Koret Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Koret Foundation supports Jewish causes in the Bay Area and Israel. It also funds Bay Area initiatives for K-12 and higher education, as well as some arts and culture and community development projects.
IP TAKE: The Koret Foundation is an important source of funding for Jewish causes and educational opportunity in California and Israel. This funder tends to provide ongoing support to grantees with which it maintains longstanding relationships. Unfortunately, Koret is not accessible, but it welcomes contact via the foundation’s website.
PROFILE: Established in 1979, the Koret Foundation was seeded with the estates of Joseph and Stephanie Koret, whose Koret of California sportswear line was popular from the 1940s through the 1980s and was eventually bought by Levi Strauss. The Korets had no children, so the foundation became their legacy. Today, a board of directors comprised of business and community leaders, along with a professional staff, lead the Koret Foundation. The foundation pours millions of dollars each year into Jewish organizations in the U.S. and Israel and has recently launched initiatives to improve educational opportunity in the Bay Area. To a lesser degree, the foundation gives to arts and culture and community development programs in the Bay Area.
Grants for Jewish Causes
Koret’s grantmaking program for Jewish causes names three ares of priority: Jewish Peoplehood, U.S.-Israel Bridge Building and Jewish Institutions. Grants for Jewish Peoplehood support cultural and educational programs for Jews, as well programs that educate the general public about Judaism, Jewish culture and antisemitism. U.S.-Israel Bridge Building grants prioritize “organizational collaborations, educational and humanitarian action programs, and opportunities for cooperation and exchange.” Koret also makes grants to support the stability and accessibility of Jewish institutions in the Bay Area. Some of the Koret Foundation’s recent Jewish grantees include the American Israel Education Foundation, Tel Aviv University, the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center of Palo Alto, California and IsraAID, a humanitarian organization based in Israel.
Grants for Education
The Koret Foundation’s education grantmaking is mainly limited to the Bay Area. In the K-12 arena, the foundation focuses on preparing underserved at at-risk children and teens for personal and academic success. In 2019, the foundation launched a three-year, $11 million K-12 education initiative that prioritized STEM education and college preparedness. Grantees have included the National Math and Science Initiative’s project to increase college readiness in the Hayward Unified School District in Alameda County and College Track, an after school program that tutors and mentors low-income high school students who will be the first in their families to attend college. Other K-12 education grantees include the YMCA of San Francisco, KIPP Bay Area and Teach for America Bay Area.
Similarly, Koret’s higher education grantmaking prioritizes improving the accessibility and affordability of college for underserved and first-generation college students. The foundation launched a $50 million initiative for Bay Area colleges and universities in 2020, which supported updating technology and accessibility at 12 area institutions including the University of California Berkeley, Stanford University, San Jose State University, City College of San Francisco and the University of California Santa Cruz, among others.
Grants for the Bay Area
A significant portion of the Koret Foundation’s grantmaking supports community development and arts and culture initiatives in the Bay Area, where the foundation “looks to support effective organizations that address a pressing need in our region, work to strengthen the social fabric, or improve the quality of life for all members of our community.” A signature program, the Koret Food Program, provides ongoing to a corps of Bay Area organizations that assist needy individuals and families with “well being as well as nutrition.” Grantees include the St. Anthony Foundation, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley and the Tri-Regional Jewish Community Food Program. Arts and culture funding focuses on helping organizations broaden and diversify their audiences and on increasing access to the arts via public programming and free or reduced-price admissions. Grantees include the San Francisco Ballet, the de Young Museum and the Oakland Museum of California.
Important Grant Details:
The Koret Foundation made over $80 million in grants in a recent year. Grants range from $10,000 to over $3 million, with an average grant size of about $50,000. More than half of all grants stay in the Bay Area, where the foundation largest areas of giving are education and Jewish causes. This funder tends to offer ongoing support to large- and medium-sized organizations that are well-established in Bay Area, as well as national educational initiatives running large-scale interventions for Bay Area schools and communities. For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s grantee spotlights page or its recent tax filings.
This funder does not accept unsolicited applications or proposals. Grantseekers may introduce themselves and their organizations via the foundation’s contact page. The foundation maintains a page with information about its board and staff members but does not provide individual contact information.
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