Bay Area

While this foundation is relatively new, its founder and his family have a long history of supporting Bay Area causes, including progressive groups. Here’s what nonprofits need to know.

Philanthropic support for film remains scarce, and most support goes to documentaries. One major exception is SFFILM, the largest grant-giving body for narrative features in the U.S.

Salesforce’s new office tower in San Francisco looms as a symbol of tech omnipotence in a region with deepening stratification. The company and its CEO are also leaders in philanthropy. But are they bold enough?

While nonprofits have griped forever about a lack of unrestricted grants, many funders remain wary of providing such support. The Sobrato Family Foundation recently shared its take-aways from 10 years of offering GOS funding.

Lots of grant money has been flowing lately for movement building. The Akonadi Foundation is among those funders now looking to translate that energy into gains at the ballot box.

While the Bay Area's tech elite remain ambivalent about the arts, other funders in the region are a different story entirely. We dig into a historic brick-and-mortar gift out of San Francisco.

Women of color are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS and the harsh practices of the criminal justice system. Now, this group is getting new help around these issues from a top funder in California.

Warren Buffett has famously called philanthropy "society's risk capital." The best foundation leaders view their resources in exactly this way. Here’s an example from the Bay Area.

The Silicon Valley Community Foundation may be the most intriguing—and confusing—institution in philanthropy today. It also has a surprising number of critics. IP Editor David Callahan takes a deep dive. 

The fight against homelessness in Silicon Valley keeps gaining momentum, most recently with what may be the largest-ever corporate contribution to address this issue, by Cisco. What's the game plan here? 

The NORCAL Group Foundation was launched in September 2017 and just gave out its first round of grants. The funder is focused on patient care, patient safety, and physician wellness. 

Winners of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation's Open Spaces grants think public art can engage communities around issues like immigration, women's rights, and gentrification.

The Westly Foundation, bankrolled by venture capital wealth, is looking to back "novel" ideas to community challenges that have "strong potential to scale." Who wins its awards and why? 

Michael and Xochi Birch have turned their members-only club in San Francisco, The Battery, into a platform for encouraging philanthropy. We get the inside story of how this outfit has evolved.  

There just aren't a lot of foundations that are dedicated to eliminating structural racism and have a local focus. The Akonadi Foundation is among them. What's it been up to lately? 

Big changes are afoot at the Koret Foundation, and Bay Area and Jewish organizations will want to pay attention. Take a look at Koret's new arts and culture initiative. 

With its latest round of grants, a Bay Area funder doubled down on its commitment to bringing together players from different sectors to tackle complicated and deep-rooted problems.

A global marine conservation funder, the Moore Foundation also has an interest in the environmental struggles of its home, the Bay Area. It’s backing an extensive study of plastic pollution flowing into its waters.

The Silicon Valley Community Foundation wants to help low-income residents and people of color get more engaged in local governance and policymaking. 

With rents rising, artists fleeing, and techies keeping their checkbooks closed, a new Hewlett Foundation initiative is a vital lifeline to the region's arts ecosystem. Will it be enough to make an impact?

Youth causes are typically a big deal for sports team foundations. Which helps explain why the 49ers Foundation is really diving in to STEAM education for middle schoolers.

Latinos, who make up much of the workforce in California wine country, have been among the hardest hit by fires that charred the region. The Latino Community Foundation tells us how it stepped up to help. 

As part of CZI’s rapid expansion, it's created a community fund that it says will be guided by those struggling in Silicon Valley. Is this another sign of a more responsive tech philanthropy? 

As if undocumented immigrants don't have enough problems these days, thousands now face hardship as a result of California's fires—and aren't eligible for FEMA assistance. Some funders are stepping in. 

The nation's top donor-advised fund, which made a staggering 849,000 grants in 2016, has crunched its data to analyze what giving looks like in different regions of the U.S. It's worth paying attention.  

Until health consumers have better information, it will be hard to improve an inefficient U.S. healthcare system. Can Yelp be part of the solution? A California funder hopes so. 

While Gordon Getty's giving typically focuses on the music organizations, a recent donation finds him supporting his alma mater. What makes this donor tick?

While yet another mass shooting is unlikely to bring a strong federal response, the good news is that funders and advocates are doing more to tackle gun violence at the local level, including in California. 

A Silicon Valley billionaire and his wife buck conventional wisdom and give big to a major U.S. museum. Are Spock-like tech philanthropists finally growing more friendly to the arts?