Reid Hoffman—Joined Giving Pledge and launched $10M Trust in American Institutions Challenge
In May 2018, Reid Hoffman and his wife Michelle Yee joined The Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. Through his Aphorism Foundation ($1 billion), Hoffman funds five areas: science, economic opportunity, democracy, AI, and human rights. He launched the $10 million Trust in American Institutions Challenge through Lever for Change to scale solutions restoring public trust in schools, government bodies, media, and medical systems. His foundation also supports Equal Justice Initiative, AllRaise for VC equity, and Opportunity@Work for workforce training.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Justice Reform | +toward | secondary | +0.50 |
| Democratic Institutions | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.643 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Inside Philanthropy profiled Hoffman's $1B foundation and Giving Pledge commitment
Inside Philanthropy reported that Hoffman is a Giving Pledge signatory with a $1 billion foundation (Aphorism Foundation), pledging to spend all of his $2.5 billion fortune while alive. The foundation funds five areas: science, economic opportunity, democracy, AI, and human rights. Grantees include Equal Justice Initiative, AllRaise, Ameelio, VoteAmerica, and Cortico. He also donated over $25 million to the Obama Foundation.