Milagro Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Milagro Foundation works in the arts, education and health, prioritizing vulnerable children and youth around the world and the Bay Area.
IP TAKE: This funder conducts it’s grantmaking through a social justice lens that focuses on addressing systemic inequalities inherent in health, education and the arts. As a result, this funder is particularly focused on questions of racial justice and equity, a vein common to all of the work it supports, even though it has no program dedicated to racial justice itself.
Milagro works extensively in the Bay Area, but also makes grants nationally and internationally, so if your work doesn’t focus on the San Francisco Bay Area, don’t rule this funder out. It’s very supportive, and sometimes funds it’s grantees for multiple cycles. Milagro is also deeply invested in its philanthropic work, preferring site visits when possible to gauge both how its grants make an impact and how it can grow from learning about such investments. It also offers some emergency relief grants, but does not specify in what capacity.
Unfortunately, due to the volume of interest, this funder is not accessible, so it does not accept applications for funding. However, it is prioritizes giving to smaller, grassroots organizations and medium-sized organizations where Milagro’s grants can go far. This is a great grassroots funder, but it does not usually fund large organizations that are very established. Milagro also likes to partner with organizations that work at the local level, which provides another opportunity for organizations to reach out and pitch how their work aligns with the foundation.
PROFILE: Established in 1998, the Milagro Foundation is the public foundation of ten-time Grammy Award winning musician Carlos Santana and his family. Milagro, which means “miracle” in Spanish, aims to support programs for underrepresented and vulnerable children and youth. The Santana family raises funds for Milagro through concert ticket donations, Santana-licensed products and donations from philanthropic partners and individual donors. The foundation is on a mission to fund organizations that support under-resourced children through the arts, education and health.
Grants for K-12 Education
Milagro’s education philanthropy broadly supports “agencies and organizations that are working to close the achievement gap and provide college access and aspirations among young people.” This focus area used to focus on the San Francisco Bay Area, but has expanded to fund organizations across the U.S.
In partnership with 10000degrees.org, the Milagro Foundation created the Santana Scholars program to support first generation students to college. The program’s launch helped to support the first cohort of five students for their next four years of college with $100,000 in funds from Milagro. The Milagro Foundation has partnered with several nonprofits to fulfill it’s vision of more equitable education opportunities for BIPOC, Native American and vulnerable students around the world. Past education grantees in California itself include San Francisco’s Larkin Street Youth Services and Bridge the Gap College Prep of Marin City.
Grants for Public and Global Health and Immigrants
In health, the foundation works with “agencies providing mental health, physical health, family support and addiction support to children.” This program works in both the Bay Area and in Las Vegas. Past health grantees include the Homeless Prenatal Program of San Francisco and Oakland’s HEAL program, which provides healthcare and health education to Native American reservations.
Milagro’s grants for health and mental health most often focus on children’s health and well-being. Since it’s founding, health-related work has expanded both nationally and internationally. Past health grantees include Project Avary, which offers a summer camp experience to help children with incarcerated family members heal from stigma and break cycles of intergenerational trauma.
In recent years, Milagro has expanded it’s youth related work into the immigrant justice space, which overlaps with it’s racial justice and equity work that underscores all of its education and health giving. Related grantees include Justice in Motion and Save the Children, two non-profits that help to provide relief for children and their families at the US Border. These two organizations are compassionately working around the clock and directly with immigrants.
Some of Milagro’s health grants have focused on helping immigrants and refugees as well. For instance, Milagro made a grant to the Well Born Association, which offers birthing kits to Ukrainian women, as well as a grant for the World Central Kitchen to provide meals on the ground in refugee centers and war zones.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The MIlagro Foundation has evolved in recent years to include more funding for the arts, an area of particular interest for it’s founder, Carlos Santana. Grants for the arts here tend to be broad and focused on arts education. These grants also tend to stay close to Los Angeles, where Santana also established the Carlos Santana Arts Academy, a consistent grantee. Past grantees also include Women’s Audio Mission, among many others.
Important Grant Details:
Foundation grants tend to be approximately $10,000 each, but have been awarded in amounts up to $100,000. Grantseekers can learn about past grantees on the funder’s website.
The foundation has not accepted unsolicited grant applications since 2006. This is due, in part, to the fact that the executive director received over 3,000 grant requests each year. Direct general questions to the San Rafael-based staff at 415-460-9939 or info@milagrofoundation.com.
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