--- alias: - Schmidt Futures - Schmidt Sciences category: Private Organization created: 2026-06-20 location: New York, New York summary: Schmidt Futures is the philanthropic venture Eric and Wendy Schmidt launched in 2017 to fund science and technology talent, which paid the salaries of White House science staff before consolidating its core programs into Schmidt Sciences in 2024. tags: - Organization - SchmidtFutures - SchmidtSciences - EricSchmidt - Philanthropy - ArtificialIntelligence updated: 2026-06-20 --- Schmidt Futures is the philanthropic venture launched in 2017 by [Eric Schmidt](/people/eric-schmidt/), the former Google chief executive, and his wife Wendy Schmidt to identify and fund talent in science and technology. It is structured as an initiative of Futures Action Network LLC, a Schmidt-controlled entity, and is funded chiefly through the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, a private foundation; it is distinct from the older Schmidt Family Foundation, which runs the couple's environmental and climate grantmaking. In 2024 Schmidt Futures consolidated its core scientific work into a new charitable organization, Schmidt Sciences.[^1][^2] ### Founding and Structure Schmidt Futures grew out of the Schmidt family's earlier philanthropic operations, which Eric Braverman had directed before helping launch and lead the new venture as its chief executive; Braverman had previously run the Clinton Foundation from 2013 to 2015. Rather than a conventional foundation, Schmidt Futures was set up as a "philanthropic initiative" of a limited-liability company, an arrangement that gave it flexibility to make grants, investments, and program-related spending while disclosing less than a traditional nonprofit. Its money flows largely from the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, the private foundation that holds the couple's charitable assets for this work.[^1][^3] The venture described its mission as betting on exceptional people early, funding what it called "moonshots" and talent pipelines across the sciences, artificial-intelligence research, and public policy. Its spending reached into the hundreds of millions of dollars across its programs, and Eric Schmidt repeatedly framed it as venture-style philanthropy aimed at returns measured in scientific breakthroughs and policy influence rather than money.[^1][^3] ### The Programs Schmidt Futures ran a cluster of fellowship and talent programs. Rise, launched in 2019 as the anchor of a one-billion-dollar commitment by Eric and Wendy Schmidt in partnership with the Rhodes Trust, identifies teenagers worldwide for lifelong support. The AI2050 program, conceived and cochaired by Schmidt and the technologist James Manyika, committed 125 million dollars over five years to researchers working to ensure society benefits from Artificial Intelligence. The venture also ran the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, quantum and science fellowships, and helped establish Convergent Research to build "focused research organizations."[^2][^4] These programs placed Schmidt money inside major universities and research institutions worldwide, including the University of Cambridge, the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](/organizations/massachusetts-institute-of-technology/), and [Stanford University](/organizations/stanford-university/), through fellowships, named postdoctoral positions, and research funding. By concentrating on early-career talent, the venture built durable relationships with scientists and institutions across AI and the physical sciences.[^2][^4] ### The White House Science Office A March 2022 Politico investigation reported that Schmidt Futures had paid the salaries of staff working inside the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under its director Eric Lander. Its chief innovation officer Tom Kalil stayed on the Schmidt Futures payroll for four months while serving ostensibly as an unpaid consultant at the office, and the venture indirectly covered the salary of the office's chief of staff Marc Aidinoff for roughly six weeks. The office's general counsel Rachel Wallace raised significant ethical concerns about the arrangement given Schmidt's financial interests overlapping the office's portfolio.[^5][^6] Subsequent reporting, including by the Tech Transparency Project, described a broader pattern in which Schmidt Futures money reached more than twenty science-policy positions across the [Joe Biden](/people/joe-biden/) administration, in part by routing fellows through outside groups such as the Federation of American Scientists and into agencies including the Department of Energy. Eric Schmidt called the original salary report "largely false." Senators including Chuck Grassley wrote to the science office and the General Services Administration seeking records on the personnel arrangements.[^5][^6] ### Consolidation into Schmidt Sciences In 2024 Schmidt Futures folded its core scientific work into Schmidt Sciences, a new nonprofit founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt and led by the computer scientist Stuart Feldman as president and chief scientist. Schmidt Sciences organized its work into centers spanning AI and advanced computing, astrophysics and space, biosciences, climate, and cross-science programs, and it carried forward the AI2050 fellowships, naming new cohorts of senior and early-career fellows in 2024 and awarding millions of dollars in AI research grants in 2025.[^2][^7] In 2025 Schmidt Sciences announced a roughly 10-million-dollar venture to fund scientific research into AI safety problems, extending the couple's reach from talent funding into the technical AI-safety field. The Rise program continued under the joint Schmidt and Rhodes Trust partnership, while the rebrand separated the science programs from the Schmidt Futures name that had been damaged by the White House controversy.[^2][^7] [^1]: "Schmidt Futures," InfluenceWatch, on the 2017 founding by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, the structure as an initiative of Futures Action Network LLC funded by the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, chief executive Eric Braverman, and the program roster. https://www.influencewatch.org/organization/schmidt-futures/ [^2]: "About" and "AI2050," Schmidt Sciences, on the 2024 establishment as the successor to Schmidt Futures' scientific programs, the 125-million-dollar AI2050 commitment over five years cochaired by Eric Schmidt and James Manyika, the 2025 AI-safety research venture, and the founders Eric and Wendy Schmidt. https://www.schmidtsciences.org/about/ [^3]: "Eric Braverman," InfluenceWatch, on his Clinton Foundation tenure (2013-2015), his leadership of Schmidt family philanthropy, and his role launching and running Schmidt Futures. https://www.influencewatch.org/person/eric-braverman/ [^4]: "Second Cohort of AI2050 Senior Fellows Named By Schmidt Futures," Stony Brook University AI Innovation Institute, on AI2050's cochairs Eric Schmidt and James Manyika and the program's fellowship structure; and "Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust," on the Rise program as anchor of the one-billion-dollar commitment. https://ai.stonybrook.edu/about-us/News/second-cohort-ai2050-senior-fellows-named-schmidt-futures [^5]: "Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says story alleging his foundation indirectly paid White House science staffers is 'largely false,'" CNBC, March 29, 2022, on the Politico report, Tom Kalil's four months on the payroll, the six weeks of Marc Aidinoff's salary, Rachel Wallace's concerns, and Schmidt's denial. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/29/ex-google-ceo-eric-schmidt-responds-to-white-house-related-allegations.html [^6]: "How Eric Schmidt built an expansive AI influence operation," Politico (Alex Thompson), March 28, 2022, on the OSTP salary arrangements and the Schmidt-tied staffing of the science office. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/28/google-eric-schmidt-white-house-00020712 [^7]: "Schmidt Sciences awards $18M to researchers working to ensure AI benefits society," Schmidt Sciences, 2025, on the AI2050 fellow awards, the center structure, president Stuart Feldman, and the continuation of programs after the 2024 consolidation. https://www.schmidtsciences.org/2025-ai2050-fellows-announcement/