ABSTRACT
Pierre Omidyar's experience at eBay informed his approach to philanthropy. Through Omidyar Network, founded in 2005, he invests in for-profit and nonprofit initiatives designed to promote individual empowerment, economic, social or political, enabling people to tap their potential to make a difference. In addition to blending philanthropy and for-profit business, he has focused on microfinance as a poverty alleviation strategy through economic empowerment. The eBay phenomenon represents Omidyar's philosophy on how markets should run. Omidyar sees the largest potential for hybrid philanthropy in the twenty-first century is in getting people thinking about business as having a positive impact and helping fund these types of entities. Through Omidyar Network and the Omidyar-Tufts University Microfinance Fund, Pierre Omidyar seeks to align strategic philanthropy with socially responsible investing and grant-making to create sustainable, scalable for-profit businesses and nonprofit entities, having a social impact.
