The Grove Foundation was founded by Andy and Eva Grove, who came to this country as a refugee (Andy) and an immigrant (Eva). Andy grew up in Hungary and survived the Holocaust by hiding his Jewish identity during the war. Eva left Austria with her family at age three after her father was rounded up with other Jews during the November 1938 pogroms and later released because the family had secured papers allowing them to leave the country. Eva grew up in Bolivia until her family moved to New York City when she was eighteen. Andy escaped Hungary in the wake of the failed Hungarian Revolution by crossing the border into Austria, where the International Rescue Committee helped him resettle in the United States.

Andy and Eva attended the City College of New York and Hunter College, respectively, and married in 1958. Both found safety, support, acceptance, and opportunity in the United States. Andy earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and later worked at Fairchild Semiconductor. In 1968 he participated in the founding of Intel, where he later served as president, CEO, and board chair. Eva earned her master’s degree in social work from Columbia University and served in many volunteer and leadership capacities.

In 1986, Andy and Eva founded the Grove Foundation with a board that included themselves and their two daughters, Karen and Robie. From the beginning, the family envisioned Grove as a spend-down foundation, with the intention that its assets would be distributed within a generation rather than exist in perpetuity. The cornerstone of the foundation’s early work was supporting service organizations similar to those that helped Andy and Eva as immigrants to the United States.  

Over time, Andy and Eva observed that Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ people did not always receive the same access to opportunity and support that had helped them succeed.

Andy passed away in 2016. Eva continued her leadership of the foundation as board chair and remained closely engaged in its work until her passing in 2023.

Today, Karen leads the foundation, continuing the family’s philanthropic legacy while evolving its approach to prioritize building democratic power and supporting efforts that change the systems shaping people’s lives.