> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • An Update for Readers on Our New Nonprofit Status
Sign In
  • Latest
  • Advice
  • Opinion
  • Webinars
  • Data
  • Grants
  • Magazine
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Data
    • Reports
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Webinars
    • Featured Products
    • Data
    • Reports
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Webinars
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
Sign In
  • Latest
  • Advice
  • Opinion
  • Webinars
  • Data
  • Grants
  • Magazine
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Data
    • Reports
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Webinars
    • Featured Products
    • Data
    • Reports
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Webinars
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
  • Latest
  • Advice
  • Opinion
  • Webinars
  • Data
  • Grants
  • Magazine
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Data
    • Reports
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Webinars
    • Featured Products
    • Data
    • Reports
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Webinars
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
Why They Give
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

Wendy Schmidt’s Advice for Donors

By  Maria Di Mento
August 9, 2022
Wendy Schmidt visits a community solar installation for low-income housing, which the Schmidt Family Foundation funded in 2017.
Ben Gibbs, The Schmidt Family Foundation
Wendy Schmidt visits a community solar installation for low-income housing, which the Schmidt Family Foundation funded in 2017.

Wendy Schmidt leads her and her husband’s broad network of philanthropies, the largest of which is the $2 billion Schmidt Family Foundation which they started in 2006.

The Schmidts’ giving operation is a big one. Nearly everyone the couple hire has subject matter expertise, and Schmidt relies on this team of experts to guide the couple’s grant making. The Schmidt Family Foundation, for example, has in-house experts in energy policy and technology, international law, mining, human rights, food systems, regenerative agriculture, marine technology, and science and impact investing.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from v144.philanthropy.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

Wendy Schmidt leads her and her husband’s broad network of philanthropies, the largest of which is the $2 billion Schmidt Family Foundation, which they started in 2006.

The Schmidts’ giving operation is a big one. Nearly everyone the couple hire has subject-matter expertise, and Schmidt relies on this team of experts to guide the couple’s grant making. The Schmidt Family Foundation, for example, has in-house experts in energy policy and technology, international law, mining, human rights, food systems, regenerative agriculture, marine technology, and science and impact investing.

Related Content

The health of the world’s oceans looms large in Wendy Schmidt’s giving with her husband, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.<br/>
Wendy Schmidt Gives to Protect the Ocean and Fight Climate Change

Most staff across the Schmidts’ giving vehicles spend a week or more with grantees at least once a year — sometimes more often — to better understand their challenges and get to know them and their work. Wendy Schmidt says she learned the practice from Paul Farmer, the late medical doctor who founded Partners in Health, a charity that provides health care to poor people around the world.

In the 16 years Schmidt has been leading the philanthropies, she has learned a number of lessons about giving:

  • Get to know your grantees and their work deeply over time. That way, if a grantee comes to you in the middle of a project to say something isn’t working and a course change is needed, you will have enough information and contact with that grantee to be able to shift the money to where the nonprofit needs it most.

    “A lot of people don’t do that in philanthropy. It’s like, ‘Nope, you failed. That’s it. Done,’” Schmidt says. “We want to feel that if we err, it’s on the side of being on the side of our grantees, of taking their cause and really taking it to heart and being involved enough to switch course when needed.”

  • The “single biggest mistake” you can make in philanthropy is wasting money, Schmidt days. Money needs to be directed toward a specific goal. Some well-meaning philanthropists think a big check always equals a big impact on a charity’s work. That doesn’t always turn out to be the case, she says, because sometimes the recipients are not set up to handle large donations and end up wasting the money and not being able to accomplish the goal.

    “The better approach is to listen and to understand the problem the grantee is trying to solve and then to become an instrument to help them solve it,” Schmidt says. “You may be most helpful offering organizational support or coaching or support for the organization’s communications or digital strategy. In the end, you want to help grantees and nonprofits not by giving them fish but by teaching them to fish.”

    • Big donors should approach giving with more humility, she says, and make more of an effort to remember that their business success doesn’t mean they’re experts on everything.

      “Make as many connections as you can. Read, understand — don’t assume you know something you don’t,” Schmidt says. “It’s very tempting for all of us to say, ‘Well, I was successful, I know what this is about.’ You might not. It’s worth stepping out of your own lens and trying to see something from someone else’s point of view.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    A version of this article appeared in the August 2, 2022, issue.
    We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
    Philanthropists
    Maria Di Mento
    Maria directs the annual Philanthropy 50, a comprehensive report on America’s most generous donors. She writes about wealthy philanthropists, arts organizations, key trends and insights related to high-net-worth donors, and other topics.
    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    • Explore
      • Latest Articles
      • Get Newsletters
      • Advice
      • Webinars
      • Data & Research
      • Magazine
      • Chronicle Store
      • Find a Job
      Explore
      • Latest Articles
      • Get Newsletters
      • Advice
      • Webinars
      • Data & Research
      • Magazine
      • Chronicle Store
      • Find a Job
    • The Chronicle
      • About Us
      • Work at the Chronicle
      • User Agreement
      • Privacy Policy
      • California Privacy Policy
      • Gift-Acceptance Policy
      • Site Map
      • DEI Commitment Statement
      The Chronicle
      • About Us
      • Work at the Chronicle
      • User Agreement
      • Privacy Policy
      • California Privacy Policy
      • Gift-Acceptance Policy
      • Site Map
      • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Customer Assistance
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise With Us
      • Post a Job
      • Reprints & Permissions
      • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
      Customer Assistance
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise With Us
      • Post a Job
      • Reprints & Permissions
      • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    • Subscribe
      • Individual Subscriptions
      • Organizational Subscriptions
      • Subscription & Account FAQ
      • Manage Newsletters
      • Manage Your Account
      Subscribe
      • Individual Subscriptions
      • Organizational Subscriptions
      • Subscription & Account FAQ
      • Manage Newsletters
      • Manage Your Account
    1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
    © 2023 The Chronicle of Philanthropy
    • twitter
    • youtube
    • pinterest
    • facebook
    • linkedin