SOURCE OF WEALTH: Lynda.com
FUNDING AREAS: Education & Youth, Arts & Culture
OVERVIEW: Lynda Weinman and her husband Bruce do not appear to have a formal charitable vehicle.
BACKGROUND: Lynda Weinman graduated from Evergreen State College. She was a faculty member at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and worked as an animator and motion graphics director in the special effects film industry. In 1995, she cofounded pioneering online learning platform Lynda.com with her husband Bruce. She sold Lynda.com to LinkedIn for $1.5 billion in cash and stock in 2015. Weinman has been known as the “Mother of the Internet.”
Bruce Heavin graduated from Art Center College of Design with a BFA in 1993. He cofounded Lynda.com and is an artist, strategist, and entrepreneur.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION & YOUTH: The couple have strongly supported Art Center College of Design, Bruce’s alma mater and where Lynda taught. Bruce sits on the board of the institution, home to the Bruce Heavin and Lynda Weinman Alumni Center. Lynda’s own school, Evergreen State College, meanwhile, is home to the Lynda Lab, the Experimental Effects Lab in the Center for Creative and Applied Media (CCAM). The family also support the Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin Endowed Scholarship at Evergreen State College.
The couple have also given strong support to UCSB, including its Bren School of Environmental Science. Lynda is on the advisory board for UCSB Arts & Lectures.
ARTS & CULTURE: Lynda worked in film for a time, and this passion animates the family’s philanthropy. She is president of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and helps sponsor its Film Studies Program, a three-day symposium open to all undergraduate students from around the United States.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the family to remain focused on their established interest areas for now. Perhaps Lynda and Bruce will deepen their support of film organizations as well.
LINK: Lynda.com
