Silk Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Silk Family Foundation primarily funds grantmaking related to health, education and human services.
IP TAKE: The Silk Family Foundation keeps a low public profile, which limits information on its grantmaking priorities and activities. The foundation tends to support large, well-known organizations, and about half of its funding stays in the Los Angeles area. This funder does not accept funding proposals, but contact information is provided below.
PROFILE: The Silk Family Foundation was founded in 2005 by the real real estate investment veteran Stephen Silk and his wife, Susan, a clinical psychologist. Stephen Silk is a Managing Director of Eastdil Secured, a real estate investment banking firm. The foundation lacks transparency and does not maintain a website, which makes it difficult to locate further information on its priority areas and grantmaking strategies. Tax filings suggest the Silk Family Foundation primarily funds grantmaking related to health, education and human services.
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
Health is the Silk Family Foundation’s largest giving area, according to the organizations tax filings. Grantmaking supports hospitals and disease research, with an emphasis on organizations based in California. Past grantees include the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the Huntington Medical Research Institutes, the Lupus Research Alliance, the Children’s Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, California and Project Lyme.
Grants for Education
The Silk Foundation’s education funding primarily supports higher education. The University of Southern California, which is the alma mater of both Stephen and Susan Silk, has received ongoing support. Stephen Silk is the managing director of USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate, and he has taught courses at the Marshall School of Business. Other areas of interest at USC include the Keck School of medicine and the university’s athletic programs. The foundation has also given to UCLA, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Minnesota.
Only a few grants support K-12 education each year, and the foundation does not name goals or priorities for this giving. Grantees include New York City’s Reading Partners, Los Angeles Team Mentoring, the Boys and Girls Club of Anaheim and the New School for Child Development, which operates 14 schools that serve “children, adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities, ADHD, developmental delays, abuse and emotional challenges.”
Grants for Mental Health, Homelessness, Housing and Community Development
Tax filings suggest that the Silk Foundation maintains an interest in the overlapping areas of mental health and homelessness. Grantmaking targets initiatives for vulnerable youth, veterans and the homeless of Southern California. Grantees include Los Angeles’s Union Rescue Mission, the Land of the Free Foundation, which serves veterans, and the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles.
Important Grant Details:
The Silk Family Foundation’s grants range from $500 to $100,000.
This funder maintains a low profile and tends to provide ongoing support to its grantees.
More than half of all grants are directed toward organizations based and serving populations in Southern California.
For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s recent tax filings.
This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding.
This funder does not provide an email address for contact, but its telephone number is listed as 310-562-9100. An address is provided below.
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CONTACT:
Silk Family Foundation
PO Box 3479
Ketchum, ID 83340-3421
310-562-9100
