The Stephen Case Foundation (also known as the Case Foundation) is a private foundation that gives grants to organizations that support charitable and center-left social initiatives.

Background

Jean and Steve Case founded the Stephen Case Foundation in 1997 after serving in executive positions at America Online. ¹ The Stephen Case Foundation has primarily funded organizations that focus on their three areas of interest: civic engagement, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. ²

The civic engagement section works on a project called Millennial Engagement, which conducts research into how the millennial generation engages with politics, volunteering, and social issues. ³

Its entrepreneurship section contains the foundation’s Inclusive Entrepreneurship project, which seeks to increase the gender and racial diversity of entrepreneurs. ⁴

Its philanthropy section contains the “Be Fearless” campaign, with an accompanying book of the same name and general principles on how readers can accomplish their social or business goals. ⁵

One project that goes in both the entrepreneurship and philanthropy sections is Impact Investing, which is defined as “investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention of generating social and environmental impact alongside a financial return” by the Global Impact Investing Network. ⁶

Funding and Partners

The majority of the foundation’s contributions come from the Cases, with the foundation receiving $3,650,000 in 2017, $4,000,000 in 2016, and $4,000,000 in 2015 from the Cases. ^{7 8 9} The Stephen Case Foundation also received $4,000 from the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation in 2000 and $20,000 from the Goldhirsh Foundation in 2012. ¹⁰

The Stephen Case Foundation has given its largest contributions to Powerup-Bridging the Digital Divide, Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure, the Special Olympics, Hawaii Habitat for Humanity Association, and Venture Philanthropy Partners. ¹¹

The Case Foundation has partnered with numerous organizations for it’s Impact Investing and Inclusive Entrepreneurship projects. Through the Impact Investing initiative, the Case Foundation has worked with the B Lab, The U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, ImpactAlpha, Global Impact Investing Network, the Impact (a project created by left-of-center philanthropic consultancy Arabella Advisors), Mission Investors Exchange, SOCAP, the Giving Pledge, and the Case Center for Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke University. ¹² Through the Inclusive Entrepreneurship initiative, the Case Foundation has worked with the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, digitalundivided, Forward Cities, George Mason University, Google for Entrepreneurs, halcyon, jumpstart, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the Lemelson Foundation, Power Moves, Skoll Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and UBS. ¹³

Leadership

Founders

Jean Case is the CEO of the Case Foundation and chair of the National Geographic Society. ¹⁴ Before she co-founded the Case Foundation with Steve Case, she was a senior executive at America Online. ¹⁵ Case released a book in 2019 promoting a number of left-of-center philanthropic leaders, including Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation, Wes Moore of the Robin Hood Foundation, and Rajiv Shah of the Rockefeller Foundation. ¹⁶

Steve Case is the chairman of the Case Foundation, while simultaneously serving as chairman and CEO of Revolution LLC, an investment firm. ¹⁷ Before this, he co-founded America Online. ¹⁸ The Cases are the principal funders of the Foundation.

Staff

Jade Floyd is the vice president of communications at the Case Foundation and has previously served on the board of directors and in advisory roles for the D.C. Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative, the Communications Network, Multicultural Media Correspondents Association, Black Girl Ventures, Project Theatre, and the Sitar Arts Center. ¹⁹

Matrika Bailey-Turner is the director of social innovation at the Case Foundation. ²⁰ She has previously worked as part of the Community Impact Team at Comcast NBCUniversal, as a member of the Global Partnerships Team at the United Nations Foundation, at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and as an AmeriCorps Fellow. ²¹

Lisa Hall is a senior fellow of the Case Foundation in impact investing. ²² Hall is also a senior fellow at Georgetown University at the Beeck Center. ²³ She previously worked as a managing director at Anthos Asset Management, as CEO and president of the Calvert Foundation, and as a policy advisor at the National Economic Council during the Clinton administration. ²⁴

John Jones is the vice president of interactive strategies at the Case Foundation, and previously worked as the director of technology at Adfero. ²⁵

Sarah Koch is the vice president of social innovation at the Case Foundation. ²⁶ She previously work in Nonprofit Services at Causes.com and in health education at La Clinica del Pueblo. ²⁷

Brian Sasscer is the senior vice president of strategic operations at the Case Foundation, is currently the treasurer of Network for Good’s board of directors, and previously worked executive producer of e-commerce at America Online. ²⁸

Jessica Zetzman is the vice president of marketing and communications at the Case Foundation. She previously worked at the Washington Area Women’s Foundation and Neighborworks America. ²⁹

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7. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). The Stephen Case Foundation. 2017. Schedule B, Part I.
8. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). The Stephen Case Foundation. 2016. Schedule B, Part I.
9. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). The Stephen Case Foundation. 2015. Schedule B, Part I.
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