Price Philanthropies
/OVERVIEW: Price Philanthropies focuses mainly on the City Heights area of San Diego, where it supports early childhood and K-12 education, mental health, immigrants, housing and community development.
IP TAKE: Price Philanthropies gets positive reviews for being “responsive” and being “a positive leader in the field.” This funder is indispensable if your organization works in the City Heights area of San Diego, where its supports organizations of all sizes with tens of millions each year. Grantseekers working in early childhood education, mental health or immigrants rights should email Price to set up a meeting. For other areas, submit a letter of inquiry at any time.
PROFILE: Price Philanthropies is a private family foundation with offices in San Diego and La Jolla, California. Its mission involves “[t]ransforming the lives of youth and families through grantmaking and youth programs.” The organization was founded by Sol and Helen Price in 1982 as the Price Family Charitable Fund. Sol Price was a retail and real estate entrepreneur and is best known for his Fed Mart, Price Club and Price Smart retail chains. The foundation is now run by the the couple’s son and daughter-in-law, Robert and Allison Price.
Price Philanthropies’ engagement consists of grantmaking initiatives, youth programs, ongoing organizational partnerships and real estate projects. This funder mainly gives in San Diego County, California.
Grants for Early Childhood Education and K-12 Education
Early childhood and K-12 education together represent Price Philanthropies largest giving areas, according to recent tax filings. The philanthropies’ engagement in these areas consists of grantmaking, signature programs and organizational partnerships.
Price’s Early Education and Childcare initiative responds to the dearth of early childcare and education in San Diego County. The program’s specific goals are to increase access to quality programs for children from birth to age three and to “[i]mprove early childhood expertise and business support systems.” While Price Philanthropies does not accept applications, grantseekers in these areas may email Sakara Tear at stear@pricephilanthropies.org to set up a meeting about funding opportunities stemming from this program.
Past early childhood grantees include San Dieogo State University’s Family Childcare Curriculum Pilot, the Playful Learning Landscape Action Netowrk and the Urban Village II Head Start Program at the Neighborhood House in San Diego.
Through its community development initiative for the City Heights area of San Diego, Price supports “school-based and school-connected programs in four City Heights schools- Rosa Parks Elementary, Monroe Clark and Wilson Middle, and Hoover High Schools.” These include programs for experiential learning, music, academic support, parent involvement, social and emotional development and college advisement.
Price runs two signature programs for high school students in San Diego County:
The Aaron Price Fellows program “prepares highly motivated and diverse San Diego high school students to be responsible, engaged and caring members of their community.”
In collaboration with the San Diego Rotary Club, Price sponsors and organizes the Cardinals Interact program at Hoover High School. This program “provides mentoring, tutoring and other supportive activities to selected Hoover High School students to help them achieve lifelong success.”
Price maintains organizational partnerships with the San Diego Zoo and the Birch Aquarium.
Price Family Education Endowment at the San Diego Zoo offers “experiential learning programs for students attending Title 1 schools.”
Similarly, the philanthropies Ocean Science Education Fund at the Birch Aquarium aims to “to increase access to hands-on ocean science education for Title 1 schools.”
Grants for Higher Education
Price Philanthropies has provided ongoing support to the University of Southern California, Sol Price’s alma mater. A major donation in 2011 endowed the Price School of Public Policy and established the Sol Price Center for Social Innovation. Other higher education grants have supported programs at the University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, UCLA and the University of California at Berkeley.
Price also runs a scholarship program for students graduating from select San Diego high schools who plan to attend four year colleges after graduation. The program prioritizes students with high academic achievement and financial need. Guidelines and due dates are provided on the program page.
Grants for Housing, Community Development and Public Health
Price Philanthropies’ community development work focuses on the City Heights area of San Diego, with funding stemming from both the City Heights giving program and the philanthropies Real Estate development program.
The City Heights initiative “is a partnership between Price Philanthropies and private and public agencies to provide opportunities for City Heights youth and families to prosper.”
The area is home to the Copley-Price Family YMCA, which receives ongoing support from the philanthropies.
Price has established “school-based health centers” at cooperating public schools and supports community health organizations including La Maestra Community Health Center, Mid-City Pediatric Clinic, City Heights Family Health Center and Rady Children’s Hospital Urgent Care for Primary Care and Behavioral Health.
The City Heights initiative also makes grants for general operating support to “key non-profit organizations that serve the community.” Grantees include the Alpha Project for the Homeless, the Women’s Resource Center, Gangs Be Gone and the Normal Heights Community Development Association.
Price’s Real Estate projects are public-private partnerships that develop safe, convetient and affordable housing in the City Heights area. See profiles of Price’s real estate projects on the program page.
Grants for Mental Health
Launched in 2015, Price’s Mental Health initiative works “to improve San Diego’s mental health system of care for youth and their families.” Grantmaking prioritizes “safety net programs that serve primarily Medi-Cal, uninsured and underinsured families” and names goals for improved access, collaboration, early diagnosis and effective and compassionate treatment. Grantseekers working in this area may contact Sakara Tear at stear@pricephilanthropies.org to set up a meeting about funding opportunities stemming from this program.
Mental health grantees include NAMI of San Diego, North County Lifeline, San Diego Youth Services and Hanna’s Family Center, among others.
Grants for Human Rights, Immigrants and Refugees
Price’s Human Rights initiative supports “non-profit organizations that advance the cause of human rights by protecting civil liberties and increasing public awareness of human rights issues.” A major area of focus for this giving is immigrants’ rights, with many grants supporting organizations involved in “legal representation, increasing the knowledge of civil rights among immigrant families, and litigation and advocacy to improve public policy.” While Price Philanthropies does not accept unsolicited letters of inquiry, grantseekers in this area may contact Rosario Iannacone via email to request a meeting about human rights grantmaking opportunities.
Past grantees include California Western School of Law’s Community Law Project in City Heights, the University of San Deigo’s School of Law Legal Clinics, the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium and the Casa Cornelia Law Center’s Pro Bono Program.
Grants for Global Development
Aprender y Crecer is one of Price’s subprograms for youth. It supports K-12 education in Latin America and the Caribbean with donations of “school supplies and books to students, as well as teacher materials, benefiting over 150,000 students and 7,500 teachers in more than 280 primary schools.”
Important Grant Details:
Price Philanthropies’ grants range from $1,000 to about $2.5 million, although most grants remain below $600,000.
This funder focuses almost exclusively on San Diego’s City Height’s neighborhoods, where it supports organizations of all sizes working to improve education, well-being and equitable community development.
Only a small portion of grants support organizations based outside of San Diego.
This funder runs signature programs and maintains ongoing partnerships with organizations working in its areas of interest.
Organizations seeking support for work in early childhood education, mental health or immigrants rights may email the foundation to set up meetings to discuss opportunities. See program pages for contact information.
All others must submit letters of inquiry via the philanthropies’ application portal, to which Price will respond within four months. Guidelines are provided on the grants page.
Information about past grantees is available at each program page.
Price Philanthropies can be reached by telephone at 858-551-2316.
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