Nicole Shanahan, the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin and a major philanthropist who once wrote nine-figure checks, has accused Silicon Valley’s elite donor circles of unknowingly supporting what she describes as hidden agendas pushed by global networks of NGOs, Hollywood figures and Davos-linked institutions like the World Economic Forum. In a recently shared conversation, Shanahan said many wealthy tech wives, including herself, believed they were funding social good but were instead being steered toward broader ideological projects.Shanahan, who briefly served as RFK Jr.’s running mate in 2024, said these women were used to set the groundwork for what she associates with Klaus Schwab’s Great Reset, a post-pandemic economic and social vision promoted by the World Economic Forum. Klaus Schwab, the economist who founded the WEF in 1971, has long advocated for stronger public and private cooperation to reshape global systems. She claims the women’s philanthropic dollars and social influence were directed through advisory networks without them realising how their contributions were being utilised.
Nicole Shanahan says Silicon Valley donor circles were conscripted into elite agendas
According to Shanahan, tech-world philanthropists were plugged into a system of NGO advisors, Hollywood connections and Davos culture that guided donor decisions. She described Silicon Valley’s wealth ecosystem as a very small group of people who socialise together, serve on the same boards and make decisions that have outsized influence.Shanahan argues that these donors were not fully aware of how their philanthropic movements were being leveraged. She claims the women were used to fund groundwork that supported global policy frameworks rather than grassroots needs.Shanahan paints a picture of Silicon Valley spouses overwhelmed by the demands of extreme wealth. Many manage multiple homes, large staffs, strained relationships and high levels of stress. She says some are medicated for anxiety or depression and are too busy to question how their philanthropic guidance is shaped.She believes this emotional and logistical overload made these women more susceptible to being steered. As she describes it, they find meaning through philanthropic work. That was her identity as well, and she says she truly believed she was helping.
She now believes the philanthropy model made things worse
Reflecting on her own giving, Shanahan says she once believed her donations were uplifting Black and Indigenous communities. But she now claims the opposite happened and argues that conditions deteriorated instead of improving.According to her:
- crime in the communities increased
- mental health outcomes worsened
- dependency on grants deepened rather than lifting people out of hardship
Her argument is that the philanthropic model itself is flawed because the structure reinforces problems instead of solving them.
Social justice and climate change influenced donor decisions
One of her strongest assertions is that two themes were repeatedly used to persuade Silicon Valley women to fund certain projects:
- social justice
- climate change
Shanahan says these issues were emotionally compelling and therefore effective at steering donors toward programs that aligned with the interests of advisers and global institutions.She claims that any pushback was quickly dismissed with climate-related justifications, saying that whenever questioned, the answer was always some version of “but climate change.”
The Great Reset and why her comments are stirring debate
The Great Reset is a real initiative promoted by the World Economic Forum in 2020 as a framework for rethinking global systems after the pandemic. Supporters see it as a roadmap toward sustainability and economic reform. Critics argue that it centralises too much influence in the hands of global institutions.Shanahan positions Silicon Valley philanthropy as unintentionally feeding into this agenda, not through conspiracy but through unexamined donor pipelines and emotional messaging.Her comments are circulating widely because they come from someone who belonged to Silicon Valley’s highest social and financial circles, personally managed massive philanthropic budgets and now argues that the system is broken and has harmed the communities it claimed to help.
