The Cisco Systems Foundation, known simply as the Cisco Foundation, is the corporate philanthropic arm of technology company Cisco. The company created the foundation in 1997 with a large gift, and the company controls the foundation, with its board of directors comprised of members of the Cisco corporate board and company executives. The foundation allows employees of the company to make matching gifts to nonprofits and provides grants to a variety of organizations in alignment with the company’s left-of-center “Corporate Social Responsibility” programs. The foundation also has a grant program for local groups in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. ^{1 2}

Background

The Cisco Foundation was founded in 1997 as the corporate giving arm of Cisco, a large computer systems and communications company based in San Jose, California. The foundation manages over $200 million in assets and remains funded by a large annual gift from Cisco. In 2020, Cisco gave the foundation $30 million and the foundation dispersed just over $22 million in gifts and grants. ³

The foundation focuses on funding nongovernmental organizations and community-based groups with efforts focusing on domestic organizations in the Bay Area as well as international development efforts in developing nations. The foundation’s stated investment areas include education, crisis response, and “economic empowerment.” ⁴

Activity

The Cisco Foundation divides its grantmaking activity into national or international and Bay Area-specific funding areas. Much of the foundation’s giving centers around science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and international development. National and international organizations funded by the foundation include CareerVillage.org, Chief Science Officers, CODE.org, Common Lit, the New Teacher Center, CARE.org, Digital Green, the UN Emergency Telecommunications Center, and Network for Good. ⁵

Local San Francisco Bay Area organizations funded by the foundation include 826 Valencia, Catholic Charities CYO of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Children Rising, Girls Inc. of Alameda County, Jamestown Community Center, Reading Partners, Partners in School Innovation, Project Read, and the Silicon Valley Education Foundation. ⁶

The foundation also has a longstanding partnership with Habitat for Humanity and provides build grants to many domestic and international Habitat for Humanity projects where Cisco employees are volunteers. ⁷

Other groups funded by the foundation include Grameen Foundation USA, Opportunity International, Translators Without Borders, and Kiva Microfunds. The bulk of the foundation’s giving, over $16 million of $22 million total spent in FY 2020, went to the Bright Funds Foundation as part of a large matching gift campaign. ⁸

Left-of-Center Giving Campaigns

Following an increased corporate focus on racial issues in 2020, Cisco pledged $5 million to “nonprofits working to promote social justice.” This included $1 million each to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Equal Justice Initiative. These gifts led the company to found the Cisco Black Equity Grant Program. ⁹ In 2021, Cisco also pledged $150 million to the Student Freedom Initiative to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). ¹⁰

Cisco has also joined a group called Business for Voting Rights, a coalition of 240 companies pushing for left-of-center federal election administration policies such as the Democratic-led John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. ¹¹

In 2021, the Cisco Foundation pledged $100 million to fund climate change-related projects and environmentalist activism organizations. ¹²

1. “Cisco Foundation.” Cisco. Accessed May 13, 2022. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/csr/impact/cisco-foundation.html
2. “IRS Form 990.” Cisco Systems Foundation. 2020. Accessed May 13, 2022. https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/assets/csr/pdf/fy2020-cf-990.pdf
3. “IRS Form 990.” Cisco Systems Foundation. 2020. Accessed May 13, 2022. https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/assets/csr/pdf/fy2020-cf-990.pdf
4. “IRS Form 990.” Cisco Systems Foundation. 2020. Accessed May 13, 2022. https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/assets/csr/pdf/fy2020-cf-990.pdf
5. “CSR Community Partners.” Cisco. Accessed May 13, 2022.  https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/csr/community/partners.html#~additional-partners
6. “Bay Area Community Impact Grants.” Cisco. Accessed May 13, 2022.  https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/csr/community/nonprofits/community-impact-grants.html#~stickynav=1
7. “IRS Form 990.” Cisco Systems Foundation. 2020. Accessed May 13, 2022. https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/assets/csr/pdf/fy2020-cf-990.pdf
8. “IRS Form 990.” Cisco Systems Foundation. 2020. Accessed May 13, 2022. https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/assets/csr/pdf/fy2020-cf-990.pdf
9. Naidoo, Clayton. “Influencing our Ecosystem to Promote Racial Justice.” Cisco. Accessed May 13, 2022.  https://blogs.cisco.com/csr/influencing-our-ecosystem-to-promote-racial-justice
10. Major, Derek. “Cisco Will Donate $150 Million to The Robert F. Smith Student Freedom Initiative to Help HBCU Students” Black Enterprise. May 24, 2021. Accessed May 13, 2022. https://www.blackenterprise.com/cisco-will-donate-150-million-to-the-robert-f-smith-student-freedom-initiative-to-help-hbcu-students/
11. Naidoo, Clayton. “Influencing our Ecosystem to Promote Racial Justice.” Cisco. Accessed May 13, 2022.  https://blogs.cisco.com/csr/influencing-our-ecosystem-to-promote-racial-justice
12. Prest, M.J. “Cisco Foundation Commits $100 Million for Climate Projects and Technology.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy. April 28, 2021. Accessed May 13, 2022. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/cisco-foundation-commits-100-million-for-climate-projects-and-technology