Leonard Shustek and Donna Dubinsky
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: Cofounder of Nestar Systems; Network General
FUNDING AREAS: Arts and Culture, Education, Environment, Jewish Issues
OVERVIEW: Leonard Shustek and his wife, Donna Dubinsky, do some of their grantmaking through the Shustek Dubinsky Family Philanthropic Fund, which lacks transparency - it does not even appear to provide tax records. As a result, grantmaking interests and guidelines are more challenging to discern. Donna describes the couple's philanthropy as focused on the arts, education, poverty and Jewish issues. Many of the couple's grantees are in Northern California.
BACKGROUND: Leonard Shustek earned his B.S. and M.S. in physics from Polytechnic Institute of New York University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. In 1979, Shustek co-founded Nestar Systems, an early developer of networks for personal computers. In 1986, he co-founded Network General (later Network Associates), a manufacturer of network analysis tools. Shustek has taught computer science at Carnegie Mellon and Stanford, and was a founder of VenCraft, an "angel financing" firm.
ISSUES:
ARTS & CULTURE: Shustek chairs the board of trustees of the Computer History Museum, which is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of computer history and is home to the "largest international collection of computing artifacts in the world, encompassing computer hardware, software, documentation, ephemera, photographs, oral histories, and moving images." Shustek has chaired the board since 1996, and he and his wife Donna have made more than $10 million in grants to the museum's capital campaign. Donna has also been a star in the tech world, serving in such roles as CEO of PDA giant Palm Inc. The couple have also funded tech and cultural organizations such as The Exploratorium, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, and San Jose Museum of Art.
EDUCATION: Shustek's alma mater, the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, is home to the Leonard J. Shustek Distinguished Professor of Computer Science Chair, established with a $2.5 million endowment in 2003. The couple have supported the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara Law and given money to Donna's alma mater, Yale University. They also support the Internet Archive, a nonprofit, free library of millions of books, movies, software, music and other content, which was established under the principle of "universal access to knowledge."
ENVIRONMENT: The Shusteks have awarded grants to organizations such as Pie Ranch, Peninsula Open Space Trust, and the Committee for Green Foothills, whose mission is to "protect the open spaces, farmlands, and natural resources of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties through advocacy, education, and grassroots action."
HEALTH AND COMMUNITY: They support health organizations such as Breast Cancer Action, and That Man May See, which aims to "accelerate scientific discoveries for the preservation of sight." They fund the Second Opinion, who seeks to "provide free, comprehensive second opinions to adults in California diagnosed with cancer." They have made grants to Jewish organizations such as Oshman Family JCC and the Jewish Community Federation. Other grantees include Code for America, a "nonprofit that enlists the talent of the web industry into public service to use their skills to solve core problems facing our communities," and Puente, a community resource center. On a global level, they have made grants to Accion, whose vision is to build a financially inclusive world.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the couple to continue to support their select interest areas, with the Bay Area serving as an important region of giving.
LINKS:
