Siegel Family Endowment

We aim to understand and shape the impact of technology on society.

We make grants across three primary interest areas.
Learn more about each one, and the grantees we work with, below.

Who We Are

Siegel Family Endowment supports organizations working at the intersections of learning, workforce, and infrastructure.

Technological change has radically altered the way we live, work, and learn. The transformation of the global economy has impacted society on every level—from schools to the workplace to our built environment —and altered the terms on which people are able to access opportunities and thrive in daily life. In order to address the biggest challenges we face today, we aim to ensure all people have the tools and equitable access to systems necessary to engage with and affect change in a rapidly evolving world.

Our Work

Our Interest Areas

We make grants across three primary interest areas. Learn more about each one, and the grantees we work with, below.

Learning

To better equip individuals with the knowledge they need to contribute to and engage with a rapidly changing society, we support initiatives that build lifelong learning opportunities, particularly in computer and data science, and envision an education system that works for everyone by addressing long standing social and economic inequities.

Workforce

We believe that just and equitable social, physical, and digital infrastructure is vital for fostering vibrant societies, and our work seeks to make both present and future infrastructure community-centric. We support organizations and scholars that design, build, and care for  resilient social networks and communities, strengthen public spaces, and seek to eliminate existing divides in the access, design, and use of digital technologies.

Infrastructure

In order to put equity at the center of our workforce and broader economy, we prioritize advancing actionable insights into how AI and emerging technologies transform work and the work environment. We aim to support organizations that address workers’ needs and perspectives around work-impacting technologies through pilot programs, case studies, and other research initiatives.

Learning

To better equip individuals with the knowledge they need to contribute to and engage with a rapidly changing society, we support initiatives that build lifelong learning opportunities, particularly in computer and data science, and envision an education system that works for everyone by addressing long standing social and economic inequities.

Workforce

We believe that just and equitable social, physical, and digital infrastructure is vital for fostering vibrant societies, and our work seeks to make both present and future infrastructure community-centric. We support organizations and scholars that design, build, and care for  resilient social networks and communities, strengthen public spaces, and seek to eliminate existing divides in the access, design, and use of digital technologies.

Infrastructure

In order to put equity at the center of our workforce and broader economy, we prioritize advancing actionable insights into how AI and emerging technologies transform work and the work environment. We aim to support organizations that address workers’ needs and perspectives around work-impacting technologies through pilot programs, case studies, and other research initiatives.

Our Values

How We Work

Collaboration

We work closely with grantees and partners in the field to develop strategies and solutions that drive progress for our shared goals. We seek out people and organizations whose work is forward-thinking and true to their core values.

Risk & Experiment

We’re eager to test and develop new solutions, and push ourselves beyond traditional philanthropy to find promising untested ideas, identify gaps, and reframe conversations about complex issues. We embrace failure, taking it as an opportunity to learn, iterate, and strengthen our practice.

Relationship Driven

We have a “people first” approach to our relationships with grantees and partners, and consider a wide range of factors when developing engagement and assessment strategies. We don’t ask that our grantees fit a certain mold, or change who they are to fulfill our own objectives.

Humility & Trust

Our role is to lift up the expertise of others. We don’t have the answers and are not always positioned to wield the assets of the communities we serve. We operate from a place of trust in our grantee leaders, who know best how to approach challenges and allocate their resources.

our Recent Work

case study Series

Introducing our Public Interest Technology Case Studies

The pace of technological change can induce whiplash; from generative AI, to robotics, to bioengineering, to virtual and augmented reality, it seems that there’s always a new innovation. Yet these technological advances are not always accompanied by discussion, regulations, and designs that consider negative impacts or unrealized potentials. At Siegel Family Endowment, we are committed to advancing a vision of technological change that includes and improves the lives of all people. Explore our latest Public Interest Technology Case Study series where we examine the growing field through the lens of four of our grantees working at the forefront of the PIT movement.

PAPER RELEASE

Schools as Community Infrastructure

What opportunities exist for positive change—for our children, families, educators, and communities—when we reimagine schools as vital public infrastructure? We believe that exploring this question is critical if we are to begin to address the vast inequities and challenges facing public education. Many practitioners all over the country are already placing school at the heart of community and community at the heart of school. This paper amplifies this work in the hope of spurring conversation, community engagement, and action.

Grantees

We support a wide range of grantees who are engaged with advancing our understanding of the inquiry questions that underpin our research. We also support a diverse range of grantee work, from academic research projects, to workforce upskilling programs, to teach professional development.

Go Deeper

All Insights
Big Ideas | From Our Grantees
Introducing Our BRIC Case Studies 

The Black River Innovation Campus (BRIC) in Springfield, Vermont, is a powerful example of community-driven innovation in a rural community…

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News | Reflections
Pursuing Progress Through Inquiry, Innovation, and Intentionality: Our Year in Review 2023

Pausing for reflection at the end of each year offers us the opportunity to look back with pride at the…

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News
Siegel Announces Partnership with New National Science Foundation Program

Siegel Family Endowment is proud to be a founding philanthropic partner of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s newly launched $16…

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