In 1993, Blue
Ridge Foundation New York was founded by John A. Griffin, the
founder and president of Blue Ridge Captial. The Foundation
grew out of Mr. Griffin's deep commitment to philanthropy and
social change.
Reflecting Mr. Griffin’s broad interests,
the Foundation’s early grants supported organizations
pursuing a wide range of charitable activities, though a special
emphasis was given to educational institutions.
In late 1999, Blue Ridge Foundation New York
added new dimensions to our grant-making. We hired our first
staff person, Matthew Klein, and began to develop a model
for Blue Ridge to take on a more engaged relationship with
select grantees. In addition to providing cash grants, we
determined that Blue Ridge would work intensively with organizations
at the start-up stage to help talented leaders turn innovative
ideas for social change into effective, sustainable organizations.
We envisaged that the Foundation’s support would operate
similarly to an “incubator” approach, and would
include office space, funding, back-office support, and management
assistance to a small portfolio of new, promising organizations.
The Foundation tested its model of active support
for start-ups during our early work with iMentor, a nonprofit
founded to improve the lives of young people from underserved
communities through innovative technology-based approaches
to youth mentoring and education. John Griffin conceived of
the idea for iMentor, and Blue Ridge’s work with the
program offered the chance to identify how the Foundation
could help to strengthen key elements of our grantees’
organizational capacity.
In 2001, Blue Ridge Foundation New York began
to formalize our model of engaged grant-making. We refurbished
a loft in downtown Brooklyn to house the staff of our portfolio
of start-ups, articulated the elements of our grant-making
strategy and work to date, and began to share our plans with
members of New York City’s nonprofit community.
Now ideas for new organizations reach us via
our grant application process and also continue to originate
from within Blue Ridge.
