Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation

The Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation, also referred to as the Kirsch Foundation, is an American non-profit organization based in Los Altos, California. It was founded by Steve Kirsch and Michele Kirsch.

Its areas of focus include “cleaning up the air in California to eliminating nuclear weapons” and supporting Silicon Valley foundations.¹⁾

The Foundation engages both in grantmaking and advocacy efforts to effect change, including “extensive lobbying and advocacy activities.”

The Foundation was formally established in 1999 within the Community Foundation Silicon Valley (CFSV), which merged with Peninsula Community Foundation in 2006 to become the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The Kirsches had been active philanthropists since the early 1990s, however, through their donor-advised fund at CFSV.²⁾

On May 13, 1999, Steve and Michele announced a $1 emergency grant to United Way Silicon Valley. Steve then reached out to 65 of his wealthy colleagues, resulting in further donations from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, eBay Foundation, HP Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Intel, Peninsula Community Foundation and the Health Trust.³⁾

Between October 1999 and April 2001, the foundation partnered with CoreMatter (formerly known as AllCharities.com) and helped establish the use of the Internet as a charitable giving vehicle. The partnership ended shortly thereafter and CoreMatter ceased operations.⁴⁾

In 2000, the foundation invested in Targesome, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of proprietary receptor-targeted agents to treat and diagnose cancer and other diseases.⁵⁾ The company initiated a project with Merck which would have seen the companies co-develop a cancer treatment. Targesome's founder published a paper on the company's work in June 2002 titled Tumor Regression by Targeted Gene Delivery to the Neovasculature.⁶⁾

In April 2001, the foundation made a $250,000 investment in LearnNow. After the company was acquired in July 2001 by Edison Schools, the foundation sold off the majority of its stake.

The Foundation has collaborated with a number of other foundations and non-profit organizations, including:⁸⁾

• Community Foundation Silicon Valley (CFSV)
• Council on Foundations
• De Anza College
• Morgan Family Foundation
• Peace and Security Funders Group (PSFG)
• Ploughshares Fund
• Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Recipients of grants from the Kirsch foundation include:^{9) 10)}

Further grant recipients to catalogue are listed here.

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