John Pritzker Family Fund
OVERVIEW: The John Pritzker Family Fund’s focus areas are mental health and healthcare, democracy and civic health, Jewish life and the arts. This funder supports organizations in the U.S. and Israel, with a strong focus on the San Francisco Bay Area.
IP TAKE: The John Pritzker Family Fund desribes itself as being “drawn to difficult challenges and to big ideas, particularly those being overlooked by others” and “not afraid to take on seemingly intractable problems, to explore uncharted territory, or to support projects that cut against the conventional wisdom.” Its largest area of giving is mental health, and it has provided ongoing support for the creation of the University of California San Francisco’s Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building. Grants tend so support a corps of grantees with which the fund maintains ongoing relationships.
This is a supportive and collaborative funder, but it does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding at this time, preferring a proactive approach to its grantmaking. Grantseekers should familiarize themselves with the foundation’s staff and check back for updates about grantmaking opportunities. Network with the Fund’s partners or grantees to get on it’s radar.
PROFILE: The John Pritzker Family Fund was established in 2002 in Redwood City, California by the billionaire investor John Pritzker. Pritzker is the son of Jay Pritzker and the grandson of A.N. Pritzker, and his family owned and developed Hyatt Hotels, the company where John Pritzker began his career in the early 1970s. Pritzker is a cofounder of Geolo Capital, a private equity group that invests in real estate and hospitality ventures. The John Pritzker Family Fund works “to help others access the opportunity and connectedness that our family has been extremely fortunate to enjoy, and we work to strengthen systems to make that possible.” Its stated giving areas are mental health and healthcare, democracy and civic health, Jewish life and the arts. Grants support organizations in the U.S. and Israel, with a strong focus on the San Francisco Bay Area.
Grants for Mental Health
Mental health is the Pritzker Fund’s largest giving area, with grantmaking focusing on “reducing stigma and discrimination and to ensuring care is available to those who need it.” The fund’s largest recipient, the University of California San Francisco’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, which opened the doors to the Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building in 2022. Named for a sister of Pritzker who committed suicide, the building will house research, therapy and public outreach programs. Other mental health grantees include San Francisco’s Center for Youth Wellness and mental health awareness programs at California’s Commonwealth Club.
Grants for Public Health
Pritzker’s grantmaking for health prioritizes “health care provision for the most at-need people in our community.” Recent grantmaking has been mainly limited to California, where the fund has supported the California Pacific Medical Foundation, San Francisco General Hospital and Oakland’s Peer Health Exchange. Elsewhere, the fund has given to Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and Planned Parenthood of Georgia.
Grants for Civic Engagement, Democracy and Environment
The Pritzker Family Fund’s giving for democracy and civic health focuses locally on “programs that support critical community needs and civic infrastructure, that seek to make the area more livable for all residents, and that help create an informed and engaged citizenry.” Grantmaking in other geographic areas the fund makes grants to support “recovery from, and resilience to, humanitarian and environmental disasters,” as well as initiatives that support “the rights of vulnerable populations, expand democratic participation and social cohesion, and defend the core principles and institutions of democracy and the rule of law.” In the Bay Area, the fund gave $25 million to the restoration and decontamination of the India Basin Waterfront Park project in San Francisco. Other grantees from the areas of democracy and environmental justice include Northern California Public Broadcasting, the Center for Carbon Removal, the Environmental Defense Fund, Project Democracy, the Voter Registration Project and Global Citizen Year, a leadership education program.
Grants for Jewish Causes
Jewish causes represent one of Pritzker’s largest giving areas, with grants going to Jewish education and culture, social services and “civic projects that illuminate the rich history of the Jewish people.” The program’s overarching goal is to support “a vibrant Jewish future in the United States, Israel, and around the world.” Recent U.S. grantees include the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, the Jewish Community and Federation Endowment Fund, Birthright Israel, San Francisco’s Jewish Home and Senior Living Foundation and San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El. In Israel, Pritzker has supported the Ir David Foundation, which is involved in the restoration of the biblical City of David, the American Israel Education Foundation and the American Friends of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The fund’s arts and culture grantmaking prioritizes visual arts organizations and projects that have the potential to “elevate the human spirit and deepen human understanding and compassion.” The fund has provided ongoing support to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which houses the Pritzker Center for Photography. Pritzker has also supported the San Francisco Film Society, New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University’s Lens Media Lab, which conserves historical photographs and other “lens-based media.”
Important Grant Details:
The John Pritzker Family Fund made over $26 million in grants in a recent year. While most grants have been awarded in amounts of up to $500,000, recipients with which the fund maintains ongoing relationships tend to receive larger sums. The fund’s average grant size is about $50,000.
Grants support organizations in the U.S. and Israel, with a strong focus on the San Francisco Bay Area.
Most of Pritzker’s grantees are larger, well-established nonprofits, with the exceptions of some smaller Jewish community organizations in the Bay Area.
For additional information about past grantmaking, see the fund’s recent tax filings or read profiles of the fund’s select projects featured on its website.
The John Pritzker Family Fund does not accept unsolicited proposals. Information about the fund’s staff members is available at the fund’s website, and general inquiries may be submitted to the fund’s staff via email.
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