The Bia-Echo Foundation is a left-leaning foundation run by Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Russian-American billionaire and Google co-founder Sergey Brin. 1
The Foundation was started in 2019 with $23,148,744 in contributions from Brin. 2 3 Its grantmaking work focuses on the “feminist cause” of extending female reproductive longevity; 4 left-progressive criminal justice policy to “end the era of mass incarceration, eradicate gender, race, or socio-economic class discrimination, bring greater equity to the criminal justice system;”5 and addressing climate change and “global climate equality”6 with regenerative agriculture. 7
Foundation president Nicole Shanahan has committed $100 million to funding these issues in the future8 and in 2019, the Foundation made a $5,000,000 grant to the left-of-center Silicon Valley Community Foundation. 9
History and Leadership
The Bia-Echo Foundation is the private foundation of Nicole Shanahan, who sits as its president. 10 She is the wife of Russian-American billionaire and Google co-founder Sergey Brin. 11 Shanahan supports left-of-center causes and was a major donor supporting Measure J in Los Angeles, California, which partially defunded the police12 in favor of mental health and social services. 13
Founded in 2019 with a contribution from Brin worth $23,148,744,14 the Foundation continues Shanahan’s previous investment work at the Sergey Brin Family Foundation. 15
Chloe Cockburn is the director of the Bia-Echo Foundation. Previously she was the criminal justice program officer at the Open Philanthropy Project and the founder of the left-of-center Accountable Justice Action Fund. 16
Activities and Funding
The Bia-Echo Foundation’s grantmaking activities focus on three different issues: the “feminist cause”17 of increasing female reproductive longevity; left-progressive criminal justice policy to “end the era of mass incarceration, eradicate gender, race, or socio-economic class discrimination, and bring greater equity to the criminal justice system;”18 and addressing climate change and “global climate equality”19 with regenerative agriculture. 20
Shanahan has likened the research of extending a woman’s reproductive lifetime to “the next generation’s birth control” because women would get to choose when to have children with such breakthroughs. 21
Grantmaking and Partnerships
Shanahan has committed the Bia-Echo Foundation to investing $100 million on these issues within the next five years22 and in 2019, it distributed grants of $5 million to the left-of-center Silicon Valley Community Foundation, $1 million to the Full Circle Fund, $500,000 to the Edward Charles Foundation, $500,000 to Good Films Impact, and $400,000 to Planet Labs. 23
The Bia-Echo Foundation underwrites the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity and Equality (GCRLE) at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging’s work on the female reproductive lifecycle and female fertility with a $7.4 million-dollar grant24 and offers grants to nonprofits working on this issue through the Buck Institute. 25 It is also in partnership with the Stanford Computational Policy Lab for Criminal Justice to offer grants to organizations advancing the foundation’s view of criminal justice reform. 26
Funding
The Foundation was started when Shanahan’s husband, Sergey Brin, contributed $23,148,744 of noncash assets to the organization in 2019. 27 28
References
- Adeniji, Ade. “Tapping Billions, a Young Donor and Her New Foundation Focus on Equality.” Inside Philanthropy. December 23, 2019. Accessed via Web Archive. January 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210128045227/https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/10/17/tapping-billions-a-young-donor-and-her-new-foundation-focus-on-reproductive-rights-and-more.
- “Bia-Echo Foundation.” Return of Private Foundation. (Form 990-PF). 2019. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2019/833/983/2019-833983572-18064319-F.pdf.
- Adeniji, Ade. “Tapping Billions, a Young Donor and Her New Foundation Focus on Equality.” Inside Philanthropy. December 23, 2019. Accessed via Web Archive. January 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210128045227/https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/10/17/tapping-billions-a-young-donor-and-her-new-foundation-focus-on-reproductive-rights-and-more.
- Rochman, Bonnie. “What If Fertility Didn’t Have a Shelf Life?” Marie Claire. June 24, 2020. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://www.marieclaire.com/health-fitness/a32378247/female-reproductive-longevity-buck-institute/.
- “Criminal Justice Reform.” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/.
- “Healthy and Livable Planet.” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/
- Jones, Laura Eckstein. “Nicole Shanahan Is Fighting The Good Fight.” San Francisco Magazine. May 19, 2021. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://sanfran.com/nicole-shanahan-interview-cover-story.
- Adeniji, Ade. “Tapping Billions, a Young Donor and Her New Foundation Focus on Equality.” Inside Philanthropy. December 23, 2019. Accessed via Web Archive. January 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210128045227/https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/10/17/tapping-billions-a-young-donor-and-her-new-foundation-focus-on-reproductive-rights-and-more.
- “Bia-Echo Foundation.” Return of Private Foundation. (Form 990-PF). 2019. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2019/833/983/2019-833983572-18064319-F.pdf.
- Adeniji, Ade. “Tapping Billions, a Young Donor and Her New Foundation Focus on Equality.” Inside Philanthropy. December 23, 2019. Accessed via Web Archive. January 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210128045227/https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/10/17/tapping-billions-a-young-donor-and-her-new-foundation-focus-on-reproductive-rights-and-more.
- Adeniji, Ade. “Tapping Billions, a Young Donor and Her New Foundation Focus on Equality.” Inside Philanthropy. December 23, 2019. Accessed via Web Archive. January 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210128045227/https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/10/17/tapping-billions-a-young-donor-and-her-new-foundation-focus-on-reproductive-rights-and-more.
- Karma, Roge. “Los Angeles voters just delivered a huge win for the defund the police movement.” Vox. November 4, 2020. Accessed Augsut 11, 2021. https://www.vox.com/2020/11/4/21549019/measure-j-police-abolition-defund-reform-black-lives-matter-protest-2020-election-george-floyd.
- Jones, Laura Eckstein. “Nicole Shanahan Is Fighting The Good Fight.” San Franscisco Magazine. May 19, 2021. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://sanfran.com/nicole-shanahan-interview-cover-story.
- “Bia-Echo Foundation.” Return of Private Foundation. (Form 990-PF). 2019. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2019/833/983/2019-833983572-18064319-F.pdf.
- “Nicole Shanahan.” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/project/nicole-shanahan/.
- “Chloe Cockburn” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/project/cloe-cockburn/.
- Rochman, Bonnie. “What If Fertility Didn’t Have a Shelf Life?” Marie Claire. June 24, 2020. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://www.marieclaire.com/health-fitness/a32378247/female-reproductive-longevity-buck-institute/.
- “Criminal Justice Reform.” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/.
- “Healthy and Livable Planet.” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/
- Jones, Laura Eckstein. “Nicole Shanahan Is Fighting The Good Fight.” San Francisco Magazine. May 19, 2021. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://sanfran.com/nicole-shanahan-interview-cover-story.
- Leuty, Ron. “How Nicole Shanahan tackles equality through fertility.” Bizwomen, The Business Journals. November 15, 2018. https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/profiles-strategies/2018/11/how-nicole-shanahan-tackles-equality-through.html?page=all.
- Adeniji, Ade. “Tapping Billions, a Young Donor and Her New Foundation Focus on Equality.” Inside Philanthropy. December 23, 2019. Accessed via Web Archive. January 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210128045227/https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/10/17/tapping-billions-a-young-donor-and-her-new-foundation-focus-on-reproductive-rights-and-more.
- “Bia-Echo Foundation.” Return of Private Foundation. (Form 990-PF). 2019. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2019/833/983/2019-833983572-18064319-F.pdf.
- “Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity & Equality Announces First Grant Recipients.” Bia-Echo Foundation. August 10, 2020. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/global-consortium-for-reproductive-longevity-equality-announces-first-grant-recipients/.
- Di Mento, Maria. “Nicole Shanahan Gives $100 Million for Reproductive Research and Other Causes. The Chronicle of Philanthropy. September 27, 2019. Accessed via Web Archive. August 11, 2021. https://archive.is/oWlmx.
- Di Mento, Maria. “Nicole Shanahan Gives $100 Million for Reproductive Research and Other Causes. The Chronicle of Philanthropy. September 27, 2019. Accessed via Web Archive. August 11, 2021. https://archive.is/oWlmx.
- “Bia-Echo Foundation.” Return of Private Foundation. (Form 990-PF). 2019. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2019/833/983/2019-833983572-18064319-F.pdf.
- Adeniji, Ade. “Tapping Billions, a Young Donor and Her New Foundation Focus on Equality.” Inside Philanthropy. December 23, 2019. Accessed via Web Archive. January 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210128045227/https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/10/17/tapping-billions-a-young-donor-and-her-new-foundation-focus-on-reproductive-rights-and-more.