T. Boone Pickens Foundation

August 5, 2010

Forty of the richest men and women in the country — including Tulsa's George Kaiser and Oklahoma State University alum T. Boone Pickens — will donate at least half their wealth to charities, according to The Giving Pledge, a charitable organization of billionaires.
( more )

FEBRUARY, 2010

T. Boone Pickens announces he’ll give another $100 million to his alma mater Oklahoma State University as part of a $1 billion fundraising campaign. The $100 million estate gift will fund a major endowment for scholarships, said Pickens, who has now given more than $500 million to OSU.
( more )

NOVEMBER, 2009

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert recently presented the UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth’s Legacy Award to T. Boone Pickens, recognizing the legendary energy investor’s generosity and foresight in his support of the center’s brain health research.
( more )

• • •

Order your copy of T. Boone Pickens' new book

( Order Now )

Find out more
about some
of the organizations
and agencies
that the
T. Boone Picken
Foundation supports:

SPOTLIGHT

Pickens Foundation opens doors
through collaborative efforts

The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women Each month, the T. Boone Pickens Foundation focuses on grants to organizations that operate in its core giving categories (see “About TBPF”). In March 2008 (see site Archive), the partner spotlight was the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women, an Oklahoma City-based non-profit organization that seeks to empower women economically, socially, and politically. One of the primary missions of the Foundation is to foster cross-pollination of the agencies it supports, with the belief that good things happen through collaborative efforts. This month, we revisit the IEEW’s and its Peace Through Business program, and the collaborative support it is getting from associated Dallas organizations.

Since the program’s creation in 2006, it has educated and trained more than 100 women entrepreneurs from Afghanistan and Rwanda, including this year’s class of 4 Afghan and 16 Rwandan students, who are traveling to the United States this month.

Peace Through Business lands in Dallas for the first time this year, and the collaboration efforts between the Foundation and the Institute are bearing fruit. The women’s Dallas visit is receiving support from the Dallas Arboretum; the Women’s Museum; the Dallas Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners; Dallas restaurateurs, who are catering meals; Women’s Business Council Southwest; the Dallas Museum of Art; AT&T; Wal-Mart; and Northwood University in Cedar Hill.

“I’ve always believed in leveraging our philanthropic efforts, whether that means investing in organizations who find matches for our grants, or using the umbrella of the charitable organizations we support to broaden the effectiveness of our philanthropy,” Pickens says. “I believe that you build stability in developing economies by helping entrepreneurs get a stable foothold, which is why we support the Peace Through Business program.”

The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women Peace Through Business provides long-term business education to women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan and Rwanda in four phases: In-country education, leadership development, and international women’s economic summit, and a program called pay it forward. The students receive business training through classes and a series of in-depth discussions with leading experts on specific business topics, including access to capital, taking products and services to the marketplace, employee issues, as well as public policy and politics. The women are then paired with an American woman business owner to live and work with her for five days. This allows the students to take the knowledge they have learned in the classroom and apply it to real-life scenarios. The students are then tasked to pay forward their knowledge by teaching and mentoring fellow women in their country.

“Mr. Pickens’ support of Peace Through Business and the Institute has been invaluable,” says founder and serial entrepreneur Terry Neese. “We could not educate and empower women in developing countries without the support of the T. Boone Pickens Foundation. His gift is truly fostering successful entrepreneurship in both Afghanistan and Rwanda. We are truly honored to be on Mr. Pickens’ list of selected charities.”

The Institute embraces the philosophy that a country that is economically sound has a much greater capacity for peace. By providing women entrepreneurs in these developing countries with the economic tools they need in order to create successful businesses, Peace Through Business is helping to spread peace worldwide.

The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women The T. Boone Pickens Foundation’s contribution to the Institute has played a vital role in spreading that peace and making the program successful. Before her training, 2007 graduate Amir Taj Sirat wasn’t able to determine whether she was making a profit at her soccer ball manufacturing company, Green Way. But today, she can tell you that her business revenue has increased by 17 percent, and she has added 53 employees. With more than 250 female employees, Amir now realizes the difference she can make, and is currently running for Parliament.

For more information on the Institute, please visit www.ieew.org.