The Project Redwood Story

from the seed of an idea through the first eight grant cycles

as recounted by Beth Gibson Sawi

A light switched on and one of us stood up.

The inspiration for our philanthropic venture came at the 25th reunion of Stanford Business School’s Class of 1980. We were seated in a lecture hall listening to a panel of our classmates describe how they gave back to their communities by teaching in public schools, putting boots on the ground in Iraq, and starting a foundation to fight AIDS. At the end of the session, Carol Head, one of the 60 women in our class spoke up.

“Look at the people in this room,” she said, “and think about all the resources we represent–money, skills, personal networks. Why don’t we combine these resources and to help make the world a better place? If you’re personally in for this new venture, raise your hand.” Virtually every hand in the room shot up and our non-profit was born.

We got to work.

Though we looked at philanthropic efforts started by other college classes we never discovered any that shared our desire to donate classmates’ money, talents and time directly to the non-profits. To fulfill our vision, we had to create a one-of-a-kind organization.

Six months after the reunion, a team of classmates had established the name, Project Redwood*, our legal structure, our fund-raising strategy, and our mission: Project Redwood provides funding, expertise, and connections to social entrepreneurs who address the challenge of global poverty.

We connected, person-to-person.

When it comes to fund-raising, Redwood’s first priority is to involve as many classmates as we can. We want each class member to be approached by another classmate. Dozens of us called nearly 300 fellow alums, asking them to become partners in Project Redwood by contributing $1000 a year for three years. If that was too much, we ask them to donate what they can afford. And needless to say, we graciously accept larger gifts.

Classmates’ non-financial support for the organizations we support is important as well. Only Project Redwood partners can sponsor non-profits to be considered for funding. A committee of partner volunteers reviews the nominated projects, selects those that best fit our criteria, and then submits that list for a vote by the partners. The four or five organizations that receive the most votes get the support and a cadre of experienced and connected MBAs to help solve their most pressing problems.

We needed some help.

In the early days, Project Redwood worked with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. They served as our first fiscal sponsor and provided invaluable advice on our grant-making and overall operations. With their help, we’ve developed the tools and capacity to be a more effective organization. Note: Tides Foundation is now filling that role.

And we had a few spats.

Like any start-up, we’ve had problems. We underestimated the amount of administrative work it takes to keep Project Redwood running. We never imagined contacting 300 classmates would take so long. We bickered about supporting projects in the United States versus the rest of the world. In the beginning, we weren’t clear about our criteria for selecting projects, so some classmates were disappointed when their favorites were rejected.

But we’ve had an impact

Despite these issues, Project Redwood can claim these achievements:

About half of our class has joined us as partners. Our charter partners include many class luminaries: Scott McNealy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Bob Fisher, Chairman of the Board of Gap, Inc., Miles White, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Abbott Laboratories, and Steve Poizner, former California State Insurance Commissioner and candidate for Governor.