Friday, June 30, 2017

Yahoo Employee Foundation Grant

As many of you know, Yahoo has been purchased by Verizon and the deal closed in mid-June.  As you may also know, I have been on the Board of Directors of the Yahoo Employee Foundation (YEF), which is an employee managed and employee funded non profit that provides financial grants to non profits that our employees are passionate about.  Being on this board and giving away money has truly been one of the highlights of my entire career.  I have been so fortunate to see 100's of amazing non profits that are making an incredible impact around the world.

Unfortunately, with the end of Yahoo came the logical end of YEF.  The decision that the Board made to close the fund was incredibly emotional but we knew we had to honor the intent of the donors.  Fortunately, we were able to give away over $9 million dollars to deserving non-profits around the world!  All this money will be distributed in the next few weeks. 

STOP and read that again - NINE MILLION DOLLARS!

That spreads a lot of good in this world!

I have been incredibly honored and humbled to be able to do this work.  I have always lived my personal value "to give back" but I never was able to do it with this scale of impact.  I will cherish this opportunity.

Out of this last round of giving came a grant to the non profit I personally Champion, Canine Companions.  Since they have been a long time partner of YEF, they received the largest level of grant:  $320k!  That will help change the lives of many disabled folks when they are matched with a canine companion.   I am beyond thrilled for them!

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