Closing the loop on our inquiry-driven approach means we share what we’re learning. Click on the filters below to explore insights from us and our network.
As AI becomes more deeply woven into our schools, workplaces, communities, and infrastructure, we are seeing a new intensity of feeling and public attention around technology. Joshua Elder reflects on what this moment makes possible for philanthropy, and why the growing care and concern around technology is an opening to ask better questions, bring more voices into the conversation, and help shape what comes next.
Siegel Chairman leverages his early front-row seat to the Open Source movement to make the case that today’s closed AI ecosystem is a dangerous step backward. Just as open software became the load-bearing foundation of the modern internet, AI must remain transparent and community-driven if we want to fuel progress.
Rural communities are increasingly shaping the future of America’s energy, food, workforce, and digital infrastructure, yet they remain overlooked in many philanthropic strategies. As technology and investment transform these regions, philanthropy has an opportunity to move beyond outdated narratives and recognize rural communities as essential partners in building more resilient futures.
NEW YORK, May 14, 2026 – Siegel Family Endowment, a foundation dedicated to shaping the impact of technology on society, today announced $14 million in grants to organizations […]
For too long, the story of artificial intelligence has been told by those building and profiting from it. The narrative goes something like this: AI […]
This whitepaper is a codification of a decade of learning. Not as a definitive model, but as one approach that has been useful for us in practice. It includes what we’ve found to work well, where we’ve struggled, and the kinds of tools and structures we’ve used to support an inquiry-driven orientation in grantmaking.
We sat down with Connect Humanity to learn more about how community-focused internet service providers function; the importance of the U.S. Treasury’s grant to help Connect Humanity become certified as a CDFI; how Connect Humanity’s model has shifted in response to the current funding environment; what the organization is learning about the ripple effect of internet connectivity; the enormous economic growth unleashed by affordable and reliable internet; the role of philanthropy in catalyzing change and piloting new initiatives; and the urgency of finding alternative and sustainable funding sources that spread the costs across an ecosystem of beneficiaries.
Your average computer science major seems to now be the poster child for Gen Z college grads unable to secure the sort of jobs that a decade of “top majors” features promised them. CS has until recently been assumed to be a “safe” major that guaranteed employment, often with a high starting salary in a perks-laden workplace, or equity in a fast-growing startup. A decline in demand for recent graduates has led to headlines suggesting the boom is over, and that AI poses an existential threat to all computer science occupations.
Sohyeon Hwang, PhD is in her second year as a Siegel Research Fellow. Sohyeon serves as a postdoctoral associate at the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University, where she studies community-based systems of governance in technologies, including decentralized social media and gig work. We sat down with Sohyeon to learn more about her recent work on inter-community governance processes, how she involves communities in her research, and strategies for overcoming some of the frictions that emerge from coordinating across decentralized social media communities.
With a half century of service under its belt, CitizensNYC is one of the most experienced micro-funding organizations in the country. It provides micro-grants and capacity-building support to New York City neighborhood leaders who are making their communities more connected, resilient, and healthier.
Alexandra Mateescuis in her second year as a Siegel Research Fellow at Data & Society, where she has worked for the last decade. In this Q&A, Alexandra shares her research about the gendered experience of the gig economy; how AI is an extension of existing tools of surveillance and control of workers; and how workers themselves are building power and challenging existing narratives about the promise and peril of technology. We also discuss Alexandra’s new co-authored paperon the underlying dynamics of power, control, and ideology that are shaping AI adoption in the workplace.