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 and envision an education system that works for everyone by addressing long standing social and economic inequities. Our investments also support skilling individuals in future-forward fields like computer science, data science, entrepreneurship, invention, and biotechnology.

Workforce

In order to put equity at the center of our workforce and broader economy, we support programs working to propel community-driven innovation, create sustainable models to finance job training, and expand access to empowering social connections and opportunities.

Infrastructure

We believe that strong social, physical, and digital infrastructure is a prerequisite for cultivating an equitable society, and our work seeks to make both the infrastructure of today and tomorrow work for all people. We do this by supporting organizations that foster the growth of resilient social networks and communities, strengthen public spaces and buildings, and expand access to digital life – particularly through public interest technology.

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 and envision an education system that works for everyone by addressing long standing social and economic inequities. Our investments also support skilling individuals in future-forward fields like computer science, data science, entrepreneurship, invention, and biotechnology.

Workforce

In order to put equity at the center of our workforce and broader economy, we support programs working to propel community-driven innovation, create sustainable models to finance job training, and expand access to empowering social connections and opportunities.

Infrastructure

We believe that strong social, physical, and digital infrastructure is a prerequisite for cultivating an equitable society, and our work seeks to make both the infrastructure of today and tomorrow work for all people. We do this by supporting organizations that foster the growth of resilient social networks and communities, strengthen public spaces and buildings, and expand access to digital life – particularly through public interest technology.

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

Report release

Breaking the Glass Bottleneck: The Economic Potential of Black and Hispanic Real Estate Developers and the Constraints They Face

Grove Impact and ICIC, with funding from Siegel Family Endowment, release new report demonstrating the economic potential of increasing diversity in real estate development. Report estimates removing constraints facing Black and Hispanic developers could address long standing racial wealth and housing gaps 

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
Spring Case Study Series: How Three Grantees are Leveraging School and Community to Improve Outcomes for All

While the summer months offer an excellent window into how schools and communities come together to jointly grow and teach…

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From Our Grantees
What Teachers Actually Want for Teacher Appreciation Week

Against the backdrop of teacher burnout and poor pay, computer science teachers have some suggestions about how individuals and systems…

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Big Ideas
Fall Case Study Series: How Four Grantees are Building Enduring and Frontier Skills

Siegel Family Endowment is committed to supporting organizations that are on the frontlines of building an equitable future by helping…

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