SFE: About Us

We’re Siegel Family Endowment, a New York City-based family foundation in the early stages of our organizational life. As we continue to grow and expand the scope of our work, we want to share some information about ourselves with you.

Reflections: My Path to (and Through) SFE

The below is by Thea Charles, Siegel Family Endowment’s Director of Data Insights. Thea is currently pursuing her PhD in History of Science at SUNY Stony Brook, and her role at SFE involves defining the theoretical framework for our interest areas and…

Our Next Chapter in “Career Readiness”

In our work to prepare the next generation for rapid digital transformation, SFE spends a lot of time considering what it means to be empowered to make impactful, well-informed decisions about careers. We think about factors ranging from self-empowerment, to…

2016 at Siegel Family Endowment: Build to Last

2016 was a big year for Siegel Family Endowment — perhaps our most significant yet. We grew our staff by 5 (to a total of 7), refined our mission, interest areas, and approach, and continued to grow and diversify our portfolio of grantees.

A New Class of Research Fellows

Siegel Family Endowment is part of the movement to foster learning through open access, participation, and wide-scale collaboration. As participants and advocates in this field, we’re always on the hunt for research and organizations that exemplify openness, transparency…

Stop Differentiating Between Program and Administrative Funding

As the Director of Special Projects at SFE, I spend a lot of time talking to others in the philanthropic sector about their approaches to funding. It’s an opportunity to get in the weeds with other funders about their…

What We Mean When We Talk About Computational Thinking

For years, STEM programs have been touted as a panacea for filling the growing gap between education and an increasingly technology-driven workforce. When executed successfully, skills-based STEM programs give students the skills and…

Managing Mission Creep

All too often, development teams think they have to change their missions and the work of their organizations to fit a funder’s vision. I think everyone would be well-served to remember the following: nonprofits have missions, foundations have missions of their own, and it’s okay that…

Uniquely Human Insights from SFE’s Grantee Network

What Is Effective Philanthropy?

SFE shares a belief with a number of other foundations that our grants need to serve two key functions in order to be impactful. On a fundamental level, our grants have to enable grantees to do their work. In a larger sense, our grants need to contribute to a larger…