About

Foundation president, Harvey Fineberg, and chairman emeritus and co-founder, Gordon Moore, discuss the Statement of Founders’ Intent with staff.

 
 
Programs
 
 
 
 
 

We shape substantial, strategic and time-bound efforts designed to achieve specific outcomes. With a sharp focus on measurability, we routinely assess progress and adaptively manage that work. At defined points, we also conduct external evaluations to provide us with additional perspectives on whether we have successfully achieved our outcomes and whether we can continue to make a meaningful difference in the future.

Our focus on measurement and evaluation allows us to make evidence-based decisions about whether to continue funding or exit a given area of work. Over the years, the foundation has closed out work in the following areas.

Environmental Conservation | Patient Care | Science

 

Environmental Conservation Environmental Conservation

 

Conservation International

Beginning in 2001, our commitment to Conservation International provided support for programs including the Global Conservation Fund, the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science and the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring Network, and field activities primarily focused in South America, Melanesia and Madagascar. Additionally, we supported their work in marine management area science and large-scale action plans in key biodiversity hotspots.   

marine conservation initiative-past-work-collage

Marine Conservation Initiative

From 2004 to 2024, the Marine Conservation Initiative invested more than $430 million to support healthy and resilient ocean ecosystems to sustain current and future generations. Over the course of the initiative, grantmaking advanced comprehensive ocean planning, sustainable fisheries management, and habitat protection in high-priority North American seascapes, spanning the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. The final initiative evaluation concluded that the initiative’s grantmaking partners achieved sweeping place-based Indigenous-led ocean habitat protections in Canada, regional and national systems change in ocean governance and policy in all the supported geographies, and significant improvements in fisheries management in the U.S. and Canada (as shown in an earlier initiative evaluation). The lessons from the initiative informed and shaped the creation of the Arctic Ocean Initiative.  

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Wildsalmon Ecosystem Initiative

From 2001 to 2017, the Moore Foundation supported work to ensure that the salmon ecosystems of Alaska, northern British Columbia and Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula — where great migrations of wild salmon still return to the rivers to spawn — remain healthy. With an aim to harmonize the needs of fish, people and ecosystems, the foundation has supported efforts to maintain healthy habitat in key watersheds, ensure sustainable management of salmon fisheries and promote natural resource use practices that are compatible with maintaining healthy salmon systems.   
WSEI_Catching salmon_NCEAS_Courtesy of JasonChing 

 

Patient CarePatient Care

 

Betty Irene Moore Nursing Initiative

Our co-founder Betty Irene Moore saw an opportunity to improve patient care by supporting nurses to lead quality improvement efforts. Her vision shaped a 12-year initiative designed to improve the experience and outcomes of patient care in the San Francisco Bay Area and greater Sacramento region. A 2015 assessment summarizes the positive impact we saw after investing in nurse leadership and nurse-led patient safety and quality improvement efforts. 

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Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing

Through a $100 million commitment, we established the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. The school cultivates academic excellence through immersive, interprofessional and interdisciplinary education and research in partnership with the communities it serves. Its graduates will serve as educators, researchers and leaders who promote health, advance quality of care and safety and shape policy. An additional foundation-funded fellowship program prepares a cadre of talented and passionate nurse fellows across the country.  

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Diagnostic Excellence

Launched in 2018, the Diagnostic Excellence Initiative elevated the prominence of diagnosis and the diagnostic process in discussions of health care quality. The foundation focused its grantmaking on three categories of disease that are known to cause a disproportionate share of preventable harm from sub-optimal diagnosis – infections, acute cardiovascular events, and cancer. Focused in three strategic areas – infrastructure, field building and technology – the work of the initiative is carried on through the Center for Diagnostic Excellence at UCSF. 

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ScienceScience

 

California Institute of Technology

Through our commitment to the Caltech that began in 2002, we funded breakthrough scientific research spanning a breadth of disciplines, with the goal of keeping Caltech at the forefront of higher education, technological development and scientific research. A 2016 summary article highlights some of the breakthroughs enabled by this commitment. 

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Data-Driven Discovery Initiative

Approved in 2012, the Data-Driven Discovery Initiative advanced research through support of data scientists and creation of innovative data science approaches. The six-year initiative employed three strategies: strengthening institutions, developing new tools and software, and spotlighting the importance of data scientists on university campuses. A 2017 evaluation revealed our grantmaking helped catalyzed what is now recognized as a robust and growing field in academia.

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Marine Microbiology Initiative

In 2004, the Marine Microbiology Initiative began with a focus on elucidating “Who’s there?” among the microbial residents of the ocean. Over the course of 17 years, including a shift to how viruses and microorganisms contribute to marine food webs and elemental cycles, awardees deepened our understanding of the diversity, ecological roles and evolution of marine microbial communities. Strategies included supporting individual investigators to take risks, bringing disciplines together in new ways, creating new tools and methods to enable research, and building community. A formal evaluation in 2018 confirmed the impact of the initiative on the field and contributed to the creation of the Symbiosis in Aquatic Systems Initiative.

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