Meet 10 Rising Philanthropists of Color

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published July 25, 2022.

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A common refrain here at IP is that as the demographic landscape of the U.S. changes — marching toward a majority-minority nation by 2050 — so will the philanthropshere. Historically, it almost goes without saying that the largest individual contributions of philanthropic support in the United States have come from white men.

However, we’ve been tracking the story of a growing class of philanthropists of color who have arrived on the scene in the past few decades. For instance, billionaire Oprah Winfrey has been a steady giver since the 1990s. And the richest Black American, Robert F. Smith, continues to move millions out of the door annually. To try to get a handle on all of this giving, we’ve compiled lists including some of the top philanthropists of color and top Indian-American philanthropists.

Across the broader population, though, deep wealth gaps still persist, including among the younger generations. For instance, the average white millennial family holds about $88,000 in wealth, compared to the average Black millennial family with only about $5,000 in wealth.

But that doesn’t mean some younger people of color living and working in the U.S. haven’t amassed substantial fortunes — many have, and some are turning those resources toward philanthropy. Who are some of these figures, what are their interests, and what can we expect from them in the coming years?

We’ve put together a list of some of these younger givers of color. “Young,” for our purposes here, means younger than 50. For this post, we also only focused on young individual donors who founded or primarily steer their own foundations. (To be sure, there are plenty of next-generation heirs we’ve been watching, too). This is by no means an exhaustive list. Rather, this article sketches out some of the more significant younger donors of color in the U.S. and what they fund.

Nicole Shanahan

Raised in Oakland in a low-income Chinese immigrant household, Nicole Shanahan, 37, married Google co-founder Sergey Brin a few years ago. Last month, news broke that the couple had filed for divorce. Brin is worth some $90 billion, and Shanahan, much like MacKenzie Scott, could very well emerge in a few years as one of the richest women on the planet — and a bunch of that money might go toward philanthropy.

We’ve already been tracking Shanahan for some time now. In 2019, she started the Bia-Echo Foundation, committing to invest $100 million over five years in three areas of focus — criminal justice reform, reproductive longevity, and a livable and healthy planet. Her reproductive longevity work in particular seems all the more timely on the heels of a jarring Supreme Court decision. With a $6 million gift, she seeded the Center for Female Reproductive Longevity and Equality at the Buck Institute, which supports breakthrough research on reproductive aging and women.

“The value of giving while you are early or mid-career is that you and your contemporaries are oftentimes already working at the cusp of innovation,” Shanahan told us when she launched the foundation. “There is also a sense of accountability when you are still in the workforce. When the people who are receiving funds from you see you getting stuff done as an operator, they are more likely to want to engage your advice and help beyond dollars. I think that exchange is key to successful giving.”

Rihanna

Rihanna, 34, started the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF), which invests in climate justice initiatives in the Caribbean and United States and helps communities prepare for and withstand natural disasters.CLF sports a small staff and a board that includes Rihanna’s mother Monica. The foundation was created in honor of Rihanna’s grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite, and its inaugural grant of $1.75 million created the Clara Braithwaite Center for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Barbados. A key part of CLF’s early work was on disaster response. But in 2018, CLF announced a $25 million climate resilience initiative and began testing a different approach in its Caribbean work, focused on proactively strengthening infrastructure and social systems to prepare for future storms, rather than working in a reactive way.

Hemant Taneja

Born in Delhi, India, Hemant Taneja, 47, amassed five degrees from MIT and was an early investor in market-leading companies like Stripe, Snap, Grammarly, Gusto and Livongo, which was acquired by Teladoc in a $18.5 billion merger. Unsurprisingly, education is a centerpiece of his emerging giving. He is a founding board member of the Khan Lab School, a nonprofit K-12 school dedicated to classroom innovation, which he supports through the Taneja Family Foundation. His family foundation also supports other Bay Area organizations including the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health and Ventana School. At his alma mater, Taneja and his wife Jessica support MIT.nano, a new center for nanoscience and nanotechnology.

LeBron James

LeBron, 37, is the first active NBA player to make the celebrated Forbes billionaires list, with a net worth of $1 billion — emblematic of the kind of serious wealth being amassed by top athletes these days, and at increasingly young ages. On court, he’s still a superstar, defying father time. Off the court, LeBron has led the way as one of the leading voices of his generation of athletes speaking up about social issues. His LeBron James Family Foundation (LJFF) invests time, resources and attention in the kids of his hometown of Akron, Ohio. James and his business partner Maverick Carter notably donated $2.5 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. LeBron also partnered with comedian Kevin Hart and others to form More Than a Vote, an organization that supports African American voter registration and addresses voter suppression.

Serena Williams

Serena Williams, 40, launched the Serena Williams Fund to provide assistance to youth whose families have been affected by violent crimes, as well as to help college-bound youth from low-income backgrounds receive the highest quality education possible. Williams lost her half-sister to gun violence, and these personal experiences drive her philanthropy — for instance, she backs the work of the Caliber Foundation, in support of families and victims affected by gun violence. She also made a UNICEF trip to Africa, witnessing firsthand how challenging it is for young girls to access basic education. The Serena Williams Fund has partnered with UNICEF on a number of campaigns focused on education in Africa.

Williams’ husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is also ramping up his giving. He recently launched 776 Foundation, offering a fellowship that will give $20 million to young people over the next decade to work on climate solutions.

Frank Baker

Financier Frank Baker, 49, is the co-founder of Siris Capital Group, a middle market private equity firm. Much like his older African-American Wall Street peer Robert F. Smith, Baker made waves for addressing student loan debt at an HBCU. In 2020, Baker and his wife Laura Day made a $1 million scholarship for Spelman College graduates. Baker is also involved with the United Negro College Fund and has spoken about the importance of HBCUs. At his alma mater the University of Chicago, meanwhile, Baker made a $7 million gift to endow undergraduate scholarships and internships for lower-income students.

Stephen and Ayesha Curry

NBA champion once again in 2022, Stephen Curry, 34, of the Golden State Warriors started the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation with Ayesha Curry, which focuses on the vital pillars for a healthy childhood. Its Eat focus area focuses on food insecurity and childhood hunger, including working at the policy level. Its Learn area focuses on programs that keep students on paths to achieve a college degree, especially at-risk youth. And its Play focus area works with partners leading projects for new playgrounds, sport courts and other recreational facilities for kids and families to congregate for physical activity. Curry also recently made a seven-figure donation to Howard University to establish the first Division I men’s and women’s golf teams at the HBCU.

Ben and Teresa Chestnut

Ben Chestnut, 48, founded what later became Mailchimp in 2001 as a side project. Now he’s worth $5 billion. He and his wife Teresa launched the Chestnut Family Foundation in 2017, which invests in the lives of children through access to the arts. So far, grantees have been small and local — generally focused on the state of Georgia. They include Ballethnic Dance Company, Atlanta Music Project, Jessye Norman School of the Arts and ArtsNow Learning. The foundation also runs the Henry M. Chestnut Scholarship, named in honor of Chestnut’s father.

Alex Rodriguez

Baseball legend Alex Rodriguez, 46, is worth some $350 million. He once conducted his philanthropic giving through the A-Rod Family Foundation, but the current status of the charity is unclear. During his playing days, Rodriguez donated $3.9 million to renovate the University of Miami’s baseball stadium and to fund a scholarship program for Boys & Girls Clubs alumni to attend the University of Miami. In 2017, Rodriguez pledged $500,000 to the University of Miami Business School. He has also supported Florida International University to provide scholarships to first-generation, college-bound students.

Arash Ferdowsi

Born in Kansas in 1985 to Iranian immigrants, Ferdowsi, 37, attended MIT and went on to co-found Dropbox. Ferdowsi and his Dropbox co-founder Drew Houston launched the Dropbox Foundation in 2018 with an initial endowment of approximately $20 million to back organizations on the front lines of the global fight for human rights. It will promote and protect human rights by partnering with nonprofits in two ways: through unrestricted grants to partners, and with support from company employee volunteers with skills that match each organization’s needs, such as financial modeling, data security or employee recruitment.

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