Mike and Kaitlyn Krieger
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: Instagram
FUNDING AREAS: Criminal justice reform, work and economic opportunity
OVERVIEW: Mike Krieger and his wife Kaitlyn cofounded the Future Justice Fund, an emerging philanthropic venture focused on criminal justice reform and income security in the U.S. The couple's philanthropy is still developing, but they have partnered with GiveWell to support operations related to the Open Philanthropy Project.
BACKGROUND: Born in 1986 and a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mike Krieger holds an MS in symbolic systems from Stanford University. He worked at Meebo as a user experience designer and front-end engineer. Along with Kevin Systrom, Krieger co-founded Instagram, a global community that shares more than 60 million photos every day. Kaitlyn Krieger, who serves as president of the Future Justice Fund, is a graduate of Yale University and worked for TaskRabbit.
ISSUES:
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM: The Future Justice Fund’s primary funding area is criminal justice reform in the U.S., with an "emphasis on ending mass incarceration and creating safer, stronger communities." The fund’s grantmaking in this area names alternatives to prison, organizing, policy development and prosecutor accountability as strategies. Grants have supported Common Justice, Color Of Change, the Marshall Project and Californians for Safety and Justice, which "works with Californians from all walks of life to replace prison and justice system waste with common sense solutions that create safe neighborhoods and save public dollars."
INCOME SECURITY: Future Justice Fund's second and somewhat smaller area of grantmaking is income security. This initiative focuses on policy development toward a guaranteed minimum income for all Americans. Grants have supported the Debt Collective, the Public Rights Project and the Economic Security Project, "a two year fund to support exploration and experimentation with unconditional cash stipends."
GIVEWELL: Krieger and Kaitlyn have committed to working with GiveWell and the Open Philanthropy Project, which focuses on U.S. policy development, scientific research and global health and development. As Kaitlyn explains in a blog, the couple were inspired to work with Open Philanthropy project after they met with Good Ventures co-founder Cari Tuna. Krieger and Kaitlyn committed $750,000 to the organization.
LOOKING FORWARD: This Bay Area power couple is still quite young but are already trying to get ahead of the curve with their philanthropy. As Kaitlyn puts it, " Mike and I are committed to giving away a lot of our wealth during the course of our lifetime. It’s very early days, so one of our biggest goals is educating ourselves about the landscape and and context of philanthropy today." It is worth noting that since its founding in 2015, the Future Justice Fund has mostly provided ongoing support to a corp of grantees working in its specific areas of interest.
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