Ballmer Group is an American

investment company An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under th ...

based in

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area, and the f ...

, that serves as a

family office A family office is a privately held company that handles investment management and wealth management for a wealthy family, generally one with at least $50–100 million in investable assets, with the goal being to effectively grow and transfer ...

to manage the wealth of

Steve Ballmer Steven Anthony Ballmer (; March 24, 1956) is an American businessman and investor who served as chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He i ...

, the former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

. The purpose of Ballmer Group is to help children, especially those born into poor families, with

economic mobility Economic mobility is the ability of an individual, family or some other group to improve (or lower) their economic status—usually measured in income. Economic mobility is often measured by movement between income quintiles. Economic mobilit ...

. Ballmer Group has a presence in

southeast Michigan Southeast Michigan, also called southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are c ...

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, and

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

Background

After retiring from his role at Microsoft, Steve Ballmer decided to join his wife, Connie, in

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, and the two co-founded the Ballmer Group in 2015. At the start of his philanthropic work, Ballmer wanted to understand how much the government was actually helping disadvantaged children and set up Ballmer Group to help children, especially those from the lowest economic strata move up economically. The company focuses on funding organizations that demonstrate the ability to reduce systemic inequities. It also provides grants to direct services to strengthen communities. Grants typically last for at least three years and the use of them are unrestricted. However, before providing funding or grants, the Ballmer Group will perform significant data-based

due diligence Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person is normally expected to take before entering into an agreement or contract with another party or an act with a certain standard of care. Due diligence ...

on the organizations as well as tracking their commitment and ability to deliver. Ballmer Group has also been involved in backing advocacy groups related to policies on

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

issues including bail reform and expunging

criminal record A criminal record (not to be confused with a police record or arrest record) is a record of a person's criminal Conviction, convictions history. The information included in a criminal record, and the existence of a criminal record, varies betwe ...

s. It also has regularly spoken with lawmakers and legislators such as

Karen Bass Karen Ruth Bass (; born October 3, 1953) is an American politician who has served as the 43rd mayor of Los Angeles since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Bass previously served in the United States House ...

. With regards to its approach in funding education programs, Ballmer Group uses a "wraparound approach", which emphasizes the community context rather than being directly involved with educational issues such as

K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the world. ...

personalized learning Personalized learning (also named individualized instruction, personal learning place or direct instruction) refers to efforts to tailor education to meet the different needs of students. Overview Use of the term "personalized learning" dates ba ...

academic standards Academic standards are the benchmarks of quality and excellence in education such as the rigour of curricula and the difficulty of examinations. The creation of universal academic standards requires agreement on rubrics, criteria or other system ...

and

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

. One of its largest donations was made to StriveTogether, a network of local communities striving to achieve racial equity and economic mobility for children. Ballmer Group is structured as a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

which gives the Ballmers more options on what it can do. The company has been noted having less transparency than other peers. Officials from the Ballmer Group have told ''

Education Week ''Education Week'' is a news organization that has covered K–12, K–12 education since 1981. It is owned by Editorial Projects in Education (EPE), a nonprofit organization, and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. The newspaper publishes ...

,'' they would not commit to publicly disclose all the organization's grants, investments,

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

work, or support for elected officials and campaigns. In 2016, Ballmer Group expanded its operations into the

. In 2017, it expanded its operations into

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Notable funding and grants

In August 2018, Ballmer Group announced a $59 million, five-year investment in

Social Solutions Social Solutions is a 200+ person software company

, a software company that tracks data related to nonprofit and government social service agencies. In October 2018, Ballmer Group donated $16 million to 18 nonprofits in southeast Michigan which included

City Year City Year is an American education nonprofit organization founded in 1988. The organization partners with public schools in 29 high-need communities across the US and through international affiliates in the UK and Johannesburg, South Africa. City ...

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate Heart, cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability ...

and

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization

. In March 2022, Ballmer Group donated to $425 Million to the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

to create the Ballmer Institute for Children's Behavioral Health. It aimed to tackle

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

issues that children and adolescents face. In February 2023, Ballmer Group stated it would provide commitments of up to $165 million to

Communities in Schools Communities In Schools (CIS) is an American non-profit organization that works within State school, public and charter schools with the aim of helping at-risk students stay in school. CIS works with schools in 25 states and the Washington, D.C., D ...

to build 1,000 additional majority-low-income schools. In April 2023, Ballmer Group provided $43 million to the state of Washington to increase the access to

early childhood education Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of Education sciences, education theory that relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is ...

. It also provided $38 million to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

to fund early childhood educator scholarships. In May 2023, Ballmer Group stated it would provide $42.5 million over the next five years to support more than 100

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

-led

nonprofits A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

focused on improving economic mobility.

References

External links

* {{authority control 2015 establishments in Washington (state) American companies established in 2015 Companies based in Bellevue, Washington Financial services companies established in 2015 Holding companies established in 2015 Holding companies of the United States Investment companies of the United States Privately held companies based in Washington (state) Family offices