Delle Maxwell and Patrick Hanrahan Selected for Outstanding Philanthropist Award

The Gardens proudly nominated Delle and Pat and we thank our colleagues at Outdoor Afro and Save the Redwoods League who supported our nomination.

Delle Maxwell and Patrick Hanrahan are exemplary philanthropists whose grantmaking via the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation supports innovative people working in field-based science, art and craft, teaching, and protection of the natural world. Although their foundation is relatively new (established in 2018), Delle and Pat already have supported individual scientists, teachers, conservationists, and creators whose diverse perspectives enable us to discover new things about ourselves and our world.

The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation’s support helped Oakland-based nonprofit Outdoor Afro fund its Making Waves program that supports youth and their caregivers to learn how to swim. The rate of Black children drowning is sadly nearly eight times that of White children ages five to nineteen years old. Outdoor Afro knows that if Black children cannot swim or are afraid of water, they will not participate in many water-based outdoor recreational activities or develop conservation informed care to sustain our water resources.

Over the past three years, Delle and Pat have enabled Outdoor Afro to help over 250 youth develop lifesaving water skills.

Delle and Pat’s support from the Foundation also provided important funding for the Save the Redwoods League’s BIPOC Starter Grants program. This program provides research grants for graduate and undergraduate students of color to support their work related to coast redwood and giant sequoia forests, provide educational opportunities for emerging student scientists, advance our shared understanding of redwood forest ecology, and encourage diverse perspectives and approaches in redwoods conservation. The Foundation’s grant has supported eight student researchers with $40,000 in grants, and a new three-year commitment to additional cohorts of young researchers.

Delle and Pat’s commitment extends beyond financial contributions. At the Gardens of Golden Gate Park, Delle’s critical leadership as Board Chair in 2022 resulted in a transformative public-private partnership that unified and enhanced the Conservatory of Flowers, Japanese Tea Garden and San Francisco Botanical Garden and, catapulted these sites into one of the nation’s top-ten botanical destinations, drawing 1.2 million annual visitors. 

Delle and Pat established the Maxwell-Hanrahan Endowed Fund for the Gardens with a remarkable $20 million gift. This year, the Gardens moved into its new plant nursery, a result of Delle and Pat’s campaign leadership and proactive support. Looking to the future, Delle and Pat committed the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation as a lead sponsor over the next five years for the Gardens’ annual music festival, Flower Piano, ensuring that Bay Area audiences can continue to enjoy the event for free or low-cost.

Lifelong commitments to innovation and discovery inform Delle and Pat’s philanthropy. Before co-founding the Foundation, Delle was an animator and designer working at the intersection of design and computing. Pat Hanrahan is the CANON Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, emeritus at Stanford. His recognition includes the A. M. Turing Award, three Academy Awards and more, and he co-founded Tableau Software.

Beyond their professional achievements, Delle and Pat embody qualities of kindness, creativity, and strategic thinking in their philanthropic endeavors.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals awards ceremony will take place on National Philanthropy Day on November 15, 2024, at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture from 11am-2pm. If you would like to attend this exciting event to celebrate Delle and Pat, you can purchase tickets here or review more information on the event and 2024 honorees here.