Herb and Marion Sandler Foundation
OVERVIEW: The Sandler Foundation makes grants for human rights, democracy, conservation and disease research. It has recently developed an interest in criminal justice reform.
IP TAKE: The Sandler Foundation maintains a relatively low profile and tends to provide its core grantees with ongoing support. Grantmaking generally goes to U.S.-based organizations, but the foundation’s conservation and human rights funding programs are global in scope. Criminal justice reform is a new area of interest and has gained traction here in recent years. This funder is not accessible, which makes it hard to get through the door here.
PROFILE: Established in 1991, the San Francisco-based Herb and Marion Sandler Foundation seeks to “invest in strategic organizations and exceptional leaders that seek to improve the rights, opportunities and well-being of others, especially the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.” Herb Sandler, with his wife, Marion, purchased the Golden West Savings and Loan Association for $4 million in 1963. The couple served as co-CEOs for more than four decades, and when the company was finally purchased by Wachovia Bank in 2006, it was worth $24 billion, netting the Sandlers $2.4 billion for their ten percent share. The Sandlers passed away in the 2010s, and their daughter Susan now steers the foundation.
The Sandler Foundation supports various grantmaking concerns, but does not name specific programs. Grantee lists and tax filings suggest interest in human rights, civic engagement, environmental conservation, criminal justice reform and diseases.
Grants for Global Security and Human Rights
The Herb and Marion Sandler Foundation does not name specific goals or priorities for its human rights giving, but recent tax filings indicate a strong interest in this area. The foundation has provided significant funding toward the establishment of the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and provides support for the center’s policy development and investigative projects. The foundation has also supported Human Rights Watch with “several multi-year challenge grants to help the organization expand its operations.”
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
The Sandler Foundation’s grantmaking for U.S.-based organizations involved in civic engagement and democracy has increased dramatically in recent years. Sandler’s grantmaking is directed mainly toward progressive organizations. Elections, taxation and budget policy appear to be areas of specific interest.
The foundation has provided multi-year support to the Center for American Progress, American Constitution Society, the Campaign Legal Center and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Other recent grantees include the Tax Policy Center, the Democracy Forward Foundation and Indivisible Civics.
Grants for Environmental Conservation
The Sandler Foundation gives broadly in the area of environmental conservation; its grantees include land, water and wildlife conservation groups as well as clean energy initiatives in the U.S. and abroad. Recent recipients include Earthjustice, Northwest Mexico Land Conservation, the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, Vote Solar and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Grants for Diseases
A significant portion of the Sandler Foundation’s annual giving supports disease research at the University of California, San Francisco, where the Sandlers helped to establish the Sandler Asthma Basic Research and the Center for Next-Gen Precision Medicine Diagnostics. The Sandlers also bankrolled the establishment of the Sandler Center for Drug Discovery, now the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, at the University of California at San Diego. Other grantees involved in disease research include the American Asthma Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Project to Eliminate Central-Line Infections and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Grants for Criminal Justice Reform
Criminal justice reform is a newer area of giving for the Sandler Foundation. According to recent tax filings, the foundation has recently made grants to the Civil Rights Corps, which is “dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the American criminal justice system.”
Important Grant Details:
The Herb and Marion Sandler Foundation’s grants range from about $25,000 to $3 million.
Many grantees receive multi-year support.
This funder mainly gives to progressive, U.S.-based organizations working in its specific areas of interest.
For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s grants page or its recent tax filings.
The Sandler Foundation does not review unsolicited proposals for funding.
This funder does not provide a direct avenue for getting in touch. The foundation can be reached via telephone at 415-777-0411.
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