Funding Resources

California Community Foundations

• Anaheim Community Foundation
  • Encourage community participation, partnerships, and collaboration that result in successful responses to community challenges and opportunities.
  • Strengthen community-based organizations that effectively address community needs, promote volunteerism, and provide community leadership.
  • Promote community-building programs and events that inspire community pride and unity.
  • Provide individuals and businesses opportunities to make charitable investments that directly benefit the Anaheim community.
• California Community Foundation
  • Since 1915, the California Community Foundation has been funding the future of Los Angeles. In partnership with its donors, the foundation supports nonprofit organizations and public institutions with funds for health and human services, affordable housing, early childhood education, community arts and culture and other areas of need.
    
• The Community Foundation of Mendocino County, Inc.
  • A.D. Abramson Visual Arts Award
  • Community Health Partnership Project Grants
    
  • 2004-2005 Scholarship Fund Descriptions and Recipients
    
• Community Foundation for Monterey County
  • The Foundation also offers a countywide Neighborhood Grants Program that helps community-based organizations improve their neighborhoods.
    
• Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County
  • 2004 Program Grants Awards available on-line.
• Community Foundation of the Napa Valley
  • Our name says it: The Community Foundation of the Napa Valley. But what is a community foundation? While community foundations range in assets from as little as $100,000 to endowments of more than $2 billion, all share common characteristics. A community foundation:
    
  • Is a tax-exempt, nonprofit, autonomous, publicly supported, philanthropic institution
    
  • Builds an unrestricted endowment to meet community needs
    
  • Holds funds established by individuals, families, and businesses
    
  • Makes grants and establishes programs primarily for the residents of a county or other defined geographical area
    
  • Provides an array of services to donors, professional advisors and nonprofit organizations
    
• The Community Foundation, Serving Riverside & San Bernardino Counties
  • The Community Foundation represents a collection of funds created by donors to benefit the communities of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties and beyond. Most often, funds are established using the name of the donor or a family. Other naming options include using the name of an organization or the purpose of the fund. If desired the fund and its donors may remain anonymous.
    
• Community Foundation Silicon Valley
  • Community Foundation Silicon Valley has chosen to focus its competitive grantmaking in five strategic areas that we believe are essential to a well functioning society. We focus on community issues and impact, not on specific types of public benefit organizations or community-based groups.
    
  • We ask: What will look different in the community as a result of our investment? For whom will it look different?
    
• Del Mar Foundation
  • For the past four years, the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation has dedicated itself to raising the money needed to secure onsite enrichment programs. It provides the necessary funding to our schools so that our children can participate in programs designed to enrich their learning experience – art, music, science and technology.
    
• East Bay Community Foundation
  • One of the pillars of the Foundation's mission is the concept of community philanthropy, where local residents support communities close to home or organize their giving through philanthropic organizations based in the region where they live and work.
  • Recognizing the geographical diversity of the East Bay, the Foundation includes 13 local community funds from Martinez to Fremont and from West Berkeley to Pittsburg. Donors are encouraged to consider gifts to their region through the auspices of their local community fund.
  • Through the East Bay Community Foundation these community funds disperse grants to local nonprofits for everything from repairing a community swimming pool to providing funding for a local health clinic.
  • Currently the Foundation supports 13 regional community funds. More information about many of the funds is available when you click are their names below.
    
• El Dorado Community Foundation
  • The El Dorado Community Foundation considers several types of competitive grant requests. When funding is available from any of the following funds, the Foundation will issue a Request for Proposals, including the current funding focus and application deadline.
    
  • Endow El Dorado Fund – The Foundation’s Board of Directors consults closely with community leaders and organizations to select an appropriate funding focus that will be responsive to current community needs.
  • Field of Interest Funds – Awards are made in areas designated by donors who established these funds (such as arts and culture, children and families, and seniors).
  • Area Funds – Different geographic areas within the county are establishing funds to benefit the people in these specific local communities within the county.
    
• Fresno Regional Foundation
  • With more than 35 years of philanthropy in communities across our Central Valley, we continue to help local non-profits achieve meaningful goals in their respective areas of service.
  • Our ability to channel support to these organizations has grown in direct proportion to the source: the people and partners whose inspired actions provide expanding financial resources.
  • While some donor funds are created to fulfill specific objectives, others are open within certain fields of interest, or entirely unrestricted. With our fingers on the pulse of the community, we align every intent with the needs of non-profits to provide mutual fulfillment of mission.
    
• The Funnel Community Foundation
  • Funnel is a recently established community foundation that provides grants to nonprofit organizations serving the Bay Area. Our mission is to improve the quality and accessibility of affordable housing, health care and education; to promote economic opportunities for the financially disadvantaged; and to promote social and environmental justice. Funnel supports locally-based organizations whose innovative programs empower and involve their constituency.
    
• Glendale Community Foundation
  • Founded in 1956 as part of Glendale's 50th anniversary celebration, the Glendale Community Foundation exists to improve the quality of life for the people of the greater Glendale community — Glendale, La Crescenta, La Cañada Flintridge, Montrose, and Verdugo City — by leveraging community assets. The Foundation administers gifts and grants according to donors' wishes and uses the income from unrestricted gifts to fund hard asset acquisitions (i.e., capital equipment and improvements) and programming for local charities to make them more efficient and effective.
    
• Great Valley Center, Inc.
  • The Great Valley Center is working toward making a better today and a foundation for a better tomorrow for our community and our Valley. The Central Valley is facing great challenges—development and growth, maintaining productive agriculture, technology access, air quality, and training for future leaders. It is a seemingly impossible challenge.
  • However, with the help of foundations, government, and individuals, the Center has established many programs that seek to help the people of the Central Valley confront the region’s challenges. The Great Valley Center continues to bridge the gap between the region and resources to ensure a better quality of life for us all.
    
• Humboldt Area Foundation
  • The mission of Humboldt Area Foundation (HAF) is to serve as an independent staging ground for residents, individually and in concert, to build social, economic and environmental prosperity on California’s North Coast.
  • Using a variety of tools, including grantmaking, convening, information gathering, knowledge sharing and resource development, the Humboldt Area Foundation helps donors, volunteers and other community members join together to improve the quality of life on the North Coast.
    
• Jewish Community Foundation
  • The primary goal of The Foundation and our donors is to support a broad spectrum of the community today and tomorrow through grant-making activities. In 2003, grants totaled $38 million dollars and were directed to serving the needs of the Jewish and general communities here in Southern California, across the U.S., in Israel, and elsewhere around the world, consistent with the broad charitable mission of The Foundation.
  • The Foundation’s charitable giving is expressed in four main ways:
  • Donor Distributions – Foundation donors provide distributions directly to causes and programs of interest to them. In 2003, our donors distributed $27 million in grants through their funds at The Foundation to thousands of not-for-profit organizations.
  • Comprehensive Development Grants (CDGs) – Multi-year funding for major strategic projects initiated by The Foundation serve to make a significant impact in a particular area of focus. In 2003, The Foundation distributed $300,000 in CDG projects.
  • Foundation Legacy Grants – Every year, the Foundation awards grants to many worthy programs and projects through its Legacy Grants program. In 2003, this amounted to $650,000.
  • Partnership Grants – Collaborations with family foundations resulted in grants of more than $850,000 in 2003
    
• Los Altos Community Foundation
  • (LACF) serves Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and the surrounding area by promoting community building -- those activities and facilities that give the community its favorable character, making it a desirable place to live and work.
  • Community building includes projects and activities that:
  • strengthen our values
  • preserve our communities' physical heritage
  • enhance community based philanthropic activities
  • promote positive relationships among community members
  • create a shared vision for the future
  • promote a culture of giving
    
• Marin Community Foundation
  • The Marin Community Foundation offers four competitive grants programs, all of which benefit the residents of Marin County, California:
  • Grant Resources
  • Discretionary Grants
    MCF’s discretionary grants program (made up primarily of grants from the Buck Trust) supports programs in Marin County, California under guidelines determined by the Foundation’s board of trustees. Grants are made in the areas of the arts, community development, education and training, the environment, human needs, and religion, ethics, and conscience.
  • Stinson/Bolinas Community Fund
    This is a field-of-interest fund at MCF, created by a group of local residents to provide small grants to individuals and organizations whose initiatives benefit the Stinson Beach and Bolinas communities. The donors who created this fund act as the fund's advisors, recommending which projects should be supported by this community effort. More.
  • Earth Day Every Day Fund
    This is a field-of-interest fund at MCF that recommends small grants to individuals, families, businesses, schools, and nonprofit organizations that are working to increase environmental awareness and activity in Marin County. Its goals are to educate and encourage people to recognize the environmental impact of their daily lives and to urge them to become environmentally aware consumers and promote environmental responsibility in their communities. More.
  • Community Facilities Partnership Initiative
    The Community Facilities Partnership Initiative promotes the creation of multi-use community facilities that enable people of all ages and interests to participate in a wide range of activities. Examples of projects already funded are community centers, multi-purpose gymnasiums, and recreational facilities and fields.
• Orange County Community Foundation
  • Each year, the Orange County Community Foundation (OCCF) makes grants to qualified non-profit organizations through a discretionary grants program. Discretionary grants are funded through the income earned from unrestricted and field-of-interest endowment funds. These are permanent funds of the Community Foundation and supply resources for annual grant making. In addition, OCCF periodically administers grant programs in partnership with statewide and national foundations to further special projects and initiatives in Orange County.
    
• Pasadena Foundation
  • Regular Grants
  • Restricted to capital and equipment grants for organizations serving Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. Grants given to non-profit agencies that have been in operation for at least two years.
  • Major Grants
    Restricted to capital and equipment grants for organizations headquartered in and serving Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. Grants given to non-profit, 501 ( c)3 agencies who have been in operation for at least two years
  • The Virginia Krueger Great Ideas Grants
    Provides funding for a new program or idea initiated by an agency serving Pasadena, Altadena or Sierra Madre. Grants may be given to non-profit agencies or non-profit organizations with a fiscal sponsor.
  • The Yes, Virginia Fund
    Established to help address the needs of children. Grants given to non-profit agencies dedicated to improving the lives of children in the greater Pasadena community. Grants are provided for toys, books, field trips and experiences for children on special occasions, from holidays and birthdays to unique circumstances
    
• Peninsula Community Foundation
  • Peninsula Community Foundation has a long history of funding innovative nonprofit organizations and collaborative projects in San Mateo and northern Santa Clara Counties. The Foundation utilizes a portfolio-based approach to grant-making, our Portfolios of Promise. These eight areas of charitable interest include The First Five Years, In School & Out of School, Building Community, Health & Wellness, Supporting Families, Strengthening Nonprofits, Arts & Culture, and the Environment. This methodology guides our community efforts and ensures a balanced, systemic approach to community investment. A list of recent grants is published quarterly.
    
    Nonprofit organizations can apply for funding from the Foundation's Endowment and from a group special funds related to the arts, teachers, faith-based congregations, scholarships and neighborhood improvement. Other funds are not open to application. For more information, please download a copy of our grant-making guidelines or contact the Foundation.
    
• Sacramento Regional Foundation
  • Mini Grants Program
  • The Mini Grants Program was developed to meet urgent or unexpected needs where a small investment can make a big difference to our community's nonprofits and their constituents. The program will provide small grants to organizations experiencing unanticipated conditions that impair their ability to function or causes individuals or groups to be at risk. Funding requests resulting from poor management of resources and missing regular grant application deadlines are not considered urgent or unexpected under the Mini Grants Program.
    
  • Additional Grant Opportunities
  • The Foundation occasionally administers other competitive grant programs. Please check this website regularly for the latest updates. You can also email us at srf@sacregcf.org to be added to our mailing list.
    
  • Partnering with Others
  • The Sacramento Region Community Foundation works with individuals, families, businesses, and others to support community grantmaking.
    
  • More than Grantmaking -- Staying Informed
  • In addition to making grants, the Foundation also welcomes information about nonprofit organizations in our region. One way we do this is through the Nonprofit Overview, a two-page form that helps nonprofits share information about their programs and services.
  • About the Nonprofit Overview
  • The Nonprofit Overview is designed to help the Foundation stay informed on nonprofit organizations in the region. Two key points: the Overview is not a grant application, nor is it the first step in a grant application process; and submitting an Overview is not a guarantee of funding.
    
• The San Diego Foundation
  • Grant Opportunities
  • The primary grant opportunities at The San Diego Foundation are as follows:
  • After-the-Fire Fun
  • Community Partnership Grants (Arts & Culture, Blasker, Civil Society, Environment, Health & Human Services, Organizational Success, Science & Technology)
  • Reuben H. Fleet Foundation Fund
  • San Diego Social Venture Partners
  • The San Diego Women's Foundation
  • The San Diego Teachers' Fund
  • Weingart-Price Fund
    
• San Francisco Foundation
  • The Foundation welcomes applications at any time of the year, but has a biannual batch process for a majority of the competitive grants funded. This process, with deadline dates in December and June, allows the Foundation to evaluate grant requests together by issue area, and determine which will further our community goals and objectives. The Foundation will, for emergent, time-sensitive needs, respond to special requests outside the timeline outlined below.
    
    Please download and read our Guidelines for Grantseekers booklet for complete information about applying for a grant from The San Francisco Foundation. To receive a copy of the booklet in the mail, please call 415.733.8500.
    
• Santa Barbara Foundation
  • The Foundation awards approximately $3 million in grants each year to nonprofit organizations for projects serving the people of Santa Barbara County. Some of these grants are awarded through specific grant programs established by donors who restrict their gifts for certain purposes. All grants go through a competitive process that requires submittal of a formal application.
  • Capital and Program Grants--The majority of the Foundation’s unrestricted funds are allocated for capital and program grants.
  • Special Focus Grants – Grants are available for agencies conducting licensed childcare programs, summer camp activities, sports programs, and for performing arts groups addressing accessibility issues for the disabled, and agencies providing blood-related products and services. Funding may also be available for emergencies or rare opportunities.
    
• Shasta Regional Community Foundation
  • Grant Opportunities and Deadlines
    The Community Foundation currently makes grants from individual scholarship funds and donor-advised funds. With the exception of scholarships, the foundation makes grants to nonprofit organizations only, i.e., no grants to individuals. The following donor-advised funds make grants in response to proposals submitted by nonprofit organizations.
  • Grants Advisory Board For Youth (GABY)
  • The Great Valley Center, The McConnell Foundation and The Ford Family Foundation have provided a fund for programs planned and lead by youth for youth in Siskiyou and Shasta Counties; proposals written by youth working with an adult advisor. Grants of up to $1,000 are available to nonprofit organizations for these youth driven projects. Proposals for this fund are reviewed by GABY, a youth philanthropy board.
  • Redding Rancheria
    The Redding Rancheria has created a fund at the Community Foundation through which it conducts its philanthropic activities. The fund makes grants three times per year. An advisory committee selected by the Redding Rancheria reviews proposals.
    
  • South Siskiyou Teacher Grants
    Grants of $50 to $250 are available from a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation to teachers in Big Springs/Gazelle, Edgwood, Weed, Mt. Shasta, Dunsmuir and McCloud public schools to help them carry out special projects or programs.
  • The McConnell Foundation Fund
    The Community Foundation currently administers two grantmaking programs out of the McConnell Foundation Fund.
  • Organizations with project budgets from $10,001 to $30,000 are invited to apply to the COMMUNITY PARTNERS GRANTMAKING PROGRAM. This program involves committees from Shasta and Siskiyou Counties in proposal review.
  • Organizations with project budgets under $10,000 are invited to apply to the LEADERSHIP GRANTMAKING PROGRAM. For this program, two review committees comprised of graduates from Leadership Redding and Leadership Siskiyou conduct proposal reviews.
  • OTHER GRANTMAKING PROGRAMS
    The Community Foundation may hold other funds with competitive grantmaking processes. These may include scholarships, field of interest funds, or monies directed to the Community Foundation for re-granting. Contact the Community Foundation for more information on other grantmaking opportunities for your nonprofit organization.
    
• Sonoma County Community Foundation
  • Competitive grants are awarded in a series of annual competitions with specific focuses in:
  • arts and cultural activities
  • education (which includes both scholarships and programmatic grants)
  • the environment
  • programs serving Healdsburg/Geyserville area communities
  • health/human services
  • ending family homelessness
• Sonora Area Foundation
  • Funding Priorities
    The Foundation provides funding in these primary interest areas: human services; education; arts/culture/humanities; health; public/society benefit; and, environment/animals. In each category we favor:
  • Projects that respond to challenges facing county residents and propose realistic and significant impact;
  • Applicants who work in collaboration with other community organizations;
  • Projects that include funds from other sources to be used in conjunction with those proposed from the Foundation;
  • Projects that feature active involvement of participants in designing and implementing approaches to overcome challenges, whereby participants develop a sense of ownership for what is proposed;
  • Organizations that give strong evidence of community support for what they propose (this might be reflected by involvement of program participants, volunteers willing to support the effort, endorsement by community leaders, participation by other organizations, or favorable media coverage of the applicant organization, etc.);
  • Applicants who propose ways to sustain future program efforts, and reflect this in their funding proposals.
  • Foundation representatives believe that the most effective funding proposal represents the written version of an organization’s mission. We will look for evidence of careful planning in the proposals you submit
    
• Truckee Tahoe Community Foundation
  • TTCF awards competitive grants quarterly and applications are accepted on an on-going basis. TTCF provides broad-based funding to organizations located or directly serving the geographic areas of Donner Summit, Truckee, Squaw Valley, and the west and north shores of Lake Tahoe. We fund in the areas of:
  • Arts and Culture
  • Civic and Public Benefit
  • Education
  • Environment, Conservation and Animal Welfare
  • Health and Human Services
  • Recreation
  • Youth Development
  • The application process consists of a cover sheet, a two-page narrative, one page budget, and supporting materials. Foundation staff will review the application to determine whether the request
    is complete and conforms to the Foundation’s basic policies, goals, objectives, and areas of focus.
    
• Ventura County Community Foundation
  
  • The Ventura County Community Foundation’s mission is to enrich and enhance the quality of life in Ventura County and to provide leadership to residents and nonprofit organizations in building an enduring source of funds and strengthening community participation to meet the changing needs and challenges of the community.