In 1996 Lisa Sobrato Sonsini was shoveling dirt to help build a camp for foster youth when she realized she was enjoying her work far more than her job as a corporate securities lawyer. “I realized I needed to do more with my life to give back,” Sonsini says.
Later that year she started the Sobrato Family Foundation, funded by the donations from her family, owners of a real estate firm in Silicon Valley. Sobrato Philanthropies, which includes the foundation and other family funds, has since donated nearly $1.5 billion, mainly toward programs in Silicon Valley to address income inequality and sustainability—including a $100 million fund, created in partnership with Apple, to help nonprofits build over 700 units of housing for low-income residents of the Bay Area.
This year Sobrato Philanthropies, which Sobrato chairs, is making its largest financial commitment yet, contributing more than 25% of its $1 billion in assets to projects ranging from a $150 million initiative to boost economic mobility in the area to educational support for English language learners.
In 2012 Sonsini’s father and brother both signed the Giving Pledge. “The pledge is that the majority of our wealth will be given away in our lifetimes,” says Sonsini. “My husband and I just signed it too.”