Pam Omidyar is the wife of eBay founder and left-of-center advocacy philanthropist Pierre Omidyar. The Omidyars founded the Omidyar Group, a network of left-of-center nonprofit and for-profit organizations that focus on “social impact” and support left-of-center ideologies. ¹ Pam Omidyar sits on the board of several of the organizations she founded, including the Omidyar Network, Humanity United, and Hopelab. ^{2  3  4}

Background and Education

Pam Omidyar has a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and a master’s degree in plant molecular genetics from the University of California Santa Cruz. ² She began her career as a biologist. ⁵

She married Iranian-American entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar who founded eBay in 1995. The Omidyars became billionaires when eBay went public in 1998. The couple have three children and live in Hawaii. According to Forbes, they have an estimated net worth of $10.5 billion as of June 27, 2025. ^{6 7}

Omidyar Group

In 1998, the Omidyars co-founded a foundation and named it the Omidyar Family Foundation in 2000. In 2004, they replaced it with the Omidyar Network, a philanthropic organization that combined nonprofit grants and for-profit impact investing. ^{8 9}  The Omidyar Network and the Omidyar Network Fund are ventures of the Omidyar Group. ¹⁰

The Omidyar Group is a group of organizations and initiatives founded by the Omidyars that are focused on “social impact” and left-of-center ideology. ¹  Its organizations include the Democracy Fund, First Look Media, Hopelab, Humanity United, Luminate, and the Omidyar Network. ¹¹ Its initiatives include the Public First Law Center, Honolulu Civil Beat, and the AI Collaborative. ¹²

Philanthropy

The Omidyars are listed in the Chronicle of Philanthropy‘s Philanthropy 50, which lists the largest donors, at number 12 in 2025. Others on this list include Michael Bloomberg, Melinda French Gates, and Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg. ¹³  The Omidyars’ 2024 philanthropic contributions totaled $252 million, with the largest donations going to the AI Collaborative, the Democracy Fund, First Look Media, Hopelab, Humanity United, the Imaginable Futures Foundation, Luminate, and the Omidyar Network, most of which are a part of their Omidyar Group. ¹⁴

Pam and Pierre Omidyar are listed as “Innovators” in the TIME100 Philanthropy 2025, recognized for their network of philanthropic institutions. They have given over $4 billion “to causes from humanitarian aid to global democracy.” ¹⁵

In 2023, some of the left-of-center organizations to which the Omidyar Network Fund contributed include the 5Rights Foundation, BuildUS, the Economic Policy Institute, Global Impact, the Hopewell Fund, the Jobs With Justice Education Fund, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, the More Perfect Union Foundation, the National Conference on Citizenship, the New America Foundation, the Open Collective Foundation, the Aspen Institute, and the Brookings Institution. ¹⁶

The Omidyars also make personal contributions to social welfare organizations, citing the “surge in voter suppression laws, political violence, and rising authoritarianism.” In 2023, they contributed over $31 million to these organizations, including Democracy Fund Voice, Humanity United Action, the Public First Law Center, and the ACLU. ¹⁷

According to Philanthropy News Digest, the Omidyars are one of eleven philanthropic donors who have given away 20 percent or more of their wealth as of October 2023. ¹⁸

The Omidyars are 2010 founding members of the Giving Pledge, donating over $4 billion to philanthropic causes. ²  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. ¹⁹

Focus

The Omidyars focus on a variety of causes that include “defending American democracy, backing investigative journalism and an independent news media, improving the health and well-being of young people, and promoting human rights, civic participation, data and digital rights, and financial transparency.” ¹⁴

The Omidyar Network created a blueprint that takes a “more progressive approach to understanding capitalism” to “ensure that people who have been historically and systematically marginalized by structural racism, colonialism, paternalism, and indifference will have opportunity, power, and the self determination that comes from economic prosperity and a vibrant, fair, and responsive democracy.” ²⁰

Memberships

Pam Omidyar is a board member of the Omidyar Network. ²

She is a member of the Governance Futures Network representing the Omidyar Group. Governance Futures is a network of individuals who are working to redefine governance globally. Other members are from left-of-center organizations such as the Democracy Collaborative, the Horizons Project, and the Participatory Budgeting Project. ²¹

She is the board chair of Humanity United, which she co-founded in 2003 to focus on “ending human rights abuses such as mass violence and modern-day slavery” ³  and a board member of Hopelab, which she founded in 2004. ²²   Hopelab focuses on “equity” for young people, especially “Black, Brown, and Queer young people,” fighting against “systems of oppression, like racism, homophobia, transphobia, and wealth inequities.” ⁴

1. The Omidyar Group homepage. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://www.omidyargroup.com/
2. “Our Founders.” The Omidyar Group. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://www.omidyargroup.com/the-omidyar-group/
3. “Pam Omidyar.” Humanity United. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://humanityunited.org/people/pam-omidyar/
4. “Mission, Vision, Values.” Hopelab – Meet Hopelab. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://hopelab.org/mission-vision-values
5. Alison Powell. “Pam Omidyar and the Science of Giving.” The Bridgespan Group. March 22, 2012. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/pam-omidyar-and-the-science-of-giving
6. “Pierre Omidyar.” Forbes Profile. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/profile/pierre-omidyar/?list=rtb/
7. “Pierre and Pam Omidyar.” The Giving Pledge. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.givingpledge.org/pledger/pierre-and-pam-omidyar/
8. “Our Story.” Imaginable Futures. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://imaginablefutures.com/who-we-are/
9. “The Omidyar way of giving.” The Economist. October 26, 2013. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://www.economist.com/business/2013/10/26/the-omidyar-way-of-giving
10. Omidyar Network homepage. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://omidyar.com/
11. “Organizations.” The Omidyar Group. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://www.omidyargroup.com/organizations/
12. “Initiatives & Grants.” The Omidyar Group. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://www.omidyargroup.com/organizations/
13. Maria Di Mento. The Chronicle of Philanthropy – Philanthropy 50. March 4, 2025. Accessed June 22, 2025. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/the-philanthropy-50/?sra=true#id=browse_2024
14. Maria Di Mento. “Pam and Pierre Omidyar.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy – Philanthropy 50. March 4, 2025. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/the-philanthropy-50/#id=details_378_2024
15. Tharin Pillay. “Pam Omidyar and Pierre Omidyar.” Time – TIME100 Philanthropy 2025. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://time.com/collections/time100-philanthropy-2025/
16. The Omidyar Network Fund. Return of Private Foundation. (Form 990-PF – Part XIV). 2023.
17. “2023 Omidyar Family 501(c)(4) Disclosures.” The Omidyar Group – Point of View. April 4, 2024. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.omidyargroup.com/pov/2024/04/04/omidyar-family-disclosures-2023/
18. “11 on Forbes 400 list have given away at least 20 percent of net worth.” Candid. Philanthropy News Digest. October 6, 2023. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/11-on-forbes-400-list-have-given-away-at-least-20-percent-of-net-worth
19. “About the Giving Pledge.” The Giving Pledge. Accessed June 19, 2025. https://www.givingpledge.org/about-the-giving-pledge/
20. Brian Schwartz. “EBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s philanthropic investment group calls for a new version of capitalism.” CNBC. September 14, 2020. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/14/ebay-founder-pierre-omidyars-philanthropic-firm-calls-for-new-kind-of-capitalism-.html
21. “Who We Are.” Governance Futures. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://governancefutures.org/about-us/
22. “Pam Omiyar.” The Omidyar Group. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.omidyargroup.com/pov/blocks/pam-omidyar/