Clif Family Foundation
The Clif Family Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation based in Saint Helena, California, established in 2006 by Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, founders of Clif Bar & Company. The foundation supports small to mid-sized grassroots organizations working to strengthen food systems, enhance community health, and safeguard the environment and natural resources. Following Clif Bar's acquisition by Mondelez International in 2022, the foundation became an independent entity with significantly increased assets through charitable contributions from its founders.
Financial Overview
From 2024 IRS Form 990-PF · View filing
Total Assets
$570.8M
+1.3% YoY
Annual Giving
$24.1M
+100.0% YoY
Grant Count
459
+1.8% YoY
Avg Grant Size
$53K
+96.6% YoY
Mission & Focus Areas
Mission: Transform food systems, revitalize the environment, and enhance community health.
Vision: A healthy, just, ecologically thriving world for all people.
Core Values:
- People Power: Solutions designed and implemented by those most impacted by health, climate, and food systems challenges
- Transformation: Systemic change addressing root causes of societal problems
- JEDI: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion as essential to effectiveness and well-being
- Collaboration: Partnerships to achieve mission and foster learning
- Creativity: Ingenuity and imagination coupled with listening and learning
Primary Funding Priorities:
- Regenerative and Organic Farming: Accelerating adoption of regenerative farming practices including organic, climate-resilient, equitable, and agroecological approaches
- Food Production Workers' Health and Safety: Securing healthy, safe, just, and empowering working and living conditions
- Climate Justice: Community-centered solutions to climate change that build resilience and empower historically marginalized populations
- Healthy Food Access: Food systems changes making healthy and sustainably produced food accessible, affordable, and culturally appropriate
- Inclusive Outdoor Access: Solutions expanding access to safe places for healthy physical activity and mental health improvement
- Safe from Pollution Indoors and Outdoors: Preventative health approaches identifying and eliminating toxics from air, water, soil, and human-made materials
Grantmaking
The foundation offers two types of grants:
Grant Range
$5,000 - $50,000
Review Cycle
March 1 and August 1
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Geographic Focus
Where this funder awards grants
The foundation focuses its grantmaking primarily in the United States and its unincorporated territories, with some grants extending to Canada.
Grant Distribution by State
States
Cities
Financial History
Multi-year comparison from IRS filings
Assets & Revenue (2024):
- Total assets: $570,812,519
- Total revenue: $39,095,472
- Total expenses: $28,125,679
- Total liabilities: $0
Historical Context: Assets increased from $500,000 to approximately $500 million following the 2022 Clif Bar acquisition, through charitable contributions from Crawford and Erickson.
| Metric | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Assets | $570,812,519 | $563,707,533 | $551,376,013 |
| Revenue | $39,095,472 | $29,947,536 | $556,164,967 |
| Expenses | $28,125,679 | $15,054,363 | $5,357,870 |
| Qualifying Distributions | $27,107,484 | $15,066,106 | $5,156,613 |
| Net Investment Income | $25,308,455 | $27,582,648 | $897,614 |
| Distributable Amount | $27,656,673 | $27,102,028 | $1,172,436 |
Giving Over Time
Total grant dollars and number of grants per year
Grant Insights
How this funder distributes its grants
Top Recipients
Top 10 recipients in 2024
Grant Size Distribution
250 grants across all recorded years
Giving History
Grant recipients and amounts by year
No grants recorded for .
Leadership & Key People
Leadership team and compensation from IRS filings
Founders & Co-creators:
- Gary Erickson
- Kit Crawford
Staff:
- Thao Pham: Executive Director
- Jennifer Herman: Vice President Finance and Accounting
- Lori Ann Thrupp: Senior Program Officer, Food Systems
- Sierra Martinez: Senior Program Officer, Climate
The foundation employs 7 people total.
Compensation Overview
From 2024 IRS filing
From 2024 filing
| Name | Title | Hours | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| KATHLEEN F CRAWFORD | BOARD MEMBER | 2 | — |
| GARY J ERICKSON | BOARD MEMBER | 2 | — |
| KATE WATSON | BOARD MEMBER | 2 | — |
| CLAYTON WARD | BOARD MEMBER | 2 | — |
| Anne Jennings | BOARD MEMBER | 2 | $36,000 |
| ELYSA HAMMOND | BOARD MEMBER | 2 | $36,000 |
Contact Information
Website: cliffamilyfoundation.org
Email: info@cliffamilyfoundation.org
Phone: (510) 596-6383
Address: 1334 Vidovich Ave Ste B, Saint Helena, CA 94574
EIN: 20-4345935
Tax-Exempt Status: 501(c)(3), tax-exempt since January 2023
Subject Areas
Focus areas based on grantmaking activity
Data last updated April 2026. Sourced from IRS Form 990-PF filings. Research dossier generated April 2026.
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