Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Square CEO Jack Dorsey.Manuel Orbegozo | Handout | ReutersA version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.Even as tax changes may reduce giving by the wealthy, a leading investment firm is pioneering a new model of philanthropy that could spur big donors to act now.Iconiq Capital, which started in Silicon Valley with clients like Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, has created collaborative philanthropy funds to jump-start giving. These so-called co-labs pool clients’ capital to make multiyear grants to a group of nonprofits focused on causes like climate equity and economic mobility. The most recent co-lab targets youth mental health and has raised $112 million from 10 families, with a goal of $200 million by the end of the year. Iconiq Impact, the firm’s charitable giving arm, has advised on nearly $900 million in grants over six years, mostly through the co-labs.Iconiq Impact head Matti Navellou joined the San Francisco-based firm from UNICEF six years ago. She built the co-lab program after hearing that clients wanted to learn about philanthropy from their peers.”It is a really lonely journey, and it’s hard to find peers at the same wealth level who are struggling with the same type of challenges,” she said. “How do you navigate the amount of people constantly pitching you? And how do you know where to focus?”The nonprofit sector’s woes are compounded by President Donald Trump’s tax bill, which reduces tax incentives for wealthy donors and makes steep cuts to social safety net programs. Nonprofit groups, including the 30,000-member strong National Council of Nonprofits, said charities will have fewer dollars at their disposal while their services are more needed.Navellou said charitable giving is more crucial than ever due to slashed federal funding. “There are so many areas where, truly, philanthropy can move the needle right now, and so this structure that has been set up is problematic because it doesn’t actually incentivize accountability for spending that money for what it is designed for, which is funding nonprofits,” said Navellou. “We aim to influence the faster movement of do …
