Our mission
The Viking Global Foundation was founded with a dual mission – to deploy our time and capital to make a positive impact in the communities in which we live and work and to engage and educate Vikings about philanthropy.
Our approach
The Foundation takes a hands-on approach to further our mission. Viking employees play an active role.
We seek to deliver sustainable improvements to our community through three main efforts.
We provide meaningful opportunities for Vikings to give their time and talent to nonprofit organizations in our communities. Each year, we organize over 40 volunteer events and charity drives. Vikings from all departments and offices participate in these events.
Service Day: We partner with local organizations, such as the New York Restoration Project, to host our annual volunteer project to build green space and contribute to urban agriculture initiatives.
We host speakers from philanthropic and nonprofit organizations so Vikings can be more informed philanthropic donors. Additionally, we aim to contribute to the inclusive environment at the firm as we learn about a diverse range of issues.
The most intensive and hands-on learning comes when Vikings join the Grants Committee. The Committee members work with the Foundation for a minimum of two years so they can learn our due diligence process and how to allocate funds. They form relationships with our nonprofit partners to help them achieve their organizational goals.
We provide strategic grants that support high-impact organizations with strong leaders and proven track records. We also support the diverse charitable interests of Vikings.
Early childhood education grants – A volunteer Grants Committee made up of Viking employees identifies potential organizations, conducts due diligence reviews, and makes final decisions on the nonprofit partners. Since 2012, we have provided 170 grants to organizations in Connecticut, New York City, and San Francisco.
Matching gifts – We double the personal contributions that Vikings make to nonprofit organizations by providing a matching donation (1:1) for up to five gifts or $5,000 annually. Last year, the Foundation supported more than 250 different nonprofits through the matching gift program.
Capacity building support – Vikings can nominate nonprofits to receive a capacity building grant to improve their effectiveness and future sustainability.
Learn about our grantmaking
Our focus
We focus our engagement and grantmaking on three core areas: educational equity, environmental sustainability, and furthering the philanthropic pursuits of individual Vikings.
Environmental sustainability
Our goal is to help create more sustainable communities. We work with nonprofit partners to improve urban agriculture, promote conservation, and provide equitable access to parks and greenspace.
Viking community
Our goal is to encourage Vikings to share their own charitable passions with each other in an inclusive environment. We recognize the diverse interests of our employees while helping nonprofits to build capacity.
Educational equity
Our goal is to increase access to education and economic opportunities for low-income families and individuals. We work with organizations to address systemic inequities and help those in some of the most marginalized communities achieve their full potential.
Service Day
Early childhood education grants
Matching gifts
Each year Viking requests our most difficult projects and without fail, Vikings work arduously and diligently with our team to improve the most densely populated and least green neighborhoods in the City.
— New York Restoration Project
Our impact in 2023
~250
Nonprofits
supported
~2,200
Volunteer hours
by Vikings
~95%
Vikings participated in
Foundation activities
In the spotlight
Union Settlement
Our 10th annual Service Day in 2022 brought 128 Vikings together over two days to work with our partner New York Restoration Project (NYRP) to upgrade the community garden of Union Settlement. Union Settlement is the oldest and largest social service provider in East Harlem, delivering critical support and services to a large immigrant and historically underserved community with one of the highest poverty rates in NYC.
The Viking team worked to transform a previously unusable space to create a beautiful garden. Together we cleared overgrown shrubs, filled a dilapidated sunken area of the garden, and brought in soil to level the area. Vikings also built, raised, and filled more than 40 planting beds, created wood chip pathways, planted 120 plants, mulched and watered ornamental beds, built furniture, and installed two new structures – a shade canopy and a 900 sq. ft. green house. In total, we provided more than 600 volunteer hours of sweat equity to enhance Union Settlement’s outdoor space and expand their ability to provide services to the community.
Hudson Guild
From 2013 to 2017, we were pleased to partner with Hudson Guild, a Manhattan-based community agency serving children from low-income families.
Through our grant program, we were able to support Hudson Guild in establishing a solid financial foundation for the future.
Our COVID-19 response
COVID-19 hit under-resourced and vulnerable communities the hardest, adding to the daily challenges facing low-income families and individuals.
Over 2020 and 2021, the Foundation allocated additional funds to support these communities during the pandemic.
In addition to our early childhood work, we funded more than $1.2 million in grants to nonprofit organizations providing services in areas such as food insecurity, childcare, and mental health support.
We provided additional funding beyond our typical grants to 10 early childhood nonprofit partners to address new and crucial needs related to COVID-19.
We launched a separate matching gift program to triple employees’ donations to organizations responding to the COVID-19 crisis.