Nancy Hult Ganis

What attracted you to The San Francisco Foundation?
Before my husband, Sid, and I opened our fund at The San Francisco Foundation in 2003, we had been contributing to various organizations in which we believed. As we got older, we wanted to start something that we could build upon – but we needed some guidance and support. We considered creating our own foundation, but after a friend recommended The San Francisco Foundation to us and we realized how much it represented our values for giving, we opened our fund with them. 

History has shown us that there are incredibly talented people in all walks of life that, when given an opportunity, can contribute so much to the greater good. Therefore, it's in our self-interest and essential to our democracy to provide quality education to all.

How did your upbringing influence your philanthropy?
As a child growing up in the Detroit area during the civil rights movement, I saw at a fairly early age that there were terrible inequities in the education system. I lived in a good neighborhood so we had great public schools, but that was not the case in the inner city. I was shocked to see kids in this country who had so little and no access to a quality education. I often wondered what it was like for the other children to study or take entry exams such as an SAT without any sufficient resources available to them. Ever since then, I have always felt compelled to try to give back.

What motivates your giving?
I learned from my travels and life experiences that it is important to give back – not necessarily at the same level, nor every year for that matter, but to give something when you can. It’s part of being a good human being. History has shown us that there are incredibly talented people in all walks of life that, when given an opportunity, can contribute so much to the greater good. Therefore, it's in our self-interest and essential to our democracy to provide quality education to all.

Additionally, Sid and I want to support the communities that have supported us and given us so much. We reside in both in the Bay Area and in southern California where we support the art and film community, public education, community organizations, and environmental causes.   

What is one particular organization that you support that has impressed you?
Slide Ranch is an innovative agricultural and environmental education center located just north of San Francisco. In conjunction with being a steward of 134 acres of land, Slide Ranch uses food to teach about sustainability and to demonstrate a vision of humans in balance with nature. The educational emphasis is on firsthand experience and exploration. It also reaches out to engage special needs and low-income populations, including urban youth from low-income communities, adults with developmental disabilities, and homeless people.

As a movie producer, you have used film as a medium for informing the public about social issues. How did you come to this direction for your film projects? Can you tell us about a recent project that inspires discussion about social issues?
I started my professional career thinking I wanted to teach in the inner city in Detroit. During my student teaching years, I realized how little I knew and understood about the root cause of so many things in life, so I decided to become a journalist. One of my first stories was based on a program for young mothers in Berkeley who could return to high school to get their diploma while taking care of their children – one of the first of its kind in the country. Eventually, I produced the story for KQED and realized how powerful film and television could be. At that point, I made the shift from print journalism to documentary filmmaker.

With Akeelah and the Bee, which was released this spring, I have expanded from documentary films to narrative films. After Sid read the script in 2000 and gave it to me to read, my immediate reaction was to produce it as a movie. It reflected my lifelong interest and passion for the issues surrounding public education. Although the movie is about an 11-year-old African American girl competing in a spelling bee, the story is about so much more – about the lessons she learned in her pursuit, about values, and about community. The spirit of this film captures so much of what I believe in, that it’s up to us as a group to help others.