2021 Michelson Philanthropies Impact Report

2021 IMPACT REPORT

MICHELSON PHILANTHROPIES

MEDICAL RESEARCH ANIMAL WELFARE EDUCATION & EQUITY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

ABOUT

MICHELSON PHILANTHROPIES As a network of private operating foundations, Michelson Philanthropies creates transformative opportunities, makes impact investments, and fosters strategic partnerships that support vulnerable and underserved communities. Reflecting the passions and interests of Dr. Gary K. Michelson and his wife, Alya Michelson, Michelson Philanthropies catalyzes sustainable, scalable, replicable solutions to a host of challenges facing society.

Michelson Medical Research Foundation enables researchers to translate ideas into therapies that save lives. The foundation has given vital boosts to people and programs through programmatic support, research prizes, strategic investments, and other tools.

Michelson Found Animals Foundation was founded in 2005 with a mission of saving pets and enriching lives. With more than $100 million committed to animal welfare, MFA seeks to reduce shelter euthanasia in Los Angeles and across America.

It operates a range of initiatives including the first free national pet microchip registry, grants and partnerships that put resources in the hands of communities in need, and research that promotes more pet-friendly housing policies.

Michelson 20MM Foundation was founded in 2010 to improve educational access, efficacy, and equity for the nation’s 20 million postsecondary students. It has since expanded its mission to invest in tech entrepreneurs, changemakers, and policy to catalyze scalable innovations in the knowledge economy and accelerate progress toward a more just world.

Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property, launched in 2016, seeks to instill a widespread appreciation for, and understanding of, intellectual property fundamentals to empower students, faculty, inventors, and entrepreneurs.

Michelson Center for Public Policy is a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization that propels legislative change through meaningful collaboration with elected officials, government agencies, and civic leaders to achieve positive outcomes in education, equity, medical research, and animal welfare.

LEADERSHIP Gary K. Michelson, M.D. Founder, President, and Co-chair

Alya Michelson Co-chair

Geoffrey L. Baum Executive Director, Michelson Philanthropies and Michelson Center for Public Policy

Phillip J. Kim CEO, Michelson 20MM Foundation Managing Director, Michelson Impact Ventures

Brett Yates CEO, Michelson Found Animals Foundation CFO & COO, Michelson Philanthropies

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October 17, 1995

December 14, 2005

June 1, 2010

August 23, 2010

Michelson Medical Research Foundation is established as the Gary Karlin Michelson M.D. Charitable Foundation.

Michelson Found Animals Foundation is established as the Found Animals Foundation Inc.

Michelson 20MM Foundation is established under the name Twenty Million Minds Inc.

Michelson Center for Public Policy is established. Its original name: the Found Animals Legislative Fund Inc.

“Anything can be achieved in small, deliberate steps.

But there are times you need the courage to take a great leap; you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.”

DAVID LLOYD GEORGE Former U.K. Prime Minister

CONTENTS A Conversation With Alya and Gary K. Michelson . . . . . . . . 2 Medical Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Animal Welfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Michelson Impact Ventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Education & Equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Intellectual Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Looking Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Michelson Responds to COVID-19 . . . . . Inside back cover

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A CONVERSATION With Alya and Gary K. Michelson Dr. Gary K. Michelson and Alya Michelson are the heart of Michelson Philanthropies. Their passions have fueled the initiatives of the foundation, which marked its 25th anniversary in 2020.

The couple discussed their future plans with Michelson Philanthropies Executive Director Geoffrey L. Baum.

Gary: I used to joke that it was David’s job to make the money so I could give it away, but it’s much more complicated than that. [David Cohen is CEO and chief investment officer of Karlin Asset Management, the private investment firm created by Dr. Michelson in 2005 after he reached a $1.35-billion patent acquisition settlement with Medtronic.] David conducts our business with the highest ethical standards. We have tried to do well while we’re doing good.

How do you see our foundation differently than other philanthropic models out there?

Gary: I can never give enough credit to Mike Milken. In 2005, when I reached the settlement with Medtronic, I had no idea how to be effectively philanthropic. People who know me have heard me say that life is not fair. And I have gotten way too much. At some point, you have to think about what you can do to make life a little bit less

In 2014, Dr. Gary K. Michelson and his wife, Alya, donated $50 million to the University of Southern California to create the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, bringing together exceptional scientists, researchers, and engineers from around the world to work collaboratively on solutions to today’s most pressing health issues. Located at Michelson Hall (which was dedicated on November 1, 2017), this 190,000-square-foot interdisciplinary research facility is a model for other research universities, bringing the world closer to the medical breakthroughs that are redefining the 21st century.

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MICHELSON PHILANTHROPIES

unfair for the people who are not so fortunate.

And I think that’s what we are trying to do. If we leave the world better than we found it, then that’s as good as it gets.

How do you approach philanthropy that might be different from another grant-making organization? Are there any ways that you want to be more entrepreneurial?

Gary: One of the things Mike Milken taught me is that there are two ways that you can do philanthropy. You can write a check to the art museum or the cancer foundation and say goodbye. And that’s fine if you don’t want to invest your time and so forth. But if you’re passionate about something—and that was his advice, find the things you’re passionate about—then you want to be deeply involved in the process so that you get the results that you want.

Alya: We try to be involved in areas where nobody else wants to go. Where it is not prestigious or popular. Where it is hard. We try to be innovative in philanthropy. We try to lead with the principles that Dr. Michelson applied to all his devices and discoveries: Be innovative. Don’t be afraid to disrupt things, and be creative.

What makes you proud about the work that is being done in the foundations?

Alya: In May, Financial Times published an article about how philanthropies devoted to medical research can make an impact. Dr. Michelson was featured, along with Bill Gates and others. The message about Dr. Michelson was, “This is how philanthropists can be catalytic with less funding but the same success.” I was proud of that. This is one core approach we have. Be catalytic and drive systemic change through philanthropy.

Gary: When we invest in high-quality, cutting-edge medical research, it’s with the idea that a single scientific breakthrough or discovery could affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest funder of medical research in the world. They don’t fund young researchers, and they don’t fund high-risk, high-reward research. If you’re looking for disruptive breakthroughs, they go unfunded.

Those are the things that we’ve been funding for 15 years.

Interestingly enough, 15 years ago, we began funding something called messenger interference, which has to do with how messenger RNA transcribes DNA. At the time, the NIH was not funding that at all. Five years later, they became the major funder of messenger interference. So far, our batting average has been pretty good because we seem to be ahead of the curve. We’ll continue to do that. We aim to contribute something that would not have happened but for us.

Alya: One last thing that we are very proud of is how many volunteers every single one of our foundations attracts. Whether it’s Michelson Found Animals, Michelson 20MM, or Michelson Medical Research Foundation, it’s unbelievable to see the people that bring so much to our programs and events. That’s a great thing and

“It is our responsibility to leave the world a better place than we found it—to make life a little less unfair for those less fortunate.” we give our thanks again to the people who work in the foundations with these volunteers. It’s wonderful.

Gary: I could not be more appreciative of our volunteers. It actually makes me smile. After the Adopt & Shop in Culver City opened, I used to run the steps over at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook and I would stop by the Adopt & Shop on the way home. I’m pretty sure that nobody there knew who I was, and everyone had a smile on their faces—not just for me, but for everybody. They were all volunteers—they weren’t even being paid—but everyone had a great attitude. It felt good to walk in there.

Do you have any hopes that you would like to impart for 2021?

Gary: At some point the COVID-19 crisis will pass, but I don’t think that will be the end to our need to reach out to try to make the world a little bit more fair—try to help where we can, help people to have the chance to live up to their potential. That is what’s going to continue to drive us.

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Medical Research By leveraging the collaboration of engineers, scientists, and physicians to solve real-world problems, Michelson Medical Research Foundation (MMRF) believes that experts can develop new ideas and innovations in a fraction of the time it normally takes. MMRF supports forward-thinking initiatives in medical science—moving medical advancements from the laboratory into society at an unprecedented pace.

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Millions around the globe face devastating diseases and debilitating injuries without access to effective treatments—or they need treatments that do not yet exist. MMRF accelerates solutions to global health challenges by fostering high-risk, high-reward approaches that disrupt the status quo to make innovative ideas a reality. Through convergent collaboration among engineers, scientists, and physicians, MMRF helps move bold concepts and technologies rapidly from the laboratory into clinics and communities around the world. The aim is to help those who are suffering while promoting health equity for all.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need to invest in immunotherapy and other breakthrough fields that will transform healthcare. Cultivating pioneering partnerships and supporting new generations of researchers who are fearless in the pursuit of discovery is at the heart of MMRF.

MICHELSON PHILANTHROPIES

“Our medical research ecosystem is adopting a more open, convergent, and information-sharing approach. Researchers aren’t just working harder—they are working smarter.”

DR. GARY K. MICHELSON

Vital Boosts to People and Programs Medical science has always required brilliant scientists and engineers who see beyond what is to what can be. These daring pathfinders have always needed partnerships with those who believe in their potential.

MMRF was created to enable researchers to translate ideas into therapies that make an impact as quickly as possible. Over the last 25 years, MMRF has given vital boosts to people and programs through programmatic support, research prizes, and strategic investments.

MMRF funding has contributed to the fight against infectious and degenerative diseases, advanced new surgical technologies, promoted the ethical treatment of animals in medicine, and much more.

From the Laboratory Into Society With over $100 million designated to forwardthinking medical research—from developing innovative spine injury/disorder treatments to new vaccine development aimed at eradicating infectious diseases—MMRF allows researchers and practitioners freedom in breaking new ground or improving existing treatments, rapidly moving medical advancements from the laboratory into society. The Michelsons are vigilant not only about funding research but also in ensuring that quality research is being conducted that will truly allow for innovations in the field.

Encouraging Entrepreneurship MMRF has long recognized the need to support our next generation of leaders in business and research. As a sponsor of the Wharton Business Plan Competition, the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, and the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students, MMRF has supported technological and business innovation as well as entrepreneurship in the nation's premier universities. With more than $350,000 in prizes distributed to aspiring entrepreneurs, MMRF

“I am thankful to Michelson Philanthropies for supporting our fundamental research and for expanding the institute’s basic research capabilities. Protein design is a relatively new scientific discipline, and as such traditional funding sources can shy away from supporting core innovations that advance the field. Dr. Gary K. Michelson’s gift served as a challenge match to other philanthropists to double the investment in basic protein design research. After securing the full match, we were able to hire additional researchers, invest in equipment, and deepen our core knowledge to create new proteins to address 21st-century challenges in medicine, energy, and technology.”

DR. DAVID BAKER Director, Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington Winner of the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences

fosters collaboration between student entrepreneurs and seasoned mentors at graduate and postgraduate levels.

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L-R: Michelson Prize honorees Danika Hill (2020), Michael Birnbaum (2020), Kamal Mandal (2019), and Avinash Das Sahu (2019).

FOCUS ON THE MICHELSON PRIZES “Vaccines have tremendous power to improve health throughout our lives," says Dr. Danika Hill, a research fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. “But there is a range of infections where we still don’t have vaccines. There are millions of lives that could be potentially saved each year if we had more vaccines.”

In a year that saw an unprecedented public health crisis with vast implications for the entire global community, the need has never been greater for unorthodox research in immunology and vaccine discovery. Daring young pathfinders such as Dr. Hill need partnerships with those who believe in their potential. It is that belief that prompted MMRF and the Human Vaccines Project to engage in an annual international search to identify and support the most promising projects from young investigators.

Dr. Hill is one of two recipients of the 2020 Michelson Prize, along with Dr. Michael Birnbaum, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at MIT. Their winning proposals demonstrated both

“The doors that the Michelson Prize has already opened have been incredible.

I definitely get the sense it will launch my career.”

DR. DANIKA HILL

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innovation and the potential for high impact across disease areas and states.

“Our current system makes it nearly impossible for a young researcher to get funding but history shows that profound breakthroughs are made by researchers under age 35,” Dr. Gary K. Michelson says. “We are proud to help Dr. Hill and Dr. Birnbaum pursue their revolutionary ideas.”

“We need courage, passion, and creativity to achieve true progress in science. It inspires me to see young researchers like Dr. Hill and Dr. Birnbaum display these strengths with their innovative proposals,” says Dr. Wayne Koff, president and CEO of the Human Vaccines Project. "I look forward to seeing how the research of our 2020 Michelson Prize winners will contribute to the Human Vaccines Project’s grand vision of decoding the human immune system.”

Dr. Hill is using the $150,000 Michelson Prize to advance her study of the Group A Streptococcus infection, which is among the top 10 global causes of death related to infection, and for which there is no effective vaccine. “I will be supported by the prize to apply cutting-edge technologies to study hundreds of thousands of cells in molecular detail, with the aim to develop a novel approach to vaccines design that exploits similarities in the receptors on these cells to pinpoint what to target on a pathogen to make an effective vaccine,” she says.

“The Michelson Prize comes at a critical time in my career, and will enable me to gain more indepen-

MICHELSON PHILANTHROPIES

Convergent Biosciences In 2014, the Michelsons donated $50 million to the University of Southern California to fund the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, a pioneering enterprise that brings together worldrenowned experts across disciplines to foster innovative and collaborative research.

dence as a researcher,” she adds. “It will support me as I continue to study a type of immune cell that is critical for generating long-lived immunity, the T follicular helper cells, but in much greater detail that has previously been studied.”

“I am interested in knowing what the immune system sees, how that affects health and disease, and what we can do about it,” says Dr. Birnbaum, who studies immune recognition at his laboratory at MIT. “The Michelson Prize is going to fund a new project idea that we have that would give us a way to systematically chart what the T-cell component of one’s immune system sees during HIV.

The Michelsons’ support in establishing the Center’s work in convergent biosciences “has helped us to have global impact, and we will continue our work toward defeating humanity’s most pressing health challenges,” writes Charles Zukoski, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at USC. In 2020, USC Michelson faculty quickly pivoted to focus on the fight against COVID-19. Among other research breakthroughs, Peter Kuhn, James Hicks, and doctoral degree candidate Joseph Larsen identified the most likely order of discernible symptoms in COVID-19 patients and found different progressions of these symptoms in COVID-19 compared with other respiratory diseases, such as influenza, SARS, and MERS. Their results support the notion that fever should be used to screen for entry into facilities and significantly advance global understanding of the novel coronavirus.

“The support provided by this award will let us work faster than would be possible otherwise,” he adds.

“We will be trying many of our best ideas at once to press this technology into service, in a time where better tools to study infectious disease are needed."

Previous recipients of the Michelson Prize include Dr. Murad Mamedov, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF); Dr. Kamal Mandal, a postdoctoral researcher at UCSF; Dr. Avinash Das Sahu, a postdoctoral fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Dr. Patricia Illing, a research fellow at Monash University; Dr. Ansuman Satpathy, an instructor in pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine; and Dr. Laura Mackay, a laboratory head and senior lecturer at the Peter Doherty Institute.

In addition to the research award program, Michelson Philanthropies will be inaugurating the Michelson Philanthropies and Science Prize for Immunology in partnership with the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The winners will be announced in early 2022.

Dr. Steve Kay, Provost Professor of Neurology, Biomedical Engineering and Biological Sciences, and director of convergent biosciences at the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, studies the circadian rhythms in plants, looking for commonalities that could improve human health. In 2020, the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms honored him with the Director’s Award in Research at its biennial national meeting. Dr. Kay also is director of the Keck School of Medicine’s MESH Academy, whose mission is to empower the convergence of research disciplines to address challenges in human health and disease.

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Animal Welfare Michelson Found Animals Foundation (MFA) believes people and pets are better together. For 15 years, MFA has operated a range of social enterprises, impact investments, strategic partnerships, and thought leadership initiatives that share a common goal: Champion pets at every point they intersect with our society.

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Since its founding, MFA has committed more than $100 million to support its mission, beginning with a grant program that provided free microchips to local municipal shelter partners. Today, affordable chips and scanners are available across the country for shelters and rescue groups to purchase through Michelson Found Animals Registry.

MFA also has been instrumental in advancing animal welfare in Los Angeles. In addition to funding, in-kind, and operational support, MFA helped create the Spay Neuter Project of Los Angeles, FixNation, and Spay4LA. Thanks in part to this, the live release rate in municipal animal shelters in the city of Los Angeles has risen to nearly 90 percent. “Today we’re at a point where almost all the dogs that come into these animal shelters get adopted out,” Dr. Gary K. Michelson observes. “In that sense, we are putting ourselves out of business.”

MICHELSON PHILANTHROPIES

Adopt & Shop was conceived in support of a single belief: All pets deserve a loving home.

As a shelter and social enterprise, Adopt & Shop offsets sheltering costs by operating revenue-generating businesses. It is the only nonprofit pet retail store in Los Angeles that offers pet adoption, pet grooming, and a complete line of quality pet products. Since opening in 2014, A&S has facilitated more than 16,000 adoptions.

Found Animals Registry Hurricane Katrina left thousands of pets displaced with no way to return home. Dr. Michelson recognized that microchip technology could easily solve this market failure, so he decided to act. MFA created the first free national microchip registry. Its sole purpose is returning pets to their people. No matter when or where their pet was chipped, pet parents can register their pet for free—forever.

Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative MFA believes that pets enrich people's lives, and that everyone should have access to the joy of pets in their home. The Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative, a partnership between MFA and the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI), was created to field research demonstrating the benefits of petfriendly housing to owner/operators, residents, and communities. From this research, MFA develops resources and partnerships that seek to increase the availability of pet-friendly rental housing.

Animal Welfare Grants MFA Lifesaving Grants address two major sources of overpopulation in shelters: spay/neuter access and surrender prevention. MFA partners with organizations to build programs that serve underfunded communities and pets at the highest risk of euthanasia. While its grantmaking is diverse, support is geared toward organizations that serve areas with the greatest need. MFA works with its partners to encourage innovation and ensure the funds and resources are used efficiently.

SPAY NEUTER PROJECT OF LOS ANGELES: CARMELO’S STORY In May 2020, a pet owner named Consuelo contacted the Spay Neuter Project of Los Angeles with a plea for help for her beloved pup, Carmelo—a dog that the family describes as exceptionally kind. She brought the gentle giant into SNPLA’s Mission Hills clinic for an exam. The doctor and staff noticed that Carmelo had an abnormal testicular growth, was having trouble walking, and appeared to be in a significant amount of pain. The staff also worried that the growth might be cancerous. SNPLA’s expert professionals recommended an urgent neuter surgery—a procedure that Consuelo, having lost some of her income due to COVID-19, could not afford.

Thanks to MFA, “We were able to perform Carmelo’s surgery within days at no cost to her guardians,” says Zoey Knittel, executive director of SNPLA. Carmelo can now “run and play with the grandchildren with no worries,” she adds. “The family is very grateful that there are people out there that can help during hard times.

Through the generous ongoing support of Michelson Found Animals Foundation, SNPLA has expanded our ability to act as a safety net for guardians and their beloved pets.”

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entered into a partnership with Maddie’s Fund; together they launched the 2021 RTH Challenge, which provides training materials, community resources, and grants to shelters across America with a goal to improve lost-animal return rates across the country.

MFA Fundraising Challenges In 2019, in partnership with NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, MFA raised nearly $1.6 million in the inaugural Fund the Shelters Challenge, a monthlong online competition involving 644 animal welfare organizations. “Thanks to the generosity of thousands of individuals and the incredible support of Michelson Found Animals Foundation, animal shelters and rescues are receiving the resources they need to continue their lifesaving programs to rescue and care for pets who are looking for their forever homes,” says Valari Staab, above right, president of NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, with Mario Lopez and his wife, Courtney Laine Mazza.

Michelson Institute for Pet Professions Set to launch in spring 2021, the Michelson Institute for Pet Professions (MIPP) promotes awareness of and access to the pet care industry as a lasting, successful career path. MIPP promotes more diverse and equitable entry into pet care careers by providing skills training and job placement for those in underserved communities who are interested in working with animals. Students accepted to MIPP receive a full scholarship from MFA for a professional certification, and benefit from job placement services upon graduation. The first cohort will focus on dog grooming.

Return to Home Efforts A massive opportunity to reduce shelter euthanasia across the country lies in improving Return to Home (RTH) efforts when a pet is lost. To drive change at scale, MFA recruited the nation’s leading RTH strategist, Gina Knepp, to drive a conversation around in-shelter process improvements and community engagement. In 2020, MFA

“Back in 2013, Michelson Found Animals Foundation believed in our vision of reducing the number of pets entering the South Los Angeles Shelter by supporting their families. More than 14,000 cases later, the concept of pet retention is one that every progressive animal welfare organization is involved in or considering how to be part of the community solution. Without the Michelsons’ consistent generosity, Downtown Dog Rescue would never have had the opportunity to experiment and combine services for pets and people at one location.”

LORI WEISE (pictured, left) Executive Director, Downtown Dog Rescue

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“Our Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA has repurposed its space to become a center where food is distributed to impacted families and seniors, children are provided grab-and-go meals, families can receive diapers, and the unsheltered have access to showers. Thanks to Michelson Found Animals Foundation’s partnership with the Y, those services have expanded to include access to vets, grooming, referrals to spay/neutering services, and pet food. They have been able to support the furry family members that the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA has not been able to service during this pandemic and are often forgotten.”

MARIO VALENZUELA (pictured, right) YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles

FOCUS ON BETTER NEIGHBOR PROJECT Michelson Found Animals Foundation believes everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status, deserves access to the joy of pets. Launched in December 2019, Better Neighbor Project (BNP) partners with human service organizations to deliver complimentary pet care resources directly to communities most in need.

In response to the rise in job, housing, and food insecurity triggered by the pandemic, BNP partnered with the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles to augment multiple weekly food pantries with pet food distribution. A series of Pet Wellness Days in partnership with a variety of community partners launched soon thereafter, offering free pet food, veterinary checks, vaccines, spay/neuter services, microchipping, and more directly to pets and families who need it most.

“It was a pleasure partnering with Michelson Found Animals Foundation and other community organizations to provide families in our district with animal services during these challenging economic times. This community event provided much-needed food, vaccines, spay and neuter services, and grooming, which for many families is out of reach at the moment.”

“Better Neighbor Project represents the first large-scale program bridging social services and animal welfare services in Los Angeles,” says Brett Yates, CEO of Michelson Found Animals Foundation, “and we see it as a philanthropic model that can be applied to other markets with similar needs.” In its first year of operation, BNP served more than 12,500 pets and families in need, and continues to serve more than 500 families per week.

MARIA ELENA DURAZO (pictured, above left) California State Senator

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Scientific Advisory Board

Michelson Prize and Grants in Reproductive Biology In 2008, Michelson Found Animals Foundation launched the $75 million Michelson Prize and Grants in Reproductive Biology to incentivize research and develop a single-dose, nonsurgical sterilant for cats and dogs with the goal of eliminating shelter euthanasia of healthy, adoptable companion animals and reducing populations of free-roaming cats and dogs. To date, more than $17 million in Michelson Grants has been awarded to projects worldwide.

The Scientific Advisory Board of Michelson Prize and Grants is comprised of world-class leaders from the scientific research and veterinary medical communities with experience in reproductive biology, immunology, laboratory animal welfare, and regulatory affairs.

Thomas J. Conlon, Ph.D. Chief Scientific Officer/Chair of Scientific Advisory Board, Michelson Found Animals Foundation, Los Angeles Todd A. Alonzo, Ph.D. Professor of Research, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles Janet Baer, DVM Chief Executive Officer, Veterinary Consulting Services, Island Park, Idaho David A. Brake, Ph.D. Founder and President, BioQuest Associates, Stowe, Vermont Graham Cox, Ph.D. Founder and President, Veterinary Vaccine Services, Omaha, Nebraska Carl D. Johnson, Ph.D. Honorary Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin

“The support from Michelson Found Animals Foundation allowed us to put together a team of superb and dedicated colleagues (Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Massachusetts, and the Cincinnati Zoo), with whom it has been a joy to work, and set us off on a journey to solve a problem of fundamental importance,” says Dr. Patricia Donahoe, above right, director of the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Kevin N. Morris, Ph.D. Associate Research Professor, Institute for Human-Animal Connection, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado Linda Rhodes, VMD, Ph.D. Independent Consultant Amy A. Ross, Ph.D. Trustee, University of Southern California, Los Angeles Donald Schwartz Managing Director, Elders-Rede, Animal Health Advisors, Duluth, Georgia William F. Swanson, DVM, Ph.D. Director, Animal Research, Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Cincinnati, Ohio

“Guidance from MFA has kept us on track to develop a rigorous solution to regulate reproduction in dogs and cats, but we suspect results will resonate more broadly.”

DR. PATRICIA DONAHOE Director of Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories Massachusetts General Hospital

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Marcel van Duin, Ph.D. Vice President, Head of R&D Alliances, Reproductive Medicine and Maternal Health, Ferring Research Institute, San Diego, California Joanne Zahorsky-Reeves, DVM, Ph.D. Regulatory Affairs Program Administrator, Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles Brett Yates CEO, Michelson Found Animals Foundation, Los Angeles

MICHELSON PHILANTHROPIES

FOCUS ON A NONSURGICAL STERILANT In 2019, 5.3 million companion animals entered U.S. shelters. Of that number, hundreds of thousands of healthy and adoptable animals were unable to find homes and were euthanized. No other disease or condition takes as many lives.

As a preventative measure, traditional spay-andneuter is the current approach for sterilization. But that process can be costly and comes with the risk of anesthesia and surgery.

Launched in 2008 as part of Michelson Found Animals Foundation (MFA), Michelson Prize and Grants is focused on improving animal welfare with a $75 million commitment from Dr. Gary K. Michelson. Dr. Michelson pledged a $25 million prize to the first entity that develops a single-dose nonsurgical sterilant for dogs and cats. To underwrite those research efforts, Dr. Michelson has pledged an additional $50 million in research funding support, which to date has invested more than $17 million into 38 projects.

The prize has garnered interest from scientists whose research interests may fall well outside of animal welfare. “We’ve received grant proposals from neuroscientists, cancer researchers, immunologists, chemists, and physiologists,” says Dr. Thomas J. Conlon, who joined MFA as chief scientific officer in 2017. “They’re not veterinarians, they’re not necessarily focused on reproduction, but they have a technology that could be used to help us achieve this goal.” Of the 38 projects funded, 11 have been with international groups.

In recent decades, new vaccine and gene transfer techniques have emerged that could help achieve the goal of a safe and permanent nonsurgical sterilant. “With the Prize, we can encourage various scientific groups with these new technologies to apply for a grant proposal with us,” Dr. Conlon says. Once a sterilant is identified, MFA will guide the product through clinical trials and regulatory approval, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution to ensure that the sterilant has the maximum possible impact in minimizing animal-shelter euthanasia.

In 2016, MFA began a new phase in its quest to develop a nonsurgical sterilant for companion

Dr. Bill Swanson, director of the small cats program at the Cincinnati Zoo’s Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife, with two of his study cats.

animals when it began directing its own research using Adeno-associated Virus (AAV) gene transfer technology and ideas developed internally. “We fund this research working with contract research organizations (CROs) or academic institutions,” says Dr. Conlon.

Of the 12-member Scientific Advisory Board, he notes, “Many are veterinarians, but others are scientists with decades of laboratory experience in their own specialties or researchers who have been involved in a veterinary drug development— all of whom have been useful throughout this project.”

Over the last decade, the board has reviewed 136 full proposals with a process “that’s as rigorous as an NIH review,” Dr. Conlon says, but the group’s work isn’t done yet. “We still have $33 million that we’d like to award for breakthrough research.”

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MICHELSON IMPACT VENTURES Catalyzing Change at Scale Michelson Impact Ventures seeks to accelerate progress toward a more just, equitable, and compassionate world by supporting nascent, market-driven technologies that can catalyze change at scale in the fields of the knowledge economy, pet care, environmental sustainability, financial inclusion, and social justice.

To date, Michelson Impact Ventures has directly invested mission-aligned capital into 42 earlystage startups. Through its Michelson Runway Accelerator and its Leap Venture Studio, Academy, and Bootcamp programs, it also has created new centers of gravity in the education, future of work, and pet care sectors to nurture positive growth for dozens more founders, operators, and investors.

“Through our impact-oriented, expert, and patient capital we are hoping to help more purpose-driven startups cross the chasm from proof of concept to broader market validation and traditional venture funding,” says Phillip J. Kim, managing director of Michelson Impact Ventures and CEO of Michelson 20MM Foundation. “We are trying to surface sustainable and scalable businesses that can create new categories, drive disruptive innovation in stagnant verticals, and even provide new points of light with the potential to inform policy change at the state and federal levels.”

Michelson portfolio startups have to date raised follow-on capital now representing more than 32 times Michelson’s early investment from some of the world’s premier venture capitalists, including Peter Thiel, Mark Cuban, Greycroft, Felicis Ventures, Techstars, Relay Ventures, and Metamorphosis.

More than 60 percent of Michelson portfolio companies are run by diverse founders, a figure four times larger than the broader venture market. “‘Homelessness and food insecurity are not endemic to college students but are exacerbated among them,” says David Helene, cofounder and CEO of EdQuity.

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‘‘We’re excited that Michelson 20MM Foundation believes in our work to help students achieve excellence in postsecondary education.”

ANDREW MAGLIOZZI CEO, AdmitHub

Michelson Impact Ventures’ portfolio includes: n Edquity, which provides emergency aid and resources for students in need to help narrow equity gaps and facilitate social mobility.

Edquity has provided support to more than 10,000 students during the pandemic within 24 hours of their request. Since its founding in 2016 by David Helene (pictured below, left), Edquity has deployed nearly $5.2 million in emergency aid while increasing the overall retention rate in its client colleges by 5 percent.

Nine out of 10 students served persisted semester over semester. n AdmitHub, which uses a conversational AI chatbot to recruit, enroll, and retain college students for its university clients. AdmitHub has supported more than 2 million students while achieving a 22 percent reduction in summer melt and an increase in student persistence year over year by 3 percent. Its institutional partners include Georgia State University, University of Memphis, West Texas A&M University, and Arizona State University. n ReUp Education, which partners with higher education institutions to help college students who drop out to re-enroll and graduate. Using a blend of data, technology, and coaching, ReUp has enabled more than 370,000 students in their educational dreams. Its partner institutions include Arizona State University and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

Michelson Impact Ventures has realized its first three exits from its holdings over the last year: Authess, a performance-based competency assessment platform; PetHospice, a provider of quality-of-life assessment, in-home hospice, and palliative care; and Lacuna Diagnostics, a digital cytology solution for pets that cuts diagnostic time from days to minutes.

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Dr. Shea Cox calls hospice care “the redheaded stepchild of veterinary medicine”—nearly three-quarters of pet patients don't receive any care during the last 18 months of life. She’s been working to improve that statistic since 2012, co-founding PetHospice to provide comfort and care to both pets and their families when the end of life nears. A 2020 Leap Venture investment, Berkeley, California-based PetHospice is looking to expand its services to create a nationwide telehealth service focusing on quality of life.

Leap Venture Studio Even with the emergence of major companies in the pet care space, pet startups still suffer from underinvestment and lack platforms to support them as they scale. Leap Venture Studio and Academy is one of the first programs designed to ignite meaningful growth across the pet care startup ecosystem. Leap Venture is a partnership between Michelson Found Animals Foundation and Kinship, a division of Mars Petcare. MFA and Kinship recognize the immense value of the pet care sector and seek to foster innovation and growth from the bottom up.

Leap’s programming allows startup founders to develop their ideas, bring their product or service to market, and receive investment and support to grow. In exchange for equity positions in these for-profit startups, MFA only considers applicants with products or objectives that align with its charitable purposes.

The 19 companies currently in the Leap Venture portfolio were selected not only for their innovative concepts and potential for growth but also for their benefit to the world. For example, Shameless Pets—a direct-to-consumer sustainable dog treat company whose products are made from upcycled human-grade ingredients—is on a mission to reduce the 63 million tons of food waste that accounts for 8 percent of greenhouse gases.

Leap Venture Studio is designed to springboard innovation in the growing pet ecosystem. At the beginning of the 12-week program, the companies choose from four tracks and work on two of them with a team of experts who assist each company in developing its pitches for the venture investor

PetPlate is an online subscription service that delivers freshly cooked, vet-designed, human-grade dog food to customers’ doors. Founded by Renaldo Webb (pictured, with his dog, Cooper), PetPlate has delivered more than 9.2 million meals across the United States and recently raised $9 million through a Series A funding round led by DFE Capital Management and 301 Inc., General Mills’ venture capital division.

Demo Day, which marks the program’s culmination.

There have been three Studio cohorts to date, with the next one starting in February 2021. All 19 companies in the portfolio are still in business and have collectively raised more than $48.9 million since graduating from the program.

In addition to taking an equity stake in select companies through the Studio program, Leap Venture Academy provides yearround, public programming for pet care startups at any stage and at no cost.

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Education & Equity Michelson 20MM Foundation believes that equitable educational and economic opportunities are essential to activating humanity’s full potential. For more than a decade, it has served 20 million minds—the approximate number of postsecondary students in the United States—by advancing open educational resources, smart justice, student basic needs, digital equity, and intellectual property education.

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Michelson 20MM launched in 2010 with an effort to relieve the burden of textbook costs on lowincome college students. Its work has since grown to include investing in tech entrepreneurs, changemakers, and policy with the goal of catalyzing scalable innovations in the knowledge economy and accelerating progress toward a more just world.

The foundation continues to expand into other verticals, challenging social inequalities and injustices in fields beyond education.

Supporting Open Educational Resources When Dr. Gary K. Michelson learned from professors at Santa Ana College, a two-year public institution in Orange County, California, that in 2010 numerous bright and qualified students failed to complete their degrees each term simply because they could not afford their textbooks, he decided to take action.

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Dr. Michelson understood these students’ plight, having himself experienced financial hardships as a college student that pushed him to work multiple jobs while in school. He began by contributing his own resources toward textbook scholarships but was committed to finding a more enduring solution. Dr. Michelson joined forces with other forward-thinking philanthropies to tackle this problem and in 2010 awarded a grant to a new nonprofit open educational resources (OER) publisher, OpenStax, to produce a catalog of free open textbooks for students. Today, OpenStax publishes more than 40 titles for college and high school courses across science, math, social sciences, business, and the humanities. It has served more than 14 million students and saved them $1.2 billion cumulatively with its resources.

Analyzing the Automatic-Billing Framework Working with the United States Public Interest Research Group Education Fund (U.S. PIRG), Michelson 20MM commissioned a report analyzing the textbook industry’s new automatic-billing framework, also known as “inclusive access,” which has been adopted by major publishers as a tactic for recouping market share and increasing sales revenue. The report found that this new model fails to save students money and reduces faculty and student choice around instructional materials.

In spring 2020, nine class-action lawsuits were filed against major textbook companies and retailers. The lawsuits sought to protect students and independent booksellers, with plaintiffs alleging that the Big Three publishers (Cengage, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson) and the two biggest college bookstore chains (Barnes & Noble and Follett) were using automatic billing to create a “cartel” to keep prices high. U.S. PIRG’s report was cited in at least six of the suits, all of which were consolidated into a class action. “Our interests are certainly aligned: advocating for the reseller market,” says a managing partner at the law firm representing two students in one of the cases.

“That’s what ultimately will drive the prices down.”

Smart Justice Reform Each year, more than 600,000 individuals are released from state and federal prisons nationwide.

Those who find work after their release earn a median annual wage of $10,000—the estimated cost of a year of community college. Two decades of research concludes that higher education in prison programming reduces recidivism, resulting in taxpayer savings, community safety, and economic prosperity. Additionally, higher education in prison programming improves the conditions of confinement for inmates and correctional staff.

Knowing the transformative effects of higher education, Michelson 20MM launched the Smart Justice Initiative (SJI) in 2019. SJI invests in justice innovation that incentivizes and promotes higher education and career success as a catalyst for

LEFT: Students in a Southwestern College class at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. Launched with support from Michelson 20MM, UC Irvine LIFTED’s initial cohort will recruit from Southwestern students in prison with associate degrees ready for transfer. RIGHT: Phillip J. Kim of Michelson 20MM Foundation, left, introduces a January 2019 panel discussion about the costs and benefits of using education to stop the prison revolving door. The panel included moderator Frank Stoltze of KPCC; Lois Davis, RAND senior policy researcher; Kenyatta Leal, founding member and first graduate of The Last Mile, which prepares inmates for reentry by providing them with marketable skills; and Chris Redlitz, managing partner with Transmedia Capital and founder of The Last Mile.

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MICHELSON PHILANTHROPIES “California needs to lead this nation in how we close the broadband gap.

Thank you, Dr. Michelson, and your foundation for the investments that you are making and for saying with urgency that we should once and for all solve the digital divide for California students.”

TONY THURMOND California State Superintendent for Public Instruction

individual and systemic change. Through a Michelson Spark Grant, Root & Rebound trained staff at key California higher education institutions and licensing boards on best practices for implementing “Ban the Box” and Fair Chance Hiring policies, which increased educational opportunities for 8 million justice-involved students. Additionally, through a Michelson 20MM Spark Grant, SJI kickstarted the first University of California Bachelor of Arts program in prison through the University of California, Irvine (UCI). This initiative lays the groundwork for additional UC campuses to offer B.A. programming in prisons.

Its investments include initiatives that support pregnant and parenting students, improve student access to public benefits, and develop recommendations to create permanent funding sources for student basic needs. Through a Michelson Spark Grant, California State University, Long Beach will conduct a landscape analysis of the CSU system and will develop a best practices model for campuses seeking to become family-friendly.

Additionally, a grant awarded to the Institute for College Access and Success will result in a comprehensive study analyzing the true cost of college in California by elevating students’ voices.

Student Basic Needs College students face more financial emergencies than ever before, and institutions of higher education nationwide are struggling to pivot and offer necessary support. Consequently, many students fail to complete their degree programs as they are faced with the decision to fund their basic needs or pursue their education.

Increasing Digital Equity Equitable access to devices, broadband connectivity, and digital literacy resources is essential to ensuring postsecondary students in California have the resources necessary to succeed. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the starkness of the digital divide between those who have internet access and those who don’t. According to the California Department of Education, as many as 1 million students lacked either the computers or internet access needed to participate in remote learning at the start of the 2019-20 school year.

In response, Michelson 20MM is working to increase persistence and graduation rates through systems change, technological innovations, research, and policy that helps students meet their basic needs.

“COVID-19 created an immediate need to help our students connect to their classes online to complete the semester and ultimately their college education. Your gift allowed our foundation to address this need by providing refurbished Chromebooks at a crucial time.”

FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ Chancellor, Los Angeles Community College District

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Leveraging public, philanthropic, and practitioner partnerships, Michelson 20MM operates as a catalyst and connector to create equitable access to devices, the Internet, and culturally relevant curricula for all students. Michelson 20MM has made two direct investments in the digital equity space: focusing on closing the digital divide for Los Angeles Community College District students by providing thousands of connected devices, home Internet access, and digital literacy; and mapping the efficacy of California college- and universityled efforts to support postsecondary students academically and holistically through the pandemic via research led by The Education Trust-West.

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By bringing together digital equity practitioners, philanthropic investors, and policymakers from San Jose, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles, “We were able to get these people out of their silos a little bit and have that conversation where they discover real commonalities around what they are doing,” says Phillip J. Kim of Michelson 20MM Foundation.

FOCUS ON CONNECTING CALIFORNIA Launched in 2020 under Michelson 20MM’s Digital Equity Initiative, the Connecting California: Solving the Digital Divide learning series offers insights from business leaders, digital equity practitioners, philanthropic investors, and government officials—all representing different facets of the landscape devoted to building equitable solutions to the digital divides at local, state, and national levels.

“The Digital Divide: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” launched the Connecting California series on August 6, 2020. The conversation sought to build a foundation for understanding contexts and precedents in digital (in)equity.

Panelists included Lande Ajose, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s senior policy adviser for higher education; Jeanne Holm, deputy mayor for budget and innovation for the city of Los Angeles; and other leading practitioners in digital equity and inclusion.

“Stronger Together: The Role of Cross-Sector Partnerships in Digital Equity” took place on September 17 and focused on understanding how effective public-private partnerships can be designed and implemented at the local and regional levels. Panelists included California

State Senator Lena A. Gonzalez; Jennie Huang Bennett, CFO for the city of Chicago; and digital innovation experts from Los Angeles, Detroit, and the Bay Area.

COVID-19 illuminated the widespread effects of digital inequities: Whether it’s access to a device, high-speed internet, or digital literacy, many of the nation’s systemic problems can be traced to the same root cause. “Philanthropy Post-COVID: Where Do We Go From Here?” took place on November 19 and brought grantmakers, public-private liaisons, and venture investors into the conversation to discuss how society can increase digital equity in a postCOVID world. Panelists included Jarrett Barrios, senior vice president of strategic community and programmatic initiatives for the California Community Foundation; Adrianne B. Furniss, executive director and trustee of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society; David Rattray, president and CEO of UNITE-LA; Priyanka Sharma, project director at World Education Inc. and co-director of Digital US; Leon Wilson, chief of digital innovation and chief information officer at the Cleveland Foundation; and Jory Wolf, vice president of digital innovation at Magellan Advisors.

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FOCUS ON MICHELSON SPARK GRANTS The Michelson Spark Grants program is an innovative, just-in-time grant-making process designed to fill the urgent needs of organizations that are well-aligned with the mission of Michelson 20MM Foundation. Launched in 2019, the program accelerates the traditional decisionmaking process with a commitment to decide on each application within 15 business days. To date, Michelson 20MM has issued 27 grants across six funding cycles, the latest of which centers on college affordability and student basic needs.

project with R&R facilitated policy implementation of BTBHE and Fair Chance Licensing reform that went into effect in 2020. The Spark Grant they received empowered R&R to train staff at key California higher education institutions and licensing boards on best practices for implementing the “Ban the Box” and Fair Chance policies.

Root & Rebound’s work will also ensure justiceinvolved students are aware of their rights in career paths requiring licensure once they enroll in a higher education program.

“In many ways, this is a grand experiment to innovate within grantmaking, which has been relatively stagnant,” says Michelson 20MM CEO Phillip J. Kim. “Our experience with grantees over the first six cycles—the quality of opportunities and the early impact of the programs funded—has validated critical parts of our initial hypothesis that targeted, rapid-response grants can seed important proof-of-concept projects or even exponentially amplify kernels of promising programs.”

Economic Opportunity Within Reach An essential component of the Michelson 20MM Smart Justice Initiative is economic security. In the workforce, people with criminal records are often siloed into accepting low-skill jobs that keep them, their families, and communities in poverty.

Michelson 20MM is committed to disrupting this through sector-specific workforce strategies that invest in high-growth, high-wage-earning potential careers for justice-involved individuals.

Smart Justice Root & Rebound (R&R), a legal advocacy center focused on ending the harm caused by mass incarceration, was at the forefront of the “Ban the Box” movement. R&R’s Incarceration to Education Coalition convenes formerly incarcerated students and graduates, nonprofit organizations, and advocates to increase equitable access to higher education institutions, degrees, and resulting career pathways for current and prospective students with criminal records.

As a result of this collaborative effort, California successfully Banned the Box in Higher Education (BTBHE), removing the question regarding an individual’s criminal history on college applications in public, private, undergraduate, and graduate degree-granting programs. A new

In 2020, Michelson 20MM awarded Spark Grants to 2nd Call, Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition.

2nd Call innovates on opening the construction trades and well-paying union jobs through a trauma-informed workforce approach to success.

Similarly, the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program ensures that justice-involved heroes fighting fires on the West Coast while detained in fire camps have the opportunity to pursue firefighting as a career after their release.

The Anti-Recidivism Coalition is advancing innovative workforce programming in green tech and the electric vehicle industry in partnership with postsecondary institutions. Careers in firefighting, construction, and green tech will set justice-involved candidates up for well-paying vocations—ensuring that economic prosperity is within reach.

“My experience as a surgeon and medical device inventor has taught me that experimentation drives innovation forward.”

DR. GARY K. MICHELSON 20

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Student Basic Needs

From left, 2nd Call Executive Director Skipp Townsend, at a town hall on policing in July 2020 with Aqeela Sherrills, peace advocate and activist; Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and former chair of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles; and Herb Wesson, former Los Angeles City Councilmember.

COVID-19 Response Michelson 20MM is committed to helping students, faculty, and administrators as everyone navigates the challenges presented by COVID-19.

Widely recognized as the nation’s leader on college affordability advising and training, uAspire was awarded a Spark Grant in March 2020 to provide virtual advising to over 12,000 students and online technical assistance support for hundreds of practitioners in response to the pandemic. With headquarters in Boston and offices in New York City and Oakland, California, uAspire works to ensure students minimize their prospective debts and make responsible financial decisions regarding postsecondary choices.

To support chronicling MIT’s digital transformation and uncover insights for the larger education sector in light of the new reality, Michelson 20MM awarded a Spark Grant to MIT’s Office of Open Learning. The grant helps preserve knowledge of the process of transforming physical classes into online courses in the wake of COVID-19. The initiative also seeks to highlight best practices that educators at other institutions can implement when undertaking their journey to digitization.

The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) is on a mission to improve learning and collaboration in education through social science research, research-based innovations, and by assisting schools, colleges, and universities in developing open education environments. Michelson 20MM awarded ISKME a Spark Grant to accelerate the use of open educational resources for distance education.

Backed by a newly awarded Spark Grant, Swipe Out Hunger is leveraging its network of students and administrators to help create effective systems for disbursing and publicizing federal emergency aid to students across its member campuses. The organization is developing digital training tools and strategies to ensure responsive, transparent, and equitable distribution of funds.

Swipe Out Hunger also is consulting with school administrators on the design of their emergency aid programs.

A Spark Grant was awarded to Believe in Students and the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice to support their legislative educational outreach and policy efforts, including their work to increase access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits such as food stamps and emergency aid for college students. “Today’s college students have enormous poten-tial, and with stronger support from state and federal policies they will succeed in transforming the lives of their families and communities,” says Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, Temple University professor of sociology and medicine and founder/president of the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice. “We appreciate the support from Michelson 20MM for this effort to advance systemic change.”

Through a Spark Grant from Michelson 20MM, the Education Trust–West generated a map detailing the higher education digital divide in California and the impact of COVID-19. An estimated 109,000 students from lower-income households and 134,000 students of color lack access to a device and are unable to adequately engage in distance learning.

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Intellectual Property Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property (Michelson IP) seeks to instill a widespread appreciation for, and understanding of, intellectual property (IP) fundamentals to empower students, faculty, inventors, and entrepreneurs by providing free IP resources for hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide.

A longtime advocate for addressing the lack of broad IP literacy across higher education, Dr. Gary K. Michelson created Michelson IP, an initiative that provides free IP education resources for hundreds of institutions and works alongside faculty in promoting IP awareness.

In 2018, Michelson IP partnered with the University of Southern California to debut one of the nation’s first undergraduate IP courses, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Intellectual Property. Led by IP attorney Luke Dauchot and featuring talks by IP leaders from prominent companies and startups, the course—designed for students from all academic disciplines—was such a resounding success that it was given permanent status in the curriculum.

In 2020, more than 40,000 new subscribers accessed Michelson IP materials, growing by a double-digit percentage over the previous year.

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The study found common challenges within innovation ecosystems that universities must address: the lack of integration of IP in their curriculum, weak communication among university departments, and unsupportive university policies.

These challenges make for poor innovation experiences, but they can be overcome. University stakeholders and departments should be open to regular communication, and partner to identify pathways and referral mechanisms that support students and faculty.

Zoom participants in the first NACCE group call.

Launching the IP Educator in Residence Program In September 2020, the Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property, in partnership with the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), announced the acceptance of five institutions into a newly launched IP Educator in Residence (EIR) initiative.

The inaugural group of IP EIRs includes faculty from California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New Mexico. These IP EIRs comprise an inclusive community of faculty who share a commitment to empowering future entrepreneurs and innovators with IP education. The selected educators support advancing IP literacy efforts across the NACCE ecosystem.

Since 2017, Michelson IP has worked with NACCE to provide a first-of-its-kind IP curriculum, now adopted at more than 70 NACCE member colleges. “NACCE has greatly enjoyed working alongside the Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property to continue to close the IP education gap,” says Dr. Rebecca Corbin, NACCE president and CEO. “We look forward to growing this community of practice among community colleges across North America.”

Strengthening University-based IP Systems In spring 2020, Michelson IP collaborated with VentureWell to underwrite a study on the perspectives of faculty, administrators, and students on university-based IP education and policy. VentureWell is a leading nonprofit that funds and trains faculty and student innovators to create successful, socially beneficial businesses. A central takeaway from this effort is that it should be a priority for innovation-minded educators and institutions to reimagine our universities’ innovation support ecosystems to better align them with what VentureWell describes as the “ideal state” of a university-based system.

With support from Michelson IP, VentureWell conducted and published a study to identify opportunities to improve IP education and policy within university-based systems.

“Innovation never happens in isolation. It requires builders, thinkers, and experts across disciplines and skillsets.”

DR. GARY K. MICHELSON

Bracy Fuentes from Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Los Angeles speaks to a class from Paramount High School during a Michelson IP pilot program in February 2020. A post-class assessment by students found that all of them believe learning about intellectual property is valuable for entrepreneurs, and that 85 percent of them were interested in learning more about IP.

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LOOKING AHEAD Driving Legislative Change “Government is the great lever.” This observation, made by philanthropist and financier Michael Milken, underscores that systemic change is often best achieved through government action.

The Michelson Center for Public Policy advances innovative policy solutions that expand funding for medical research, increase access to education and careers for underserved communities, promote understanding of intellectual property, and protect animals.

The organization looks to build on such recent legislative achievements as: n

The passage and signing of California Assembly Bill 2147, which eliminates barriers that prevent former inmate fire crews from pursuing a career as a firefighter once they served their time. This was achieved in part-

nership with the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition. n

The passage and signing of California Senate Bill 573, which requires shelters to microchip all reclaimed or adopted cats and dogs, ensuring more pets will be reunited with their families, saving lives by reducing shelter euthanasia. This was achieved in partnership with Social Compassion in Legislation.

In 2021, the Michelson Center for Public Policy will be pursuing an ambitious agenda in Washington, D.C., Sacramento, and Los Angeles through a broad range of advocacy and political activities.

The Michelson Center for Public Policy, a 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofit organization, is an affiliated, but separate, organization from Michelson Philanthropies, a 501(c)(3) private foundation.

First Gen: Supporting Women Immigrants In 2021, Alya Michelson will continue her work on the First Gen Project, which seeks to spotlight, empower, and support the success of first-generation women immigrants around the world through conversations with women who have achieved success in their adopted countries. These conversations highlight the benefits that immigration can bring to the economic, social, and cultural fabric of global communities.

Participants in the pilot series of interviews, which she conducted in spring 2020 (and are available on Instagram), have included Reyna Montoya, founder and CEO of Aliento (Mexico); Zeba Talkhani, author of My Past Is a Foreign Country: A Muslim Feminist Finds Herself (Saudi Arabia); Vanessa Luna, co-founder of ImmSchools (Peru); and Gisele Fetterman, second lady of Pennsylvania (Brazil). Candid and conversational, she and her guests discussed ways of coping with the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, from mental health to isolation issues.

“I became part of Michelson Philanthropies about eight years ago,” Alya Michelson says, “and this year is significant for me because my voice and my passion for supporting women immigrants finally will be brought to life.”

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MICHELSON RESPONDS TO COVID-19 In March 2020: n Michelson 20MM was part of a philanthropic coalition that funded the deployment of 20,000 laptops to Los Angeles Community College District students, enabling their participation in remote learning. n Better Neighbor Project (BNP) provided pet crates, food, and collars to the City of Los Angeles when it opened 21 emergency locations to help the homeless, supporting about 1,100 people and pets. n Adopt & Shop (A&S) shifted all 112 foster-eligible animals into homes within seven days of the retail location’s closure. n Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative launched an owner/operator education campaign on adapting petfriendly rental communities to the pandemic.

In April 2020: n A&S introduced virtual processes to apply for pet foster and adoption. Paired with socially distant meet-and-greets, this allowed for continued adoptions throughout 2020.

In June 2020: n Michelson Found Animals (MFA) joined industry partners to launch the #SpayTogether campaign to clear the backlog of animals created by the pandemic. MFA donated 50,000 microchips to this effort.

In July 2020: n A Michelson Spark Grant enabled the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) to develop two guidebooks supporting higher LACCD Trustee David Vela delivers free laptops to students education faculty members and administrain March 2020 to enable their participation in remote learning, tors as they integrate open educational thanks to a grant from Michelson 20MM Foundation. resources into online education. n BNP organized the first Pet Wellness Day in partnership with California State Assemblymember Miguel Santiago at the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA to offer veterinary care, grooming, and spay/neuter. Since March, BNP has helped more than 12,500 pets.

In August 2020: n Michelson 20MM launched Connecting California: Solving the Digital Divide, a series that addresses the economic and educational gaps created by inequitable access to high-speed internet, computing devices, and digital literacy resources; highlights best practices; and mobilizes sectors around solutions. n Michelson Medical Research Foundation, in partnership with the Human Vaccines Project, announced the 2020 winners of the Michelson Prizes for Human Immunotherapy and Vaccine Research and hosted an international symposium to discuss new developments in the fight against COVID-19.

In September 2020: n MFA participated in the California Animal Welfare Funders Collaborative, funding innovative groups addressing the needs of their communities, especially those impacted by COVID-19. n BNP partnered with State Senator Maria Elena Durazo and Central City Neighborhood Partners for a Pet Wellness Event in downtown Los Angeles.

In October 2020: n With support from Michelson 20MM, the Education Trust-West (ETW) mapped the digital divide by surveying students’ views of their institutions’ COVID-19 response. ETW presented its findings to Governor Gavin Newsom’s office and the State Assembly’s Joint Hearing on the Digital Divide. n MFA’s Better Neighbor Project partnered with California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to serve 450 families and their pets during a Pet Wellness Day in Maywood, California.

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