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}

1. 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.
2. “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.
3. 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.
4. 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/.
5. “Criminal Justice Reform.” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/.
6. “Healthy and Livable Planet.” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. “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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. “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.
15. “Nicole Shanahan.” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/project/nicole-shanahan/.
16. “Chloe Cockburn” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/project/cloe-cockburn/.
17. 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/.
18. “Criminal Justice Reform.” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/.
19. “Healthy and Livable Planet.” Bia-Echo Foundation. Accessed August 11, 2021. https://biaecho.org/
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21. 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.
22. 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.
23. “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.
24. “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/.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. “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.
28. 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.