Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund
OVERVIEW: The San Francisco-based Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund works broadly to support civic engagement, the Jewish community, the environment, education, public health and women and girls. A significant portion of funding remains in the San Francisco Bay Area.
IP TAKE: This is an accessible funder for Bay Area organizations working in conservation or sustainability initiatives. Goldman grantees range from well-established national organizations to small local upstarts. This funder accepts letters of inquiry at any time via its website. If you meet this fund’s grant eligibility, then you can contact its program officers for more information. If your work doesn’t service NorCal, then you’re less likely to secure funding here. This is an accessible funder, but it tends to be more risk-averse.
PROFILE: Established in 1992, the Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund is a family foundation that awards grants to charitable organizations that enhance society, primarily those serving the San Francisco, California area. Douglas Goldman is the son of Levi Strauss heirs Richard and Rhoda Goldman. After Richard Goldman died in 2011, the assets of his foundation, approximately $280 million, were split into thirds and distributed to each of his three children. Douglas Goldman is the chairman and founder of Certain, Inc., a software development and publishing company headquartered in San Francisco. He has been chairman of the board of the Stern Grove Festival Association, president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation and a trustee of the University of California Berkeley Foundation. The Goldman Fund’s grantmaking supports initiatives for democracy and civil liberties, Jewish life, education and literacy, the environment, health and recreation and reproductive health and rights.
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
The Goldman fund names democracy and civil liberties as one of its focus areas and gives a sizable portion of its grantmaking dollars to causes in this area. Recent areas of interest include the protection and expansion of voting rights, the reduction of the influence of money in the political realm and policy development and education toward a reduction of gun violence. Grantmaking in this area is national in scope. Past grantees include Free Speech for People, the Faith in Action Network, the Center for American Progress, the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence and Maplight, which is known for its substantial database of campaign contributions and lobbying activities in the U.S.
Grants for Jewish Causes
The Goldman Fund aims to “build a more vibrant and inclusive Jewish community” in the San Francisco Bay by investing in programs that “enhance Judaism’s relevance in contemporary life.” It is the fund’s largest area of grantmaking. Grants tend to go to projects and organizations whose goals align with the fund’s other areas of interest. One recent grantee, the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay, used funding to run a civic engagement initiative focused on equal rights. Goldman also funded a project at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society that aimed to “educate and mobilize the Jewish community to act in support of and in solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers through a wide range of opportunities.” Other Jewish grantees include the American Jewish World Service, Challah for Hunger, San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El and the Contemporary Jewish Museum.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Justice
The focus of Goldman’s environmental funding is the adoption of sustainable practices and materials by industry. It also supports conservation efforts in the Bay Area. One recent grant went to the United States Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, which used a program to run a media and education campaign to “remove barriers that make it difficult to repair products.” Another recent grant supported Canopy, an organization that promotes sustainable practices in the fashion industry. And the Environmental Paper Network used funding to promote sustainable paper production and industry practices. Bay Area conservation grantees include the Tuolumne River Trust, Friends of the Urban Forest, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, Save the Bay and the Nature Conservancy of California.
Grants for Climate Change and Clean Energy
Goldman’s environmental grantmaking also supports initiatives for the development and adoption of clean energy to mitigate climate change. These grants tend to be concentrated in the San Francisco area. Past grantees include TransFormCA, which works toward sustainable transportation, and the Regeneration Project, which helps houses of worship install publicly accessible car charging stations in their parking lots.
Grants for K-12 Education
Funding for K-12 education mainly supports education projects within the San Francisco Unified School District, community literacy programs for children in San Francisco. National literacy initiatives are supported less frequently. San Francisco grantees include the San Francisco Public Library, Project Read, the Children’s Book Project and KQED, which used funding to bring its professional development programs to public school teachers in San Francisco. National grantees include Little Kids Rock and Reading is Fundamental.
Grants for Higher Education
Although it is not named as a priority, the Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund has provided ongoing support to select public institutions of higher education in California. At the University of California at Berkeley, the fund gives to the Haas School of Business and the Goldman School of Public Policy. The University of Southern California receives funding for its education and literacy programs.
Grants for Public Health
The Goldman Fund supports preventative health and outdoor recreation in the San Francisco area as well as several organizations involved in research and treatments for chronic diseases. Grantees include the California Pacific Medical Center, Girls on the Run of the Bay Area, Push2Excel, San Francisco General Hospital and the University of California at San Francisco’s Department of Medicine. National organizations receiving Goldman funding include the Alzheimer’s Association, the National Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, the Immune Deficiency Foundation and the Mayo Clinic.
Grants for Women and Girls
The fund names reproductive health and rights as areas of grantmaking interest and provides ongoing support to organizations involved in reproductive healthcare, advanced training for abortion providers and safety for abortion providers and patients. Grantees include the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Abortion Federation, Physicians for Reproductive Health and the National Women’s Law Center.
Important Grant Details:
In recent years, the Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund has made between $8 million and $16 million in grants per year. Goldman grants are awarded in amounts up to $10 million, but its average grant size is about $25,000. The fund supports organizations of all sizes in its areas of thematic interest, prioritizing the San Francisco Bay Area. For additional information about past grantees, see the fund’s searchable grants database or its grant highlights page.
The Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund accepts letters of inquiry at any time, but asks that applicants review its eligibility requirements and FAQ before submitting letters. General inquiries may be submitted to the fund’s staff via email or telephone at 415-771-1717.
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