Kern Community Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Kern Community Foundation supports a broad range of community interests in Kern County, California.
IP TAKE: The Kern Community Foundation makes grants to a wide array of community concerns in Kern County, California. Big winners include local hospitals, schools, environmental concerns, churches and faith-based human services. It accepts applications for all of its programs but is not forthcoming about grants stemming from over one hundred donor-advised funds managed under its roof.
PROFILE: Established in 1999, the Kern Community Foundation (KCF) is a community foundation based in Bakersfield, California and serving the communities of Kern County, which is located north of Los Angeles. Curtis Darling and Morton Brown had the original vision for the foundation, and other community leaders joined their efforts to form KCF in 1999. It maintains the “powerfully simple mission of growing community and growing philanthropy.” The foundation makes grants through a handful of community initiatives and about 150 donor-advised, designated and other funds. It addresses a broad range of community needs including education, women and girls, economic opportunity, environmental concerns, health, arts and culture and religious causes.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
Grantmaking and scholarship programs stemming from several of KCFs community and donor-advised funds comprise a significant portion of this funder’s annual giving. The foundation does not name specific goals for its education funding but appears to support a number of local schools and out-of-school program providers in Kern County. Grantees include the Grimm Family Education Foundation, the STEMtaught Foundation, Boys and Girls Clubs of Kern County, the Bakersfield High School PTO and the Delano Joint Union High School.
A few grants have also supported SoCal colleges and universities, but it is unclear if these grants support scholarships or other higher education programs. Grantees include the Associated Students of California State University Bakersfield and the University of Southern California.
The foundation also awards man scholarships for college students from Kern County and streamlines the application process through its online scholarship application portal. Scholarship applications are generally due in mid April.
KCF also runs a community initiative, Kern Futures, which organizes convenings and runs a college success program aimed at “increasing the level of educational attainment in Kern County.”
Grants for Women and Girls
KCF’s Women’s and Girls’ Fund aims to “transform the lives of women and girls in Kern County by mobilizing the power and passion of women working together.” The fund’s grantmaking will focus on women’s education until 2025, with the goal of effecting “long-term solutions to societal problems facing women and girls in all parts of Kern County.” This program awards grant of up to $25,000 and accepts LOIs through the foundation’s application portal from late September until mid November, after which time some applicants will be invited to submit full proposals for awards announced in early March.
Past grantees of the Women’s and Girls’ Fund include the Kern Partnership for Children and Families, the Mission at Kern County and the Open Door Network’s Teen Mothers Transcending program.
Grants for Environmental Conservation, Animals and Wildlife
Grants for environmental and animal conservation stem from KCF’s Kern River Valley Community Fund, the Upper Kern Fisheries Enhancement Fund and some of the foundation’s donor-advised vehicles.
The Kern River Valley Community Fund names environmental conservation as one of several grantmaking areas of interest and works broadly to make the valley a “better place to live, to work and to visit.” It does not name specific goals for its environmental giving.
The Upper Kern Fisheries Enhancement Fund was established when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission renewed the license of the Kern River Number 3 Hydroelectric Plant. Grants stemming from this fund are designated for “[i]mplementation of the Upper Kern Basin Fishery Management Plan,” restoration of the river’s rainbow trout population and other conservation efforts concerning the river and its ecological system.
Additional environmental funding stems from the Area Energy Fund for Conservation and the Environment, the Kern River Preserve Stewardship Endowment Fund and the Cat People Endowment Fund.
Grantees working in the areas of environmental and wildlife conservation include Garden Pathways of Bakersfield, the Kern River Conservancy, Trout Unlimited and California Trout.
Grants for Health, Mental Health, Economic Opportunity and Community Development
The broad mission of the Kern River Valley Community Fund is to “to distribute grants for charitable purposes that provide solutions to make the KRV a better place to live, to work and to visit.” Interest areas include mental, moral, intellectual and physical improvement, assistance and relief for the residents of the community of Kern River Valley.” This program runs a single annual application cycle and accepts applications via the foundation’s application portal. Check the program page in spring for application windows and due dates.
Grantees include the Kern County Cancer Foundation, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, the Kern County Literacy Council, Hoffman Hospice, the Salvation Army of Bakersfield, Valley PBS and the White Wolf Wellness Foundation.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Tax filings suggest that the foundation provides significant support to museums from the Kern River Valley Community Fund and, likely, some of the foundation’s donor-advised funds. Grants have gone to the Shafter Historical Society, the Milliken Museum Society, the Kern County Museum and the Bakersfield Museum of Art. Grants have also supported the Bakersfield Symphony.
Grants for Religious Causes
This community foundation does not name religious causes are a funding priority, but many grants go to area churches and faith-based organizations. It is unclear if these grants stem from donor-advised funds or community initiatives. Recipients include the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the Women’s Discipleship Program at Keepers Transformation House, Saint Elizabeth and Seton Catholic Church, Saint Francis Parish and the Valley Baptist Church.
Important Grant Details
KCF’s grants range from about $5,000 to $325,000, although some grantmaking programs name specific ranges for their giving.
This funder gives to a broad range of community interests, but it is unclear which grants stem from its community initiatives and which from its donor-advised funds.
This funder tends to support organizations that are well-established in Kern County.
Churches and faith-based human services number significantly among its grantees.
For additional information about past grants, see the foundation’s publications and resources page.
An available grants page features programs with open applications, but it is unclear when certain programs begin and end their application windows.
Direct general questions to the staff at 661-325-5346 or via online form.
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