Grants & Awards

Overview

We grant to a wide range of organizations in accordance with our strategic goals and objectives. In 2009 we made 179 grants totaling $2,531,103. 

In addition to the responsive grantmaking in Arts and Culture, there are a number of arts awards programs designated through wills and trusts and initiative fundraising. For more information, please visit the Art Awards page.

• View the Arts and Culture Programs grants awarded in 2009.
• To see a list of all available arts-related grants & awards, please visit our Grants and Awards overview.
  

Nonprofit Transitions Fund Supports Intentional Change

September 2009

While Bay Area nonprofits have been resilient, and even grew during recent recessions, they must radically adjust given the scope of the recent recessions. Some face hard decisions about streamlining, merging, consolidating, or even sunsetting. Growth used to be a barometer of success. In the current economic climate, adaptability is a more pertinent measure. As part of The San Francisco Foundation’s emergency response grantmaking, we invite organizations to apply for a grant from the Nonprofit Transitions Fund, providing $350,000 to support serious planning efforts, consultants, due diligence, and other expenses. Read the What's New article to learn more about the Nonprofit Transitions Fund.

Creative Capacity Fund

In partnership with the San Francisco Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, and San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs, The San Francisco Foundation is pleased to announce the Creative Capacity Fund (CCF). CCF is a field-building initiative designed to support a broad range of training and peer learning opportunities for arts professionals. In 2009, 75 awards were given out to 27 individuals and 48 organizations. A total of 90 participants were able to take part in 84 activities.

Administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), individual artists and arts organizations who have received grants from the participating funders are eligible to apply for funds to support self-directed professional development activities that can range from, but are not limited to:

• registration fees and travel to attend professional development training anywhere in the United States;
• the partial cost of consultants or coaches providing capacity-building support;
• leadership development for key staff/volunteers; and
• workshops on marketing.

Applications for CCF funding will be accepted on a rolling basis through the 15th of each month, with awards approved by the 15th of the next month. In 2010, arts organizations can receive up to $1,000 in CCF funding, and individual artists can receive up to $500.

For further information about the Creative Capacity Fund and how to apply, please visit its new website.

Mini-Grants

Koshland Arts Mini-Grants

The Arts and Culture program collaborates with The San Francisco Foundation’s Koshland Civic Unity Program to award arts mini-grants of up to $3,000 for grassroots arts projects based in key Bay Area neighborhoods. The Koshland Program recognizes Bay Area grassroots risk-takers – those social innovators of bold spirit who accept the most stubborn neighborhood problems as a personal challenge and who work collaboratively to overcome them. In recognizing these individuals, the Koshland Committee of The San Francisco Foundation seeks to promote civic unity by building mutual respect among diverse people in the community and encouraging small, voluntary efforts to address neighborhood problems.

2008-2009 Grantees:
Associated Community Action Program
Contra Costa Child Care Council
East Bay Center for the Performing Arts
Literacy for Environmental Justice
Literacy for Every Adult
Project Mt. Diablo Unified School District (Fair Oaks)
Mt. Diablo Unified School District (Ygnacio)
The Box Shop Terrain, A Dance and Performance Collective
Waterside Workshops Youth at Hope Community Arts Project (BAHIA)
Youth Spirits ArtsWork (Ya Ya California) 

More Information

For more information on the Koshland Arts Mini-Grants, please contact Evelia Perez at eperez@sff.org.

For more information on the Koshland Program, please click here.

To see past Koshland Program Arts and Culture Mini-Grants Awardees, click here.

NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINE: This application is currently administering by invitation only.

FAITHS Arts Mini-Grants

Faith-based organizations and congregations often serve as community hubs for cultural and artistic activity, especially in immigrant, refugee, and low-income communities. To enhance this exchange of art and ideas, The San Francisco Foundation’s FAITHS Program and Arts and Culture Program have provided FAITHS Arts and Culture Mini-Grants for the past four years. These mini-grants support faith-based organizations and groups in providing free, community-based artistic and cultural activities, with a priority focus on immigrant, refugee, and low-income communities.

Last year, 14 applications requesting a total of $52,000 were received and $30,500 was awarded to eight faith-based organizations. Grantees were chosen from diverse communities offering multidisciplinary artistic activities (including dance, music, spoken word, afterschool programs, etc).

2008-2009 Grantees:

African Immigrants' Social and Cultural Services (AISCS)
American Indian Child Resource Center
Huong Viet Community Center
Mo' MAGIC
Multicultural Institute
OneLife Institute
Walnut Creek United Methodist Church
Westminster Hills Presbyterian Church

For more information on the FAITHS Arts Mini-Grants, please contact Tessa Rouverol Callejo at trc@sff.org.

For more information on the FAITHS Program, please click here.

To see past FAITHS Arts Mini-Grants Awardees, click here.

NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINE: Additional information on the 2010 FAITHS Arts Mini-Grants will be posted in February 2010.

Fund For Artists (FFA)

Forging an innovative collaborative effort between Bay Area Community Foundations, individual donors, and the Irvine, Hewlett, Surdna, and Ford Foundations, the Fund For Artists supports the endeavors of individual artists through commissions, artists' residencies, awards, advocacy, workshops, promotional instruction, and networking support. This program includes the:

• The San Francisco Foundation Bay Area Documentary Fund given to accomplished film/video/digital media artists for early production support.
• Fund For Artists Matching Commissions supporting the development of new work by Bay Area artists.
• Shenson Performing Arts Fellowships given to exemplary pre-professional performing artists to assist with their professional advancement. 
• Fund For Artists Arts Teacher Fellowships (now concluded) supporting the artistic revitalization of outstanding arts teachers in Bay Area middle and high schools.

To read more about the Fund For Artists Program, please visit the Fund For Artists page.

To see past Fund For Artists Awardees, visit the Art Award Archive page.

NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINES: Please visit the Fund For Artists page for upcoming deadlines

Art Awards Program

The San Francisco Foundation sponsors a variety of artistic awards that help foster individual growth within our community through its Art Awards Program.

The Program offers a total of ten awards in visual, media, and literary arts including: the Joseph Henry Jackson Literary Award; the James Duval Phelan Literary Award; the Tanenbaum Award in Nonfiction; the James D. Phelan Art Awards in Photography, Printmaking, and in Film, Video, and Digital Media; the Murphy and Cadogan Fellowships in the Fine Arts; and the John Gutmann Photography Fellowship Award, as well as the annual Community Leadership Award, given in the spirit of Helen Crocker Russell, to an under-recognized, mature artist who has made a significant and ongoing contribution in the Bay Area.

Annually, the Art Awards Program awards an average of $100,000 to approximately 40 individual artists in different stages in their career and development. Additionally, The San Francisco Foundation hosts an annual Art Awards Celebration to recognize these individuals.  This year, the celebration was held on Monday, October 20th.  Please see the Arts Awards page for more information.

Learn more about how we honor the creative class of the Bay Area through our Art Awards.

To see past Art Awards Program Awardees, visit the Art Awards Archive page.

Wallace Audience Development Initiative

As part of the Wallace Audience Development Initiative, The San Francisco Foundation, Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, and The Wallace Foundation, through the Arts & Business Council of Americans for the Arts are sponsoring the National Arts Marketing Project’s 2009 Bay Area Advanced Marketing Boot Camp.

For more information on the Wallace Audience Development Initiative, visit the Wallace Commissions and Resources page.