SOURCE OF WEALTH: BVF Partners
FUNDING AREAS: Education & Youth, Global, San Francisco Community
OVERVIEW: Mark Lampert and Susan Byrd conduct their philanthropy through the Lampert Byrd Foundation. Lampert and Susan have interests in education and youth in the San Francisco Bay area, and also in bringing global projects to scale. Available tax filings indicate that the foundation awarded jut under $2 million in grants in 2017. The foundation has not been particularly accessible in the past, but recently set up a website.
BACKGROUND: Mark N. Lampert holds an A.B. in chemistry from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Since 1984, he has engaged in ventures relating to the biotechnology industry. Lampert was a vice president at Oppenheimer & Co. and went on to found BVF Partners, a San Francisco-based private investment partnership specializing in “fundamentally-driven” [sic] public biotechnology investments.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION & YOUTH: One of the Lampert Byrd Foundation’s major initiatives is Youth Opportunity Scholarships (YOS), in partnership with Philanthropic Ventures Foundation. YOS “helps kids take part in activities of their choosing that help forge identity, inspire grit and develop a sense of agency.” Partners include Aim High, Gateway Middle School, KIPP Bridge, and Enriching Lives Through Music (ELM). The Lamperts, via their foundation, have also recently supported Harvard University. It is worth noting that Susan is a clinical social worker.
GLOBAL: On the global scale, Lampert and Susan sponsor Unorthodox Philanthropy (UP), which “funds social impact ideas that have the potential to achieve outsized impact with a finite amount of philanthropic capital.” The Lamperts have supported myAgro, a “nonprofit social enterprise that enables smallholder farmers to use their mobile phones to pay on layaway for high-quality inputs (seeds, fertilizer) and agricultural training.”
SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY: The couple is based in the Bay Area and have supported places like San Francisco Green Film Festival, and Community Initiatives.
LOOKING FORWARD: In a recent year, all $1 million in grantmaking from the foundation went to a donor advised fund at Vanguard Charitable. A previous year tells a similar story. This makes the full scope of the Lamperts’ current giving tough to get a handle on. However, with its new website, expect the newly renamed Lampert Byrd Foundation to have a more public profile. Apart from these focus areas, the foundation is also developing and environmental portfolio. For now, Unorthodox Philanthropy is the best bet for incoming proposals.
CONTACT:
The Lampert Byrd Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact but below is an address:
Lampert Byrd Foundation
2415 Green St.
San Francisco, CA 94123
