Jean & E. Floyd Kvamme Foundation

OVERVIEW:  The Jean & E. Floyd Kvamme Foundation’s grantmaking includes support for religious, educational, medical, and policy organizations.  

IP TAKE: The Jean & E. Floyd Kvamme Foundation conducts its grantmaking through a religious lens and almost all of its gifts go to groups with mission statements grounded in Christian theology. In addition, its giving leans heavily conservative, and progressive groups will want to look elsewhere. However, many of the foundation’s beneficiaries see continued support year after year, so if your organization falls into one of its targeted interest areas, this is a good funder to know. Unfortunately, the foundation keeps a low public profile, which limits information available on its grantmaking priorities and activities. A phone number and mailing address are listed below, but networking will likely be the way forward here.

PROFILE: Established in 1993, the Jean & E. Floyd Kvamme Foundation was founded by tech veteran Floyd Kvamme and his late wife, Jean. Floyd and Jean Kvamme met at a San Francisco church and had their first date at the 1958 Billy Graham crusade in San Francisco. In the late 1990s, the couple purchased a ranch, and Jean founded Jean Kvamme Center for Adaptive Riding, “a therapeutic horseback riding center.” In addition to working in tech and serving as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Apple, Floyd also served as co-chairman of President Bush's President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). While the foundation lacks grantmaking transparency and a website, tax filings reveal that the Jean and E. Floyd Kvamme Foundation primarily funds religious organizations, cultural, educational, and medical organizations.  

Grants for Christian Causes

Support for religious causes and Christian organizations is the foundation’s largest giving area. Unlike some of Kvamme’s funding areas which focus heavily on California, its Christian giving is nationwide and has gone to groups throughout the U.S. Previous grantees include San Jose’s Cityteam Ministries, the Gateway Bible Church in Scotts Valley, the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association, Elam Ministries and Emmaus Inn Ministries, a Catholic organization that supports disabled youth. The foundation has also supported Global Media Outreach, which “uses digital advertising and online missionaries to share the Gospel and disciple people in 13 languages.”

Grants for Public Health, and Diseases

The Kvammes have made only a few grants for health and medical organizations in recent years. Grantees include Mercy Ships and the Spondylitis Association of America (SAA), which deals with inflammatory arthritis affecting the spine and large joints. Kvamme Foundation Board Member Damon Kvamme is associated with SAA.

In the late 1990s, the couple purchased a ranch in Felton, California, and Jean founded the Jean Kvamme Center for Adaptive Riding, “a therapeutic horseback riding center” that serves children and adults with special needs and their families. The Kvammes have also supported the Joni and Friends International Disability Center, where Kvamme sits on the board.

Grants for Higher Education

Education is a smaller area of funding for the Kvamme Foundation. The couple supports Wheaton College, where Kvamme sits on the Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics and Economics advisory board, and where Kvamme endowed a professorship in Jean’s memory. Other grantees include Hillsdale College, the Baymonte Christian Schools, Campus Crusade for Christ, and Forman Christian College in Atlanta. Several years ago, the couple made a seven-figure gift to West Valley College, creating the Jean and E. Floyd Kvamme Planetarium.

Grants for Democracy and Civic Engagement, and Humanitarian and Disaster Relief

The Kvammes’ grantmaking for policy development leans conservative. Past grantees include the American Enterprise Institute, the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Pacific Legal Foundation, which identifies as libertarian and defends issues of individual economic freedom.

While support for international relief organizations isn’t the most robust giving area, the foundation has made a few large gifts in this space in recent years. In 2022 alone, it gave over $1 million each to Samaritan's Purse and Mercy Ships, both Christian aid organizations.

Important Grant Details

Grants range from $100 to over $2 million. The most common amount is around $5,000. Learn more about recent giving in the funder’s tax records.

It does not appear that this foundation accepts applications for funding.

PEOPLE:

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

CONTACT:

The Jean & E. Floyd Kvamme Foundation

P.O. Box 2494

Saratoga, CA 95070

Fax: (408) 354-0804