Where are Fleishhacker Funds Flowing in the Bay Area?

Editor's note: This article was revised and updated on 7/1/2021.

The San Francisco-based Fleishhacker Foundation is best known for its funding to small arts groups and filmmakers. However, this highly specialized grantmaker has a few other interests up its sleeve, as well.

Two Distinct Arts Strategies

But first of all, let’s take a closer look at Fleishhacker’s arts funding. There are two arts programs: one for small arts groups with budgets of $100,000 to $750,000, and another special arts program for organizations with $750,000 to $2.5 million budgets. Small arts groups can get up to $10,000, while mid-sized groups can secure $25,000 grants from this funder.

The foundation doesn’t discriminate based on the medium, and local organizations working in dance, film, media arts, interdisciplinary arts, music, theater and visual arts are all welcome to apply. Check out the recent small arts grantees for examples.

Here’s what the Fleishhacker Foundation provides for small arts groups:

Artists’ fees for creative time.
Production costs.
Performances, exhibition/installation costs for visual, media or interdisciplinary arts.
Post production costs for films.
Projects which aid an arts organization’s overall artistic development.

Recent special arts grantees are also listed on the foundation website. Meanwhile, mid-sized arts groups should contact Fleishhacker for the following needs:

Special artistic projects or initiatives.
Artistic collaborations or commissions involving local artists.
Upgrading facilities to benefit artists and audiences.
Film projects.

Fleishhacker Arts Funding in the News:

KQED - A 50-Year-Old Ballet Company Picks Itself Up, Dusts Itself Off.
Broadway World - BWW Interview: Mercury Soul's Mason Bates Merges Classical with Electronic Music.
Mission Local - D.I.R.T. To Stir Up Dance Mission Theater.
SF Gate - Intersection for the Arts board to vote on new direction.

Fleishhacker and Elementary Literacy

The foundation’s education program might not be making as many headlines as its arts funding does, but it’s still an important part of the overall strategy and annual budget.

Fleishhacker education grants almost exclusively go toward K-5 literacy in disadvantaged local public schools. Foundation goals include helping students who are behind or in danger of falling behind, improving reading and writing skills, and helping disadvantaged students achieve grade-level competency.

Only Bay Area education groups are eligible to submit a letter of inquiry (for first-time applicants) or a full application (for returning grantees). Lately, education grants have been between $5,000 and $15,000.

Examples of past education grantees include:

Jewish Coalition for Literacy, San Francisco — $15,000 to support literacy tutoring for grades K-3 in San Francisco, Peninsula, and East Bay schools.
Reading Partners, Oakland — $15,000 to support the after school literacy support programs at 28 San Francisco sites.
Faith Network of the East Bay, Oakland — $15,000 to support the Succeeding by Reading literacy clinics for 2nd and 3rd graders at 19 East Bay schools.

To learn more about this funder, check out IP’s full profile of the Fleishhacker Foundation.