Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The family foundation of tech and investment billionaire Thomas Siebel gives in three main areas: education and research, public health and diseases, and energy solutions. The core of the foundation is the Siebel Scholars program, which supports graduate students in the fields of science and business and then recruits them to guide the foundation's future initiatives.
IP TAKE: There are two ways to secure support from Siebel’s science education funding—become one of a handful of favored universities or win a Siebel Scholar award. Unfortunately, eligibility for the latter is limited to students from a short list of pre-selected universities. The foundation also gives to a handful of favored universities and its own stem cell research and energy research institutes. This funder does not accept grant applications and is not accessible.
PROFILE: Created in 1996, the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation is the private foundation of Thomas Siebel, who was first an executive in technology companies and later in business investment, and his wife. The foundation seeks to “support projects and organizations that work to improve the quality of life, environment, and education of its community members.” It prioritizes funding for educational and research programs, public health, and energy solutions. Siebel makes targeted grants, does not invite applications, and supports a limited number of initiatives. Of those grants, a number go to universities, some for science programs.
Grants for STEM Education
The core of the foundation is the Siebel Scholars program, which funds graduate students in science and business and then recruits them to help guide the foundation's future initiatives. The foundation also supports a handful of favored universities as well as its own stem cell and energy research institutes. Since 2000, the Siebel Scholars program awards grants to pre-selected universities, which nominate their leading computer science, bio-engineering and business graduate students to the program. The foundation chooses winners “based on outstanding academic performance and leadership,” and awardees “receive a $35,000 award toward their final year of studies.”
Examples of work the foundation funds include initiatives in computer science and data analysis for projects such as mapping the human genome or winning presidential elections. New grantseekers can see profiles of past Siebel Scholars here. Profiles include a brief bio and a synopsis of each scholar’s work. Once the scholarship ends, Siebel Scholars continue to advise the foundation. Scholars also join a collaborative that meets at Siebel Scholars conferences to share ideas on big global issues and often involve U.S. and international decision-makers. In addition, the program occasionally continues to fund its scholars’ future projects.
Some of the ideas from Siebel conferences influence the Siebel Foundation’s other grantmaking, such as the creation of the Siebel Stem Cell Institute (SSCI). Funded by the foundation, SSCI is a joint program between the University of California, Berkeley Stem Cell Center, and the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
Additionally, Siebel launched the Siebel Energy Institute, a multi-university “consortium for innovative and collaborative energy research” that offers $25,000 and $50,000 research grants “to accelerate advancements in the safety, security, reliability, efficiency and environmental integrity of modern energy systems.” Before jumping into SEI’s call for proposals, keep in mind that its grants are again limited to the consortium’s university members.
While the Scholars program is the foundation’s largest higher education program, Siebel also funds a small number of grants to universities. Many university grants are allocated “to support academic and scholarship programs,” and recipient universities include the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, MIT, the University of Chicago and Princeton. The foundation also created the Thomas M. Siebel Chair in Computer Science at UC Berkeley.
Grants for Science Research
For science researchers, most of Siebel’s grantmaking supports a very small number of targeted initiatives, which are in part determined by the scholars who win the awards. There are a few ways to secure Siebel funding, but interestingly, they usually do not involve applying to the foundation. First, Siebel Scholars makes grants to 12 pre-selected universities, which nominate their leading grad students in computer science, bioengineering, and business. The winners are chosen “based on outstanding academic performance and leadership,” and grantees “receive a $35,000 award toward their final year of studies.” The scholars then join a consortium of academics meant to continue collaborating and further guide the foundation, including at a yearly conference.
Some of Siebel’s funding priorities come from this collaboration. For example, a Siebel Scholars conference launched the Siebel Stem Cell Institute. Heavily backed by the foundation, SSI is a joint program between the University of California, Berkeley Stem Cell Center and the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
Grants for Climate Change and Clean Energy
In 2007, the Siebel Foundation created the Energy Free Home Foundation, which offered $20 million in prizes to anyone who could design and build a conventional 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home with market appeal and competitive building costs and which saw net-zero annual utility bills. He made several announcements about the Energy Free Home Challenge, stating that the contest would start in "late 2009." All mention of the challenge later disappeared without explanation however, and little evidence of the contest exists these days.
In 2015, the Siebels launched the $10 million Siebel launched the Siebel Energy Institute, a multi-university “consortium for innovative and collaborative energy research” that offers $25,000 and $50,000 research grants “to accelerate advancements in the safety, security, reliability, efficiency and environmental integrity of modern energy systems.” Before jumping into SEI’s call for proposals, keep in mind that its grants are again limited to the consortium’s university members.
Grants for Public Health
The Siebel Foundation’s public health grantmaking primarily centers around drug abuse prevention and addiction treatment. One of the foundation’s major undertakings is the Meth Project Foundation. The program was initiated in 2005 as a way to significantly reduce methamphetamine abuse at a time when meth was considered the main source of crime in the United States. The Meth Project has been praised by the federal government, and Barron's once referred to it as the third most effective philanthropic organization in the world.
Important Grant Details:
The Siebel Foundation’s grants range from $5,000 to $5 million.
A majority of grants go to universities participating in the Siebel Scholars program.
Siebel tends to generate and fund initiatives based on the work and findings of its scholar program participants.
This is a low profile funder; it does not offer a great deal of information about is goals, and it does not accept applications for funding.
For information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s tax filings.
General inquiries may be submitted to the Siebel Scholars program via email at ssf@siebel.org or telephone at (650) 299-5200.
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