Bio
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen is the Founder and President of the Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation (LAAF.org), a private operating foundation with a mission to inspire, educate and empower people to give in a way that matters more. Operating as a philanthropic innovation lab, LAAF uses technology innovations to globally scale philanthropy education–creating and disseminating resources and scaling programs that advance the educational, individual and institutional fields of philanthropy to increase impact. Founding initiatives include: Giving 2.0: The MOOC (massive open online course) that is teaching over 25,000 givers around the world how to strategically invest time, money and expertise; ProjectU, a portfolio of open-source educational resources providing all that an educator needs to teach philanthropy courses; Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World, a New York Times bestselling book that empowers all givers to give their time, money, networks and expertise—in any amount—in a way that matters more.
Laura created and has taught Stanford Graduate School of Business’ (Stanford GSB) first course on Strategic Philanthropy since 2000 and has developed and teaches Stanford University’s first courses on strategic philanthropy; philanthropic entrepreneurship; design thinking to create social impact; grantmaking; as well as technology’s disruption of the social sector. Laura is the Founder and Board Chairman of Stanford PACS (Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society), a global research center committed to exploring ideas to create social change and publisher of the award-winning Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR).
Laura is the Founder, Chairman Emeritus and former Chairman (1998-2008) of SV2 (Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund), a venture philanthropy fund that leverages its investors’ financial, intellectual and human capital to fund and scale innovative, early-stage nonprofits. SV2 has a portfolio of 41 grantees, 500+ investors and won the 2008 Silicon Valley Association of Fundraising Professionals Philanthropic Organization of the Year.
Her New York Times bestselling and award-winning book, Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World (Wiley, 2011), empowers people of all backgrounds, ages and passions to make their giving matter more. Laura has written for T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Worth Magazine, the Huffington Post, SSIR and Measuring The Networked Nonprofit. Laura has been profiled in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Barrons, Forbes and Vogue. She has been featured on Charlie Rose, CNN with Erin Burnett, MSNBC with Dylan Ratigan and CNBC Power Lunch.
Laura is Co-founder and President of the Marc and Laura Andreessen Foundation. She is director of the Arrillaga Foundation and a board member of Sand Hill Foundation and Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). She is a former trustee of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Hoover Institution, Castilleja School, Menlo School, Eastside Preparatory School and San Francisco Art Institute.
Laura holds an MBA from the Stanford GSB, as well as an MA in Education, BA and MA in Art History all from Stanford University. In total, Laura holds five degrees from Stanford including Bing Nursery School where she graduated with honors by consuming vast quantities of Play-Doh under the crafts table.
In addition to numerous California philanthropy awards, Laura was a 2005 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute; was awarded the 2005 President’s Volunteer Service Award from the Points of Light Foundation; was honored with the World Affairs Council’s Global Philanthropy Forum 2011 Global Citizen Award, as well as the 2014 Commonwealth Club Distinguished Citizen Award. Laura lives with her husband, technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, near Stanford University, and together they enjoy reading, art, writing, movies, athletics, sleeping, not sleeping and laughing as much as possible.