A Closer Look at the Philanthropy of First Wave Tech Billionaire John Morgridge and His Family

John Morgridge was CEO and Chairman of Cisco. Sundry Photography/shutterstock

Looking back over the history of tech, we can group the industry’s most consequential philanthropists into a series of generational “waves” corresponding to transformational advancements in the sector. The first wave included givers who presided over companies in the late 1970s and 1980s before pivoting to big-ticket philanthropy, as we lay out in IP’s white paper on tech industry giving.

Givers who hail from this first wave include William Hewlett, David Packard, Gordon Moore, Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Irwin Jacobs. There’s also former Cisco CEO John Morgridge, who, with his wife Tashia, channel their philanthropy through the Portola Valley, California-based Tosa Foundation, which focuses on education, conservation and medical research.

The 90-year-old Morgridge clearly exhibits many key characteristics of the first wave of tech philanthropists. He ran a tech company before and during the first dot-com boom, derives most of his wealth from Cisco stock, became a billionaire by 1996, embraced mega-giving deep into middle age, and, along with Tashia, signed the Giving Pledge when he was 76, thereby joining the likes of Gates, Allen, Moore and Jacobs.

Another characteristic of first-wave tech givers: They like to support national organizations. While the Morgridges check off that box, they’ve also shown a penchant for making mega-gifts to organizations in their home state of Wisconsin, especially their alma mater, the state’s flagship university in Madison. By doing so, they’ve carved out a niche as committed place-based givers — not so common among the broader strata of first-wave tech billionaires. 

Lastly, as with most billionaires who have pledged to empty at least half of the safe, the Morgridges’ prodigious giving over the past 30 years hasn’t made much of a dent in their foundation’s assets — quite the opposite, in fact. And so the couple is looking to their children John and Michelle to carry the torch through a separate foundation, the Morgridge Family Foundation, which John and Tashia have been funding since 2008. Here’s a quick overview of two generations of Morgridges.

Archetypal “first-wave” givers

Born in 1933, John Morgridge grew up in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, attended UW as an undergraduate and earned his MBA at Stanford. His high school sweetheart Tashia Morgridge (née Frankfurth) studied education at UW and was a special education teacher.

Morgridge became Cisco’s president and CEO in 1988. He took the company public in 1990 as demand for the company’s computer networking products began to gain steam. Cisco grew rapidly under Morgridge, who oversaw the introduction of its improved 7000 model router and the company’s aggressive acquisition strategy.

In 1992, Morgridge and his family formed the Tosa Foundation, named after the high school where the couple met. In 1995 — a year which many economists mark as the official beginning of the dot-com bubble — he stepped down as CEO and was named chairman. The following year, he became a billionaire as Cisco’s stock price continued to climb. When Morgridge transitioned to chairman emeritus in 2006, the company had 50,000 employees in 77 countries.

The couple signed the Giving Pledge in 2010. “Through our foundation and also personally, we have now given away over half our net worth,” they wrote in their Giving Pledge letter dated July 12, 2010. “It is our intent to remain involved and to continue to give. Our children intend to carry on their work after we are gone. The adventure continues.”

A dizzying array of alma mater mega-gifts

As the couple noted, they had been prodigious givers before they signed the Giving Pledge. For example, in 2004, they donated $32 million to renovate and build an additional wing to a building at their alma mater, UW-Madison. Three years later, they announced a $167 million gift to endow the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars to provide grants for lower-income graduates of Wisconsin public schools attending a public postsecondary school in the state.

Additional mega-gifts to UW proceeded apace. Equipped with $100 million from the Morgridges, UW established the Morgridge Institute for Research in 2009 to “improve human health through innovative, interdisciplinary biomedical discoveries, spark scientific curiosity and serve society through translational outcomes.”

In 2014, the couple dedicated another $100 million lead gift to UW’s comprehensive campaign for new and enhanced professorships, chairs and distinguished chairs in an effort to recruit and retain a world-class faculty. At the time, this was the largest single contribution from individual donors in the university’s history. And in 2021, the couple pledged $125 million to UW-Madison to create a School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences and pay for the construction of a building to house the school.

This extensive list, which doesn’t even include a litany of smaller gifts throughout the years, more than affirms the couple’s place-based credentials, making them stand out among first-wave tech givers who often view their giving through a more global lens. At the same time, the Morgridges’ support for UW underscores how a state like Wisconsin, which, according to a recent study, ranks 43rd in the nation for funding for state universities, has come to rely on private philanthropy to ensure the system can remain competitive as state legislators tighten the pursestrings.

Digging into the numbers

Our recent analysis of ultra-wealthy living donors’ private foundations showed that these individuals often adhere to a “pay-as-you-go” approach to grantmaking. Money comes in on an annual basis, a commensurate amount of money goes out and the foundation’s net assets stay relatively low year over year.

But a closer look into the data reveals a degree of nuance. For example, some first-wave donors like Packard, Gates and Moore chose to amass huge endowments instead of adopting a pure pay-as-you-go model. The Morgridges’ recent giving through the Tosa Foundation is more of a hybrid approach in that it incorporates a stream of incoming donations while also maintaining a robust endowment.

The foundation received $9.9 million, $2.5 million and $23 million from the Morgridges for the fiscal years ending 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively. The amount of money the foundation disbursed or approved for future payment jumped by 192% from $37 million in 2019 to $108 million in 2021. Meanwhile, the fair market value of the Tosa Foundation’s assets at the end of the year grew by 8.5%, from $571 million in 2019 to $620 million in 2021. In essence, savvy investments and Cisco’s steadily climbing stock price seem to have more than made up for the increased money out the door.

For the fiscal year ending in 2021, the foundation listed 142 grants that were disbursed or approved for future payment. Not surprisingly, that includes two gifts to the University of Wisconsin Foundation totaling $25 million and $17 million. But the couple also supported organizations throughout the U.S., including many based in their adopted home region of Silicon Valley. The foundation does not accept unsolicited requests nor does it provide a phone number on its spartan website.

Two grants in particular caught my eye. The first, which, at $30 million, was the largest for the year, went to a DAF housed at John’s alma mater, Stanford. The foundation also earmarked $12 million for a DAF at Fidelity. The Morgridges are in good company there: Affluent living donors move a substantial amount of giving through DAFs, which do not require them to publicly divulge grantees — nor, under current U.S. law, actually move that money into the hands of working nonprofits.

The next generation

My review of the Tosa Foundation’s tax forms revealed another popular grantee organization, the Morgridge Family Foundation, which John and Tashia Morgridge established in 2008 and handed off to their daughter Michelle (its director), son John (its president) and the younger John’s wife Carrie (its vice president). The Denver-based foundation, which focuses on child welfare, workforce development and education, has disbursed $162 million since its inception.

Speaking to Reuters’ Beth Pinkser in 2016, Carrie talked about what it’s like being a full-time philanthropist after growing up in modest economic circumstances. For example, she had to learn not to feel guilty about rejecting unsolicited requests. “You only have so much money, and you really have to learn to thoughtfully say no,” she said.

Carrie also revealed that John and Tashia Morgridge gave her and her husband the option of spending down the Morgridge Family Foundation’s assets or growing them. “We decided on ‘grow,’” Carrie said. “We’re handing it to our kids with the same exact rule, but we won’t let them decide until they are older.”

According to the Morgridge Family Foundation’s Form 990 for its first fiscal year ending December 2008, it received $7.4 million in Cisco stock from John. The foundation disbursed $2.4 million, and by the end of the year, the fair market value of its assets stood at $3.4 million. John and Tashia kept the money flowing, contributing a combined $45 million from the Tosa Foundation and the family’s personal trust between 2017 and 2020 alone.

Fast-forward to the fiscal year ending December 2021. The Morgridge Family Foundation received another $4 million from the Tosa Foundation, disbursed $11 million, and by the end of the year, the fair market value of its assets had ballooned to a sizable $378 million — an 11,018% increase over 2008. Time will tell if Carrie and John’s kids decide to spend down the Morgridge Family Foundation assets or follow their parents’ lead and let it grow. Either way, stay primed for more giving news from this family.