Margoes Foundation

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OVERVIEW: The Margoes Foundation supports education, college access and completion, mental health and youth in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.

IP TAKE: The Margoes Foundation is a pretty specialized funder with clear interests and geographic priorities. Programs that combine this foundation’s two interests areas (college attainment and mentally ill youth) have the best chances of being funded by this focused local foundation. While it does not currently accept unsolicited proposals, interested grantseekers should check back frequently as this may be temporary.

PROFILE: Established in 1984, the Margoes Foundation is a private foundation based in San Francisco, California. This is the foundation of John Margoes, who created this foundation in his will. The foundation is managed by Pacific Foundation Services, LLC. The foundation aims to "be a resource and catalyst to support imaginative and creative program opportunities that enabled low-income and other disadvantaged youth to obtain a college education and people with mental disabilities to live in non-institutional environments and lead productive lives.” It funds local efforts for education, college access and completion, mental health and youth.

Grants for K-12 Education and College Prep

The Margoes Foundation is a funder of college access and success programs that prepare disadvantaged and low-income students for college and degree attainment. The funder often supports after-school programs and summer college access programs that provide mentoring, tutoring, computer literacy, STEM education and arts and music education. The funder also supports financial aid and college scholarship programs.

Grants for Mental Health

It prioritizes the needs of people with mental illnesses and helping them live productive lives outside of institutions. Programs that serve young people turning 18 and who are transitioning from residential therapeutic care to independent living are of particular interest to the Margoes Foundation. The foundation also offers a Venture Philanthropy Award that is a three-year award of $150,000 to support early-stage social impact organizations.

Important Grant Details

Grants range between about $10,000 and $50,000. The most common amount is $20,000. Learn more about this funder’s local giving by examining its recent tax records.

  • Grantmaking focuses exclusively on the San Francisco Bay Area of California.

  • This foundation typically accepts unsolicited grant applications from nonprofits; however, it has paused this policy for the foreseeable future and currently does not accept unsolicited requests for funding.

  • It accepts application by invitation only.

Direct general questions to the foundation via its online submission form on the Contact page. The foundation’s phone number is 415-561-6540.

PEOPLE:

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