The following core values reflect the character and beliefs of Gordon and Betty Moore, and guide the Foundation’s work towards creating positive outcomes for future generations.
Impact
We strive to achieve large-scale, enduring impact:
Investing on a sufficient scale to make a difference on important issues.
Taking the long view, staying the course, and persisting.
Seeking to create durable, not temporary, change.
Taking calculated risks and supporting new ideas for significant change.
Focusing on root causes, not symptoms, to create systemic change.
Integrity
We hold ourselves accountable to our founders’ ideals and aspirations:
Carrying out our work with uncompromising integrity and committing to the highest standards of conduct.
Communicating honestly, clearly, and in a timely manner.
Using the resources entrusted to us responsibly.
Holding ourselves to the same standards that we ask of others.
Disciplined Approach
We take a disciplined, evidence-based approach:
Developing and implementing well-vetted theories of change.
Testing our assumptions and challenging our thinking; adaptively managing to address changing conditions.
Evaluating our impact through outcomes that are measurable with both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
Consistently implementing full cycles of planning, execution, evaluation, and improvement; learning from both our successes and failures.
Staying well informed and making decisions on the basis of knowledge, analysis, external input, and objective due diligence.
Collaboration
We collaborate with respect and purpose:
Recognizing that our impact is achieved through the efforts of our grantees and others.
Working with others, respecting their ideas, values, and time.
Listening to varying points of view, including those that may differ from our own.
Gathering and incorporating the best thinking into our work.
Respectfully challenging ourselves and our partners to strengthen our collective thinking.
Fostering collaboration when we can create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.