HONORING LAURA LAUDER
for her visionary philanthropic leadership and commitment
May 19, 2024: A Festive Night at the Museum to Benefit Hebrew Free Loan
Laura Lauder joined the Hebrew Free Loan Board in 1990 as a “Fed Fellow” through the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation’s leadership program. Many years later, Laura was Chair of the Federation’s Endowment Committee when Hebrew Free Loan reached out to the Federation for help in meeting the tremendous need in the community at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Laura responded with leadership, vision, and determination. Within weeks, she mobilized the Endowment Committee’s decision-makers, 54 donor-advised funds, and two supporting foundations to provide us with a pooled interest-free loan of $5.6 million. These funds allowed Hebrew Free Loan to provide Covid relief loans that impacted thousands of individuals, families, and small business owners hit hard by the pandemic.
Laura was instrumental in creating this innovative model that provides charitable funds in the form of a loan, rather than a grant. The funds are eventually returned to the donor to be recycled in support of other causes. Laura now works to spread this model around the country and help it gain traction with other donors.
Laura and her husband Gary formed Lauder Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital fund, and she focuses on strategic grantmaking through the Laura and Gary Lauder Family Venture Philanthropy Fund. A social entrepreneur and venture philanthropist, Laura holds leadership roles at numerous local and national nonprofits. She has launched many initiatives, including the Center for Media and Democracy in Israel, Jewish Teen Funders Network’s Foundation Board Incubator, and DeLeT: a credentialing program for Jewish day school teachers. Laura and Gary live in Silicon Valley and have two young adult children. With the recent birth of their first grandchild, Laura is known as Savta — her favorite title yet.
