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)
Investment:
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 and her mother, Marie, created the Stiefel Family Foundation with the aim of supporting sustainable communities not dependent on fossil fuels. Lili became interested in renewable energy while managing the solar car team in college. A master’s thesis on radical Islam further persuaded her of the importance of supporting locally available alternatives to oil.
In early 2008, Lili moved the foundation’s headquarters from Washington, DC, to San Francisco and added an angel investing fund to supplement its endowment. The foundation is now evenly divided between grants and investments and is run as a hybrid for-profit/non-profit entity.
In 2009, Lili and Marie decided to allocate all of the foundation’s endowment to socially responsible investments. They’re currently working with Paul Herman of HIP Investor to align the endowment’s investments and its social goals without sacrificing security or return.
