Ballmer Group launches ‘MoveUp Washington’ as part of philanthropic restructuring – GeekWire

The Ballmer Group, the Bellevue, Wash.-based philanthropy founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie, is spinning off its Washington state operation into an independent corporation, one of three new regional groups unveiled Wednesday as part of a broader restructuring.

The new organization, MoveUp Washington, will be led by Andi Smith, who currently heads the Ballmer Group’s Washington regional office. It will operate independently of the Ballmer Group but continue to be funded by the Ballmers, furthering the philanthropy’s existing mission of improving the economic mobility of children and families in the province.

Similar organizations are launching in Southeast Michigan and Los Angeles County – MoveUp Southeast Michigan and MoveUp LA – led by Kylee Mitchell Wells and Nina Revoyr, respectively, who currently lead the Ballmer Group’s regional offices in those areas.

Since the three regional groups are independent, the Ballmer Group said in a press release that it will narrow its focus to a small set of large, risky programs aimed at improving the economic mobility of children and families nationally.

“Our goal is to ensure that these community service programs can be permanent, sustainable resources in each region, while focusing our national efforts on improving economic mobility in new ways,” the Ballmers said in a statement.

Ballmer Group CEO Terri Ludwig, who helped guide the transition, will serve as a founding board member of all three entities while continuing to lead Ballmer Group.

Each organization will establish its own independent board and continue its existing regional operations while evolving to meet local needs, according to the Ballmer Group.

“In all of these regions, our teams have shown exceptional leadership and distributed more than $1.5 billion over the past decade,” Ludwig said in a statement.

Examples of past donations include:

• $38 million to strengthen mental health services in Washington, including graduate-level scholarships for clinical education coordinated through the University of Washington’s School of Social Work.
• $43 million to UW and other groups to improve children’s education, including more than 1,500 scholarships over eight years.
• $400 million to Black investment fund managers and Black businesses, working with firms including Fairview Capital and Goldman Sachs.

Ballmer Group team members currently working in Washington, Southeast Michigan and Los Angeles County will transition to new organizations over the next year. Current grants will continue to be supported throughout the program, without interruption to existing commitments, according to the Ballmer Group.

The Ballmers are still deciding on the long-term financial structure of the new ventures – a gift is one option being considered, although it is not an established one.

Steve Ballmer, who served as CEO of Microsoft from 2000-2014, is the founder of USAFacts, a non-profit organization founded in 2017 to make government data accessible and easy to understand. He is also the chairman of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team.