The Karis Hope Fund is a public charity that Karis Tai helped shape with her family and supporters in early 2026. The Fund advances the dignity, opportunity, and well-being of underrepresented and vulnerable people — through grants to qualifying charitable organizations and new charitable initiatives developed in the spirit Karis has lived. It is governed by an independent board of directors and is applying for federal recognition as a 501(c)(3) public charity.
Karis serves as one of six directors. The Fund does not pay her, does not fund her personal expenses (including her medical care), and does not operate as an extension of her individual work. It exists to carry forward the charitable mission she has spent her life building — governed independently, and accountable to its donors.
The Fund makes grants to qualifying charitable organizations and develops new charitable initiatives. It currently supports established work like Wezesha and TAFA in Kenya — two organizations providing education and mentorship to vulnerable youth — and is developing two new initiatives in justice: a Worker Justice partnership in Naivasha and Cancer Rights at Stanford. The Fund's longer horizon is the broader access-to-justice work for vulnerable communities that conventional philanthropy underserves.
Grants supporting community-based education and youth mentorship for vulnerable children and youth in Kenya, with a focus on organizations that combine academics, character, and economic mobility in their programs.
Grants and direct initiatives advancing legal advocacy and access to justice for workers, women, and other underrepresented people — bringing legal protections within reach of communities the formal system tends not to serve.
General unrestricted grants directed by the board, in the spirit of Karis Tai's values, supporting organizations and causes advancing the dignity of vulnerable people — wherever the board identifies need and opportunity.
All grants are made under written grant agreements requiring charitable use, with reporting requirements appropriate to the recipient. The Fund does not currently make grants to Talanta Africa Fund, Baobei Foundation, or other organizations where Karis Tai has a material role; any future grant to such an organization would require recusal of any director with that material role and approval by the disinterested directors. Donors wishing to support Talanta Africa Fund or Baobei Foundation specifically are encouraged to give to those organizations directly.
Giving to The Karis Hope Fund is the most lasting way to stand with Karis — a public charity, tax-deductible upon IRS recognition, governed by an independent board. Your gift backs the education, justice, and dignity work she has spent her life building, and helps develop bold new initiatives in the same spirit. You can give unrestricted and let the board direct your gift where it is most needed, or designate it to a specific area.
A public charity governed by an independent board, advancing education, justice, and dignity for vulnerable people through grants to qualifying charitable organizations and direct charitable initiatives. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law (federal recognition pending).
Online giving is processed through Zeffy (zero platform fees). Checks made payable to Karis Hope Fund may be mailed to: Karis Hope Fund, 1301 Cutler Lane, Hudson, OH 44236.
The Karis Hope Fund is in its founding year. A small group of founding donors are making early commitments to anchor the Fund's first-year programs — the Wezesha grant, the Worker Justice partnership in Naivasha, and the Cancer Rights at Stanford initiative. If you are considering a major gift, a multi-year commitment, or a gift through a vehicle other than a credit card, please be in touch directly.
Founding donors receive direct updates from the board, an invitation to an annual review of grants and outcomes, and recognition (where desired) in the Fund's first annual report. The board is happy to discuss how a major gift could anchor a specific Fund initiative or be deployed unrestricted across the Fund's first-year work.
Pre-501(c)(3) gifts may be tax-deductible upon IRS recognition. Please consult your tax advisor.
For founding-donor commitments, gifts of stock, DAF gifts, planned gifts, or any conversation about how a major gift could anchor a specific Fund initiative — please contact the Treasurer directly.
jb@karishopefund.org · Josh Brookhart, Treasurer · replies within 48 hours
The Karis Hope Fund is governed by a board of six directors. Three are independent — meaning they are not family members of Karis Tai, Josh Brookhart, or Cleo Brookhart, and have no financial interest in the Fund. The board controls all grant decisions, financial decisions, and operational policy. Karis Tai serves as one director; she recuses from any vote affecting an organization where she has a material role.
Director and Treasurer. Northwestern University (BA), Stanford University (MBA, MA). Former management consultant, McKinsey & Company. Founder and former managing director, TZG Partners. Currently an investment manager and philanthropist. Director, Root-to-Fruit; Director, Talanta Africa Fund; Director, Branches of Hope (Hong Kong); member, National Leadership Council, World Vision.
Director and Secretary. Rhode Island School of Design (BA), Stanford University (MA, Communication). Professional journalist, formerly with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Currently a media and communications instructor, volunteer youth mentor, and philanthropist. Director, Talanta Africa Fund; member, National Leadership Council, World Vision.
Director. Harvard University (BA); Stanford Law School (JD candidate). Former management consultant, McKinsey & Company. Director, Talanta Africa Fund. Karis serves as a director and as the inspiration for the Fund's mission. She does not receive compensation, reimbursement of personal expenses, or any other economic benefit from the Fund.
Director and President. University of Virginia (BA). Senior leadership positions over a long career in technology, including at Oracle Corporation and Microsoft Corporation. Currently retired and engaged in part-time investment management. Independent under the IRS family-relationship test.
Director. Founder and chief executive officer, Vichara Technologies, Inc., a capital-markets technology firm headquartered in New York with global operations. Independent.
Director. Software engineer; director and trustee of multiple nonprofit organizations. Independent.
The Fund operates under a written Conflict of Interest Policy. Directors must disclose any material relationship with a proposed grantee and recuse from any vote where they have a personal interest. The Fund will not pay Karis Tai or any other director compensation, salary, stipend, honorarium, or reimbursement of personal expenses while they serve as a director. Reasonable reimbursement is available only for documented out-of-pocket expenses incurred on behalf of the Fund's charitable activities.
The Fund publishes regular grant reports describing every grant made, by recipient, amount, and outcome. The board reviews and approves all reports before publication. Karis writes occasional personal letters in her own voice on the Updates page; those are her writing, not the Fund's official reporting.
Grants to qualifying organizations reported by category, recipient, and amount. Program milestones for each active project reported quarterly. Website links to live project pages where available.
Status of new initiatives in development — the Worker Justice partnership in Naivasha and Cancer Rights at Stanford — reported as partners are identified and grants are made.
Every flexible fund deployment identified by category, amount, and outcome — publicly reported in updates, no exceptions.
The Fund does not pay Karis Tai, any director, or their families, and does not fund any individual's personal or medical expenses. Every dollar given to the Fund is directed to its charitable mission and reported by the board.
A note from Josh Brookhart, Treasurer of The Karis Hope Fund and longtime friend of the Tai family.
When Karis was diagnosed with cancer in December 2025, those of us who support her work had to make a quiet decision very quickly. Karis had spent her adult life building work in places most people will never see — an education center in Kenya, a football academy giving children a path to school, a beekeeping program for women, a legal proposal for flower-farm workers she was drafting from a chemo chair. The work was real. The people doing it were counting on her. And we did not want any of it to stop because she got sick.
What that work needed was structural — an institution that could outlast any individual, with an independent board, with proper grant agreements and reporting. So that is what we built. Karis helped us shape The Karis Hope Fund as a public charity, governed independently, so the mission she has championed her whole life carries on no matter what she is facing.
The Hope Fund is governed by an independent board. Karis serves as one of six directors. She does not draw a salary. The Fund does not pay her medical care or her personal expenses. Three of the six directors are independent under the IRS family-relationship test, which means the board can — and will — make grant decisions on charitable merit alone, with appropriate recusals. We are applying for federal 501(c)(3) recognition this year.
For donors who would like to make a larger gift, or to use a giving vehicle other than a credit card, please be in touch with me directly. I will reply within 48 hours. Cleo and I are happy to talk on the phone, on Zoom, or to send you the brokerage transfer instructions or our DAF grant address. We are particularly interested in hearing from people who would like to be founding donors of the Fund's 2026 work.
Thank you for reading this far. Karis is one of the most extraordinary people we have ever known. The Fund is how a community of people who believe in her work can carry it forward together.
Josh Brookhart
Treasurer · Karis Hope Fund
jb@karishopefund.org · replies within 48 hours
Karis Hope Fund · 1301 Cutler Lane, Hudson, OH 44236 · EIN 42-2144706
Karis has spent her life turning privilege into responsibility. This fund is how people who believe in that vision turn concern into action.
What is the Karis Hope Fund?
The Karis Hope Fund is a public charity that Karis Tai helped shape with her family and supporters in early 2026. It advances the dignity, opportunity, and well-being of underrepresented and vulnerable people through grants to qualifying charitable organizations and direct charitable initiatives. The Fund is governed by a board of six directors (three of whom are independent under the IRS family-relationship test) and is applying for federal recognition as a 501(c)(3) public charity.
Does the Hope Fund pay for Karis's medical care or personal costs?
No. Federal law does not permit a 501(c)(3) public charity to pay an individual's personal medical or living expenses, and the Hope Fund follows that rule strictly. The Fund does not pay Karis Tai or any director compensation, and does not fund anyone's personal expenses. Every gift to the Fund goes to its charitable mission — grants and direct initiatives in education, justice, and dignity. This separation is important for the Fund's integrity and for the integrity of charitable giving generally.
Is my gift to the Hope Fund tax-deductible?
The Karis Hope Fund has applied for federal recognition as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Donations made during the pendency of the application are intended to be tax-deductible as charitable contributions, with IRS recognition generally retroactive to the date of incorporation or application if approved. Please consult your tax advisor regarding your particular situation.
How do I make a major gift, give stock, or use a donor-advised fund?
For major gifts, gifts of appreciated securities, gifts via donor-advised fund (DAF), multi-year pledges, or planned gifts (bequests, charitable remainder trusts), please contact the Treasurer directly at jb@karishopefund.org. Josh Brookhart will reply within 48 hours and can send brokerage transfer instructions, the Fund's DAF grant address, or arrange a phone or Zoom call. For DAF gifts, please direct your DAF sponsor to The Karis Hope Fund and ask them to email us when the grant is initiated. The Fund is also accepting founding-donor commitments for its 2026 work.
The Fund is new. Why should I trust it?
The Karis Hope Fund is in its founding year, and we are honest about that. What we offer in place of a long track record is the people behind the Fund and the work that already exists. The board includes directors with senior nonprofit and business experience — including TZG Partners, Oracle, Microsoft, Vichara Technologies, McKinsey alumni, and World Vision National Leadership Council members. The work the Fund supports (Wezesha, TAFA, the legal proposal Karis drafted during chemo, the developing Cancer Rights at Stanford partnership) is real and underway. The Fund publishes its First Year Goals on the homepage, and quarterly grant reports will begin in Q2 2026. Founding donors are encouraged to be in direct contact with the board.
How is the Fund related to Karis's prior work in Kenya?
Karis has been involved with three organizations the Hope Fund supports or is positioned to support: she helped found Wezesha (a Kenyan registered CBO), she is a long-time advocate for TAFA and a director of the US-based Talanta Africa Fund, and she helped launch Bee the Change (currently operating under TAF). The Hope Fund is structurally separate from all of these. Grants from the Hope Fund to any organization where Karis or another director has a material role are decided by the disinterested directors after recusal of the conflicted director, with the procedure documented in the Fund's Conflict of Interest Policy.
Can I direct my gift to a specific area?
Yes. When you give to The Karis Hope Fund, you can give unrestricted (the board determines deployment across Education, Justice, and Dignity work) or direct your gift to a specific area: Education & Mentorship (currently Wezesha and TAFA), Justice (the Worker Justice partnership and the Cancer Rights at Stanford initiative), or Dignity (the Grace in Action Fund — the board's general unrestricted giving in the spirit of Karis's values). Choose your designation in the donation form.
How are grants decided?
All grants are decided by the board of directors. Each grant is subject to a written grant agreement requiring charitable use of funds, with reporting requirements appropriate to the recipient. Directors with a material role in a proposed grantee organization recuse from that vote — meaning, for example, that grants involving organizations where Karis has a leadership role are decided by the disinterested directors. The Fund's Conflict of Interest Policy is binding on all directors.
Who is on the board?
Six directors: Josh Brookhart (Treasurer), Cleo Brookhart (Secretary), Karis Tai (founding inspiration and director), Bennet Yen (President), Michael How, and Zhaoyong "Young" Zheng. Three are independent under the IRS family-relationship test. See the Governance section above for full bios.
Does the Fund pay Karis or her family?
No. The Fund does not pay any director compensation, salary, stipend, or honorarium. The Fund does not pay Karis Tai or any other director's personal expenses, including medical expenses. The Fund will not directly or indirectly fund any project for which Karis receives academic credit or other personal benefit. Reasonable reimbursement is available only for documented out-of-pocket expenses incurred on behalf of the Fund's charitable activities.
How will I know how the money is used?
The Fund publishes regular grant updates and an annual report describing grants made, charitable activities, and outcomes. Karis writes occasional personal letters in her own voice on the Updates page, but those are her writing — the Fund's official grant reports are issued separately by the board. Sign up at the bottom of any page to receive Fund updates by email.
Where is the Fund incorporated?
The Karis Hope Fund is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in the State of Delaware. The Fund is registered for charitable solicitation in Hawaii. Solicitation in other states is conducted in accordance with applicable state law; please contact us if you have a state-specific question. The Fund's federal employer identification number and other organizational details are available on request.