Rady Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Rady Foundation supports health and human services, education, Jewish causes and arts and culture in San Diego and Southern California.
IP TAKE: The Rady Foundation is the philanthropic vehicle of Enerst and Evelyn Rady, who signed the Giving Pledge and have since ramped up their giving. This funder tends to offer ongoing support to a small corps of grantees. It does not accept applications and does not provide a way of getting in touch, making it inaccessible. Networking with a family member of past grantee might be the only way in here.
PROFILE: Established in 2002, the Rady Foundation (RFF) is a family foundation based in San Diego, California. This is the foundation of Ernest and Evelyn Rady, both Giving Pledge signatories. Ernest Rady, who is about 87 years old at this writing, founded a financial services and real estate firm American Assets Trust. He was also the chairman of the San Diego-based Insurance Company of the West and a former part-owner of the San Diego Padres, a major league baseball team. Evelyn Rady was a social worker for many years.
This funder makes grants for health and human services, education, arts and culture and Jewish causes in Southern California. It does not maintain a website, limiting information about its grantmaking goals and priorities.
Grants for Public Health, Mental Health, Homelessness and Human Services
The Rady Foundation provides ongoing support to the Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, which was named for them in 2018, when they made a $200 million gift to the hospital for large-scale improvements and expansion. Another major gift provided $50 million to the Salvation Army of San Diego for the renovation and expansion of a housing shelter complex, the Rady Center. The foundation also provides ongoing support to Jewish Family Services of San Diego, Childhelp and the United Service Organization Council of San Diego, among others.
Grants for Jewish Causes
The Rady Foundation has steadily supported a handful of Southern California Jewish organizations. Grantees include the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, Hebrew Free Loan of San Diego and Congregation Beth Isreal, also of San Diego. Jewish grantees operating outside of the Southern California region include the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Birthright Israel and the American Jewish Committee.
Grants for Education
RFF has supported both higher and K-12 education over the years. Grantees include the University of California San Diego, Access Youth Academy, Junior Achievement of San Diego County and the Francis Parker School in San Diego. Outside of Southern California, the foundation bankrolled the Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba in Cananada and has provided ongoing support to the Horatio Alger Association, which awards “scholarships to students who have overcome adversity and demonstrate integrity and perseverance.”
Grants for Arts and Culture
While RFF does not name areas of focus for its arts and culture giving, tax filings reveal an interest in music. Grantees include the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Opera and the La Jolla Music Society.
Important Grant Details:
Past RFF grants have ranged from about $400 to $1 million, although the foundation makes some larger gifts for major projects bearing the Rady name.
RFF tends to offer multi-year support to a small corps of grantees.
San Diego is foundation’s main geographic priority, but it does support some organizations operating nationally or in other parts of the U.S. and Canada.
This funder does not accept applications for funding and gives only to preselected organizations.
For information about past giving, see the foundation’s recent tax filings.
This foundation does not provide a direct way of getting in touch, but its phone number is listed as 858-345-1463.
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CONTACT:
Rady Foundation
3430 Carmel Mountain Rd., Ste. 150
San Diego, CA 92121-1078
858-345-1463
