David and Cheryl Duffield
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: PeopleSoft and Workday
FUNDING AREAS: Animal rights and no-kill animal shelters, higher education
OVERVIEW: David Duffield's approach to philanthropy revolves around a promise he once made to his dog and best friend, Maddie, to give as much of his wealth as possible to animal rights and no-kill animal shelters. The organization he and wife Cheryl created, Maddie's Fund, has become a leader in these areas.
BACKGROUND: In 1987, Duffield mortgaged his house to co-found PeopleSoft with friend and business partner Ken Morris. In 2003, after many years of rapid growth, Larry Ellison launched a hostile takeover attempt of PeopleSoft. After 18 months, a number of back-and-forth negotiations and a trial, the takeover attempt finally ended in late 2004 with Ellison as the victor. The price tag for the acquisition was about $10.3 billion. Duffield left the company before the transition was to take place and started a new company, Workday, which went public in 2012. It was a human resources and financial management software company that used cloud computing. Duffield currently serves as Workday’s board chair.
ISSUES:
ANIMAL RIGHTS: In 1994, the Duffields decided to change the name of their Duffield Family Foundation to Maddie's Fund, after the family's miniature Schnauzer, Maddie. The Duffield Family Foundation set up Maddie's Fund with a $300 million endowment. Since then, Duffield has continued to support organizations involved in animal welfare and the no-kill initiative. In a recent year, Maddie’s fund gave away about $9.7 million in grants to animal organizations.. The goal of Maddie's Fund is to reduce the number of stray pets who are euthanized annually at animal shelters, and by most accounts, the foundation has had a major impact. More shelters are adopting the no-kill policy because of the financial incentives Maddie's Fund provides for doing so. In 2015, Maddie's Fund projected that the number of dogs and cats euthanized per 1,000 Americans will drop to a record low of two. In 1990, that number was 35.7. Grant recipients must agree to a series of requirements, including items like honoring the fund's namesake, Maddie, on their social media platforms and providing a report "on how their grant funds were spent and the results of implementing their program." Detailed annual reports on the foundation's focus and grantmaking can be found on its website.
EDUCATION: In 2020, Duffield gave $5 million to establish the Duffield Family Cornell Promise Scholarship at Cornell University to support undergraduate engineering students.
CONTACT: Email: info@maddiesfund.org
LINK: Maddie's Fund
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