Skywords Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Skywords Family Foundation’s grantmaking includes support of media, the environment, youth, health and human services.
IP TAKE: The Skywords Foundation lacks transparency and keeps a low public profile, which limits information available on its grantmaking priorities and activities. It has a soft spot for alternative health practices and spirituality, so that may be a productive avenue for networking. It does not provide a way for grantseekers to get in touch; however, a mailing address and phone number are listed below.
PROFILE: Established in 2005, the Skywords Family Foundation was founded by businessman Michael Arlen Davis and his wife, Jyll Johnstone. Bard and NYU graduate Jyll Johnstone manages Canobie Films, Inc., a producer of documentaries on contemporary social issues. Her work focuses on “unheralded women characters” and has appeared at the Sundance Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival, among other festivals. While the foundation lacks transparency and does not maintain a web presence, tax fillings suggest that the Skywords Family Foundation invests in media, the environment, youth, health and human services.
Grants for Film
The Skywords Family Foundation’s largest and most frequent grants go to support Canobie Films, where Jyll has been a director and producer since 1993. The foundation has given almost $8 million to the organization over the years.
Grants for Public Health and Access
The foundation’s grantmaking for health and healthcare organizations focuses on, in part, homeopathic medicine and alternative forms of healing. Previous grantees in this space include American Society for the Alexander Technique, Gesundheit Institute, American Medical College of Homeopathy, and Anasazi Foundation, which “is a therapeutic outdoor behavioral treatment healthcare program and wilderness rehab for adolescents.”
Other health grants include support for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Institute on Aging, and Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Skywards regularly supports Chadwick Library Press, which is dedicated to publishing the works of Rudolf Steiner, founder of Anthroposophy, an esoteric spiritual movement rooted in pseudoscience. The foundation has also given to Steiner Books, a bookstore dedicated to the author, located in Great Barrington, MA.
Grants for K-12 Education
Support for education is not the foundation’s largest giving area, but it has made a few grants in this space, primarily to Bay Area groups, including Marin Waldorf School Association, The Education Conservancy, and Novato Charter School Foundation.
Grants for Environment
Michael and Jyll are partners with two other families in Fildreen Farm, a biodynamic farm in Mendocino County, California. Nevertheless, the Skywords Foundation has only supported a handful of environmental organizations, notably Ecology Action, Kolunga Village Foundation, and The Marion Institute. Michael and Jyll are partners with two other families in Fildreen Farm, a biodynamic farm in Mendocino County, California.
Grants for Bay Area and NorCal
The Skywords Foundation is located in San Francisco and much of its grantmaking stays close to home. Past grantees include the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Elite Synchro USA, and the Ginungagap Foundation, which supports Filgreen Farm. The foundation has also given millions to RSF Social Finance, which works “to catalyze transformation by circulating capital to social enterprises for a more just, regenerative, and compassionate world.”
Michael and Jyll are partners with two other families in Fildreen Farm, a biodynamic farm in Mendocino County, California.
Important Grant Details
Skywards' grants range from $200 to a high of $1,875,000, but the most common amount is $25,000.
· This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for funding.
· It does not provide a way for grantseekers to contact the foundation’s sole staff member, but here is a phone number: 415-889-5689.
· Learn more about this funder’s grantmaking in its tax records.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
CONTACT:
Skywords Family Foundation
235 Montgomery St., 17th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94104
415-889-5689
