Paul Allen's Legacy Lives On: $3.1B Foundation Launches to Accelerate Science and Tech Innovation

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's final act: New $3.1B foundation bets big on science and tech

Even in the final years of his life, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was as excited as ever about what the future would bring for science, technology, and the world -- telling GeekWire in a 2017 interview, "It really is a golden age of what's possible." Allen's optimism -- and the impact of his wealth -- will live on in a new nonprofit foundation charged with making bold bets on the future. With an initial $3.1 billion endowment from the late Microsoft co-founder's estate, the new Fund for Science and Technology will deploy at least $500 million over the next four years to accelerate progress in bioscience, the environment, and AI for good -- starting with $15 million in grants to Seattle research institutions. "Our primary role is to ask big questions and have a big impact," said Dr. Lynda Stuart, the CEO of the Seattle-based foundation, a physician-scientist with extensive experience in immunology and global health, in an interview with GeekWire. The mission isn't an interpretation of Allen's wishes -- it's a direct implementation. Allen personally directed the foundation's formation and focus areas before his 2018 death from complications of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. From his early software work with Bill Gates to far-flung investments in tech and science, Allen was known as the "Idea Man." Years later, the fact that bioscience, AI and the environment are not only still relevant but among the most important areas for research speaks to Allen's "magical ability to see into the future," Stuart said. A representative of Allen's estate confirmed that Allen himself also named the foundation's board in his plans. It's chaired by Allen's sister, Jody Allen, and includes several others who knew and worked closely with Paul Allen in various capacities. * Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, whose friendship with Allen was cemented in their post-Microsoft years over their involvement in the NBA. * Allan Jones, former Allen Institute CEO, who worked directly with Allen to build the influential bioscience research organization. * Dr. Thomas Daniel, Allen Institute board member and outgoing CEO of the Washington Research Foundation. * Nancy Peretsman, a longtime investment advisor and managing director at investment bank Allen & Co. who counseled Allen on major investments. "With this new foundation, we're bringing Paul's philanthropic vision to bear," said Jody Allen, in a news release announcing the milestone. The creation of the foundation, known informally FFST, is also a major step toward answering the longstanding question of what would happen to the wealth that Allen amassed starting with Microsoft's 1986 stock market debut. While the separate Allen Family Philanthropies will continue to support a wide range of community and arts initiatives -- such as its recent $10 million grant to 930 arts and culture organizations across Washington state -- FFST is structured to handle large-scale funding for high-impact science and technology projects. The foundation is emerging from the extended process of selling many of Allen's far-flung assets -- luxury properties, yachts, museums, art, vintage computers, and more -- and focusing the proceeds on his long-term philanthropic priorities. That process of estate administration is still under way, and it's expected to continue for years given the size and complexity of what Allen left behind. FFST's endowment could grow substantially in future years with the expected sale of the Portland Trail Blazers NBA franchise and eventually the Seahawks NFL team. The Allen estate recently reached a deal to sell the Blazers to the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team for a reported price of more than $4 billion. All proceeds from the sale of the teams will go to philanthropic causes, as Allen directed, confirmed Jason Hunke, a spokesperson for the Paul G. Allen Estate. Hunke declined to say whether FFST would get the bulk of the proceeds, explaining that details of the broader plan will be "revealed at the appropriate time" in the future. In the meantime, FFST already ranks among the top U.S. philanthropies, particularly in science and technology, in the realm of others such as the Simons Foundation ($3.5 billion), and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation ($1.9 billion). Stuart, the FFST CEO, was previously executive director of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and before that worked for the Gates Foundation, as deputy director for vaccines and biologics. She contrasted FFST's approach with the Gates Foundation (the world's largest philanthropy, with an endowment of $77 billion) by explaining that FFST is more of a "discovery organization" focused on frontier science, while the Gates Foundation does a significant amount of later-stage work focused on delivery into the field. FFST is starting with a team of six people, based in the building just south of downtown Seattle that houses Vale Group, the new name for what was previously known as Allen's Vulcan holding company. In addition to providing major funding for the UW's Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, Paul Allen's legacy includes starting the bioscience-focused Allen Institute and the separate Allen Institute for AI (Ai2), both of which the Allen estate funds. Allen estate spokesperson Hunke did not answer the question of whether FFST will eventually take over funding for the Allen Institute and AI2 as part of its bioscience and AI mandates, saying that the new foundation's "funding priorities will be driven by its strategy, which will be revealed over time." While FFST will eventually fund projects nationally and internationally, its inaugural grants are strategic investments in Allen's hometown. Stuart explained that the initial $15 million investment in Seattle's "centers of excellence" is designed in part to encourage more scientific collaboration, "to further strengthen the region as a powerhouse" in the areas where FFST is focusing. Initial grant recipients include: * Benaroya Research Institute (BRI): Funding its massive biorepository of human samples and the data experts who study it, helping to figure out how the human immune system works, faster and more accurately. * University of Washington, College of the Environment: To help tackle climate change by using real-world observations and computer models to predict future environmental shifts and find new solutions. * Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: To better understand how the immune system can fight cancer and autoimmune diseases, and to create new, safer treatments that use the body's own cells. * Seattle Children's: To keep early-stage clinical trials going for kids with cancer and autoimmune diseases, and to develop new cell-based treatments that are safer, cheaper, and ready to go when a child needs them. The new foundation is launching at a time when many scientific organizations are feeling the strain of a challenging federal funding landscape, a backdrop that some of its inaugural grantees see as critical context for FFST's arrival. The grant to the Benaroya Research Institute supports BRI's biorepository, a library of over 350,000 biological samples collected from 15,000 people over two decades, which allows scientists to rapidly test new ideas about the immune system. Dr. Jane Buckner, BRI president, explained that this type of core infrastructure is vital for many projects but difficult to support through traditional, project-specific grants. In an unstable funding environment, long-term investments like the biorepository are often the first things to be cut, even though their value increases over time. It's a "unique vision that they've brought to the table," Buckner said of FFST's efforts to fund resources that will help the broader bioscience community. The grant to Seattle Children's will ensure continued funding for research and development of off-the-shelf cell therapies -- treatments that can be made in advance and given to any patient without the need for custom, single-patient manufacturing. Dr. Colleen Delaney, VP and chief medical officer at Seattle Children's Therapeutics, said the funding will help keep trials moving forward. She described it as critical at a time when federal support for scientific research has been under attack. For the broader community, Delaney said, FFST's funding offers "a unique opportunity to bring us together and to reimagine how quickly we get things done." Stuart said the new foundation doesn't see its role as filling gaps left by federal funding cuts. Instead, she said, FFST will be guided by its larger mission, aligned with Allen's vision of making a lasting impact in science and technology. "It's really important for people to continue to be able to dream and to imagine a different future," Stuart said.

New $500M push to bring Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's 'vision to bear'

The philanthropic ecosystem spun out of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's massive estate is getting bigger. The Fund for Science and Technology launched Wednesday with plans to fund at least $500 million worth of grants over the next four years. The 501(c)3 nonprofit foundation will support "transformational science and technology" in bioscience, the environment and artificial intelligence. Though it's years in the making, the fund provides cash to a scientific community that's reeling with proposed budget cuts, terminated grants and dwindling support from the federal government. The fund will eventually disburse money throughout the world, but for the first wave of grantees it selected the Benaroya Research Institute, the College of the Environment at University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and Seattle Children's. All Seattle, to show the foundation's roots. "With this new foundation we're bringing Paul's philanthropic vision to bear," fund board chair Jody Allen said in a statement. "For decades, Paul and I worked to leverage the power of science and technology innovation to make the world a better place. ... In the same way, the foundation will work to build a brighter future for people and the planet." Jody Allen, Paul Allen's sister, is the president of Allen Family Philanthropies, formerly known as the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. The fund is separate from the Allen Family Philanthropies, which pledged $10 million to Washington arts groups on Tuesday. It's also a different organization than the Allen Institute, a bioscience research nonprofit that Paul Allen founded in 2003. Created in 2022, the fund worked quietly for the past three years, picking the initial wave of grantees and tapping Dr. Lynda Stuart as its CEO. Stuart, a former executive director of the Institute of Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine, has connections to the philanthropic world. She was a deputy director for vaccines and biologics at the Gates Foundation. But her introduction to this new fund came almost out of the blue, as she tells it. She remembers sitting in Washington, D.C., when she received a phone call and was asked what she thought of the opportunity. She didn't have much background but she learned that they were interested in bioscience, the environment and AI. "Those are the most interesting topics on the planet," Stuart recalled thinking. "How could that possibly be? Has someone read my mind and written a job description for me?" After a six-month interview process with the board and extensive conversations with Jody Allen, she landed the role. Stuart said the private foundation will fill in the gaps of a crucial phase for scientific funding -- the beginning. "A lot of funders aren't very good at funding the idea," Stuart said in an interview with The Seattle Times. "We will be quite willing to fund the idea, and sometimes it can be something quite early and risky. Where other funders will want things to be without risk before they put their money in, we're fine with risk." Stuart calls it funding science upstream. An example is, in biomedical research, taking something from a twinkle in a scientist's mind to initial clinical trials. She said the foundation is seeking to solve, with science, the bigger problems that are more expensive. "We're going to be able to take on big problems that require long bets," Stuart said. For Fred Hutch, the grant is intended to support the center's study of cancer's effects on immune systems and autoimmune diseases, as well as the development of new therapies for cancer. Dr. Lawrence Fong, scientific director of Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center at Fred Hutchinson, said the funding is critical for the research the center wants to do. With a proposed budget cut of roughly 40% for the National Institutes of Health next year, the future of cancer research looks precarious. Especially when scientists want to take risks on a fresh idea. "This foundation has been in the works for a few years and predates a lot of the challenges today," Fong said in an interview with The Seattle Times. "But with the proposed cuts, this type of funding has an even greater impact. It enables us to continue to innovate and move forward instead of throttling back." Seattle Children's will continue phase one trials for research that could result in treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases in children. University of Washington's College of the Environment will use the grant to fund research for climate solutions, climate prediction and environmental monitoring. And the Benaroya Research Institute is working on research to study the immune system with the grant funding. As Fong said, the fund's mission predates proposed cuts to the NIH's budget and terminated grants from the agency that were recently allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The fund isn't a reaction to all of what Stuart calls "the noise" around scientific funding. "Even if there was a lot of turmoil going on now, that wouldn't drive us," Stuart said. "We're currently building out our long-term strategy and that will involve things that are as far as 10 years out."