The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation was founded on a belief in the power of innovation and the conviction that with bold support, passionate individuals with great ideas can change the world.

ABOUT US

DRK Foundation is a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high impact social enterprises. We believe that with early funding and rigorous support, exceptional leaders, tackling some of society’s most complex problems, can make the world a better place.

Borrowed from our venture capital legacy, we find, fund and support exceptional leaders with innovative and highly impactful ideas that have the potential to scale. We provide unrestricted capital, and, most importantly, we provide rigorous, ongoing support by joining the board of directors and partnering with the leader to help build capacity in the organization and scale their impact. Learn more about Our Model.

We invest in early-stage organizations and are often their first institutional investor, as well as their first “outside” board member. We invest in a wide variety of sectors:  our current portfolio includes organizations working both domestically and internationally, helping to provide critical access to healthcare, education, food security, social justice, water and sanitation, transparency and accountability, and shelter.

We are now looking forward to finding, funding, and supporting the next generation of impactful DRK portfolio organizations. We have expanded our footprint in the world with offices in Menlo Park, Boston, Dallas, The Hague, and Nairobi. With over 200 investments driving an aggregate impact of 274 million direct lives and more than 30 million indirect lives, we truly have over 300 million reasons to believe. Twenty years ago, the thought—let alone the reality—that our portfolio organizations could have this kind of impact in the world was unimaginable. Today it is a reality.

HISTORY

William H. Draper, III, and Robin Richards Donohoe began investing together in the venture industry in 1994, concentrating on companies in India. Since then, they have invested in more than 200 early stage information technology investments in India and the United States.

They formed the Draper Richards Foundation in 2002 with a fund totaling $14 million, the majority of which was contributed by Bill and Robin, with contributions from family members. Bill and Robin’s successful venture capital partnership shaped the approach of the foundation and helped create the model we follow today.

In 2010, the foundation became the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation when former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs and professor of leadership at Harvard Business School, Robert S. Kaplan, (former President & CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas) joined as co-chair. Together the team raised the foundation’s second, third, and fourth funds, inviting more than 100 innovative philanthropists to join them as donor partners.

IMPACT

At DRK, we measure impact by looking at the number of direct lives reached, the rates of growth of the organizations we support, and the evidence of systemic change they create.

WHAT WE FUND

DRK’s hope is to support outsized impact through entrepreneurs and enterprises that create a transformational paradigm shift to meaningfully address a pressing societal problem affecting people’s lives.

DRK Funds:

• Organizations addressing a critical social or environmental issue as the focus of their work.
• Founders who intend to expand their impact significantly over time.
• Organizations operating in Africa, Europe, India, Latin America, and the United States.
• Independent nonprofit and impact first, mission-driven for-profit entities, including US 501(c)3 and its non-US equivalents, C corporations, B corporations, and hybrid organizations.
• Fiscally sponsored organizations in select cases where there is a plan to spin out (in our experience, independence creates stronger enabling conditions for growth).
• Post-pilot, pre-scale organizations. This typically means:
  —Your program, product or service is already in the market or in the field.
  —You have early indication that your model is having its intended impact.
  —Your organization is 3-5 years old (this is not a rule, but a guidepost).
• Organizations with one or more founders who are full-time or intend to be.
  —We believe that full-time leadership from the organization’s founder(s) is critical to an early stage organization’s growth.
  —We recognize that going full-time requires resources that you may still be putting together, and if that is the case we are happy to start a conversation with you in the meantime.
• We value diversity of people proximate to the problem at hand and a commitment to foster justice, equity, inclusion, and belonging practices.

DRK Prioritizes:

• Evidence of focused alignment, systemic social change, data-based decision making.
• Leaders who are continually learning and iterating and welcome a deep working relationship with DRK for 3 years. Leaders who intimately understand the opportunity and the communities they serve. Leaders committed to advancing justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging for all.
• Organizations who are designed to realize their impact at scale.

DRK Does Not Fund:

• Idea or pre-pilot stage organizations.
• Organizations that do not plan to expand or scale their impact to achieve their mission.
• Projects housed within an established, mature organization (unless there is a plan to spin out).
• Awareness or field building campaigns.
• Organizations whose sole focus is the development of research.
• Programs promoting religious doctrine.
• US 501(c)4 organizations.
  

  CONTACT

  We would love to hear from you. Please use the info@ email address below to get in touch with us. We will reply as soon as possible.

  Our Offices

  • United States

    Menlo Park, CA

    1600 El Camino Real, Suite 155
    Menlo Park, CA 94025

    Tel: 650-319-7808

    Email: info@drkfoundation.org

    Boston, MA

    535 Boylston Street, 7th Floor
    Boston, MA 02116

    Tel: 650-319-7806

    Dallas, TX

    3963 Maple Ave, Suite 490
    Dallas, TX 75219

  • International

    Netherlands

    Riviervismarkt 3
    2513 AM Den Haag
    The Hague

    Kenya

    The Promenade, 5th Floor
    General Mathenge Road
    Nairobi