About the Raven Foundation

The Raven Foundation was founded in 1997 by longtime Seattle residents, Tom Alberg and Judi Beck.  

Tom is a co-founder of Madrona Venture Group, a Seattle venture capital firm investing in early-stage technology companies, which has played an important role in some of the Puget Sound’s most successful ventures including Amazon.com, Isilon Systems and Apptio. Prior to Madrona, Tom was a partner and Chair of the Executive Committee at Perkins Coie where he was principal counsel for The Boeing Company, Alaska Airlines, and a number of early technology companies.  He has also served on the board of a number of non-profit organizations including Chair of Pacific Science Center, Intiman Theatre, Discovery Institute and the Technology Alliance.  

Judi is an active philanthropist and community volunteer.  She has served on the boards of many Northwest nonprofits including Chair of the Washington Women’s Foundation, Chair of ArtsFund Foundation, KCTS Television, AIDS Housing of Washington, Lewis and Clark Foundation, and the Seattle Public Library Foundation.

Tom and Judi launched the Raven Foundation using proceeds earned from investing in and building innovative technology companies in the Pacific Northwest. 

Because of Tom and Judi’s strong ties to the Puget Sound, The Raven Foundation supports programs primarily in this region. Raven gives priority to initiatives focused on education, cultural arts, the environment, public policy and health and human services, which may not have a strong funding constituency and where a grant by Raven will have a significant impact.