Stephen Hillenburg spouse Karen Hillenburg
Philanthropy
Hillenburg, with his wife Karen endowed numerous projects and organizations through the United Plankton Charitable Trust, which they established in 2005, naming after Hillenburg's United Plankton Pictures. It supports areas of their personal interest, giving under $500,000 annually as of 2017. Grantees include large, established arts-related organizations such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound, in which Karen is co-chair. Health accounts for most of their grantmaking; they had gifted Planned Parenthood (where Karen has been on the board of directors as of 2014) and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, among other national health organizations.In education, they have donated to schools, including the Polytechnic School in Pasadena (which their son attended), CalArts, and Humboldt State University. Donations to the latter helped fund the HSU Marine Lab and the Stephen Hillenburg Marine Science Research Award Endowment, which the couple created in 2018 to support the university's marine-science research students. The previous year, the Princess Grace Foundation introduced the Stephen Hillenburg Animation Scholarship, an annual grant from the Hillenburgs to emerging animators.
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