Giving through Entrepreneurship with Greg Warnock

Greg Warnock is a technologist and innovator who is passionate about creating social impact through entrepreneurship. As a cofounder of Mercato Partners and the Community Foundation of Utah (CFU), Greg gives back to his community through trailblazing philanthropy.

Greg was introduced to philanthropy by his parents, who donated their time and money to organizations they were passionate about. He began thinking about social impact from an early age. “As I grew in my career, I became focused on the disparity between those leading middle-upper income lives and those who were not. In my experience, timing and luck had a lot to do with where someone ended up along the wealth spectrum,” Greg said. His experiences reinforced his belief that philanthropy could change the lives of people living in poverty.

As an expert venture capitalist, Greg believes there is a reciprocal relationship between entrepreneurship and philanthropy. “Nonprofits have a strong understanding of community needs and social issues. Entrepreneurs are focused on creating effective solutions; they have energy, drive, creativity, and a relentless focus on results.” Greg often sees entrepreneurs give back to their communities at the end of the business lifecycle. He likes to ask, “what can we do today?” to address pressing needs in our society.

In the 2000’s, Greg began researching how he could create change in Utah’s philanthropic landscape to address our community’s needs sooner. He and Fraser Nelson, former CFU Executive Director, discovered the concept of Community Foundations and worked with other donors and partners to establish an organization for Utah. Greg hoped that founding CFU would encourage nonprofits to thrive and adopt a courageous mindset necessary to create new social impact solutions.

Greg’s visionary views on philanthropy and investment in Utah’s economy has created immeasurable impact for our community. As CFU continues to serve Utah donors and nonprofits, our foundation hopes to honor his example and lead the nonprofit sector to new frontiers.