Goldman Sachs
/OVERVIEW: Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs supports education, work and opportunity, women and girls causes and global development in areas where its corporate sister operates.
IP TAKE: Goldman Sachs’s giving emphasizes business education and business development. This funder works mainly through existing partnerships with educational institutions, nonprofits and lenders. Prospective grantees are advised to contact senior-level employees for consideration. This is not an accessible funder, requiring that you hit the ground and network for a way in.
PROFILE: Goldman Sachs, a U.S.-based multinational financial firm, has run its corporate engagement program since 2008. Based in New York City, the company is committed to “taking philanthropic action based on discipline, innovation and a strategic approach.” It runs three signature funding initiatives: 10,000 Women, which supports women entrepreneurs around the world; 10,000 Small Businesses, which supports the development of small businesses in the U.S. and Goldman Sachs Gives, which helps to solve economic and social problems in underserved communities globally. The corporation also runs a robust employee volunteering program and veterans and sponsorship programs in the communities where it maintains branch offices.
Grants for K-12 Education
Funding for K-12 education stems mainly from the Goldman Sachs Gives initiative, which is broad in scope. This program operates as a donor-advised fund, with senior employees and retirees of Goldman Sachs recommending organizations for funding. One past recipient, the Harlem Children’s Zone, used funding to construct a charter school, Promise Academy, in New York City. Another grantee, Greenhouse Sports, used funding to expand its sports and mentoring programs in underprivileged neighborhoods in London.
Grants for Higher Education
The Goldman Sachs Foundation supports higher education through its 10,000 Small Businesses, 10,000 Women and Goldman Sachs Gives initiatives. Working in the U.S. and the U.K., the small business program helps “entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing them with access to education, capital and business support services.” The women’s program provides similar opportunities, including access to higher education, to women entrepreneurs around the world. Goldman Sachs Gives reflects the interests of the companies’ employees and retirees and has recently demonstrated a strong commitment to community colleges in the U.S. Grantees include Johns Hopkins University, New York’s LaGuardia Community College and Morgan State University in Baltimore.
Grants for Women and Girls
Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women program focuses on developing and supporting women entrepreneurs in developing countries by partnering with business schools and nonprofit organizations. In collaboration with the International Finance Corporation, 10,000 Women has allocated $1.45 billion for financial institutions to create loan opportunities for women-owned businesses. Grantee-partners include the Indian School of Business, Tsinghua School of Economics and Management and the online learning platform Coursera.
In 2021, Goldman Sachs announced One Million Black Women, an initiative committed to investing $10 billion and giving another $100 million through philanthropy over the next ten years. The initiative focuses on the areas of healthcare, housing, education, and economic and workforce development.
Grants for Veterans, Work and Opportunity
Work and opportunity grantmaking stems from Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses program, which aims “to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing access to education, capital and business support services.” The program operates in the U.S. and the U.K., business education programs and “capital lending partners,” which offer loans to businesses deemed “poised for growth.” U.S. educational partners include the Community College of Baltimore County, the City College of Chicago, Houston Community College and Los Angeles City College, and lending partners include the Community First Fund of Eastern Pennsylvania, Chicago’s Community Reinvestment Fund, PeopleFund of Dallas and Invest Detroit. In the U.K. the program has partnered with the Said Business School at Oxford University, the Aston Centre for Growth and the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School.
Goldman Sachs also invests in work and opportunity through its veterans programs. The company runs a signature Veterans Integration Program that helps veterans prepare for careers in the financial industry. Other grantees supporting veterans include Veterans on Wall Street, the Mission Continues and Vets Prevail, which helps veterans re-enter and adjust to civilian life.
Grants for Global Development
Goldman Sachs supports global development via the Goldman Sachs Gives program, which operates as a donor-advised fund directed by Goldman Sachs’s senior and retired executives. The program “is committed to fostering innovative ideas, solving economic and social issues and enabling progress in underserved communities globally.” Past grants have gone to the Korean Red Cross, the International Rescue Committee, Syria Relief, Japan’s Tohuku Medical University and the Touch Foundation, which aims to improve healthcare in Tanzania.
Important Grant Details:
Golman Sachs’s grants range anywhere from a few thousand to several million dollars. The organization’s average grant size is about $50,000. To learn more about this financial company’s past grantmaking, see the individual program pages linked to its citizenship web page.
This funder does not accept unsolicited applications for funding. Grantseekers are advised to contact senior staff at the firm for consideration.
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