Enlight Foundation

OVERVIEW:  The Enlight Foundation’s grantmaking supports education in developing countries and social entrepreneurship.

IP TAKE: The foundation keeps a low public profile, which limits information available on its grantmaking priorities and activities. The Enlight Foundation does not appear to accept unsolicited grant applications.

PROFILE: Established in 2004, the Enlight Foundation was founded by Chinese electrical engineer Yongping Duan and journalist Xin Liu. Yongping was once on the foundation's record, but he is no longer working with Enlight or affiliated in any way. A recent 990 indicated Xin Liu as the sole trustee and president of Enlight Foundation. Enlight's charitable work focuses on creating equal educational opportunities for children in developing countries, fostering social entrepreneurs and change makers among youth, and “supporting action driven research projects to advance education in developing countries, especially in China.”

Without a website, the foundation does not appear to maintain specific programs instead preferring to fund interests more broadly. However, the Enlight Foundation grantmaking to education includes a $3 million gift to the Presidio Graduate School. Enlight has steadily supported Stanford University, including establishing a fellowship program for Chinese students. The Enlight Foundation also recently provided World Savvy with a $1 million gift in support of the organization’s work preparing K-12 students in the U.S. as global citizens. Some of this expansion will take place in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Grants range from $2,500 to $1,000,000 largely to Presidio Graduate School. Other past grantees include Give2Asia; Feel Good World, “a youth movement committed to ending world hunger in our lifetime”; Lucile Packard Children’s Fund; Monterey Bay Aquarium; and Friends of Palo Alto Parks, which received a seven-figure gift in a recent year.  Learn more about past grantees in the funder’s tax records.

It does not appear that this foundation accepts unsolicited grant applications.

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CONTACT:

Enlight Foundation

954 Roble Ridge Rd.

Palo Alto, CA 94306