Marie Stiefel

I'm Based in Vero Beach, FL to take advantage of the sea, sun, and good friends. My current projects include

Philanthropy:

• the Stiefel Family Foundation, started by my daughter, Lili
• Yale University Dept of Engineering – funds student projects
• Impact 100 – a giving circle which each year grants $100,000 to single charity to deploy a transformational initiative.
• Life Coach for a girl deemed to be “at risk” of leaving school (in year three of a six year commitment, she is now in grade 9)

Investor:
Together, Lili and I also invest in early stage companies involved in alternative energy (angel investing) and in social ventures, i.e. for-profit companies that include some environmental or social benefit in their mission.

Trustee, Vero Beach Museum of Art:
My particular interest is contemporary glass (Harvey Littleton, the founder of the modern glass movement, lives in our area)

Widow of Werner K Stiefel, founder of Stiefel Labs.

Lili Stiefel

Lili Stiefel created the foundation with her mother, Marie, in the spring of 2007.

She first became interested in renewable energy long ago in college, where she managed the school’s solar car team with more enthusiasm than competence.

A master’s thesis on radical Islam persuaded her of the importance of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and promoting renewable energy in any way possible. To this end, she relocated the foundation’s headquarters (and herself) from DC to San Francisco in the winter of 2008 and broadened its mission from a straight grant-making organization to a hybrid non-profit/for-profit institution.

The Foundation now makes seed-stage investments in renewable energy startups and has pledged to use the profits (if any) to supplement its grant-making endeavors.