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Stanford Hospital gets $27.5 million gift
Donation will fund new 'world class' emergency services department

by Don Kazak and Sue Dremann

When Silicon Valley technology executive Marc Andreessen first met Stanford University faculty member Laura Arrillaga, they talked about philanthropy.

A few months later, on the night they became engaged, they excitedly discussed the topic again.

Last week, a little more than a year after they wed, the couple made their first major philanthropic gift -- $27.5 million to Stanford Hospital & Clinics to build a state-of-the-art emergency department, university officials announced.

Andreessen, 36, is well-known for founding two billion-dollar companies. As a software engineer, he developed Mosaic, a widely used Web browser. He founded Netscape Communications when he was 23, sold it to America Online in 1998 for $4.2 billion in stock, and then founded Opsware, a data-center automation that was acquired by Hewlett-Packard Co. this year.

He is a member of the Stanford Hospital & Clinics board of directors.

Arrillaga-Andreessen, 37, has master's degrees from Stanford in business, education and art history. She has been on the Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty since 2000. She founded and chairs SV2: Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, which invests financial, intellectual and human capital into nonprofits. Arrillaga-Andreessen is also writing two books on the philanthropic sector and living a giving life.

The couple plans to spend their life together funding institutions and core services that are not necessarily the most visible, but that touch many lives, they said. They chose health care, and in particular funding the Emergency Department at the Stanford University Medical Center, as their first gift because it is a service that can make the difference between life and death, they said.

"Everybody walks into the emergency department at some point, and it may be 2 a.m.," Andreessen said. "This means we could have a big impact. The opportunity to build a new emergency-services department that is world-class is enormous."

The gift will enable the hospital to double the size of its current facilities in a new building. It will also be able to expand its services and technologies to meet rapidly growing demand from patients, officials said.

Stanford Hospital provides the only level-1 trauma center between San Francisco and San Jose. The emergency department will be equipped with a wide array of new technologies, including digital X-rays, ultrasound and other equipment for bedside diagnosis, new cardiac monitors and advanced methods for freeing up blocked airways, officials said. In addition, the department will acquire systems that will allow the medical team to rapidly communicate on critical patient issues and make it possible to track patients as they progress through the Emergency Department.

On an international scale, Stanford's state-of-the-art department can be a model for other emergency departments, the couple said.

"It's exciting to have a community impact that can be leveraged around the world," Andreessen added.

The university is proposing to replace Stanford Hospital with a new hospital by 2015. Plans have been submitted to the City of Palo Alto for review.

The couple's charity is based on family values, they said. Arrillaga-Andreessen's ethics have been deeply grounded in the philanthropy of her parents, John Arrillaga and the late Frances C. Arrillaga, she said. Andreessen also was raised with core beliefs in giving, but has only had the opportunity to commit to public service in the last 15 years, she said.

"Both of us feel so strongly that, being part of the new generation in Silicon Valley, we have a responsibility to hopefully inspire other people in our age range to make significant philanthropic commitments," said Arrillaga-Andreessen, who grew up in Palo Alto.

"It was one of the very first things we talked about when we became engaged: How can we as a couple affect the greatest social change?" she said.

There is a much greater level of accountability in today's philanthropic investments, according to Arrillaga-Andreessen. In Silicon Valley, many individuals have contributed to tremendous change in society through their inventions. As a generation, many view for-profit investment as tantamount to social investment. They seek specific outcomes and specific returns based not on throwing money at a program, but on active involvement in analyzing the outcomes of their investments -- and learning from the successes and failures and where to make improvements, she said.

"It's not just about writing a check," she added.

For the first time in the country's history, younger generations have the wealth to invest in social change. For previous generations, people didn't engage in philanthropy until they were in their 50s and older, when they were at the end of their careers, according to Arrillaga-Andreessen.

"We have an opportunity to get started at an earlier age -- and what an incredible experience," she said.

With giving at the foundation of their marriage, the couple -- who have been married one year and 39 days -- see a bright and fulfilling marriage ahead of them.

"I'm so madly in love with my husband. We're so blissfully in love. I cannot believe how much more extraordinary one year can be," she said.

Senior Staff Writer Don Kazak can be reached at dkazak@paweekly.com. Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.