Understanding the Gruber Family Foundation’s Giving in the Bay Area
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The Bay Area Discovery Museum, located next to the Golden Gate Bridge. Photo: Rosangela Perry/shutterstock
Jon D. Gruber is one of many California investors who have turned the fruits of their professional success toward charitable pursuits. Gruber is an entrepreneur and the president of Gruber & McBaine Capital Management, which he founded in 1987. He is known to some as “the father of technology investing” because of his role as a tech analyst and technology stock investment advisor. Around the same time Gruber founded his company, he and his wife, Linda, also created a family foundation to help disadvantaged people.
Here are the top things Bay Area grantseekers should know about the Gruber Family Foundation.
A focus on the arts and sciences
Even though Gruber’s background is in finance, the family’s interests and endeavors span a broader range. Gruber’s mother and brother are artists and photographers, while his sister is an artist and singer. His father was an engineer. Local arts and culture grantees include the Bay Area Discovery Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where Linda Gruber has served on the board. Science-based grants often benefit education, frequently going out to the family’s alma maters, such as MIT and Wellesley College.
Women’s issues and progressive causes
Women’s issues are another emerging interest area for this family foundation, reflecting Linda Gruber’s long-term involvement in that area. She has served on the board of the Global Fund for Women, and foundation board member Julie Parker Benello co-founded Chicken & Egg Pictures, which supports women nonfiction filmmakers. The foundation is one of that organization’s supporters.
The Gruber family has progressive leanings and has been known to support local chapters of Planned Parenthood. In addition to reproductive rights, investigative media and environmental causes are also of interest to the Grubers.
Staying local in the Bay Area
The Grubers live in the San Francisco Bay Area and choose to keep most of their grants local. They are patrons of numerous local arts organizations, and Gruber & McBaine Capital Management is also based in San Francisco. The foundation’s business address is listed in Ross, California, a small incorporated town in Marin County.
Limited grant accessibility
Local nonprofits should know that the Gruber Family Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant applications and prefers to support groups it is already familiar with and has funded in the past. The funder’s website offers limited information, but we do know that grants typically range anywhere from a low end of $10,000 to over $1 million. The foundation does make itself accessible for general inquiries via phone, email and mail. In a recent year, the foundation awarded around $3.3 million in grants.
You can learn more about how the Gruber Family Foundation gives by checking out IP’s full profile in our Bay Area and NorCal funding guide.
