OVERVIEW: The Hellman Foundation supports Bay Area organizations in the areas of health, nutrition, education, economic opportunity and other community needs. This funder is currently spending down its endowment and will end its giving in 2034.
IP TAKE: The Hellman Foundation mainly supports collaborative work for sustainable change in its areas of interest. Giving is tightly focused on San Francisco and Alameda Counties, where it has been awarding large, multi-year grants for both early- and mid-stage projects. This is an approachable funder that posts current application information and offers access to its staff members via email. Grantseekers should be aware that this funder will only be around for another ten years, as it is currently spending down its assets.
PROFILE: Established in 2011, the San Fransisco-based Hellman Foundation is the foundation of Warren and Chris Hellman, who were known for their generosity and commitment to causes they cared about. Warren Hellman was born into a prominent family in California. He founded two private equity firms and helped to create several other alternative investment vehicles. Warren served as chairman of the San Francisco Foundation and was a trustee of the UC Berkeley Foundation and a member of the Jewish Community Federation. As a banjo player, he also inspired the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, a free annual music event in Golden Gate Park. Chris Hellman was a ballerina who danced with the London Festival Ballet and was a passionate supporter of the arts throughout her lifetime. She was involved with the board of the San Francisco Ballet for many years and served as its chair.
The mission of the Hellman Foundation is to “build equity and opportunity, to advance knowledge, and to foster health, science, the arts, innovation, and creativity” through grantmaking for the San Francisco and Alameda Counties. Its main grantmaking program, the Collaborative Change Initiative, supports health, education and opportunity. The foundation also provides ongoing support to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, which Warren Hellman founded, and the Hellman Fellows program, which supports the research of early-career faculty at 14 colleges and universities in California. The foundation intends to spend down its assets by 2034 and is currently managed by Hirsch Philanthropy Partners.
Grants for Education, Work, Opportunity and Community Development
The foundation’s Collaborative Change Initiative, supports local efforts for “health, education and equitable opportunities.” Two types of grants focus on the development of “concrete solutions” and the scaling of “proven solutions for sustainable systems change.”
- Launch grants fund “early-stage collaborations” with new and innovative projects and interventions that align with the foundation’s interests and goals and provide flexible funding of up to $495,000 over three years.
- Growth grants offer support for “mid-stage collaborations” that scale successful projects and “[b]uild engagement and support from diverse sectors needed to reach ambitious goals.” Grants are awarded in amounts of up to $825,000 and disbursed over a five-year period. Funding is flexible and “intended to meet the dynamic needs of collaboration.”
- Recipients of both types of grants are also eligible to take advantage of the foundation’s capacity building resources, including trainings, technology support, communications and more.
Past grantees of the Collaborative Change Initiative include the Oakland Postsecondary Education and Workforce Collaborative, Oakland Ceasefire and Alameda County Families United CARE, which works to provide and advocate for access to high-quality, affordable childcare for all families.
Grants for Public Health, Food and Nutrition
As part of its spend-down plan, the Hellman Foundation launched a $20 million, five-year commitment to support the Food for Health Collective San Francisco. The collective, which is comprised of six health and nutrition organizations, aims to improve nutrition equity in the Bay Area through health services and advocacy for equitable food and nutrition policy at the state level. The organization’s strategies include:
- The expansion of “food interventions” at community clinics throughout the region;
- The coordination of services between clinics and food nonprofits; and
- Advocacy to support policy that includes nutrition services as a benefit included in Medi-cal covered services.
For additional information about the collective and its members, see the foundation’s health equity page.
Giving for health also stems from the foundation’s Collaborative Change Initiative. Grantees of this program include End Hep C San Francisco and Expecting Justice, which works “to eliminate health inequities for birthing people.”
Important Grant Details:
Hellman’s grants are awarded in amounts set by individual grantmaking programs, but are often in the hundreds of thousands.
- This funder tends to provide multi-year year support to collaborative efforts in the areas of health, nutrition, education and economic opportunity.
- Grantmaking is mainly limited to California’s San Francisco and Alameda Counties.
- The foundation is currently spending down its assets and will end its giving programs in 2034.
- The foundation accepts applications for its Collaborative Change Initiative grantmaking programs. See the program page for guidelines and upcoming due dates.
- See information about the foundation’s past grantees here.
Submit general inquiries to the foundation via its contact page. The foundation’s phone number is (415) 837-5408.
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