Jon Yarbrough
/NET WORTH: $1.99 billion
SOURCE OF WEALTH: Video Gaming Technologies, Inc.
FUNDING AREAS: Health & Human Services, Global, Education & Youth, Policy
OVERVIEW: Jon Yarbrough and family move their philanthropy through the Yarbrough Family Foundation, which gave away around $387,000 in a recent year and does not maintain a website. The foundation tends to prioritize organizations based in or benefitting Tennessee. Yarbrough also supports organizations that work globally.
BACKGROUND: Jon Yarbrough graduated from Tennessee Technological University in 1981 with a degree in industrial engineering. He launched Video Gaming Technologies (VGT) in 1991, which produces multiplayer and casino games. VGT was once the largest company leasing Class II gaming machines to Native American tribes. Yarbrough sold his company to Australian firm, Aristocrat Leisure, for $1.28 billion in 2014.
ISSUES:
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Yarbrough was a member of Center for Living and Learning for more the a decade and steadily supports the organization whose mission is to "improve lives by assisting individuals transitioning from rehabilitation or with barriers to employment, into the workforce so that they may become contributing members of society." Other grantees have included American Cancer Society, Autism Speaks, Mercy Community Healthcare, and National Alliance on Mental Illness.
GLOBAL: Grantees have included Heifer International and African Leadership, a "Christian education and development organization that trains pastors and church leaders in Africa and funds relief and development projects in their communities."
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Yarbrough has strongly supported Battle Ground Academy. He's also supported places like Vanderbilt University and High Hopes Development Center, which works with youth.
OTHER: Yarbrough has also supported places like the Tennessee Equality Project and the Beacon Center of Tennessee, "a non-profit free-market think tank based in Nashville, Tennessee."
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect Yarbrough to continue to support his select interest areas, with an eye towards Tennessee.
CONTACT:
Yarbrough Family Foundation
730 Cool Springs Blvd, Ste 120
Franklin, TN 37067
LINK:
