Jones, a 32-year-old money manager, founded the philanthropic foundation Robin Hood with $3 million and a mission to fight poverty in New York. He invited two close friends, Peter Borish and Glenn Dubin, to serve as co-founders and recruited…

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…

Case study is a supplement to the A case, to be read in class after students have read the A case and discussed the A case. The B case is an update and discusses what happened after the San Francisco Foundation decided to bring the issue of the Beryl Buck…

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 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…