June 26, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
How much: $50-million
Who gave it: Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google, the search-engine company, and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, a co-founder of 23andMe, a genetic-testing company.
Who got it: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
What it is for: To match donations the foundation raises from other sources; the organization must raise $1 for every dollar promised by the couple by the end of 2012.
Donors’ connection to the organization: Mr. Brin and Ms. Wojcicki have given more than $130-million to the foundation since 2004, making them the largest donors to the organization. Mr. Brin carries the gene that is associated with Parkinson’s, and his mother has the disease.
How the gift came about: Deborah Brooks, co-founder and executive vice chairman of the foundation, says the donors have largely kept mum about their previous gifts to the foundation. Her colleagues at the foundation approached the couple’s representatives to see if the Fox fund could publicize their giving as a way to spark more contributions from others. They eventually agreed.
Impact of the donation: “The grant allows us not to have to pick one thing or two things or do things in sequence,” Ms. Brooks says. “It enables us to continue to do many things at once.”
