The Brin Wojcicki Foundation was the nonprofit grantmaking foundation of Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his former wife, 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki. From its founding in 2004, the foundation amassed almost $1 billion in assets and made donations to a wide range of causes, most notably research into Parkinson’s disease. ^{1 2} In 2019, four years after the divorce of Brin and Wojcicki, the foundation dissolved, though the two continued their philanthropic work through the Sergey Brin Family Foundation and Anne Wojcicki Foundation. ³

History

The Brin Wojcicki Foundation was founded in 2004 ¹ as the Brin Foundation ⁴ by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. In 2007, Brin married 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki who rented her garage to Brin and Larry Page when they co-founded Google in 1998. In 2009, the Brin Foundation was renamed to the Brin Wojcicki Foundation. ⁵

In 2013, media reports revealed that Brin and Wojcicki had separated after Brin engaged in an affair with Google employee Amanda Rosenberg. In 2015, Brin and Wojcicki divorced; Brin agreed to pay Wojcicki an undisclosed settlement. The two continued operating the Brin Wojcicki Foundation but also established their own grantmaking nonprofits, the Sergey Brin Family Foundation and the Anne Wojcicki Foundation. ^{6 7}

In 2019, the Brin Wojcicki Foundation filed a dissolution statement in its tax forms. The Brin Wojcicki Foundation transferred $474,197,059 to the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, as well as making a $17.6 million grant to the foundation. ³

Leadership

Sergey Brin was the founder and president of the Brin Wojcicki Foundation. Brin and Larry Page co-founded Google in 1998. Brin played a key role in developing Google’s search engine and early business expansion, though he later stepped back from an active management role. As of July 2024, Brin holds 42 percent of outstanding B shares of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and has an estimated net worth of almost $150 billion. ⁸ Though a historical supporter of the Democratic Party, Brin attended the second inauguration of President Donald Trump. ^{9 10}

Anne Wojcicki was listed as a director of the Brin Wojcicki Foundation until its dissolution. Wojcicki was the co-founder of DNA testing company 23andMe. ¹¹ She was a substantial donor to the Democratic Party, with her largest recipient being President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign which received $600,000. ¹² In 2022, Wojcicki signed the Giving Pledge promising to give away most of her wealth to charity before her death. ¹³ As of June 2023, Wojcicki had an estimated net-worth of $270 million. ^{3 14}

Anne’s older sister, the late YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, also ran a large philanthropic foundation, the Troper Wojcicki Foundation, with her husband, Dennis Troper. ⁷ On August 10, 2024, Susan Wojcicki died of non-small cell lung cancer at age 56. ¹⁵

Michael Brin, the father of Sergey Brin, was listed as a director of the Brin Wojcicki Foundation until its dissolution. ^{3 16}

Grantmaking

The Brin Wojcicki Foundation is best known for its financial support for the Parkinson’s Institute and the Michael J. Fox Foundation, a nonprofit founded by actor Michael J. Fox to raise funds to research treatments for Parkinson’s disease. Sergey Brin’s mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and Brin has a high genetic predisposition to the disease. In 2012 alone, the Brin Wojcicki Foundation contributed $222.9 million to the Michael J. Fox Foundation. As of December 2022, Brin has donated over $1 billion to Parkinson’s research through the Brin Wojcicki Foundation, the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, and Alphabet’s philanthropic funds. ^{17 2 18}

The Brin Wojcicki Foundation has made substantial donations to other scientific nonprofits. In 2018, the final year before its dissolution, the foundation donated $5.5 million to the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation, a research initiative co-founded by Brin and Anne Wojcicki, $425,000 to For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology First, and $100,000 to the Sherwin B. Nuland Foundation for Palliative Care Inc. That year, the Brin Wojcicki Foundation also donated $30 million to Blue Merdian Partners, $1 million to the Wikimedia Foundation, and $500,000 to the Human Rights Foundation. ³

The Brin Wojcicki Foundation donated substantially to charities in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Los Alton Community Foundation, Meals on Wheels of San Francisco, the Second Harvest Foodbank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula, Tipping Point Community, the Innvision Shelter Network, and My New Red Shoes. ^{19 3}

The Brin Wojcicki Foundation granted millions of dollars to the Ashoka Changemaker Schools, a network of entrepreneur-oriented private schools. ¹⁹

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7. Adeniji, Ade. “A Rising Force: What to Know About the Wojcicki Sisters and Their Foundations.” Inside Philanthropy. September 25, 2019. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2018-5-31-a-rising-force-what-to-know-about-the-wojcicki-sisters-and-their-foundations
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10. “Tech billionaires take center stage at Trump inauguration.” France24. January 20, 2025. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250120-tech-billionaires-take-center-stage-at-trump-inauguration.
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13. “Why have only 5 billionaires signed up for the Giving Pledge this year? 2022’s generous pledgers include 23andMe’s Anne Wojcicki, Zynga’s Mark Pincus and crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried.” Style. October 30, 2022. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3197635/why-have-only-5-billionaires-signed-giving-pledge-year-2022s-generous-pledgers-include-23andmes-anne.
14. “Anne Wojcicki.” Forbes. June 1, 2023. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/profile/anne-wojcicki/.
15. Kim, Juliana. “Susan Wojcicki, former YouTube CEO and Silicon Valley visionary, dies at 56.” National Public Radio. August 10, 2024. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2024/08/10/nx-s1-5070524/susan-wojcicki-youtube-dies-lung-cancer.
16. “Sergey Brin.” Academy of Achievement. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://achievement.org/achiever/sergey-brin/.
17. Rushe, Dominic. “Sergey Brin: the Google guru’s search for love.” The Guardian. August 31, 2013. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2013/aug/31/observer-profile-sergey-brin-google-guru.
18. “Sergey Brin has donated $1.1 billion for Parkinson’s disease research.” Candid. December 13, 2022. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/sergey-brin-has-donated-1.1-billion-for-parkinson-s-disease-research.
19. Adeniji, Ade. “The Brin Wojcicki Foundation Is Getting Pretty Big. Where’s the Money Going?.” Inside Philanthropy. February 10, 2015. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2015-2-10-the-brin-wojcicki-foundation-is-getting-pretty-big-wheres-th-html.