Pershing Square Philanthropies believes in people. We provide the risk capital to talented entrepreneurs who have the vision to dream: they re-imagine the possible, reframe problems and solutions, and see the world – its challenges and promise – in unconventional ways.  

We believe in finding the people who aren't afraid to challenge the status quo, who elevate issues and bring new thinking around intractable problems. We provide support that allows entrepreneurs to get back to building instead of fundraising, trusting them to invest in the systems, infrastructure, talent, and innovation that their organizations need.

People

We see our work through the lens of people, and seek out leaders with passion, drive, innovative mindset and integrity who seek to address big problems that humanity faces. We fund scientists through prizes, academics through professorships, future leaders through scholarships, and non-profit leaders and entrepreneurs through grant making. More than just money, we work closely with grantees, by providing operational support and strategic advice, access to technology and media resources and facilitate partnerships across academia and business worlds.

Problem

Cancer, incarceration, poverty, neurodegenerative disease, wrongful conviction, environment — PSP addresses the biggest challenges that humanity faces.  

While we’ve traditionally focused in arts and culture, health and life sciences, innovation, economic development, and education, we’re not limited by these spheres. Rather, we focus on difficult problems that can only be solved by innovative and scalable solutions.

Opportunities

We look for opportunities where we can move the needle, where philanthropic capital can catalyze new ways of thinking about age-old problems. PSP has supported organizations of different sizes, stages, and sectors across the world. Impact can take many forms: people directly served, models for replication, policy influence, and government adoption. The most innovative and impactful solutions are typically designed and delivered within a community.

We learn from our partner organizations, entrepreneurs, and scientists to help further our understanding of impact. 

Scale

We focus on supporting solutions with the potential for scale. We think about scale both in how we fund and what we fund. Typically, we seek out earlier stage non-profits or for-profit companies where we see potential for growth, and give them the funding they need to create outsized impact. When there is a for-profit solution to a problem, we prefer to invest. 

We also think about scale as creating new models that can be replicated around the world. For instance, we look for organizations that are influencing policy, technology, or business in solutions that can be replicated to serve different people or in new applications.