For 75 years, the Bay Area has trusted the San Francisco Foundation to do what is necessary to help our region meet the day’s challenges. Our impact is only possible because of our partnership with community members like you.
Dear Friends of SFF,
Our community-driven vision unites people and organizations across the Bay Area to create a racially just and economically inclusive Bay Area. This unity and passion were palpable at our VOICE event this summer where we invited grantee partners to share their perspectives on our work and discuss what is next for the Bay Area. The room was packed, and it was humbling to be surrounded by so many leaders who are doing the hard work to create a Bay Area where all can thrive.
For 75 years, the Bay Area has trusted the San Francisco Foundation to do what is necessary to help our region meet the day’s challenges. Our impact is only possible because of our partnership with community members like you.
In 1952, SFF provided critical seed funding to help launch KQED, which became the Bay Area’s widest-reaching public media outlet. In 1968, in the throes of the civil rights movement, SFF helped the NAACP open a new San Francisco branch. Between 1970 and 1981, SFF was the nation’s top funder for LGBTQ2SIA+ organizations and an early funder of organizations such as the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. We also supported the fight against Prop 8, California’s 2008 anti-marriage-equality amendment. In 1982, with an anonymous gift, SFF helped establish BRIDGE Housing, which today remains a leading nonprofit developer of affordable housing. Within days of Trump’s election in 2016, our Rapid Response Fund launched to provide quick-turnaround funding to advance racial equity in the Bay Area through activities including Know-Your-Rights trainings for immigrants. Two days after the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order in 2020, our COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund started fast-tracking support for communities of color hardest hit by the pandemic and addressing anti-Asian racism related to the pandemic.
Despite ongoing attacks on racial equity – from banning books and rewriting history in Florida, the Supreme Court dismantling affirmative action, or limiting our voting rights – the Bay Area can count on SFF to lean in and support a Bay Area where all can thrive.
We are privileged to partner with so many who are working hard to improve the lives of others and strengthen the Bay Area. In this annual report, we pause to celebrate just a small sample of our achievements. With hundreds of donors and partners, this truly celebrates what we have accomplished together.
From launching new programs to building relationships with donors to collaborating on policy initiatives and beyond, we create systems and practices rooted in equity and community. We’re proving that even hard change is possible.
Realizing our vision will take an unrelenting commitment from all of us. True equity has never existed, but here, in the Bay Area, we can make it real.
Fred Blackwell
Chief Executive Officer
San Francisco Foundation
Bob Friedman
Board Chair
SFF Board of Trustees
Highlights
Supporting an Equitable Bay Area
$47.8M
in equity centered program related grants to 434 community organizations
Partnering with Donors
$124M
in grants from SFF fund advisors to 2673 organizations
Investing for Impact
$17M
disbursed through low-interest loans to support affordable housing, sustainable communities, and small businesses
Regional Leadership
5
tools launched to help communities get involved in important equity issues
Strong Returns
Top 10%
10-year annualized returns among endowments and foundations
Going All In on Housing
$90M
in housing related grants since 2019
Collaboration
$23M
invested by partners in our collaborative efforts
Partners
158
partners in our collaborative efforts
Our Leadership
Our vision is community-driven and unites people and organizations across the Bay Area for action, using every tool at our disposal. From making grants to launching programs to collaborating on policy initiatives and beyond, San Francisco Foundation supports systems and practices rooted in equity and community. Together with you, we’re proving that even hard change is possible.
Insisting on Racial Equity
Insisting on Racial Equity
Our north star is advancing racial equity and economic inclusion in the Bay Area. We need equitable solutions for issues rooted in a history of racial exclusion.
Influencing public policy and systems
Influencing Public Policy and Systems
To achieve the scale of change we need to advance equity, we must change the rules of the game. We convene our community, disseminate local research, mobilize stakeholders across the Bay Area, and advocate for comprehensive public policy and systems changes.
Amplifying community voice
Amplifying Community Voice
We work with partners across the region and sectors to build a future that works for everyone. We invest in the power and leadership of communities of color because those most impacted know the best solution.
Bay Area Leads Fund
Last year, SFF donors and community stakeholders contributed $840,000 to support the foundation’s leadership work—from community engagement to advocating for equitable policies.
When underserved communities were on the frontlines of the pandemic, the San Francisco Foundation brought folks together to think about an equitable economic recovery for the entire Bay Area. Regionalism is hard to do in practice, but the foundation functions as a true regional partner. They brought stakeholders from every sector together to envision an equitable and just recovery. They then followed through.
Tomiquia Moss
Founder and CEO, All Home
Neil Adames
Cyna Alderman
Nathan and Julie Aleman Fund
Anonymous (6)
Karolo Aparicio
Arnold Ventures
Michael Bankert
Ophelia B. Basgal
Jeffery L. Bradach
Jennifer Braun and Raymond J. Ryan Charitable Gift Fund
Brayton Family Charitable Fund
Donna and Ralph Briskin
Family Fund
Callan Family Fund
The Clorox Company
Daffy Charitable Fund
Donahue Fox Family Fund
Michael Duvall and Stephanie Duchene MS Gift
Fire Capital Management
Five Arts Fund
Julia Friedlander
Robert E. Friedman Fund
Friedman/Meyer Fund
Garcia Hamilton & Associates, L.P.
Gibbons-Erdberg Fund
Give Lively Foundation Inc.
Global Impact – Panorama Global Impact Fund
Michael Gold
Google Inc.
Ginnie and Peter Haas, Jr. Fund
Celia Hamman-Cueto
Hearthill Family Foundation
Katie Heil Charitable Fund
Kenneth Hillan and Duncan Robertson
Karla Free Jones
Koshland Innovation Fund
Thuy Kumar
Kvamme Charitable Fund
Dylan Labrie
Justina T Lai
Richard Lau
Ling Woo Liu
Catherine Liu
Joseph F. Mannion
Betsy and Ed McDermott Fund
McNabb Foundation
MUFG Union Bank Foundation
Lora O’Haver and Randy Rae
Osterweis Capital Management, Inc.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Laura Pantaleo
Terence Parker and Yolanda Burrell
Pattern Energy Group LP
Janine Paver and Eric Brown
Pinecrest Endowment Fund
Yvette Radford
Angela Rae
Margaret Rhee
Barbara H. Rosston
Salesforce.org
Stephen Schwarz Fund
Kara Shurmantine
Erica Sigal Philanthropic Fund
Allen Simonitsch
Abdi Soltani and Grace Kong
Justin and Sally Steele
Sarah Stein and Michael
Cohn Fund
Swinerton Family Fund
Robert and Yvonne Uyeki
VMware Foundation
Shelley Wagers
Kimberly Wicoff
Sheryl L. and Robert R.
Wong Fund
John Wu
Yi Zhang
Alex Zylstra
Our Numbers
FY23 Snapshot
Total Assets
$1.7 B
Total Grants
$171.4 M
Total Contributions & Bequests
$140.4 M
Total Assets by Funds
Our Grantmaking
$171.4 M
total grant dollars distributed in FY23
2,978
nonprofit organizations supported in FY23
$3.3 B
in grants distributed to nonprofits since 1948
Our Equity Agenda
All people living in the Bay Area are economically secure, rooted in vibrant communities, and engaged in civic life.
To achieve our agenda, we focus on three pathways to greater racial equity and economic inclusion: People, Place, and Power. For each pathway we help make community-driven change a reality by making grants, advocating for policy change, exercising leadership, bringing people together, and building community power.
Program Grants
One of the many ways we work toward a more equitable Bay Area is providing grants to organizations aligned to our equity agenda.
Our Program Grants
$47.8 M
program grants
80 %
program grants headquartered in the five-county Bay Area
80 %
of Executive Directors identify as BIPOC**
** Among grantees with race/ethnicity data submitted, FY23
Number of Grants Serving Each County
Stories of Impact
Stories of Impact
People
In support of the ongoing work to reimagine public safety, SFF grantee Young Women’s Freedom Center along with other partner organizations co-hosted a regional convening for Bay Area community leaders and organizations. Attendees learned, collaborated, and built skills related to non-carceral alternatives, increasing public investment in community services, reducing harm, and shrinking the prison industrial complex.
Stories of Impact
Place
The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an SFF grantee, secured a long-term lease of unceded territory from the City of Oakland. On this Indigenous land, their Mitiini Numma Youth Program has engaged youth of color on leadership, community, liberation, and ecological learning. Youth participants have tended Native plants and created powerful connections with Indigenous elders, each other, and the land.
Stories of Impact
Power
To fortify strong political voice, SFF grantee Bay Rising and Local Progress co-hosted the first ever Bay Area Progressive Governance Lab. The Lab provided more than 30 values-aligned, local elected officials from five counties with the tools, relationships, and skills to become more powerful and effective leaders in advancing racial and economic justice. The participants – the majority of whom were women of color – learned about leadership, new models of governance, and partnering with social justice organizations to address the Bay Area’s inequities.
Stories of Impact
Arts
Art is a form of cultural expression, identity, and belonging and is key to advancing racial equity and economic inclusion in the Bay Area. San Francisco Foundation has supported artists, arts organizations, and art movements for decades. This year we launched the Bay Area Creative Corps Program (BACC)—in partnership with and funded by the California Arts Council. Uncovering truly impactful solutions requires new ways of working. BACC gives creative change-makers opportunities and resources to reimagine how culture can unlock equitable outcomes for the Bay Area.
Stories of Impact
Rapid Response Fund
This past spring, the Wood Street Commons, Oakland’s largest housing encampment, was razed by city crews. With grant support from SFF’s Rapid Response Fund, grantee Anti Police-Terror Project quickly mobilized to provide essential resources and mental health support to residents and helped organize residents to ensure their safe transition to alternate housing.
Investing in Communities of Color
The vast majority of our equity-focused programmatic grantmaking focuses on advancing our equity agenda and went to organizations serving and led by Black, Indigenous, and people of color. We know that the future they work toward will be better, richer, and more vibrant for all people in the Bay Area.
80 %
of Executive Directors identify as BIPOC**
$85,000
average amount for our grants
96 %
of grantees served a population that was majority BIPOC**
** Among grantees with race/ethnicity data submitted, FY23
In 2020, our Board of Trustees authorized an additional $10 million in grants focused on power building to strengthen the civic voices of communities of color. Through these grants:
- 18 organizations entered the second year of the Bese Saka Initiative.
- Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations continued their work standing up against anti-Asian hate.
- 12 organizations launched the Latinx Power Building Initiative and held their first convening this spring.
Policy and Innovation
To realize our vision, we must innovate and change the systems that were put in place to hold back Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
A Powerful Coalition
A Powerful Coalition
With our partners, we are helping build a powerful coalition of California’s leading state and regional housing advocates to ensure that our communities have a powerful voice in shaping policies. We convened affordable housing leaders from the field who are guiding a process to set goals, bridge organizational divides, and tie statewide advocacy more closely to regional and community needs.
Community Voice
Community Voice
The Partnership for the Bay’s Future’s Housing Readiness Report helps communities assess and get involved in their city’s plans to address the affordable housing crisis — with a specific focus on racial equity and economic inclusion. Data is provided on every Bay Area city and county, detailing how the housing crisis impacts our most vulnerable communities and how each city is tackling the housing crisis.
Power of Collaboration
Collaboration across sectors is how we achieve lasting, systemic change. Together with our partners, we lead four collaborative efforts that are tackling challenges to housing, employment, access to transit, and civic participation in the Bay Area. These collaboratives help create large-scale, long-term solutions by allowing funders, donors, government agencies, and nonprofits to pool our resources and expertise.
Great Communities Collaborative
Great Communities Collaborative (GCC) is a multi-sector initiative seeking to create a racially equitable, economically inclusive, and environmentally sustainable Bay Area by working at the intersections of housing, transportation, land use, and climate resilience.
GCC has supported the Canal Policy Working Group, a multi-sector collaborative formed to address the impacts of COVID-19 on communities of color. Building on their success developing bold, equity-focused solutions, they are expanding their efforts to a collaborative approach to critical community issues such as affordable housing and sea level rise.
Hope SF
HOPE SF is a public-private partnership centered on an innovative approach to addressing multi-generational poverty in San Francisco’s most distressed public housing.
Over the past year, HOPE SF has continued its construction work, developed an expansive vision of resident wealth building, and is working with partners on a guaranteed income pilot for resident families. HOPE SF’s small grants program supports resident leaders through grants to programs such as the Loyal Butterflies Women Wellness Empowerment Program which offers wellness activities, self-care training, and space for Butterflies and their children to share joy, develop community, and access mental health support through holistic peer-to-peer healing circles.
Partnership for the Bay’s Future
The Partnership for the Bay’s Future is a collaborative effort to produce and preserve affordable homes and protect tenants, so the Bay Area remains a diverse place where everyone thrives.
PBF develops partnerships between local governments and community-based organizations to co-create housing policies, such as increased tenant protections, that support racial and economic equity and expand community engagement. Over the past year, PBF policy fellows have supported this work by centering community at a base-building event, assisting community-driven development strategies, and holding listening campaigns.
Rework the Bay
ReWork the Bay envisions an equitable Bay Area where everyone has access to quality jobs that allow us to live full lives with security, dignity, and agency.
To empower regional leaders to ensure that communities of color are involved in creating – and benefit from – solutions for workers in the Bay Area, ReWork created the first ever State of Bay Area Workers interactive data tool, which tells a nuanced story about inequities for work and workers in all nine Bay Area Counties.
I’ve been involved in Great Communities Collaborative since I started at The California Endowment 10 years ago. I love this funders space where people are just so willing to roll up their sleeves, learn together, and get things done.”
Craig Martinez
Senior Program Manager, The California Endowment
Impact Investment
We invest our assets in alignment with our values and with the goal of generating strong long-term investment results.
38 %
of our assets managed by women or people of color, compared to 2% globally
We screen to exclude the following industries in our mission-aligned and short-term pools, as well as in our separately managed accounts in the long-term and endowment pools. Private prisons and predatory lenders are excluded by all managers.
Private Prisons
Predatory Lending
Tobacco
Retailers of Assault Weapons
Fossil Fuels
Thoughtful Stewards
One specific way our investments advance the foundation’s equity agenda is through the diversity of our fund managers. We have worked hard to eliminate implicit biases in how we evaluate and select fund managers. As a result, more of our funds are allocated to investment funds that are majority-owned by women or people of color, growing from 2 to 25 managers since 2016. 38 percent of the foundation’s assets are invested with these firms; whereas only two percent of assets under management globally are overseen by firms that are majority-owned by women or people of color.
Our fund advisors have four investment pools to select from to meet their grantmaking objectives. Each pool screens for certain sectors that hinder our equity agenda.
Bay Area Community Impact Fund (BACIF)
SFF’s Bay Area Community Impact Fund helps make the Bay Area a better and more inclusive place through low-interest loans to community-based organizations that create and preserve jobs, affordable housing, and sustainable communities. As loans are repaid, we recycle capital back into communities by making new investments.
Strategic Partnership
Donors motivated to advance racial justice and economic inclusion in the Bay Area work closely with our team of philanthropic advisors to inform strategies to make their giving more effective. We help donors learn about the greatest challenges facing our community and invest their resources in ways that accelerate shifts toward a more equitable society that benefits everyone.
Donor Story
Joan Levison
Joan Levison is passionate about ensuring seniors with low incomes have a safe place to call home. As the Executive Director of Menorah Park and steward of the Menorah Park Community Impact Fund, and as part of her own racial justice journey, she joined the first cohort of SFF’s Unconscious Whiteness in Philanthropy series to help inform her work. With a fresh perspective that centers community, Joan worked closely with SFF staff that have expertise in housing strategies to allocate $1.8M in donations to SFF-vetted organizations doing the most effective work ensuring seniors thrive in stable, affordable housing.
An Active Community of Donors
At the San Francisco Foundation, we believe that philanthropy can be a force for positive change. We work with hundreds of passionate Bay Area donors to support the causes they care about most. We encourage donors to center marginalized communities and racial equity in their grantmaking. Below are some of the ways SFF supports donors in their philanthropy.
$124.2 M
in donor advised fund grants
19 %
donor advised fund payout rate
The payout rate, as calculated by the IRS, is the amount that is distributed collectively by our donor advised funds.
54 %
of donor advised fund grants went to organizations headquartered in the 5-county Bay Area
I knew that I wanted the funds in my DAF to be put to work for historically marginalized communities in the City, but I didn’t know how to start. I’m a white donor and can’t always see where my own perspective and experiences limit the possibilities – not only of where the money from my DAF goes, but how I support and build community with the folks of color in San Francisco doing really powerful work. The workshop connected me with important ideas about how my DAF can make a difference, helped me to see how I can change my own behaviors, and put me in contact with other donors who are trying to affect change, too.
Aubrey Mailliard Rawlins
SFF DAF holder and workshop participant
The Foundation is grateful for the interest and involvement of professional advisors who refer and support donors to achieve their goals for philanthropy.
In May, Bay Area professional advisors gathered in person to attend SFF’s annual luncheon. This year’s event featured keynote speaker Dr. Sylvia Kwan, Chief Investment Officer at Ellevest, a financial services firm, digital platform, and expert in women’s wealth. Dr. Kwan shared her presentation, Everyone Wins: Building Client Wealth While Reducing Economic Inequality, with 125 attendees.
The Foundation’s Professional Advisors Council provides the foundation with critical feedback and guidance.
Thank You, SFF Donors
We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the following donors this year. Thank you for sharing our vision to make the Bay Area a better place for all.
Bethel Heritage Foundation of San Francisco
Buen Dia Family School
Children’s Book Project
Code Tenderloin
Edith P. Merritt Memorial Lecture Fund
George Washington High School Alumni Association
Lyon-Martin Health Services
Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
Oakland Promise
PACT (Plan of Action for Challenging Times)
Pt. Reyes Bird Observatory
Raphael House
San Francisco Achievers
San Francisco Boys Chorus
San Francisco Interfaith Council
Sacramento Ballet Association
West Contra Costa Public Education Fund
YWCA of San Francisco & Marin
Anonymous
Arrow Impact
Bank of America, Charitable Foundation
California Arts Council
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
City of Oakland, Office of the Mayor
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Crankstart
Ford Foundation
Friedman Family Foundation
Funder for a Just Economy
Heising-Simons Foundation
JPMorgan Chase Foundation
Omidyar Network
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Sobrato Family Foundation
SPARCC
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
The California Endowment
The David & Lucile Packard Foundation
The Grove Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation
The Seed Fund
The Stupski Foundation
Walter & Elise Haas Fund
Wells Fargo Foundation
Weingart Foundation
William + Flora Hewlett Foundation
Y & H Soda Foundation
Investment Performance
We invest our assets in alignment with our values and with the goal of generating strong long-term investment results. Our allocation process leads to long-term success under a variety of market conditions as evidenced by our top-decile 10-year annualized returns among endowments and foundations.
| 1 Year | 3 Years Annualized | 5 Years Annualized | 10 Years Annualized | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-Term Donor Advised | 8.1% | 8.2% | 6.6% | 7.2% |
| 60% MSCI All Country World / 40% Barclays Agg | 9.4% | 5.0% | 5.4% | 6.0% |
| 1 Year | 3 Years Annualized | 5 Years Annualized | 10 Years Annualized | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short-Term Donor Advised | 4.1% | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1.3% |
| U.S. Treasury Bills | 3.6% | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1.0% |
| 1 Year | 3 Years Annualized | 5 Years Annualized | 10 Years Annualized | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Endowment Pool Assets | 8.7% | 9.1% | 6.9% | 7.8% |
| 60% MSCI All Country World / 40% Barclays Agg | 9.4% | 5.0% | 5.4% | 6.0% |
| 1 Year | 3 Years Annualized | 5 Years Annualized | 10 Years Annualized | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission-aligned Investments | 8.8% | 7.4% | N/A | N/A |
| 60% MSCI All Country World / 40% Barclays Agg | 9.4% | 5.0% | N/A | N/A |
| Pool | Designed For | Investment Objectives |
|---|---|---|
| Long-Term Pool | Donor advised funds intending to make grants over time. | Seeks long term growth via a diversified portfolio of global stocks, bonds and alternative assets. |
| Short-Term Pool | The portion of donor advised funds intended for near-term grantmaking. | Seeks to maintain the real value of contributions by matching or exceeding inflation while avoiding exposure to more volatile asset classes such as equities and alternative investments. |
| Endowment Pool | Permanent funds intended to maintain grantmaking power in perpetuity. | The target inflation-adjusted return is consistent with our annual distribution rate of approximately 5 percent. |
| Mission-Aligned Investments Pool | Donor advised funds intending to make grants over time. | Funds are invested with a values-based approach that aligns with the foundation’s commitment to racial equity and economic inclusion. Seeks long term growth via a diversified portfolio of global stocks, bonds and alternative assets. |
Inside SFF
Equity, inclusion, and diversity are core to our ability to make a difference across the region. We are grateful to the diverse team that helps make our community-driven philanthropy possible.
Percent of Staff Who Identify as People of Color*
Staff
Asian/Asian Pacific Islander
Black/African-American
Latino/a/x/e or Hispanic
Middle Eastern/North African
Multiracial or Multi-ethnic
Native American, Alaska Native, or Indigenous
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
White
Board
Asian/Asian Pacific Islander
Black/African-American
Latino/a/x/e or Hispanic
Middle Eastern/North African
Multiracial or Multi-ethnic
Native American, Alaska Native, or Indigenous
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
White
*Respondents were invited to select all races/ethnicities that applied. Percentages sum to greater than 100%. Multiracial or Multi-ethnic includes individuals who selected Multiracial or Multi-ethnic and individuals who selected two more races/ethnicities.
Photo Credits
Cover: Photo Credit Charles Jones Jr.
Highlights: Photo Courtesy SFF Grantee All Home
Our Equity Agenda: Photo Credit Ryan Sin, Courtesy of Black Organizing Project; Photo Credit Charles Jones Jr.; Photo Courtesy SFF Grantee Young Women’s Freedom Center; Photo Courtesy SFF Grantee Sogorea Te’ Land Trust; Photo Courtesy SFF Grantee Bay Rising; Photo Credit Marcie Gonzalez; Photo Courtesy SFF Grantee Anti-Police Terror Project; Photo Courtesy PYATOK; Photo Courtesy SFF Grantee The Unity Council; Photo Courtesy Something Better Foods Photos
An Active Community of Donors: Photo Credit Robbie Sweeny; Photo Credit Adriana Oyarzun Photography
Investment Performance: Photo Credit Marc Allen
Inside SFF: Photo Credit Adriana Oyarzun Photography