Joyce Stupski, who passed away last month, was a dedicated philanthropist who was guided by her life experiences as a musician, teacher, entrepreneur, and wife. She and her husband Larry started the Stupski Foundation in 1996 and opened their first donor advised fund with the San Francisco Foundation a year later.
Joyce Stupski and the Stupski Foundation shared SFF’s urgency to prioritize and center Bay Area communities most impacted by inequity. She was a visionary who took on the toughest challenges in philanthropy and was willing to make big bets to improve as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible. The Stupskis invested over $40 million through SFF and supported a number of our most important priorities, including the Partnership for the Bay’s Future, HOPE SF, and ReWork the Bay.
The Stupski Foundation is also at the forefront of the movement to “spend down” their assets of nearly $400 million by 2029 through making big investments, taking risks, and using an eco-system funding approach so that nonprofits are able to spend their efforts collaborating to solve problems instead of competing for funding.
“I am honored and grateful to have known Joyce Stupski and to partner with her foundation in advancing racial equity in the Bay Area. With her vision to grant out all of Stupski Foundation’s funds before 2030, I know Joyce’s legacy as a philanthropist will last for generations.”
—Fred Blackwell, CEO, San Francisco Foundation
