Craig Newmark Philanthropies
/OVERVIEW: Craig Newmark Philanthropies supports organizations working with veterans and military families, trustworthy journalism, voter protection, pigeon rescue, food security, women in technology, A.I., cybersecurity and tech safety.
IP TAKE: Craig Newmark Philanthropies continues to stick closely with the funding areas that have long defined its mission: cybersecurity, journalism, veterans, and democracy/voter protection. Interestingly, all of these areas have skyrocketed in relevance since the funder’s 2015 founding, and Craig Newmark has doubled down on his commitments, giving away over $100 million to these and a handful of other causes in a recent year. Newmark told IP reporter Ade Adeniji that he plans to continue his track record of rapid, generous giving. “My intent is to punch way above my weight, particularly when it comes to voter protection,” he said. Newmark describes himself on the philanthropy’s website as “an old-school nerd helping to protect the people who protect our country.”
This is an accessible funder that accepts unsolicited grant inquiries via an online form, asking grant seekers to carefully assess whether their organization aligns with Newmark’s funding priorities. While the process is accessible, odds of success seem low. Newmark doesn’t provide information about grantees on its website, but recent tax filings include a full list of that year’s grantees, revealing a host of general support grants going to organizations that tend to be larger and established. Still, Newmark is open to new grantees, and it’s an important funder to know for groups whose interests align with Newmark’s funding priorities.
PROFILE: Established in 2015, Craig Newmark Philanthropies is the primary philanthropic vehicle for Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist. Craig Newmark studied computer science at Case Western Reserve University, and worked at IBM and Charles Schwab before developing Craigslist, a web service that brings people together to exchange information, largely in the form of online classified ads. Since retiring from Craigslist, Newmark dedicates his time and resources to philanthropy. Newmark has served on the boards of a range of nonprofits, including Blue Star Families, Center for Public Integrity, Girls Who Code, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Poynter Foundation, Sunlight Foundation, VetsinTech, and Women in Public Service Project.
Craig Newmark Philanthropies lists military families and veterans, cyber civil defense and cybersecurity, democracy and voter protection, trustworthy journalism, and pigeon rescue as top funding priorities; it also supports women in technology, and A.I. literacy and education, and food security. Craig Newmark Philanthropies should not be confused with the Craigslist Charitable Fund, which is the philanthropic arm of Craigslist.com and a separate entity.
Grants for Military and Veterans
The Philanthropies’ military and veterans grants are handled by the Bob Woodruff Foundation. Like many military funders, the Philanthropies focus on veterans' mental health and reintegration into society after service, rather than memorials or historical archives. The grants seek to “improve social determinants of health; decrease barriers to accessing physical and mental healthcare; increase accessibility to programming that fosters a healthy lifestyle; and enhance opportunities for veterans to thrive after service.”
Newmark funds a number of organizations that support veterans’ and military families’ health and wellbeing, including Blue Star Families, Student Veterans of America, IAVA, and VetsinTech. Newmark has also worked with the public school funding platform DonorsChoose.org to build a new donation option on its site for schools that serve military families. Newmark gave over $25 million to food security organizations, many focused on veterans and military families, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, he pledged $100 million to be split between the Woodruff Foundation and Blue Star Families for veteran mental health and homelessness.
Grants for Journalism
Newmark believes that a “trustworthy press is the immune system of democracy.” He has given almost $200 million to the cause since 2016. He supports organizations and initiatives that are working to promote journalistic transparency and fight disinformation, convening these parties to form a large network to accelerate collaboration and scalable solutions. The Philanthropies’ site links to the American Press Institute’s guiding principles for funders of nonprofit media, which offers further insight into how this funder seeks to shape their giving for journalism and digital media.
Newmark works closely with a number of organizations, including the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, the CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, ProPublica, Santa Clara University’s the Trust Project, and the Wikimedia Foundation. He gave the Poynter Institute $5 million in 2019 to establish the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership.
Grants for Civic and Democracy and Cybersecurity
Newmark believes that full inclusion and participation in America’s voting system is key. This funder works closely with organizations that protect voting rights, including the Brennan Center for Justice, Civic Hall, PolitiFact, Rock the Vote, Sunlight Foundation, and Voto Latino, among others.
At the end of 2019, Craig Newmark Philanthropies made a $5 million gift to the Leadership Conference Education Fund. In 2022, Newmark pledged $50 million to groups focused on educating Americans about cybersecurity threats.
Grants have gone to Black Girls Hack, Girls Who Code, R Street's Making Space Initiative, Shadowserver and the Stanford Internet Observatory, among others. Newmark has also supported the Institute for Security and Technology's anti-ransomware program, and Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab Security and Privacy Institute.
Grants for STEM Education, Women and Girls
Promoting inclusion is highly important to Newmark, so he partners with organizations that commit to gender diversity, especially in the tech world. He worked with Women Who Tech to put together the first-ever Women Startup Challenge, an initiative to encourage the broader participation and representation of women in the tech community, and has been involved with the annual event, which is now in its sixth year, ever since. Newmark also works closely with Girls Who Code, and he joined their board of directors in 2017.
The Philanthropies have pledged $3 million to Common Sense Media, which provides aged-based guidelines for parents about movies, television, books, video games and more, to support the development of "an AI ratings system for parents, educators, policy makers and regulators so they can evaluate what makes certain tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT safe or unsafe for children." Newmark has also supported development of an AI literacy program built for K–12 classrooms.
Important Grant Details:
The average grant size is $200,000, although amounts can range from a few hundred dollars up to several million. While the Philanthropies’ website does not provide a list of past grantees, new grantseekers can get an idea bout what types of groups receive funding by looking over the list of Newmark’s past and present board members and by browsing the articles in the site’s newsroom.
New grantseekers will want to apply via the application page on the Philanthropies’ website, although organizations working with veterans and military families will need to apply via the new grants portal on the Bob Woodruff Foundation website.
PEOPLE:
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