Transformation Overview

The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality has been providing research, policy analysis, and training on issues of poverty and inequality for more than 15 years, and The Elfenworks Foundation provided infrastructural support and strategic advice to this Center since its inception. This support has allowed the Center, most importantly, to commit to long-term projects to evaluate and develop anti-poverty interventions and to disseminate Pathways Magazine and a host of other influential policy briefs. The scholars funded via the Foundation support have developed the California Poverty Measure, the American Opportunity Study, the American Voices Project, and many other infrastructural projects. Learn more about our history together  Read More

Springer lab conducts innovative and well-respected research on the effects of second-hand smoke, marijuana smoke, and vaping. Such research is critical to public health in that it provides legislators the evidence they need for proper regulation. The Elfenworks Foundation provided critical bridge-funding between large NIH Grant proposals, enabling research that would otherwise not have been undertaken. The lab's research has so far demonstrated how breathing burnt/evaporated particles from tobacco or marijuana cigarettes or vaping harms health regardless of whether you light up or breathe the second-hand smoke of others. Vaping is insidious because the cloud of droplets remains long after the visible "smoke" has disappeared.  Read More

When Northeastern University became the parent to Mills at Northeastern, our previous endowments were able to ripple forward in new ways. This funding, which had supported former efforts in socially responsible business and music, combined with a new commitment, is now refocused on environmental education, fostering a generation of leaders at this critical junction.
 Read their feature story

Having sponsored a class on Poverty Law for ten years at Golden Gate University's School of Law and endowing an Elfenworks Center for Employment Justice there, we have influenced the education of a generation of attorneys whose work will ripple forward in years to come in ways we cannot yet foresee. We also endowed an Elfenworks Center for Responsible Business at Saint Mary's College, which "seeks to become a renowned leader for promoting business education and practices that advance the common good." The Center fosters the work of the college faculty in the area, and provides opportunities for faculty, students and community partners to collaborate.

Our Campus Moviefest "Hope for Climate & Social Justice" award continues to foster a sense of personal efficacy in student filmmakers as they have helped point the way to hope in social and environmental issues for over 15 years. By 2019 there had been over two million viewings and growing, and when Virgin American Airlines exist, our winners were shown on their planes. Participation builds skill, is a form of civic engagement, and fosters a self-image as a "force for the greater good."  Watch winning films and learn more