Mary Pembroke Perlin

Donor, Pembroke Perlin Fund at the Seattle Foundation

Mary Pembroke Perlin has been working in philanthropy for 15 years. During the 1990s she managed several of Microsoft's charitable giving programs, and she participated in growing the company’s charitable giving from its original small, local presence to having a national impact.

After leaving Microsoft, Mary was a founding partner of Social Venture Partners (SVP). SVP is a giving circle in which partners give time, money and expertise to nonprofit organizations. Mary is past president of the board of Philanthropy Northwest, and currently she chairs the organization’s Honorary Advisory Council. She also co-chaired the “Northwest Giving Project,” a three-year effort to encourage new philanthropy in Washington and Oregon.

In 1998, Mary and her husband created the Pembroke Perlin Fund at the Seattle Foundation. Their personal philanthropy focuses on self-sufficiency for women, food security for children and many other causes near to their hearts. Mary is a fifth-generation Seattleite who enjoys hiking, skiing and traveling with her husband David Perlin and their two young sons.