Tambourine is a private grantmaking foundation founded by Ben Silbermann and his wife Divya Silbermann. Ben Silbermann is a billionaire donor and former technology executive who cofounded the social media sharing site Pinterest and served as its CEO from its founding until stepping down from the company in 2022. The couple founded the organization after Silbermann stepped down as CEO of Pinterest and signed Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, where high-net-worth individuals pledge to donate over half their wealth to nonprofit organizations and charities. Ben Silbermann is worth an estimated $1.4 billion and has contributed to the campaigns of multiple Democratic candidates including the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Tambourine has announced multiple grant programs to fund a variety of U.S.-based ALS awareness organizations since it was founded in 2022. ^{1 2 3}

Background

In 2022 Ben Silbermann announced plans to step down as the CEO of Pinterest and stated plans to focus more time on philanthropy. He and his wife Divya Silbermann, who is a former web developer for tech companies including Facebook, signed the Giving Pledge. As part of their increased focus on philanthropy, the couple also started a charitable foundation called Tambourine, which is headed by Divya Silbermann and made early contributions to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) related nonprofits upon its founding in 2022. ⁴

Activity

Among the organization’s first grantmaking projects was to fund an initial ALS Collaborative Cohort, which consisted of “six US-based organizations that will work together to address issues of access and inclusion across the country faced by the ALS community.” Among the initial grantees that were funded by this effort was the Gold West Chapter of the ALS Association, which covers California and Hawaii. The Gold West Chapter stated that it would use its funding from Tambourine to “assess and address inclusion and access issues faced by families with ALS who live in traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities in Los Angeles County.” ⁵

In 2023, Tambourine announced the launch of its ALS Breakthrough Research Fund in partnership with the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy to focus “on soliciting and funding creative, high-risk, high-reward ideas that might not otherwise fit existing grant programs but hold the potential to generate breakthrough insights.” The ALS Breakthrough Research Fund builds on research conducted by Milken to identify funding gaps, and projects are funded by Tambourine to “fund research that could unlock the next big breakthrough in ALS.” ⁶

People

Tambourine was founded by Ben Silbermann and Divya Silbermann and is operated by Divya Silbermann. Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp launched Pinterest in 2010 as a social media platform where users can “pin” pictures and “do the internet equivalent of window shopping.” Since its founding, the company has grown to serve over 320 million global users and went public in 2019 under the stock ticker PINS with a $10 billion valuation. The growth of Pinterest led Silbermann to become a billionaire and his net worth was estimated at $1.4 billion by Forbes in 2022. ^{7 8}

Divya Silbermann previously worked for Eventbrite and Facebook. She attended Clark University and grew up in Bangalore, India. ⁹

Ben Silbermann and Divya Silberman have contributed the federal maximum allowed contribution to multiple Democratic political campaigns. He and his wife both contributed $2,800 each to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. In 2016 they contributed $12,500 each to the Hillary Victory Fund and $2,700 each directly to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. The couple has also donated to the Democratic National Committee, the Win the ERA PAC, and failed 2020 congressional candidate Brynne Kennedy (D) in the 4^th district of California. ¹⁰

Tambourine is also led by its president, Ari Simon. Simon previously worked for Silbermann as the head of social impact and philanthropy at Pinterest and also worked for the Kresge Foundation. ¹¹

1. “Ben Silbermann.” Forbes. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/profile/ben-silbermann/?sh=2250f0b7644d
2. “Ben Silbermann and Divya Silbermann” FEC Individual Contributor Lookup. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=ben+silbermann&contributor_name=divya+silbermann
3. Jurberg, Ash. “The Des Moines billionaire promising to give away his fortune. Newsbreak. May 3, 2022. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://original.newsbreak.com/@ash-jurberg-560946/2590431429505-the-des-moines-billionaire-promising-to-give-away-his-fortune
4. “The Golden West Chapter of The ALS Association has been selected as a grant recipient from Tambourine, a new philanthropic organization made possible by the generosity of Ben and Divya Silbermann.” ALS Association Gold West Chapter. Accessed June 26, 2023. http://webgw.alsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=GW_9_Golden_West_Chapter_Receives_Tambourine_Grant
5. “The Golden West Chapter of The ALS Association has been selected as a grant recipient from Tambourine, a new philanthropic organization made possible by the generosity of Ben and Divya Silbermann.” ALS Association Gold West Chapter. Accessed June 26, 2023. http://webgw.alsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=GW_9_Golden_West_Chapter_Receives_Tambourine_Grant
6. “Tambourine Announces the ALS Breakthrough Research Fund, Releases Inaugural Request for Proposals.”
   Milken Institute. May 24, 2023. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://milkeninstitute.org/article/tambourine–als–
   breakthrough–research–fund
7. “Ben Silbermann.” Forbes. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/profile/ben-silbermann/?sh=2250f0b7644d
8. “Ben Silbermann.” Forbes. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/profile/ben-silbermann/?sh=2250f0b7644d
9. “The Giving Pledge Welcomes 14 New Signatories.” The Giving Pledge. December 14, 2021. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://givingpledge.org/pressrelease?date=12.14.2021
10. “Ben Silbermann and Divya Silbermann” FEC Individual Contributor Lookup. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=ben+silbermann&contributor_name=divya+silbermann
11. “Ari Simon.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariel-simon/