King Philanthropies is a grantmaking foundation and impact-investment platform founded by Robert E. (“Bob”) King and Dorothy J. (“Dottie”) King. The organization’s stated mission is to reduce extreme global poverty, defined as living on less than $2.15 per day, by funding projects focusing on climate and economic issues. In 2020, donated $25 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to found the King Climate Action Initiative. ^{1 2}

Other grant recipients of the group in 2023 include Blue Ventures Conservation, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the One Acre Fund. ³

Background

King Philanthropies was established by Bob and Dottie King, philanthropists and previous donors to Stanford University who had also signed the Giving Pledge in 2020, an agreement to contribute at least 50 percent of their wealth to charity during their lifetimes or in their wills. Bob King graduated from Dartmouth College in 1957 and later earned an MBA from Stanford. He has a background in investment management, including work at Shearson, Hammill & Co., and his own firm R. Eliot King & Associates. Dottie King has engaged in civic and church-based volunteer work. The foundation initially focused poverty alleviation and development, but around 2020 restructured itself to emphasize the “climate-poverty nexus.” In 2020, the Foundation donated $25 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology‘s (MIT) J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab) program to establish the King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI), a project to research solutions to climate change and poverty. ^{2 4 5 6}

Activities

King Philanthropies provides long-term “high-performing” donations to grantees which include organizations advocating on climate-based agriculture, land rights, girls’ education, marine conservation, and climate communication. The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals and claims to select its grantees through an internal process. The foundation operated over $640 million in assets, at the end of 2023, typically distributing $20 to $40 million in annual grants. The foundation’s assets dramatically increased from 2020 to 2022, rising from $59 million to nearly $660 million, indicating a large amount of the King’s assets being transferred to the foundation following their signing of the Giving Pledge. The foundation’s 2022 tax return shows a gift of $674 million from several shares and partnership stakes through the King Philanthropies Charitable Remainder Trust. ^{7 8}

Grantmaking

King Philanthropies has previously donated annually to several grantees include Landesa, One Acre Fund, CAMFED, Blue Ventures, Last Mile Health, and Pratham. ⁹

In 2022, the foundation granted a total of $3 million to Blue Ventures Conservation to support the group’s overall work and fund its expansion to new regions, including the Bay of Bengal. ¹⁰ The group granted another $1 million to Blue Ventures in 2023 for the same purpose. Other 2023 grants included $1.6 million to the One Acre Fund, $5 million to the Environmental Defense Fund to fund a “methane satellite” project, and $2 million to the Kennebunkport Climate Initiative. ³

King Philanthropies has funded domestic initiatives including a $2 million donation to the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy to establish a technology innovation fund for adult learners. ⁹

Beyond grantmaking, King Philanthropies operates an impact investment arm that provides equity, debt, and project financing to early-stage ventures working in climate-relevant sectors. Its portfolio includes companies that decarbonize fertilizer, enable off-grid renewable energy, reduce food waste, improve clean water access, and create technology infrastructure for carbon accounting. Named investments include ones in fertilizer decarbonization (Nitricity), solar mini-grids (Okra Solar), cold-chain technology (ColdHubs), water-from-air systems (SOURCE), and tools for measuring/verifying carbon reduction (Climate Vault). ⁵

King Climate Action Initiative

The King Climate Action Initiative is an academic-led project launched in 2020 via a $25 million gift from King Philanthropies to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology‘s (MIT) J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab) program. The project was designed to research and develop solutions towards poverty and climate change in four areas: emissions mitigation, pollution reduction, climate adaptation, and energy access. The project argues for helping at least 25 million within the first decade of its formation through partnerships with local governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). ²

Leadership

Robert E. King and Dorothy J. King are the founders of King Philanthropies while still holding strategic direction over its operations as of 2025. ¹¹

Kim Starkey is the president and CEO of King Philanthropies. In addition, Starkey teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) as a “Lecturer in Management,” is an advisory board member for both the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth at the University of Chicago and the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (SEED), and is a steering committee member of Stronger Foundations for Nutrition. She previously worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company as well as a visiting practitioner at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. ¹²

1. About. King Philanthropies. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://kingphilanthropies.org/about/
2. Gift Tackling Poverty and Climate Change. Massachusetts Institute of Technology News, July 29, 2020. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://news.mit.edu/2020/gift-tackling-poverty-climate-change-0729
3. King Philanthropies: IRS Form 990, 2023 (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer). Accessed September 22, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/473706995/202423209349108377/full
4. Founders. King Philanthropies. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://kingphilanthropies.org/founders/
5. Impact Investments. King Philanthropies. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://kingphilanthropies.org/impact-investments/
6. Scholarship Founders. King Scholars Program, Dartmouth College. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://students.dartmouth.edu/fgo/programs/king-scholars/scholarship-founders
7. Giving Pledge Announces New Signatories. Philanthropy News Digest, December 4, 2017. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/giving-pledge-announces-new-signatories2
8. King Philanthropies: Nonprofit Profile. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/473706995
9. Grants. King Philanthropies. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://kingphilanthropies.org/grants/
10. King Philanthropies: IRS Form 990, 2022 (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer). Accessed September 22, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/473706995/202343179349103229/full
11. A Letter from Our Founders 2023. King Philanthropies. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://kingphilanthropies.org/a-letter-from-our-founders-2023/
12. “Kim Starkey.” King Philanthropies, accessed October 9, 2025. https://kingphilanthropies.org/our-team/kim-starkey/