Philanthropy
Robert F. Smith learned early on about the importance of giving back to his community from the example set by his parents. Ever since, he has prioritized making a difference in the communities where he lives and works. Since founding Vista Equity Partners in 2000 and becoming one of the U.S.’s most successful business leaders, Smith has focused his personal charitable giving on the educational and professional advancement of the Black community, women and those who lack access to opportunities.
In particular, his philanthropy honors the sacrifices and contributions of generations before him, who he says paved the way for his success. For years, he has contributed to dozens of organizations and institutions. Visit robertfsmith.org to learn more about Smith’s philanthropic endeavors and the impact he has made on many Black and other communities throughout the U.S.
Fund II Foundation
Smith is the founding director and President of Fund II Foundation. Its mission is to preserve the Black American experience, promote social justice, provide music education, preserve the environment and more. Aside from grant-making to nonprofits that honor the mission of Fund II Foundation, the organization sponsors its own programs like InternXL, the Restoration Retreat and Maternal Black Health programs.
The following are the focus areas of Fund II Foundation.
Cultural Preservation and Digitization
Fund II Foundation works to bring to life the Black experience for all people to broaden their understanding of American history and inspire future Black leaders. This includes funding the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument. The organization also provides grants to organizations that digitize historical records to ensure this information is more widely available to researchers, educators and the public.
Social Justice
Diversity and inclusion in philanthropy are crucial to creating real, lasting change for all. Fund II Foundation invests in initiatives that promote equity for Black communities and address systematic barriers.
Environment
Fund II Foundation is dedicated to protecting the environment, increasing knowledge of nature, expanding access to parks and connecting young people to beneficial outdoor activities. Research has shown that there are numerous psychological and physical benefits to bringing people closer to nature.
Music and Arts
Exposing young people to music and the arts at an early age can change lives. Fund II Foundation invests in music education to nurture talent and help create a world where every child has a channel for self-expression and can learn more about the arts, as well as nourish their talent and soul.
Education and Career Readiness
Fund II Foundation believes that education allows students to learn self-discovery, self-sufficiency and prosperity. Through their work, Fund II Foundation provides the necessary educational resources to students who lack access and also supports organizations that provide career training to help create pathways to prosperous careers and financial stability.
Health
Fund II Foundation is focused on improving the overall health of the Black community, including supporting Black women who are pregnant and Black men battling prostate cancer. It seeks to improve healthy outcomes for the community and to alleviate emotional and economic strife.
“The most important thing you can do as a young person is to become an expert. There is no substitute for becoming the best at your craft.”
-Robert F. Smith
Student Freedom Initiative
Following Smith’s pledge to eliminate the student loan debt of the entire Morehouse Class of 2019, Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) was launched. Smith currently serves as Chairman of SFI. SFI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring freedom in professional and personal choices for students attending HBCUs and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), with an initial focus on students earning science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees. It was initially funded with a $50 million donation from Fund II Foundation, and Smith matched the donation in October 2020.
The purpose of SFI is to provide resources to help alleviate the burden of student debt that thousands of college graduates accrue every year. The elimination of crushing loan debt on young graduates will help provide the freedom they need to achieve their full potential as they enter the workforce.
Southern Communities Initiative
Smith proudly co-leads Southern Communities Initiative (SCI), a catalytic program for advancing racial equity across six Southern communities that represent more than 50% of the Black population in the U.S. These communities include New Orleans, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham, Houston and Memphis. This organization focuses on six racial equity priorities including business, banking, internships, digital access, legislation and investment. Through SCI and Smith’s partnership with Grameen America, for example, SCI has almost doubled the number of Black women entrepreneurs served in Atlanta. With an overall purpose of helping these Black communities overcome racial barriers and systemic inequalities, SCI is making a lasting impact in the U.S.
internXL
With the internXL program, Smith hopes to bring precision, diversity, inclusion and efficiency to the internship hiring process for top companies. It is a paid internship program that helps match students of color to internship opportunities in STEM and business-related fields. The intention behind internXL is to benefit both employers and students by providing highly qualified talent for employers along with opportunities and skills training for young professionals.
Cornell University
In 2016, Smith pledged $20 million to the chemical engineering school at Cornell University. In recognition of Smith’s contribution to the field and his connection with the university, Cornell named its chemical engineering school the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Smith also pledged an additional $10 million, creating the Robert Frederick Smith Tech Scholars Program, which invites Black and female high school seniors with financial need to pursue an undergraduate degree at the College of Engineering on Cornell’s Ithaca campus and then participate in a one-year technical master’s degree at Cornell Tech in New York City.
In 2022, Smith made another donation of $25 million to Cornell’s College of Engineering, which established three separate funds, including the Robert F. Smith Undergraduate Scholarship Fund, the Robert F. Smith Graduate Fellowship Fund and a general fund for student participation in events.
Columbia Business School
Smith’s generous gift of $15 million to Columbia Business School in 2017 helped the school secure its $500 million fundraising goal for its expansion to Manhattanville. The funds raised allowed the school to obtain two new state-of-the-art buildings on the university’s Manhattanville Campus. In 2022, the Manhattanville campus finally opened, and Smith donated another $10 million to create The Robert F. Smith ’94 Scholarship Fund.
Columbia Business School CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Morehouse College
During his commencement address at Morehouse College in 2019, Smith committed to paying off the student loan debt of the graduating class — a $34 million gift that helped nearly 400 graduates. Smith announced the donation, saying “On behalf of the eight generations of my family that have been in this country, we’re going to put a little fuel in your bus. This is my class, 2019. And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans.” In addition, Smith pledged $1 million to Morehouse College to fund the Robert Frederick Smith Scholars Program, plus $560,000 to develop an outdoor study space for students.
Kilgore Campus Center, Morehouse College, 2016, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Carnegie Hall
In 2016, Smith was named the Chairman of Carnegie Hall’s Board of Trustees, becoming the first Black individual to hold the position. Smith is a founding patron of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America. He also helped develop PlayUSA, a new initiative that partners with orchestras and organizations to get musical instruments into the hands of low-income and students who lack access to opportunities across the country and provide access to music instruction.
In addition, Fund II Foundation underwrote the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition’s first visit to the U.S. Smith also personally arranged for appearances by Menuhin young violinists in Berlin, Germany and in Davos, Switzerland during the World Economic Forum.
Sphinx Organization
Smith, a longtime contributor to young musicians, contributed $250,000 in 2016 to the Sphinx Organization — a Detroit-based social justice nonprofit that helps transform lives through music and art. The contribution helped establish the Robert Frederick Smith Prize, which is awarded to the winners of the Senior Division of the Sphinx Competition and includes $50,000 to provide access to professional development and other resources that can help create onramps to careers in the classical music field.
In 2019, Fund II Foundation donated $3 million to the organization to support work to further bolster the organization’s work to provide leadership and career development programs and support SphinxConnect, an annual event that brings together musicians, arts leaders, educators, funders, diversity advocates and administrators.
“Create your own. Know your purpose. Be thoughtful and conscious about what is your highest and best use.”
-Robert F. Smith
Prostate Cancer Foundation and Susan G. Komen
In 2018, Smith made a $2.5 million donation to establish the Robert Frederick Smith Precision Oncology Center of Excellence in Chicago, IL, located at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. In July 2020, Smith made a donation to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) to develop the Smith Polygenic Risk Test for Prostate Cancer. This is helpful in detecting early-stage cancer and the likelihood that an individual will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Via Fund II Foundation, Smith helped to create Susan G. Komen’s African American Health Equity Initiative (AAHEI), now known as the Stand for H.E.R. – Health Equity Revolution – with a $27 million donation in 2016.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Smith donated $20 million to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), the largest by an individual donor to the museum at the time. His donation helped the museum bolster its digitization efforts, community outreach and the curation of its collection. Visitors are able to chronicle and share their own personal narratives at the Robert F. Smith Explore Your Family History Center. The center focuses on training the next generation of museum curators and ensuring that the stories and contributions of all Black individuals are conserved and accessible.
Giving Pledge
Smith signed the Giving Pledge in 2017, becoming the first Black individual to do so. In signing the pledge, which commits signers to donate a majority of their net worth during their lifetime, Smith noted that his path was “paved by my parents, grandparents and generations of African Americans whose names I will never know. Their struggles, their courage and their progress allowed me to strive and achieve.” Smith committed to investing in causes that support equality of opportunity for the Black community and support the protection of our planet.
The King Center
Under Smith’s leadership, Fund II Foundation supported the purchase of Martin Luther King Jr.’s homestead to ensure its preservation through the National Park Service. The National Park Service will not only preserve two of King’s former Atlanta homes, but it will record and share family memories, including contributions from his family, for generations to come.
Foster Love
Foster Love is a non-profit organization on a mission to improve the lives of children in foster care. Through Fund II Foundation, Smith and his wife created the Family Fellowship Program. Additionally, every holiday season, Hope and Smith host 50 college-aged foster children.
Open Space Institute
Smith supported the Open Space Institute with a $1 million donation to upgrade and revitalize its Cultural Performance Center at the Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park in Harlem, New York. The contribution was made as part of a 2018 capital campaign, and Smith’s gift was the largest by an individual donor during the campaign. In honor of the donation, the building was renamed the Robert Frederick Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
Business Roundtable
As an at-large board member of the Business Roundtable, Smith contributes to many initiatives, including the Special Committee for Racial Equity and Justice to help business owners address the state of race and inequality in the U.S.
Lincoln Hills Cares
Smith co-founded Lincoln Hills Cares with Matthew Burkett to provide young adults and families who may not otherwise have the opportunity due to economic or family situations the ability to access Colorado’s great outdoors for education and recreation, cultural history exploration and workforce advancement.
The Trail Conservancy
With a $1.2 million donation, Smith is the leading sponsor of the Trail Bridge at Congress Avenue project in Austin, Texas, to update the trail’s infrastructure and safety, providing visitors with improved access to the scenic bat viewing area.