Home | Wildcard Giving

Wildcard Giving is a family of philanthropic entities committed to community through a common set of values, grantmaking practices, and staff.

It is with gratitude that we find ourselves with this capacity to give. We are committed to our philanthropic endeavors and devote our time and energy to this work. Sunlight Giving, Acton Family Giving and Solidarity Giving each have a distinct mission, but hold a shared belief in an individual’s right to dignity, agency, justice and self-determination. Together, they work to further civic values, collective responsibility, and our common humanity. Collectively we refer to these entities as Wildcard Giving*.

- Tegan and Brian Acton

Sister Entities

Wildcard Giving is a family of three sister entities: Sunlight Giving, Acton Family Giving, and Solidarity Giving.


Mission	Sunlight Giving believes a child’s economic status should not define their future. We are dedicated to supporting nonprofits that ensure young children and their families living in poverty in greater Silicon Valley have access to the resources they need.	Acton Family Giving supports targeted initiatives and organizations the Actons have a personal connection to. This is not discretionary giving, but a home for work, ideas, and efforts that further our commitment to community.	Solidarity Giving supports and defends America’s civic values by funding organizations that advance social justice, promote civic engagement, and serve threatened communities around the country.
Detail	Private Foundation	Donor Advised Fund at Fidelity Charitable	Donor Advised Fund at Fidelity Charitable
Grantmaking Geography	10 Bay Area Counties	National, International; Local Family Giving	National; State and Regional Affiliate Partnerships
Established	2014	2014	2016
Corpus*	$495,548,965	$420,335,266	$351,444,713
Annual Grantmaking Targets	$23,000,000	$22,000,000	$15,000,000

Grantmaking

What We Believe

We are an organization deeply rooted in our core beliefs, which shape our values. Every day, we strive to embody these principles in all aspects of our work. They inform our decision-making—both within our organization and in our interactions with our communities—serving as a constant reminder of what we stand for.

Our endowment and purpose sit in the public trust.

Transparency

Publishing our grantmaking and financial information, sharing our processes, practices, and priorities, and being open and authentic in our communications.

Responsibility

Investing our resources (human, dollars, time, name) thoughtfully while balancing impact, risk, cost, efficiency, and legacy.

Humility

Recognizing the expertise of our partners and community leaders, understanding that they are the ones doing the hard work, and doing our part to dismantle the inherent power imbalance between nonprofits and funders.

Every individual is valued and deserves a life of dignity.

Equity

Committing to advancing fairness, opportunity, and justice throughout our programs by centering the needs, voices, and experiences of BIPOC, immigrants, women, families, and people living in poverty.

Respect

Honoring the experiences, wisdom, time and expertise of others, acknowledging our limited role in the ecosystem, and valuing difference and diversity of people and perspectives.

Empathy

Approaching our work and decisions with understanding, compassion, and respect in order to build trust, belonging, and a shared sense of humanity.

In the power and wisdom of communities.

Trust

Giving our partners the space to do their best work, providing flexible long-term support, and accepting the risk associated with new approaches, ideas, and perspectives.

Responsiveness

Remaining consistent supporters of our partners, listening to them, incorporating feedback, and quickly adapting to changing circumstances.

Learning

Leading with curiosity to learn from our team, partners, and communities so we continue to grow and evolve.

Transparency

Publishing our grantmaking and financial information, sharing our processes, practices, and priorities, and being open and authentic in our communications.

Empathy

Approaching our work and decisions with understanding, compassion, and respect in order to build trust, belonging, and a shared sense of humanity.

Trust

Giving our partners the space to do their best work, providing flexible long-term support, and accepting the risk associated with new approaches, ideas, and perspectives.

Humility

Equity

Committing to advancing fairness, opportunity, and justice throughout our programs by centering the needs, voices, and experiences of BIPOC, immigrants, women, families, and people living in poverty.

Responsiveness

Remaining consistent supporters of our partners, listening to them, incorporating feedback, and quickly adapting to changing circumstances.

Responsibility

Investing our resources (human, dollars, time, name) thoughtfully while balancing impact, risk, cost, efficiency, and legacy.

Respect

Honoring the experiences, wisdom, time and expertise of others, acknowledging our limited role in the ecosystem, and valuing difference and diversity of people and perspectives.

Learning

Leading with curiosity to learn from our team, partners, and communities so we continue to grow and evolve.

How We Give

We are committed to giving a minimum of 5% collectively across our philanthropic entities, including our donor advised funds each year. While the mission of each sister entity is distinct, we ground our work in a shared set of grantmaking values and approaches, and strive to apply best practices in philanthropy.

Mission Alignment

We consider funding organizations based on their mission, leadership, communities served, alignment with the overall mission and priorities of each sister entity, and other factors.

Equity

We partner with organizations that center BIPOC, immigrants, women and families, and people experiencing poverty.

Flexible Funding

We provide flexible funding, typically in the form of general support grants. We also offer capacity building, capital, and other types of grants.

Long-Term Funding

We offer multi-year support to most of our grantees, acknowledging the benefits of securing stable, long-term funding.

Minimal Requirements

We are mindful of the time and effort we request from grantees throughout the funding process and attempt to minimize procedure and reporting requirements.

Grant Size

We determine our grant sizes based on an organization’s capacity, alignment with our mission, and specific role within the communities served.

About the Actons

Tegan and Brian Acton are the founders and co-chairs of Wildcard Giving, a family of philanthropic entities created following the sale of WhatsApp to Facebook in 2014. Tegan serves as the principal at each of the sister entities, which work together to further civic values, collective responsibility, and our common humanity. Independent of Wildcard Giving, Brian serves as the Executive Chairman of the Signal Technology Foundation, which strives to make private communication accessible and ubiquitous.

Prior to establishing Wildcard Giving, Tegan served as the Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives for the office of the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. She additionally held positions at Yahoo! and the Sundance Institute, and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a BA in English and Political Science. Tegan is the head of Good Gravy Films, which provides grants and equity funding to independent films, serves on the Executive Committee of the Collaborative for Gender and Reproductive Equity, and Chairs Board of Trustees of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Brian has been an engineering leader throughout Silicon Valley, holding various positions at Adobe, Apple, and Yahoo! before co-founding WhatsApp with Jan Koum in 2009. After eight years at WhatsApp/Facebook, Brian left to start the Signal Technology Foundation in 2018. Brian graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Computer Science.

THE TEAM

Sepi Aghdaee

Program Officer

Sunlight Giving

Cedrick Andrews

Program Director

Acton Family Giving, Solidarity Giving, Sunlight Giving

Jessica Avendano

Program Officer

Sunlight Giving

Vianey Barroso Villa

Office and Administrative Manager

Acton Family Giving, Solidarity Giving, Sunlight Giving

Cat Collins

Grants Manager

Acton Family Giving, Solidarity Giving

Kelsey Leuchars

Grants Manager

Sunlight Giving

Erika Matadamas

Program Officer

Sunlight Giving

Puja Mehta

Program Officer

Solidarity Giving

Erin O'Donohue

Operations Director

Acton Family Giving, Solidarity Giving, Sunlight Giving

Emma Pompetti

Managing Director

Acton Family Giving, Solidarity Giving, Sunlight Giving

Zoe Tamaki

Program Officer

Acton Family Giving

*Why Wildcard

Anchor In software and searches, a wildcard operator is a placeholder that is represented by a single character — like an asterisk — which can stand in for one or a series of characters. That means a single wildcard operator can return a huge number of results. In this way, in addition to its tie-in to the entities’ tech beginnings, the name Wildcard Giving is based on the idea that a single act of giving returns tenfold.