Tipping Point Community

OVERVIEW: The Tipping Point Community supports education, housing, employment, and early childhood education in the Bay Area of Northern California.

IP TAKE: Tipping Point Community supports organizations located in the Bay Area or that serve its residents, and it prioritizes support for organizations led by people of color. This accessible funder’s website features and online introduction form for potential grantees. This is a good organization to know for local groups working within its key funding areas.

PROFILE: Established in 2005, Tipping Point Community is a poverty-fighting organization in the Bay Area of Northern California. Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, founded Tipping Point after working at the Robin Hood Foundation in New York City and returning home to California. This funder seeks to “advance the most promising poverty-fighting solutions.” Grantmaking includes education, housing, employment, early childhood, and disaster relief.

Grants for K-12 and Higher Education, and Early Childhood Education

Education grants address literacy, high school graduation, college attendance and post-secondary education. The funder also provides early education grants to support children ages zero to five in terms of early literacy and positive parenting supports.

Grants for Work and Economic Opportunity, and Housing and Homelessness

Employment grants fund career-track jobs, increasing earnings over time, and retaining high-quality employment positions. Housing grants seek to connect individuals and families with stable housing options, as well as employment, health and case management services.

Tipping Point just wrapped up its five-year, $100 million Chronic Homelessness Initiative (CHI), which, through its rehousing effort Rising Up, “successfully rehoused 92% of enrolled young people in the evaluation sample, and only 7% exited the program without successfully being housed.”

Grants for Community Development

For all of its program areas, Tipping Point focuses on helping local people who are struggling with poverty. The funder also raises money and distributes grants for disaster relief efforts after emergency situations. It prioritizes unrestricted and flexible funding to assist the nonprofit sector.

In addition to grants, Tipping Point also provides connections with pro-bono partners, research and development on poverty-related issues, and public-sector collaborations on policy.

Important Grant Details

Tipping Point grants range from $10,000 to $1 million. Grants over $1 million are not uncommon. View information about recent grants on the funder’s grantees page and news page. The funder focuses on the San Francisco area of California and more broadly on six Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara. The grantmaker considers both well-established and early-stage organizations for funding. As a result of its commitment to DEI, “over 50% of the foundation’s core grantees are led by executive directors of color.”

Tipping Point accepts unsolicited letters of inquiry from local nonprofits. Grantseekers should complete the online introduction form on the funder’s website to get involved with the funder. If interested, the staff will arrange an informational site visit, conduct due diligence, and make a recommendation to the board for funding consideration. Direct general questions to the staff at info@tippingpoint.org or 415-348-1240.

PEOPLE:

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