Digital Media Concepts/Paul Allen's Philanthropic Practices

Overview:

Paul Allen was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 21, 1953. He attended Lakeside School at 14 and met a fellow student named Bill Gates. In 1975, Paul Allen and Bill Gates dropped out of college and founded Microsoft.[1] After being diagnosed with early-stage Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 1982, Paul Allen focused more on personal business ventures and philanthropic practices, such as founding Vulcan in 1986 and the “The Paul G. Allen Foundation” (now Allen Family Philanthropies) in 1998 with his sister, Jody Allen. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2009[2] and died of septic shock on October 15, 2018.[3]

Allen Family Philanthropies

Paul Allen founded “The Paul G. Allen Foundation” (now known as Allen Family Philanthropies) in 1998, with his sister Jody Allen. As of 2015, they have contributed over $500 million dollars into their core areas of Youth, Arts & Experience, and Environment.[4]

Environment

In 2025, Paul Allen had contributed over $74.1 million dollars to promoting environmental sustainability.[5] One of his most influential projects was the Great Elephant Census (2013-2016) which showed a 30% decline of elephant population from 2007 to 2014, influencing the CITES to implement the closing of ivory markets.[6]

Again in 2025, Allen Family Philanthropies had donated $5 million dollars to six different projects based in the Pacific Northwest, aimed towards carbon removal. These projects ranged from work on beaver habitat restoration by the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, to restoration of B.C forests by using Indigenous burning practices.[7]

Paul Allen also founded Allen Coral Atlas, which works to maintain Earth’s coral reefs. This project is unique in that it uses space-based satellite imagery and is the first regularly updated full-scale map of the world’s coral reefs. It is also open-source, allowing anyone to access the database. Allen Coral Atlas was completed in 2021, and is now managed by scientists at Arizona State University.[8]

Arts & Culture

On August 26th, 2025, Allen Family Philanthropies partnered for a third consecutive year with ArtsFund to distribute $10 million dollars to 930 grantees across Washington through the Community Accelerator Grant Program, leading to a total of $30 million dollars in grants across Washington over a period of 3 years. These grants allowed organizations to further their personal missions and take care of operational needs, such as programming and mortgage.[9]

Youth

The Youth Program of Allen Family Philanthropies aims to empower youth by granting them leadership opportunities and increasing national awareness for the potential of youth change.[10] On September 9th, 2025, National Geographic announced a fourth consecutive year of their Slingshot Program, formed by a partnership with Allen Family Philanthropies in 2022. The Slingshot Program aims to identify and support potential youth changemakers. The Slingshot Program gives youth the opportunity to submit 1-minute videos with ideas regarding global issues such as climate change or air pollution. The winners would then be awarded grants up-to $10,000 dollars to continue their projects. [11]

References

  1. ↑ "Paul Allen - Microsoft, Yacht & Bill Gates". Biography. 2021-04-01. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  2. ↑ "About Paul Allen". Paul Allen. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  3. ↑ "Paul Allen's Cause of Death Revealed to Be Septic Shock, a Known Complication of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma". World Sepsis Day - September 13. 2018-10-23. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  4. ↑ "Who We Are | Allen Family Philanthropies". www.allenphilanthropies.org. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  5. ↑ "Environment | Allen Family Philanthropies". www.allenphilanthropies.org. 2025-02-27. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  6. ↑ "Great Elephant Census". Paul Allen. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  7. ↑ Stiffler, Lisa (2025-02-27). "Allen Family Foundation awards $5M to support and study six nature-based carbon removal projects". GeekWire. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  8. ↑ "Allen Coral Atlas". Paul Allen. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  9. ↑ "930 Washington state arts and culture orgs awarded through Community Accelerator Grant program | Allen Family Philanthropies". www.allenphilanthropies.org. 2025-08-26. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  10. ↑ "Youth | Allen Family Philanthropies". www.allenphilanthropies.org. 2025-06-30. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
  11. ↑ "The 2026 Slingshot Challenge: A global call to action for youth and the environment | Allen Family Philanthropies". www.allenphilanthropies.org. 2025-09-09. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
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