The faith community has historically been at the forefront of advocating for racial and economic equity, and it remains a crucial voice today. In 1993, The San Francisco Foundation created FAITHS (Foundation Alliance with Interfaith to Heal Society) — now a nationally recognized program — to enhance the work of faith-based organizations and congregations to organize and advocate for equitable policies and improve services and outcomes in their neighborhoods and the region.
FAITHS is now a multi-faith network of more than 600 congregations, faith-based agencies, and community organizations that address racial and economic equity issues in the five Bay Area counties that the foundation serves (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo). FAITHS grantmaking and other program activities align with the foundation’s goals to ensure that every Bay Area resident has access to a good job, lives in a safe and affordable home, has a strong political voice, and can live in a community that provides real opportunity.
Our Focus
“Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.” Dolores Huerta
FAITHS convenes faith leaders, offers technical assistance, capacity-building training, and grants centering building voice and power to support greater racial and economic equity in the region.
FAITHS Retreat
Please join us for our annual FAITHS Retreat on January 25, 2024, a time to reflect on and grow our work together. Let us celebrate our accomplishments, foster new collaborations, and envision our faith in 2024! Register.
FAITHS Community Partners Grant Program
FAITHS grants support programs that strengthen interfaith and race relations, increase civic and cultural participation, develop leaders, and provide community services to low-income residents and communities of color and programs addressing the needs of our communities: affordable housing, food insecurity, civic engagement (advocacy, integrated voter engagement, civic education), mental health and re-entry programs for systems involved community.
The FAITHS Community Partners Grant Program application is now closed and will re-open in the late Summer/early Fall of 2024.
Click on the sections below for grant application guidelines and more information.
Community Partners Grant Guidelines and How to Apply
The FAITHS Community Partners Grant Program application is now closed and will re-open in the Fall.
FAITHS Community Partners Grant Guidelines
The grantmaking program will support faith-based organizations and congregations to:
- Build and strengthen the capacity of organizations and leaders to engage in racial and economic equity issues through nonpartisan voter engagement, policy advocacy, and community organizing
- Provide programs that promote economic security, educational opportunity, and community well-being.
- Provide programs and activities that address institutional and structural racism, discrimination, and implicit bias.
Priority will be given to applicants who are:
- Serve low-income communities and people of color in one or more of five Bay Area counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo)
- If your organization headquarters is outside of the Bay Area and the organization serves one or more of the five Bay Area counties, you are eligible to apply.
- Provide programs for underserved communities (e.g., low-income people of color, systems involved and/or formerly incarcerated residents, low-wage workers, mental health programs, youth, unhoused individuals, seniors, and immigrants)
- Have existing collaborations or partnerships within the work
Mandatory requirements:
- All applications must have some civic educational, advocacy, and/or policy component in the program. It must be included in the application, for example, voter registration, civic engagement activities.
- 501c3 status faith-based organizations/congregations
- Fiscally sponsored faith-based organizations/congregations
Grant duration and range:
Applicants can apply for a one-year grant up to $25,000.
Funding Exclusions:
All applicants must meet the general eligibility criteria. FAITHS will not fund capital improvements, grants to individuals, or event sponsorships.
How to Apply
To submit an application, please create an account or log into the Grantee Portal. Please note, if you are new to the Grantee Portal, it will take you 48 hours for you to gain access to your account.
The application process opens on August 1, 2023, with a submission deadline of September 11, 2023.
- If approved, the grant will begin with a start date of January 2, 2024, for 12 months.
- Visit the Grantee Portal to begin the online application process. For technical application issues or questions, email sstokes[at]sff.org and mmc[at]sff.org.
To learn more about the grants program, please contact programs[at]sff.org.
Trainings and Technical Assistance
In partnership with OCCUR, FAITHS provides capacity building and technical assistance workshops for Bay Area faith- and community-based organizations providing community services and civic engagement programs. These sessions focus on strengthening organizational and program effectiveness. For more information, visit amodelbuiltonfaith.org or contact OCCUR at (510) 839-2440 or info@occurnow.org.
THRIVE! FAITHS Master Class Series
Over the past two years, we have learned to pivot into a new normal. In the process, we’ve become transformational leaders. You know them. You see them daily in our faith-based and nonprofit organizations. Much more than a title, transformational leadership is a calling. It is said that “transformational leaders do not care about how they were called. They only care about what they are called to do.” Through the leans of a fixed vision, they inspire positive changes within an organization. They increase morale, lead to organizational innovation, resolve conflicts, build unity then help the team, united, to press forward.
The THRIVE! FAITHS Master Class Series II trainings draw on the knowledge of experts in their fields with decades of experience. Sessions will prepare nonprofit and faith-based transformational leaders to navigate key critical areas. They will inspire leaders to lean into the wind of turbulent times, to emerge whole, to press forward and to THRIVE!
When available, register for upcoming THRIVE! training sessions:
- No training sessions at this time; check back again later.
See the THRIVE! Master Class Series Resources Toolkit.
Watch recordings of past THRIVE! Master Class sessions on our FAITHS YouTube Playlist.
OCCUR and FAITHS Program Virtual Workshops
These annual workshop series are designed to support faith-based and other non-profit leaders in creating communities of opportunity throughout the Bay Area. The trainings are FREE and equip participants with the skills they need to develop stable organizations, design impactful programs and build passionate teams. Sessions are presented in workshop settings and small group intensives. Individual coaching sessions are also available.
See the 2023 calendar for upcoming workshops and to register.
FAITHS Leadership Council Meetings
FAITHS consists of a diverse representation of the Bay Area’s faith-based community leaders representing 5 counties: San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Mateo. Our regular meetings bring leaders together for training, information and resource sharing, and community reconnection.
Community leaders who would like to join the FAITHS Leadership Council meetings can do so by clicking on the dates below to register.
Dates and registration for meetings in 2023:
- November 2, 2023 – Final FAITHS Leadership Council Meeting of 2023
For questions, email Sayron Stokes at sstokes[at]@sff.org.
Civic Engagement
In partnership with the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, FAITHS provides trainings and policy briefings for its grantees and broader network. Through these trainings, faith- and community-based organizations learn how to successfully engage in nonpartisan voter registration, education and policy work that supports the foundation-wide focus on racial and economic equity.