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Our Partners

Our Partners are a group of results-oriented philanthropists seeking to transform the life trajectories of our nation’s young people and families in poverty by investing in solutions to the problems that limit economic and social mobility.

Working Together to Make Change

Our Partners are united by a shared belief that we must get significant capital flowing to the most promising solutions in order to improve the life trajectories of millions of young people and families in poverty. Blue Meridian’s partnership structure allows our Partners to pool their philanthropic resources and invest more effectively and efficiently than any one of us could individually.

Impact
Arrow Impact

Arrow Impact supports initiatives that create pathways to economic prosperity for communities that have been under-resourced. It does this by investing in organizations that have high potential for achieving systemic impact. It also supports funder collaboration efforts to promote a more equitable and efficient philanthropic ecosystem.

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Impact
Ascendium Education Group

Ascendium Education Group is a nonprofit committed to helping people reach their education and career goals. Ascendium invests in initiatives designed to increase the number of learners from low-income backgrounds who complete postsecondary degrees, certificates, and workforce training programs, with an emphasis on first-generation students, incarcerated adults, rural community members, students of color, and veterans.

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Impact
Aviv Foundation

The Aviv Foundation is committed to empowering disadvantaged children with opportunities to better their lives, promoting deep Jewish engagement in an inclusive framework, investing in Israeli society, and strengthening civic engagement in the United States.

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Ballmer Group, Philanthropy

Ballmer Group supports efforts to improve economic mobility for children and families in the United States who are disproportionately likely to remain in poverty. They envision a country where every child, regardless of background and circumstance, has an equal chance to achieve the American Dream.

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Impact
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that all lives have equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life.

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General
Charles​ ​and​ ​Lynn​ ​Schusterman​ ​Family​ ​Philanthropies

The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies is a global organization that seeks to ignite the passion and unleash the power in young people to create positive change. Schusterman's work emphasizes efforts to improve public education in the US, strengthen the global Jewish community and Israel, and enhance the quality of life in its founders’ hometown of Tulsa, OK.

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Impact
Coleman Family Ventures

Coleman Family Ventures (CFV) is a philanthropic investment organization that aims to create a sustainable, more equitable world where people and planet can thrive together. Focused on early childhood, the climate, and New York City, CFV is poised to grow its impact by supporting innovative leaders.

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The​ ​Druckenmiller Foundation

The Druckenmiller Foundation works to transform lives through its support of education, medical research and the fight against poverty. Mr. and Mrs. Druckenmiller’s philanthropy also extends to universities, scholarship funds, educational programs for at-risk youth and environmental groups.

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The​ ​Duke​ ​Endowment 

Based in Charlotte and established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke, The Duke Endowment is a private foundation that strengthens communities in North Carolina and South Carolina by nurturing children, promoting health, educating minds and enriching spirits. The Endowment shares a name with Duke University and Duke Energy, but all are separate organizations.

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General
​The​ ​Edna​ ​McConnell​ ​Clark​ ​Foundation

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation makes large, long-term investments to help high-performing nonprofits lift the life prospects of more children and youth living in poverty. EMCF first piloted capital aggregation in the social sector with three organizations in 2007, and has since made it integral to the Foundation’s investment strategy.

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Impact
Eugene and Marilyn Stein Family Foundation

The Eugene and Marilyn Stein Family Foundation seeks to improve the lives of at-risk children by investing in the child, their family and their community. The Foundation promotes the development and nurturing of these children with emphasis on infants and toddlers - creating a foundation for them to become healthy, productive and caring adults.

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​George​ ​Kaiser​ ​Family​ ​Foundation

The George Kaiser Family Foundation's mission of providing every child with an equal opportunity is deeply reflected in its work and impact in the Tulsa community. GKFF's three focus areas – early childhood education and parent engagement, health and family well-being, and civic enhancement – are woven with a common goal of making a meaningful difference in the lives of young children in Tulsa.

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General
The​ ​JPB​ ​Foundation

The JPB Foundation’s mission is to advance opportunity in the United States through transformational initiatives that empower those living in poverty, enrich and sustain our environment, and enable pioneering medical research.

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Knight Foundation

The Knight Foundation is the family foundation of Phil and Penelope Knight.

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Loud Hound Foundation

Loud Hound Foundation is a San Francisco-based family foundation affiliated with Crankstart. Crankstart is devoted to bolstering the foundations of a just society - wider access to better education, jobs with prospects for advancement, housing security, social welfare and the protection of civil rights. Crankstart also supports the arts, basic science and efforts to mitigate climate change. About 60% of grants go to groups in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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MacKenzie Scott

MacKenzie Scott signed the Giving Pledge in Spring 2019.

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General
The​ ​Samberg​ ​Family​ ​Foundation 

The Samberg Family Foundation is committed to quality education and learning for children and youth, better health outcomes for families, and the strengthening of Jewish life.

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General
The Sergey Brin Family Foundation

The Sergey Brin Family Foundation operates with a guiding philosophy that is rooted in the experience of its founder.

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The​ ​​Tepper​ ​Foundation

The Tepper Foundation is a family foundation that supports effective organizations in New Jersey and across the United States. Through these grantee partnerships, the foundation works to meet people’s basic needs like food and housing; provide relief in the face of disasters; support the Jewish community; safeguard rights; and strengthen the nonprofit sector. Founded in 1996 by David Tepper, the foundation has supported grantees with hundreds of millions of dollars in direct support since its inception and continues to expand its giving.

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Impact
The​ ​William​ ​&​ ​Flora​ ​Hewlett​ ​Foundation

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a nonpartisan, private charitable foundation that advances ideas and supports institutions to promote a better world. For more than 50 years, the Hewlett Foundation has supported efforts to advance education for all, preserve the environment, improve lives and livelihoods in developing countries, promote the health and economic well-being of women, support vibrant performing arts, strengthen Bay Area communities and make the philanthropy sector more effective.

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General
Valhalla Foundation

Valhalla Foundation works to drive measurable and meaningful improvement in outcomes that matter in four issue areas: early childhood development in the U.S., K12 education in the U.S., medical research and talent, and environmental innovation. Early childhood is Valhalla's primary area of focus, with a goal of improving Kindergarten readiness rates nationwide.

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General
ZOOM Foundation

The ZOOM Foundation focuses its philanthropic investments on innovative change efforts that have high potential for sustainable impact, particularly in the areas of education and the environment. To realize education equity, ZOOM invests in transformative and sustainable change efforts at the school, community and system levels. ZOOM also supports science-based environmental policy and strategies that will stop and reverse climate change.

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Collaborative Philanthropy

The individuals and philanthropic institutions joining forces in Blue Meridian’s work all contribute in different ways, depending on their interests and funding capacity. But in working collaboratively, Partners share the costs, risks and successes of our performance-based approach to grantmaking.

This is a new model for philanthropy: one in which Partners invest unprecedented sums of capital for organizations to rapidly scale up solutions with the demonstrated potential to solve some of the biggest problems trapping America’s young people and families
in poverty.

Blue Meridian has raised over $4 billion to date and we welcome new Partners seeking to invest significant capital.

Partner​ ​Benefits

Blue Meridian’s pioneering model of philanthropy offers our Partners an unprecedented opportunity to make a profound difference in the lives of young people and families across the country.

Our singular focus on issues related to US poverty, along with the size of our fund, makes Blue Meridian a formidable leader in a growing field of philanthropic aggregators.

Our Partners also benefit from the skilled research capability, in-depth analysis, and rigorous due diligence of Blue Meridian’s performance-based investing approach. Our experienced team does the heavy lifting — identifying promising strategies and programs, supporting the development of scaling plans, structuring deals, aligning capital from multiple investors, providing ongoing support to investees, and monitoring performance. In addition, all of our Partners get access to the full catalog of Blue Meridian’s sourcing and due diligence research, regular reports on investees’ performance, as well as opportunities for site visits and connections with leaders in the social sector field. Through their interactions with the management team, investee leaders,  and each other, our Partners engage in a dynamic learning community.

General Partners

Each of Blue Meridian’s General Partners commits at least $50 million over five years. Every General Partner has a vote in investment and ongoing payment decisions. Our two regional General Partners support the expansion of Blue Meridian’s national grantees within their respective communities.

Impact Partners

Each of our prospective Impact Partners is asked to commit at least $15 million. While a portion of this commitment goes into the central pool for all investments, Impact Partners can direct the balance at their discretion to individual investees in the portfolio.

Contributor

Each Contributor can direct their commitment to specific existing Blue Meridian investments, to a full portfolio, or to our COVID-19 emergency response.

Contact​ ​us​ ​to​ ​learn​ ​more​ ​about​ ​becoming​ ​a​ ​Partner​.