LOS ANGELES _ Not long after billionaire Steve Ballmer purchased the Clippers in 2014, coach Doc Rivers still was getting to know his new boss.
"What do you do now," Rivers asked the former chief executive of Microsoft, "other than own the Clippers?"
"His answer was incredibly simple, but shocking," Rivers recently recalled. "He said, 'I give money away.' It made me sit up, like, well, pardon me?"
The money went to education, Ballmer told him. That led to the topic of inequity in schools, which led to racial injustices felt nationwide. Helping find solutions for such systemic issues had become the "life's work" for Ballmer and his wife, Connie, Rivers was told.
It was unlike any conversation Rivers had with a team owner in his previous three decades in the NBA.
"Wow," Rivers recalled thinking. "This guy is really invested."
Around the NBA, Ballmer's financial and emotional investments in the Clippers have become well documented since then. The wealthiest owner of a North American sports franchise, Ballmer might also be the most exuberant. His cheering was so demonstrative during October's season-opening victory against the Lakers that he tore a hole in his dress shirt.
But as Rivers once learned, Ballmer's investments extend far beyond basketball. Nonprofit leaders say Ballmer has proven to be just as passionate about fighting economic and racial inequity _ a stance they say he and his wife, Connie, took long before sports leagues, schools and businesses rushed to address racism and align themselves with the Black Lives Matter movement after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
When the Ballmers founded Ballmer Group, their philanthropic organization, five years ago, it was to improve the lives of children and families. But alarmed by 2017 research showing Black boys and men in the United States face the most difficulty moving up, or staying near the top, of the economic ladder, the couple said that focus was broadened to include "acknowledging structural racism and working to fight it," Connie Ballmer said.
As part of its larger focus on economic mobility, Ballmer Group says it has given more than $300 million alone in the last three years to fund the work of more than 70 nonprofits working in communities of color from Detroit, where Ballmer was raised, to Seattle, where the Ballmers live, and Los Angeles.
In an interview, the couple said that figure represents only the start of their contributions as they continue to lean on grassroots organizations, and particularly Black leaders, for ideas.
"You see him like 'Yes!' at the Clippers, and it's like 'Yes!' in philanthropy, too," said Charisse Bremond Weaver, the president and chief executive of Brotherhood Crusade, a South L.A. nonprofit. "We know our city could be so much better off if we had 1,000 Steves and Connies to understand the conditions in our city, especially for Black folks around equity.
"He's changing the lives of African American and Black young men and Latinx young men in this city. The results we're making because of their support will pay dividends for life."
The funding has helped Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in South L.A. recruit doctors, pushed for the training of more Black teachers in California and supported the construction of the Destination Crenshaw civic space.
"This is an area that is not that well invested in, and frankly it seems an issue of basic fairness that every kid should at least have some kind of a shot at the American dream," Steve Ballmer said. "And that's not really the case today."
The Ballmers rarely discuss the depth of their philanthropy but published Wednesday a partial list of its grantees who work in predominantly Black communities, should it provide guidance for those looking for ways to contribute. The decision comes amid what they feel is a rising urgency to spur long-term change by sustaining the current, mainstreamfocus on social justice.
"If we miss this," Connie said, "if something doesn't happen as a result of all of this passion, wow, shame on us."
"Shame on us, the world," Steve said.
"But everybody has got to look," Connie said. "We've got to look, look, look. Where should we be contributing? What can we do? We're looking."
