Christine Stoner
Jean Shia
Reflections from Autodesk Foundation Executive Director Christine Stoner and Managing Director Jean Shia on the growth and trajectory of the Autodesk Foundation as featured in the Autodesk Foundation fiscal year 2023 impact report. We invite you to explore the full report for more details and stories highlighting our portfolio’s expansion and impact.
The story of the Autodesk Foundation’s fiscal year 2023 is one of expansion. Eleven new organizations joined our portfolio, helping us surpass 50 nonprofits and startups—an organizational milestone—for the first time in our existence. We broadened our reach globally, and in key industries like fusion energy, carbon sequestration, electric vehicle maintenance, and sustainable building operations. Every dollar invested and hour of in-kind support helped to scale impact outcomes.
We invite you to learn how these efforts are catalyzing innovation in three impact opportunity areas: Energy & Materials, Health & Resilience, and Work & Prosperity. In this report, you can follow the journey behind our investments that reached more than 87 million people with resilient solutions in housing and infrastructure, energy access, agricultural productivity, and workforce development; mitigated 2.4 million metric tons of CO2e; and supported more than 27,000 people to obtain new or improved jobs. Underpinning these metrics is a commitment to defining and measuring impact. By collecting, analyzing, and reporting data from our portfolio, we hold ourselves accountable for scaling outcomes that advance a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient world.
While the reach and outcomes of our work expanded in fiscal year 2023, how we work has also evolved. In this report, you’ll learn how our DEI strategy increased representation of diverse leaders in our portfolio, and how our commitment extended into our programs, including the cultivation of emerging industry leaders.
Beneath the stories surfaced in this impact report are lessons learned, which shape how we evolve as a foundation. We witnessed early-stage organizations flourish with multi-year, flexible capital. We saw how sustaining long-term partnerships and focusing on three areas of impact yield success over time. We gleaned insight into how a clear point of view and calculated risk-taking drive impact outcomes. And we gained confidence in leaning into Autodesk’s unique value proposition as a technology company—harnessing industry expertise and in-kind Autodesk technology and training to scale solutions and spark industry-wide transformation.
Amid increased climate crises and a challenging economic and sociopolitical landscape, the work of the Autodesk Foundation is more important than ever. Moving forward, we’ll push the boundaries of what a corporate foundation can do. We’ll do more of what we do best: make philanthropic capital truly catalytic, sustain long-term focus, and harness Autodesk’s unique value proposition.
Thank you for learning more about the Autodesk Foundation’s impact. We look forward to continuing to catalyze innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.
Sincerely,
Christine Stoner
Executive Director, Autodesk Foundation
Jean Shia
Managing Director, Impact Investment and Management, Autodesk Foundation