OVERVIEW: The Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation supports health and medical research, with a growing emphasis on infectious disease, vaccine development and healthcare capacity in Africa. Its grantmaking also includes education, journalism and selected Southern California institutions.
IP TAKE: This family funder supports a limited range of medical projects, led by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a polarizing and powerful figure, serving as the Executive Chairman of the biotech firm ImmunityBio and the owner of the Los Angeles Times. It relies on multi-million-dollar transfers to donor-advised funds (DAFs), alongside massive anchor checks for international medical research and specialized advocacy. It prioritizes Los Angeles organizations, but only those with which Dr. Soon-Shiong is familiar, so networking via his prior grantees and connections is the best way forward.
This is a difficult funder to approach directly. The foundation takes a proactive approach and doesn’t accept unsolicited proposals. Strong prospects are established organizations that closely align with the foundation’s work in global health, infectious disease, vaccines, biomedical research and healthcare capacity, particularly in Africa. Grantseekers should prioritize relationships with the foundation’s existing partners rather than sending a cold proposal to stand any chance here.
While direct grants are made to preselected organizations, a foundation-funded partnership with the South African Medical Research Council has periodically offered competitive scholarships.
PROFILE: The Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation was established by Patrick Soon-Shiong, a Chinese-American surgeon, researcher, professor, and businessman, who made his fortune by developing and selling the multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical companies American Pharma Partners and Abraxis BioScience. As a renowned medical researcher and surgeon, he performed the world’s first encapsulated human islet transplant and the first pig-to-man islet cell transplant in diabetic patients. Since 2007, Soon-Shiong and his wife, Michele, have supported medical products through the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation. In 2018, Soon-Shiong bought the LA Times for $500 million. The couple even took the Giving Pledge in 2010 to demonstrate their commitment to lifelong philanthropy.
The couple’s Southern California philanthropy predates the foundation’s current grantmaking strategy. Major early commitments included separate gifts of $35 million and $100 million to St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. The foundation also provided a $100 million underwriting guarantee to help finance the reopening of Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in South Los Angeles. The latter was a financial guarantee, rather than a conventional $100 million grant.
Grants for Health, Medical Research and Global Health
Reflecting Dr. Soon-Shiong’s extensive biotech background and his recent efforts to accelerate vaccine manufacturing in Africa, the foundation routes funding often to global health initiatives. Soon-Shiong’s grants are targeted, large, and often newsworthy.
Health remains the foundation’s clearest funding interest, but its geographic footprint now extends well beyond Los Angeles. Recent work strongly emphasizes Africa, infectious disease, vaccine research and healthcare workforce development.
- In June 2026, the foundation announced a $10 million commitment to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and other nonprofits responding to the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Funding was designated for activities including disease surveillance, contact tracing, case management, laboratory capacity and protection of frontline healthcare workers. The announcement also said the foundation intends to work more directly with African academic institutions and frontline nonprofit organizations. No public application process was announced for this commitment.
- Another major relationship involves the Seattle-based Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI), formerly the Infectious Disease Research Institute. The foundation announced a $26 million commitment to AAHI in 2022 to advance vaccines, immunotherapies and other immune-enhancing technologies. As of June 2026, the foundation said that $19 million had been funded, with the remainder subject to conditions related to AAHI’s continued work supporting Africa.
- The foundation also partners with the South African Medical Research Council on a Capacity Development Programme intended to build an Africa-based workforce for vaccine research, development, testing and manufacturing. The partnership has supported biomanufacturing training, medical students and master’s and doctoral researchers. A 2024 funding round sought master’s and Ph.D. candidates in fields including virology, immunology, molecular biology, bioinformatics, chemical engineering and industrial pharmacy. A separate call supported students pursuing pharmaceutical regulation training at the University of the Western Cape. These are scholarships and training opportunities administered through SAMRC, not an open application process for nonprofit grants from CSSFF.
- The foundation also supports Africa’s Access to Advanced Healthcare (AAAH), a coalition launched in 2022 to expand access to vaccines and cancer immunotherapies, develop biologics manufacturing capacity and strengthen research and scientific infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa. The coalition is a strategic initiative rather than a publicly accessible grant program.
- Historical giving includes $5 million to the University of Chicago for improving patient care technology and $136 million to St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
Grants for Southern California and Other Opportunities
Southern California remains part of the foundation’s portfolio, but grantseekers should not regard CSSFF as an exclusively local funder. Its latest Form 990-PF shows giving to organizations across California, elsewhere in the United States and abroad.
- Recent grantees include Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the Gasol Foundation, El Segundo Education Foundation, St. Martin of Tours and several Los Angeles-area schools.
- Education grants have also reached Stanford University and the Tsinghua Education Foundation North America.
- Recent filings also show international and community-oriented giving outside the foundation’s core medical work, including support for the Jordan River Foundation and, in prior years, projects installing hydropanels for schools and communities in South Africa and Botswana.
Grants for Journalism and Media
As the owner of the Los Angeles Times, Soon-Shiong uses his foundation to aggressively fund press advocacy and protect independent journalism.
- It serves as a steady backer for major media watchdogs. Recent recipients include the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Center for Journalists.
- These grants demonstrate an interest in the field, although the foundation does not advertise a formal journalism funding program.
Important Grant Details:
The foundation’s latest filing reports 19 grants, with a median grant of about $20,000 and awards ranging from $2,000 to $3.5 million. Its assets stood at approximately $151 million. These figures vary substantially from year to year because a small number of very large commitments can account for much of the foundation’s annual giving. Previous grants have included $9 million awards to the Infectious Disease Research Institute.
The largest item in the latest grant list is a $3.5 million contribution to the Bank of America Charitable Gift Fund. The Charitable Gift Fund is a donor-advised fund, so this contribution should not be interpreted as a $3.5 million program grant to Bank of America. It also means that some of the foundation’s ultimate charitable beneficiaries may not be visible in CSSFF’s own tax return.
- Direct grant access is highly restricted. The foundation checked the box on its latest Form 990-PF indicating that it only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited applications. There is no public general grant portal or LOI process.
- Grant seekers are advised to contact the foundation’s VP, Charles Kenworthy, an attorney, and can be reached at (213) 622-5555.
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