Blue Meridian Partners is a nonprofit funding collaborative headed by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF) in partnership with several other left-leaning grantmaking organizations. The organization was founded in 2016 with the intent of making large investments in organizations that promote youth anti-poverty and social assistance programs, with the goal of such donations underwriting planning to scale up such organizations. ¹ In addition to the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, the organization is supported by several other donor organizations including some of the largest left-leaning advocacy funding organizations in the United States such as The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. ²

Background

In a press release dated January 2016, Nancy Roob, the CEO of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, announced that the foundation was incubating a new funding project called Blue Meridian Partners with the intention of making large-scale investments to support the long-term growth of nonprofit organizations. The foundation launched Blue Meridian Partners alongside nine other partners. The founding partners included six general partners giving over $50 million to the new organization: The Ballmer Group, The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, Stanley and Fiona Druckenmiller, The Duke Endowment (with a focus on North Carolina and South Carolina), George Kaiser Family Foundation (with a focus on Tulsa, Oklahoma), and The Samberg Family Foundation. Four other organizations committed over $10 million to the organization including: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The JPB Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. ²

Blue Meridian Partners also gained prominence in 2020 for being featured in Billionaire Mackenzie Scott’s “116 Organizations Driving Change.”  Scott, the billionaire ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, rose to prominence in 2020 by announcing that she would give away most of her vast fortune to left leaning advocacy groups, many of which focused on race and gender issues. ³

Since its founding in 2016, Blue Meridian Partners was spun off from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and established as a separate 501(c)(3) organization, with Nancy Roob, the president and CEO of the Clark Foundation also serving as CEO of Blue Meridian Partners. Roob, along with other officers at Blue Meridian Partners including Charles Harris and Ralph Stephano, are all employed full time by the Clark Foundation. Roob earned over $700,000 in compensation from the foundation in 2017. ⁴

Financials

According to its 2021 990 form, Blue Meridian Partners reported its revenue at $1,212,525,156, expenses at $412,725,187, and total assets at $2,396,650,508. ⁵

In 2021, Blue Meridian Partners donated $7 million to anti-bail advocacy organization the Bail Project. Additional grants made by the organization in 2021 include $21,000,000 to child welfare group Zero to Three, $22 million to the Tulsa Community Foundation, $17,500,000 to mental health advocacy group Youth Villages, and $17 million to contraceptive advocacy group Upstream USA.  ⁶

Donor Organizations

Blue Meridian Partners has expanded its list of funding partners it was founded. Partners of the organization as of 2024 include:  ⁷

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
• Coleman Family Ventures
• The Druckenmiller Foundation
• The Duke Endowment
• The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
• Ascendium Education Group
• Arrow Impact
• Aviv Foundation
• Ballmer Group Philanthropy
• Eugene and Marilyn Stein Family Foundation
• George Kaiser Family Foundation
• The JBP Foundation
• MacKenzie Scott
• Samberg Family Foundation
• The Sergey Brin Family Foundation
• The Tepper Foundation
• The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• Valhalla Foundation
• ZOOM Foundation

Donation Recipients

Blue Meridian Partners makes large contributions to a select number of organizations annually; most of the gifts range from ten to twenty million dollars. Organizations funded by Blue Meridian include:⁴

• The Nurse Family Partnership
• Year Up
• Tulsa Community Foundation
• Center for Employment Opportunities
• The Bail Project
• The Duke Endowment

Leadership

Nancy Roob is the president and CEO of Blue Meridian Partners as of 2024. She received a compensation of roughly $1,006,419 in 2022, according to 990 forms. ⁸

James Shelton is the Chief Investment and Impact Officer for the group, serving in the position since January 2020. He previously worked as President of Education for the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation from 2016-2018. He also was the COO of the US Department of Education from 2013-2015. ⁹

Stanley Druckenmiller is the chair of the board for the organization, serving since its founding in 2016. He previously served as the head of Duquesne Capital Management from 1981-2010. ¹⁰

1. “Overview.” Blue Meridian Partners. Accessed December 29, 2020. https://www.bluemeridian.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Blue-Meridian-Intro-Overview-2020.pdf
2. Roob, Nancy. “Announcing Blue Meridian Partners and More.” Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. January 29, 2016. Accessed December 29, 2020. https://www.emcf.org/news-perspectives/story/announcing-blue-meridian-partners-and-more-1/
3. Scott, MacKenzie. “116 Organizations Driving Change.” Medium. July 28, 2020. Accessed December 29, 2020. https://medium.com/@mackenzie_scott/116-organizations-driving-change-67354c6d733d
4. “IRS Form 990.” Blue Meridian Partners. 2018. Accessed December 29, 2020. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/815086187/07_2019_prefixes_77-82%2F815086187_201809_990_2019071216485636
5. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Blue Meridian Partners. 2022. Part I. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/815086187/202312279349302816/full
6. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Blue Meridian Partners. 2021. Schedule I, Part II. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/815086187/202312279349302816/full
7. “Our Partners.” Blue Meridian Partners, Accessed February 21, 2024. https://www.bluemeridian.org/our-partners/
8. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Blue Meridian Partners. 2021. Part VII. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/815086187/202312279349302816/full
9. “James Shelton.” LinkedIn, Accessed February 21, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheltonjim
10.  “Stanley Druckenmiller.” LinkedIn, Accessed February 21, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/stanley-freeman-druckenmiller-63236634