OVERVIEW: The Sergey Brin Family Foundation is the private foundation for Google co-founder Sergey Brin. It supports work in Parkinson’s, autism, and bipolar disorder research, health and diseases, and climate philanthropy. To a lesser extent it supports education, Jewish causes, arts and culture, disaster relief, economic opportunity, and the Bay Area.
IP TAKE: This is a major U.S. foundation with assets and grantmaking that has increased exponentially in recent years. According to reporting at Forbes, the foundation made $900 million in grants in 2024, adding substantially to Brin’s lifetime philanthropic giving totaling $3.9 billion. Brin’s foundation has become known for making large gifts or grants to universities, nonprofits, and research institutions for specific health conditions. Specifically, Brin is a major giver to Parkinson’s, autism, and bipolar disorder research. As part of this giving, Brin has founded several initiatives, including Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP), Aligning Research to Impact Autism (ARIA), and CNS Quest for research into central nervous system disorders. As exclusively reported at Inside Philanthropy, Brin has also become a major climate philanthropist. His foundation made nearly $243 million in climate-related awards in 2024, while his billion-dollar nonprofit advocacy group Catalyst4 Inc. granted almost $22 million that year. Brin has been a major donor to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and to the anti-poverty collaborative Blue Meridian Partners.
For a funder of this size, there’s a surprising lack of disclosure and transparency. This approach reflects Brin’s desire to fly under the radar. The foundation does not maintain a website and does not outline a clear funding strategy, which limits potential partners and grantees from engaging with the foundation. Note that this funder tends to prioritize mid-sized and larger organizations or re-grantors.
PROFILE: Established in 2015, the Sergey Brin Family Foundation is the private foundation for Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Born in Russia in 1979, Brin and his family fled to the United States to escape anti-semitism. He received a mathematics and computer science degree from the University of Maryland at College Park, and later enrolled at Stanford University, where he met Larry Page during their doctoral program there. The duo cofounded Google in 1998, and Brin served as president of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., until 2019. Brin has appeared on the Chronicle of Philanthropy‘s list of the 50 most generous philanthropists, as well as Forbes’ list of most generous philanthropists.
The Sergey Brin Family Foundation does not maintain a website or provide information about its funding priorities or the types of organizations it looks to support. However, tax records along with public reporting reveal that the foundation’s giving overlaps with Brin’s personal interests, which include Parkinson’s and science research, health and diseases, education, Jewish causes, arts and culture, disaster relief, the environment and climate change, economic opportunity, and the Bay Area.
Grants for Diseases, Public Health, and Mental Health
In lieu of a website to guide grantmaking strategies, tax filings reveal a mix of health grantmaking interests. Health grants dominate the lionshare of Brin funding with an emphasis on Parkinson’s research, among other interests, such as bipolar disorder, children’s health and more general medical research.
Giving for Parkinson’s research has accounted for almost half of all grants annually. Brin has donated over $1 billion to research into the disease, much of which has gone to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, including $101 million in 2021, $127 million in 2022, and about $60 million in 2023. Brin has written about his personal dealings with Parkinson’s—a disease that afflicted both his mother and great aunt.
Via the foundation, Brin has supported the Milken Institute (also toward Parkinson’s research), and Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center. Through its Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s initiative, the Sergey Brin Family Foundation has also given $161 million to 21 research teams at 60 institutions throughout the US and abroad. It has also given a $20.4 million grant to the Parkinson’s Foundation.
Brin, along with Roblox founder David Baszucki and Keystone Capital chairman Kent Dauten, contributed a combined $150 million for research and treatment of bipolar disorder.
The foundation also gave $100 million for COVID-19 relief during the coronavirus pandemic, and $15.2 million to National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in 2021.
Other groups that have received support include $26.2 million to Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health in 2020, over $10 million to La Jolla Institute for Immunology, and $5 million to Healthcorps.
The Russian Medical Fund received almost $32 million in 2018.
Other health-related grantmaking through this foundation centers on organizations in the Bay Area, such as Tipping Point Community and Homeless Prenatal Program, among others. Related health grantees also include Profectum Foundation, CARE, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Doctors for You – USA, Cystic Fibrosis Trust,
Grants for Science Research
Much of Brin’s grantmaking for science research overlaps with medical research, blurring the lines between his health and science grants.
Although he is no longer on the board, Brin, along with Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, Art Levinson, Anne Wojcicki and Yuri Milner, created the Breakthrough Prize in 2013, a $3 million prize awarded to one physics project and six life sciences projects annually, for a total of $21 million a year. Brin has provided ongoing support to the organization. For more information, see the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
Brin’s science research giving also supports institutions working on nanoparticles, SARS or “AI for prostate cancer.”
The Buck Institute for Research on Aging, which has the goal to “end the threat of age-related disease,” has received steady support over the years totaling almost $5 million.
Grants for Climate Change and Environment
In contrast from previous tax years, the Sergey Brin Family Foundation experience a significant increase in funding for climate change and clean energy, as well as for wildfires:
- From this funder’s 2023 filings, it appears that the foundation has increased climate and environmental grants to over $300 million in total. Recent climate grantees include $40 million for previous grantee, a regrantor, Climate Imperative, as well as $29 million for the United States Energy Foundation. In addition, 2023 climate and clean energy grantees include the Resource Legacy Fund, Elemental Impact, Pacific Environment and Resources Center, RMI, Climate Jobs National Resource Center, the University of California Berkeley Foundation, and the Federation of American Scientists.
- Grants to mitigate wildfires and support those effected by wildlfire include Audubon Canyon Ranch, Culture Fire Management Council, Grid Alternatives Affiliates and Subsidiaries, the Trust for Hidden Villas, Direct Relief, Windward Fund, World Central Kitchen, and the American Lung Association.
- In the distance past, Brin funded research at Maastricht University on lab-created beef in the early 2010s and in 2021. The foundation has also supported Neglected Climate Opportunities Fund and European Climate Foundation.
Grants for Jewish Causes
This funder’s grants for Jewish causes tend to focus on either organizations with which it’s founder is affiliated or on organizations dedicated to the overlap between antiracism, antisemitism and Jewish ideas of justice. Funding in this area has decreased in the past two years, but this could change in the future.
When Brin came with his family to the United States to escape antisemitism, he received help from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. He later returned the favor with a $1 million donation to the organization. Brin has served on the HIAS board and also set up a blog on the site called My Story, which is currently being redeveloped online, to encourage immigrants to share their experiences.
Other Jewish organizations that have received funding in recent years include Jewish Vocational Service and Jewish Family and Children’s Services, both of San Francisco.
In the justice and antisemitism space, grantees include Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, as well as Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, and Measures for Justice Institute.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education, and Community Development
Brin’s giving for education has increased significantly over the last several years, with large sums going to college readiness initiatives and teacher education. Some themes within this area include entrepreneurship and STEM. Overall, funding for education has decreased across the board in favor of other focus areas.
- Recent education grants include investments in the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, and the University of Maryland College Park Foundation.
Past youth development and K-12 recipients have included the Citizen Schools, an organization that works to expand the school day for middle school students living in poverty, as well as BUILD, a four-year program that uses entrepreneurship to motivate low-income students through high school and college.
Brin also supported Beyond 12 Education, California’s Alder Graduate School of Education, Syracuse University and Carnegie Mellon University. The foundation has sent regular million-dollar grants to Stanford University, Brin’s alma mater, as well as the University of California, Berkeley, but less so more recently.
The foundation joined with Brin’s father and mother, Michael and Eugenia, to give $9 million to establish a performing dance center under the family name at the University of Maryland, where Michael is an emeritus professor in mathematics and Sergey got his bachelor’s degree, and where the family gave $4.75 million in 2021 to establish the Brin Mathematics Center.
The foundation has directed millions toward a donor-advised fund, some of which has gone to Youth Villages, which provides “help for children and young people across the United States who face a wide range of emotional, mental and behavioral problems,” as well as Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, which deals with adoption.
Other education groups that have received support include 826 Valencia, Act Now Coalition, Ravenswood Education Foundation, Excellence in Education Foundation for PGCPS, and PowerMyLearning, to help support computer literacy.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Sergey Brin Family Foundation’s grantmaking does not appear to prioritize arts and culture at this time. It has, however, continued to support the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation, and in the past, has supported the Turrell Art Foundation and the Burning Man Project. The Prince Georges County Memorial Library System in Upper Marlboro, Maryland has seen support as well.
Grants for Humanitarian Aid, Disaster Relief, and Immigrants and Refugees
Grants in these areas tend to focus on on the overlap between humanitarian disaster aid and stemming refugee crises. There appears to be some interest in immigrant rights, Brin himself an immigrant to the U.S. from the former U.S.S.R.
Recent disaster relief aid has focused on helping those effected by wildfires, as further outlined under Grants for Climate Change above.
In 2023, recent grantees in the humanitarian aid space include the Tipping Point Community, Global Impact,
Brin founded Global Support and Development, a disaster-relief organization that uses high-tech systems to rapidly deliver humanitarian assistance during high-profile disasters. Other disaster relief aid includes Yachtaid Global and the World Central Kitchen.
The Brin Family Foundation has also given at least seven figures to Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. Grantees focused on immigrants include Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Casa De Maryland.
Grants for Economic Development
The Brin Family Foundation appears to give to anti-poverty, economic mobility and programs that build entrepreneurship and employment opportunities. There is also some funding here for women’s economic empowerment, but funding has been minimal, though that may change in the future.
- Brin is a strong supporter of Ashoka, a group that brings together entrepreneurs to produce innovative solutions to problems relating to a wide variety of social issues, including women’s issues, education and the environment.
- Through his foundation, Brin has also supported Management Leadership for Tomorrow and the Center for Employment Opportunities. T
- he foundation gave $70 million to antipoverty collaborative Blue Meridian in 2021.
- Other groups that have received support include Faith in Texas, First Place for Youth, New Door Ventures, and Per Scholas.
Grants for Criminal Justice and Violence Prevention
While they do not see the types of support that areas receive, criminal justice reform and violence prevention seem to be on the foundation’s radar lately with groups across the country receiving modest sums in recent years.
Criminal justice grantees include the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, and Fresh Lifelines for Youth, Impact Justice, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Concerns of Police Survivors, Policing Equity, (Purpose. Dignity. Action.), and the Essie Justice Group.
Violence prevention grants tend to focus on preventing violence against women and children, but grants here are minimal. Grantees in this space include The One Love Foundation in Honor of Yeardley Love and Akron, Ohio’s Battered Women’s Shelter, among others.
Grants for Bay Area
While much of the foundation’s giving goes to national and, occasionally, international organizations, though about two-thirds of all the foundation’s grants are made in California.
- Through his foundation, Brin has provided significant support to the Tipping Point Community, which is trying to eliminate poverty in the Bay Area, as well as smaller donations to other groups working to conquer poverty and hunger. This funder has also provided significant support via grants for wildfires.
- Among these groups are Meals on Wheels San Francisco, the Full Circle Fund, the Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs of the Peninsula and a number of homeless shelters and soup kitchens in the area. It has also supported Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, La Cocina, as well as the Vera Institute of Justice and Anti-Recidivism Coalition. A variety of local private and gifted schools have received some funding here as well.
Important Grant Details:
The foundation held over $4 billion in net assets as of 2023. Grant sizes vary wildly, from $25,000 to $120 million.
- This funder’s grantmaking occurs nationally — largely around California, New York, Florida, Maryland, New York and Massachusetts.
- Internationally, grantees include organizations in the U.K., Ukraine, Mauritius, Singapore, Australia and others.
- It keeps a low presence and does not have a website. It does not appear to accept unsolicited proposals or requests for funding.
- New grantseekers can try to contact the foundation either at the address and phone number below or at the Brin family office, Bayshore Global Management.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
CONTACT:
Sergey Brin Family Foundation
c/o Pacific Foundation Services
1660 Bush Street, No. 300
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 561-6540