Clif Family Foundation

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OVERVIEW: The Clif Family Foundation (formerly the Clif Bar Family Foundation) is a California-based funder that prioritizes food systems, regenerative agriculture, community health, climate justice, the environment, and food production worker safety.

IP TAKE: The Clif Family Foundation is a mid-sized funder that conducts the majority of its giving through a very focused food systems and community health lens. The foundation’s assets recently increased substantially, making Clif a key funder to know about for nonprofits working in this space. Clif’s website states that it prioritizes “small to mid-size grassroots groups” working on the food system, equitable health, and protecting “the places we play by being stewards of our environment and natural resources.” This funder prefers organizations that demonstrate strong community ties and operate at the community level. Clif is an accessible funder with a straightforward online grant application that’s open for submissions twice per yer. The majority of grants provide general operating support. Most of Clif’s funding goes to U.S. nonprofits, but it also operates a Canadian portfolio with a separate grants database.

PROFILE: The Clif Family Foundation, formerly the Clif Bar Family Foundation, was launched in 2006 by Kit Crawford and her husband Gary Erickson, founders of energy and health food brand Clif Bar & Co. The foundation was associated with Clif Bar & Co. until 2022, when Clif Bar was acquired by Mondelez International in a $2.9 billion deal, and the foundation became an independent entity. That same year, the foundation’s assets ballooned from $500,000 to $500 million.

The foundation’s mission is to support grassroots groups that “strengthen our food system, enhance equitable community health outcomes, and protect the places we play by being stewards of our environment and natural resources.” Its grantmaking includes operational support and project specific funding for groups working in its five priority areas: Regenerative and Organic Farming, Food Production Workers’ Health and Safety, Healthy Food Access, Outdoors Fit for Healthy Living, and Climate Justice.

Grants for the Environment

The foundation’s environmental giving focuses predominantly on Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture. Grants for both occur through the same general program, Clif’s Grants Program, which focuses on efforts to “strengthen our food systems,” “enhance equitable community health outcomes,” and “safeguard our environment and natural resources.”

  • This funder’s operating support grants prioritize organizations that are working to address at least two out of the three priority areas.

  • It also provides multi-year capacity-building grants to organizations working in these priority areas that are looking to expand their geographic reach, engage with new issue areas, or enhance services that expand the scope of impact.

In 2009, the foundation launched a special initiative called Seed Matters, which advocates for the protection and improvement of organic seed by working for policies that conserve crop genetic diversity, protect farmers’ roles and rights as seed innovators and stewards, and reinvigorate public seed research and education. 

Past grantees in this space include 1000 Friends of Iowa, which “focuses on land use education, uniting Iowans to protect farmland and natural areas, and revitalizing neighborhoods, towns and cities”; Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Oregon Environmental Council and Friends of Arches and Canyonlands Parks.

Other grantees related to Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems include the Farmer-Veteran Coalition, which “helps returning veterans find training and employment on America’s farms”; Sustainable Markets Foundation, Organic Farming Research Foundation, Ceres Community Project and Organic Seed Alliance.

Grants for Marine and Freshwater

While the Clif Family Foundation’s Canada Grants Program shares many of the same priorities as its U.S. grants program, namely “strengthening food systems” and “safeguarding our environment and natural resources,” it also supports groups working to protect wild salmon populations, freshwater supplies, and marine habitats.

Grantees in this area include Canadian Freshwater Alliance, Georgia Strait Alliance, Water BC, Swim Drink Fish, and Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

Important Grant Details:

The Clif Family Foundation’s grants generally range from $500 to $500,000. Grantseekers may review the foundation’s U.S. grants and Canada grants for more information on its past grantmaking.

  • The foundation currently only funds organizations working in the U.S. or Canada.

  • Applications for operational support are accept twice per year, with deadlines generally falling on March 1 and August 1. Recipients are usually announced within four months of the last deadline.

  • Only 501(c)(3) organizations or groups with a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor are eligible.

  • Requests for funding for individuals, capital construction, deficit funding, endowments, government agencies, media projects, or religious groups will not be considered.

Grantees may reach out to info@cliffamilyfoundation.org for further inquiries.

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