TomKat Foundation 

OVERVIEW: The San Francisco-based Tomkat Foundation is known for its climate change and clean energy grantmaking. Other areas of interest include sustainable food systems, work and opportunity, higher education and arts and culture. 

IP TAKE: Working mainly through ongoing collaborative relationships, the TomKat Foundation supports several national organizations that promote climate change mitigation and clean energy resources. It’s tough to break into TomKat’s circle of grantees unless you’re a large organization that attracts the foundation’s proactive, but loosely defined grantmaking approach. Although it maintains a sparse website, the TomKat Foundation is a low-profile funder with no clear avenue for getting in touch; however, patience and persistence pays off with this climate giving ally.

PROFILE: The TomKat Foundation was founded in 2008 by financier Tom Steyer and Kate Taylor. The couple earned M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University and, after years in the private equity world, co-founded OneCalifornia Bank, which is now known as Beneficial State Bank and specializes in community development. They also own and operate TomKat Ranch, an environmentally sustainable farming operation that raises grass-fed cattle. Based in San Francisco, the TomKat Foundation “creates and partners with innovative organizations that envision a world with climate stability, a healthy and just food system, and broad prosperity.” It names good money, good food and good energy as funding priorities. To a lesser extent the foundation also supports higher education, the arts and culture.

Grants for Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture

Funding for climate change and clean energy accounts for about half of TomKat’s annual grantmaking. Grantmaking prioritizes organizations that work to prevent climate disaster and develop a “new energy economy.” The foundation has maintained an ongoing, collaborative relationship with the Advanced Energy Economy Institute, which makes “secure, clean and affordable” energy available to the public.

Steyer and Taylor’s environmental philanthropy prioritizes the development of alternative energy sources. Their largest contribution has been to Stanford University, where they gave $40 million to create the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy, which offers seed grants to researchers investigating the scientific and economic aspects of alternative energy. The couple also gave $7 million to create the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy & Finance, a joint program of Stanford's law and business schools. Another past recipient is Yale University, which received $25 million to establish the Energy Sciences Institute.

Alongside their California ranch, Steyer and Taylor also run the TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation, which supports ecology and agricultural research on the local level. Another grantee partner, Next Generation, promotes innovative energy production and policy with an eye to equitable outcomes for underserved children and families. Other grantees include the Aspen Global Change Institute, the Echoing Green Foundation, the Public Policy Institute of California and Project Drawdown, a leading source of information and resources on climate solutions. 

The TomKat Foundation’s giving for sustainable agriculture and food systems prioritizes sustainable animal agriculture, the removal of obstacles to the processing and distribution of healthy foods, the preservation of lands for sustainable farming and ranching and increasing the availability of healthy and sustainable foods to underserved communities. In addition to supporting the Steyer’s Tomkat Ranch, the foundation has supported Ecotrust Fisheries, which supports the development of sustainable, community-based fisheries, and the Center for Food Safety, which advocates for safe and sustainable food for the American public.  

Grants for Economic Opportunity 

TomKat names “good money” as one of its main funding priorities and is committed to supporting initiatives for fair and transparent financial services, financial literacy and economic opportunity for underserved people. The foundation’s main recipient in this giving area is the Beneficial State Foundation, the charitable arm of the social justice-oriented bank founded by the Steyers. Other grantees include California’s Green Technical Education and Employment and the New Venture Fund, a source of funding and operational support for promising social enterprise projects. 

Grants for Higher Education  

The TomKat Foundation does not name higher education as a funding priority, but recent grants have supported Harvard University, Yale University, the University of California and Colorado State. 

Much of Steyer and Taylor's giving for education reflects the couple’s commitment to the environment. In addition to the major gifts to Yale and Stanford, Steyer is a founding board member of The Center for the Next Generation, which “promotes solutions to two of the biggest challenges confronting the next generation of Americans: The risk of dangerous climate change, and the threat of diminished prospects for children and families.” Steyer is also serving on the board of advisors of Common Sense Media, an organization that supports “parents, teachers, and policymakers by providing unbiased information, trusted advice, and innovative tools to help them harness the power of media and technology as a positive force in all kids’ lives.”

Grants for the Bay Area and the Arts

Steyer and Taylor donated the entirety of their interest in the $22.5 million investment they made to found Beneficial State Bank to the Beneficial State Foundation. The foundation works in the San Francisco Bay Area and aims to “engage in educational and charitable activities that eliminate discrimination, encourage affordable housing, alleviate economic distress, stimulate community development and improve the financial capacity for individuals and businesses.”

Recent arts grantmaking supports arts and culture organizations operating in the San Francisco Bay Area. Grantees include Marin Performing Stars, the Oakland Museum of Jazz and Art and the Oakland Museum of California. 

Important Grant Details:

TomKat grant range from about $10,000 to $5 million, with grants of over $1 million generally going to organizations with which the foundation maintains ongoing collaborative partnerships.

  • Grantmaking is mainly limited to the U.S., although grants have supported U.S.-based organizations that work globally in the areas of climate change and clean energy production.

  • While climate change and agriculture are the foundation’s largest giving areas, in recent years, TomKat has also given to large public and private universities and a handful of arts organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

  • For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s recent tax filings

  • Funding is mainly limited to the U.S. and emphasizes the state of California. 

While this funder does maintain a website, it does not run an open application system or provide a direct avenue for getting in touch. An address and phone number are provided below. 

PEOPLE:

Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only). 

CONTACT: 

TomKat Foundation

111 Sutter St., 10th Fl. 

San Francisco, CA 94104

(415) 529-5692