Tex. Nonprofit Sues Stanford U. Over Trademark ‘Philanthropy Lab’

A fundraising powerhouse and a hotbed of innovation and experimentation in attracting donor dollars, Stanford University can accurately be described as a laboratory for 21st-century philanthropy.

But it shouldn’t be able to use the trademark “Philanthropy Lab,” according to a lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court.

A Texas nonprofit is suing Stanford for trademark infringement over what the university calls the Effective Philanthropy Lab, housed at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society.

The Once Upon a Time Foundation, a Fort Worth group, alleges in its lawsuit that Stanford’s use of the name has created “confusing similarity” with the Texas nonprofit’s eight-year-old program, the Philanthropy Lab.

The lawsuit alleges that the university has damaged the reputation, business, and goodwill of the Once Upon a Time Foundation and is using its trademark “with the intent to trade on the goodwill that Once Upon a Time Foundation has earned.” What’s more, Stanford is trying “to deceive and confuse consumers” into believing its services are affiliated with the Once Upon a Time Foundation, according to the lawsuit.

Once Upon a Time Foundation’s Philanthropy Lab was started in 2011 to stoke students’ interest and participation in philanthropy and support university courses and other types of philanthropy education. The nonprofit has held the trademark Philanthropy Lab since 2014, it says.

Former Partners

Stanford University and the Once Upon a Time Foundation are former collaborators, according to the lawsuit. The foundation has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Stanford, including to support a course called “Theories of Civil Society, Philanthropy, and the Nonprofit Sector.”

In March, the Once Upon a Time Foundation sent a letter to Stanford informing the university it was infringing on its trademark and asked it to adopt a different name for its Effective Philanthropy Lab, to no effect, the lawsuit states.

A page on the website of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society explaining the Effective Philanthropy Lab says it’s an interdisciplinary team that explores connections between behavioral science and philanthropy, with a special focus on giving by high-net-worth individuals. It “designs and test methods, messages, products and services to increase donor impact. Our Lab is supported by grants from the Raikes Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.”

The Raikes Foundation was created by Jeff Raikes, the former CEO of the Gates Foundation and Microsoft, and his wife, Tricia.

Neither the Once Upon a Time Foundation nor the Effective Philanthropy Lab at Stanford responded to requests for comment on Thursday.