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Tricia Raikes

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Tricia Raikes is the co-founder with her husband, Jeff Raikes, of two left-of-center charitable organizations, the Raikes Foundation and Giving Compass Network. 1 2

Raikes has received both local and national recognition for her efforts to prevent youth homelessness and to increase educational opportunity, particularly for ethnic minority and LGBT youth. 3

She has participated as a funder, board member, and community volunteer in public/private coalitions focused on education and homelessness. 4 5

Family, Education, and Early Career

Tricia Raikes grew up in a Catholic family in Seattle, Washington. Her mother managed the operations of the family’s local church. Her father worked in sales. 6

Raikes attributes her motivation to end youth homelessness and increase educational opportunity for ethnic minority and LGBT students to the damaging effects of class discrimination she suffered during her childhood, to her husband’s commitment to racial equity, and to witnessing the harm done to one of her children by school bullying. 7

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in communications from Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, she worked in account management and production management at Grey Advertising and Chair/Day Advertising. 8

She joined Microsoft in 1981 as director of Creative Services and Marketing Communications. 9 She met her husband Jeff Raikes, also a new hire at Microsoft, at an industry trade show in Las Vegas. The couple married two years later. 10

Jeff Raikes is the former President of the Business Division of Microsoft Corporation, former chairman of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University, and former president of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 11 His net worth is estimated at $3.4 billion. 12

Tricia Raikes resigned from Microsoft in 1987 to devote herself to family life. She worked as a community volunteer during this period eventually becoming board chair of the Redmond and Kirkland Boys and Girls Club 13 and co-founded the firm Marketing Partners with her husband where she worked as production manager until 1991. 14

Philanthropy

Tricia Raikes and Jeff Raikes are co-founders, co-trustees, and co-presidents of the Raikes Foundation, a grantmaking foundation created in 2002, 15 16 and co-founders of the Giving Compass Network, a donor services organization incorporated as tax-exempt in January 2022. 17 18

The Raikes Foundation pursues left-leaning change in private and governmental systems particularly those which influence ethnic minority and LGBT youth education and homelessness. Grants are directed to community organizing, coalition formation, grantmaker collaboratives, think tanks, and law associations. Recent grants range from $100 to $1,150,000. Representative grantees include Social Venture Partners, Solidaire Network, National Equity Project, and National Center for Civic Innovation. 19 Tricia Raikes leads the foundation’s grantmaking directed toward youth homelessness. 20

Giving Compass Network was launched with a seed grant from the Raikes Foundation. 21 It assists institutional and individual donors to focus their giving on left-of-center causes. It announces news stories and research, develops like-minded funding collaboratives, connects donors and nonprofits, and posts volunteer opportunities. 22

Community Service

Tricia Raikes has sat on numerous boards including those of the College Success Foundation, the Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska, and the Washington State University Foundation. 23

She is a member of Stanford University’s GSE Advisory Council and the Undergraduate Cabinet. 24

Recognition

The Obama White House recognized Tricia Raikes as a “White House Champion of Change” for her work preventing youth homelessness. She was designated a Woman of Influence by the Puget Sound Business Journal and received the 2017 Ginger Ackerley Community Service Award from the Seattle Storm baseball team. 25 In 2023, left-leaning philanthropy commentary website Inside Philanthropy listed her as one of the 50 most powerful women in philanthropy. 26

References

  1. Raikes Foundation. “Home.” Accessed January 17, 2024. https://raikesfoundation.org/
  2. Giving Compass. “Giving Compass | Give with Greater Impact.” Accessed January 17, 2024. https://givingcompass.org/home.
  3. The White House. “Tricia Raikes.” Accessed January 18, 2024. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/champions/fighting-youth-homelessness/tricia-raikes.
  4. Building Changes. “Tricia Raikes on Partnering with the Washington Youth & Families Fund.” Accessed January 18, 2024. https://kagoshima.buildingchanges.org/resources/tricia-raikes-on-partnering-with-the-washington-youth-families-fund/
  5. “Instagram.” Accessed January 18, 2024. https://www.instagram.com/youthcaresea/p/CwOAlEiPbSG/?img_index=1.
  6. Leap Ambassadors. “Growth Mindset.” Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.leapambassadors.org/for-funders/funding-performance/raikes-foundation/.
  7. Leap Ambassadors. “Growth Mindset.” Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.leapambassadors.org/for-funders/funding-performance/raikes-foundation/
  8. THE ORG. “Tricia Raikes – Co-Founder at Giving Compass.” Accessed January 19, 2024. https://theorg.com/org/giving-compass/org-chart/tricia-raikes
  9. “Tricia Raikes – Co-Founder – Raikes Foundation | LinkedIn.” Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/triciaraikes.
  10. Leap Ambassadors. “Growth Mindset.” Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.leapambassadors.org/for-funders/funding-performance/raikes-foundation/
  11. “Jeff Raikes – Raikes Foundation | LinkedIn.” Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffraikes.
  12. “Jeffrey S Raikes Net Worth (2024) – GuruFocus.Com.” Accessed January 20, 2024. https://www.gurufocus.com/insider/1590/jeffrey-s-raikes.
  13. Badshah, Akhtar. Purpose Mindset: How Microsoft Inspires Employees and Alumni to Change the World. HarperCollins Leadership, 2020. Accessed January 20, 2024. https://books.google.com/books?id=377WDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=tricia+raikes&source=bl&ots=nRmamBRxP_&sig=ACfU3U2ag3Qxb14uHfqao_nAsXP2dr5UNA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiz67aE0OSDAxWGAHkGHRSdAUc4RhDoAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=tricia%20raikes&f=false
  14. THE ORG. “Tricia Raikes – Co-Founder at Giving Compass.” Accessed January 19, 2024. https://theorg.com/org/giving-compass/org-chart/tricia-raikes.
  15. Raikes Foundation. “Home.” Accessed January 17, 2024. https://raikesfoundation.org/
  16. Roberts, Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, Brandon. “Raikes Foundation – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/912173492
  17. Roberts, Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, Brandon. “Giving Compass Network – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/851311683
  18. Stiffler, Lisa. “Giving Tech Labs Bridges Nonprofits and Innovation to Help Create Technology for the Public Interest.” GeekWire, December 8, 2019. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/giving-tech-labs-bridges-nonprofits-innovation-help-create-technology-public-interest/
  19. Roberts, Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, Brandon. “Raikes Foundation – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/912173492
  20. The White House. “Tricia Raikes.” Accessed January 18, 2024. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/champions/fighting-youth-homelessness/tricia-raikes
  21. Stiffler, Lisa. “Giving Tech Labs Bridges Nonprofits and Innovation to Help Create Technology for the Public Interest.” GeekWire, December 8, 2019. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/giving-tech-labs-bridges-nonprofits-innovation-help-create-technology-public-interest/
  22. Giving Compass. “Giving Compass | Give with Greater Impact.” Accessed January 17, 2024. https://givingcompass.org/home
  23. The White House. “Tricia Raikes.” Accessed January 18, 2024. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/champions/fighting-youth-homelessness/tricia-raikes
  24. University, Stanford. “Construction Set to Begin on GSE’s New Home.” Stanford Report (blog), January 17, 2023. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://news.stanford.edu/report/2023/01/17/construction-set-begin-stanford-graduate-school-educations-new-home
  25. “PHILANOS – Home.” Accessed January 20, 2024. https://philanos.org/. https://philanos.org/
  26. Staff, I. P. “The 50 Most Powerful Women in U.S. Philanthropy.” Inside Philanthropy, December 5, 2023. Accessed January 20, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2023/12/5/the-50-most-powerful-women-in-us-philanthropy
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