Lynne Benioff

Background

Lynne Benioff (nee Krilich) graduated from the University of Washington and was director of public relations campaigns at OutCast Communications. ³ She married Marc Benioff, the co-founder of software firm Salesforce, in Hawaii in 2006 and has two children. ¹ In 2018, Benioff became the owner of TIME magazine. ⁴ As of June 2025, he had an estimated net worth of $9.2 billion. ⁵

Benioff is the co-chair of TIME magazine. ⁶ In 2015, then-President Barack Obama appointed Benioff to the board of the Presidio Trust, a government agency that preserves the Presidio National Park in San Francisco. ^{4 7}

She is a prominent philanthropist with a focus on children’s health and education, affordable housing, and the environment. ² She is a lifetime director of the University of California San Francisco Foundation (UCSF) and as of 2025 sat on the boards of the Rise Fund, Common Sense Media, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, and the Benioff Ocean Initiative. ⁴ The Rise Fund is a global impact investment fund that invests in companies that “achieve social and environmental impact alongside financial returns.” It aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. ⁸ Other board members of Rise Fund have included billionaires Jeffrey Skoll, Reid Hoffman, and Laurene Powell Jobs. ⁹

Politics

Although Benioff’s political standings are not publicized, her husband has been a top Democratic contributor according to Forbes ¹⁰ and has advocated for LGBT interests. ¹¹ He has criticized the “horrifying inequality” in America and advocates higher taxes on the wealthy to support “education and health care and fight climate change.” ¹²

Philanthropy

Lynne and Marc Benioff are listed as number 14 in the Chronicle of Philanthropy‘s “Philanthropy 50” in 2025. ¹³ Others on this list include Michael Bloomberg, Melinda French Gates, and Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg. ¹⁴ The Benioffs have been on the list ten times due to their philanthropic gifts of over $1 billion since 2010. ¹⁵

In 2016, the Benioffs signed the Giving Pledge. Billionaires Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett established the Giving Pledge in 2010 as a commitment for the world’s wealthiest people to donate the majority of their wealth to charity in their lifetime or upon their deaths. ^{16 17}

In 2010, the Benioffs granted $100 million to the University of California San Francisco Children’s Hospital, where their daughter was born, for a new building which was named the San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital. They have continued to provide grants to this organization since. ²

In 2014, the Benioffs made a $500,000 grant to the California Endowment to support unaccompanied minors from Central American countries who have entered California. ²

The Benioffs founded the Benioff Ocean Initiative in 2016 with a $10 million grant. They donated an additional $60 million in 2022. ¹⁸  It is now known as the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It focuses on environmental conservation, including reducing plastic pollution in oceans and preventing ship collisions with endangered whales. ^{6 19} This includes a “$10 million challenge to contribute to global efforts to stop the advance of climate change. ²⁰ Benioff continues to be on the board of advisors for the organization. ²¹

In 2019, the Benioffs established the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco with a $30 million grant. As of 2019, they had given $66 million to end homelessness in San Francisco. ²²

The Benioffs have also donated to left-of-center nonprofit organizations such as America’s Promise—The Alliance for Youth, the Opportunity Institute, the ONE Campaign, Friends of Ocean Action, Sustainable Oceans Alliance, American Forests, and the World Central Kitchen. ²

For over 20 years, the Benioffs have donated to various charities in Hawaii. As of June 2024, their gifts in the state exceeded $250 million. In 2024, they donated $150 million to “increase healthcare access, address critical infrastructure gaps and help ensure excellent and continuous care for communities in the state.” The grant was one of the largest in Hawaii’s history and was designed to connect two medical facilities in Hawaii with University of California San Francisco Health. They also donated 440 acres of land in Hawaii to a local nonprofit to support the “expansion of affordable housing.” In 2023, they granted $5 million to forgive student loan debt for medical professionals in Hawaii. ^{23 24 1}