The HAND Foundation

The HAND Foundation (HAND) is a private foundation established by former Oracle Corporation executive Noosheen Hashemi and former chief technology officer Farzad Nazem. The foundation makes grants in seven areas: Advancement of Philanthropy and Volunteerism, Education, Entrepreneurship, Debate and Advocacy, Prevention of
Child Sexual Abuse, Advancement of Women and Girls, and Crisis Management and Rebuilding.
Advancement of Philanthropy and Volunteerism
The HAND Foundation is committed to the advancement of diaspora and minority communities in the United States. The foundation’s work with diasporas has centered largely on encouraging civic participation and inspiring these groups to partake in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.
HAND is a founding partner of the International diaspora Engagement Alliance (IdEA), which was launched by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the inaugural Global Diaspora Forum in May 2011. IdEA promotes diaspora-centered initiatives in entrepreneurship, volunteerism, philanthropy, diplomacy, and social innovation in countries of diaspora origin.
HAND places emphasis on knowledge sharing and networking to boost the philanthropic sector and to this end has supported Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2), the Global Philanthropy Forum and the Independent Sector. HAND has also supported a number of diaspora organizations including Developments in Literacy, a Pakistani American organization that supports education in Pakistan; the American India Foundation (AIF), the largest U.S.-based diaspora philanthropy organization focused on India; and the India Community Center (ICC). National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations Foundation is another diaspora civic engagement organization that HAND has supported.
The HAND Foundation incubated PARSA Community Foundation (PARSA), the first and only Persian community foundation in the United States. A secular, meritocratic collaboration amongst community leaders with an independent grant advisory committee made up of community experts, PARSA Community Foundation led semi-annual, competitive international grant cycles between 2006 and 2010. PARSA had three areas of focus: preservation and advancement of Persian arts and culture, leadership development; and civic participation and volunteerism. PARSA played a key role establishing and fortifying Iranian studies programs at various universities, supporting local Iranian community centers, and supporting Iranian collections and programming at local museums. PARSA's Philanthropist of the Year and Volunteerism and Action awards celebrated community leaders of all ages for their service to others. In its six years of operation, the foundation awarded nearly 250 grants totaling $7.75 million; over $4 million was invested in Persian arts and culture initiatives; $1.2 million in civic engagement; $800k in leadership development; and almost a million dollars in humanitarian causes.
Education
To help make American democracy more vibrant, HAND is committed to promoting the idea and the privilege of citizenship among the nation’s future leaders. As the 21st century demands that students master STEM and humanities, it also needs an aware citizenry to not only see the most remarkable opportunities and challenges around them, but also have the skills to address them. HAND supports programs for the youth to learn about social investing and develop skills to make sustainable and high-impact giving a natural outflow of their education. HAND has made significant grants to Menlo School in Atherton, CA, and The Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA, where HAND co-founder Farzad Nazem serves on the board of trustees. In the fall of 2012, the HAND Foundation established the HAND Foundation-Menlo Summer Fellowship Awards at Menlo School, to enable selected students to undertake an in-depth investigation, scholarly research, and service learning projects within the U.S. and abroad.
In 2013, HAND and Iranian Alliances Across Borders (IAAB) jointly established the IAAB Lend a HAND Fellowships. These fellowships inspire, engage, and connect emerging leaders through a summer leadership program and year round public service initiatives. HAND has also been a long-time supporter of College Track, which empowers students from underserved communities to obtain a college degree.
To advance the science of economics, the foundation supports young talent via scholarships to top-ten PhD economics programs. To date twenty scholarships have been awarded. The foundation also works to build a professional network among its scholarship recipients and prominent economists by hosting the annual HAND Economics Forum. The forum features current topics in economics and working papers by graduating scholars. In 2010, the conference was hosted at the University of Chicago, featuring Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary S. Becker as the keynote speaker. In 2011, the conference was held at Massachusetts Institute of Technology with economists Abhijit Banerjee and as guest speakers. In 2012, the forum took place at Stanford University and speakers included economists Paul Milgrom, Pete Klenow and Pascaline Dupas.
Entrepreneurship
HAND invests in organizations that cultivate entrepreneurial thinking, problem-solving, and opportunity globally. These organizations include African Entrepreneur Collective, Digital Divide Data, Persian Tech Entrepreneurs, Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship at Haas School of Business (BCEDME), and Samasource.
Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse
The foundation’s approach to preventing child sexual abuse is to fund nonprofits that aim to lower public tolerance for sexual abuse through education and media campaigns. Since 2003, the HAND Foundation has supported a number of organizations that work to combat child sexual abuse globally, including: Darkness to Light, Free the Slaves, generationFIVE, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), Prajwala, Camp To Belong, San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, Friends of the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women, A Home Away from Homelessness, Freshwater Haven and Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). Notably, the HAND Foundation’s support of the Equal Justice Initiative helped them win three historic victories in the United States Supreme Court and move the United States closer to ending the practice of condemning children to lifelong incarceration. HAND is a member of the National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation.
Debate and Advocacy
In keeping with its mission to strengthen the global middle class, the foundation has fostered leading edge thinking through support of research institutions and think tanks such as the New America Foundation, Hoover Institution, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)/Stanford Center for International Development (SCID), and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
HAND also supports a number of other institutions focused on international relations and development: the Council on Foreign Relations, Brookings Institution, the Atlantic Council and the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI), Ploughshares Fund, Center for Advancing Health, Ideo.org, Digital Divide Data and Samasource.
Advancement of Women and Girls
HAND supports organizations that provide mentorship and create opportunities for girls and women who need encouragement for the path they’re on, or support to get back on course. Examples of these organizations include Friends of the Commission on the Status of Women (COSW), Feminist Majority Foundation, Girl Scouts of Northern California, Oasis for Girls, Moms Against Poverty, and the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs.
Crisis Management and Rebuilding
HAND supports local and global organizations that focus on the health and healing of communities suffering from acute natural disasters and long-term social conflict. Examples include Doctors Without Borders, the Center for the Advancement of Health, Crisis Action, Partners in Health, Innvision Shelter Network, and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation.

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