Save the Bay

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Los Altos, CA

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation funds charitable organizations working on just societies, healthy families and communities, and a healthy natural world, including climate solutions, ocean conservation, and science. Its 2024 grants had a median of $150,000, and half of grant dollars went to California recipients. It accepts unsolicited requests, but less than 1% of its grants come from them.

The Lazard Charitable Foundation

New York, NY

The Lazard Charitable Foundation funds nonprofits addressing education, youth career development and justice, health, food insecurity, and the arts, with a strong emphasis on New York organizations. Its 2024 grants had a median of $500, though several grants were $50,000–$100,000 or more. It accepts requests by letter with a description of the organization and its activities; no deadline is listed.

Traditional Medicinals Foundation

Sebastopol, CA

Traditional Medicinals Foundation supports charitable organizations in areas including community health, land stewardship, food security, herbal education, and organic agriculture. Its 2025 grants ranged from $25 to $46,000, with a median of $1,000; 80% of grant dollars went to California, with additional funding in New York and several other states. It funds only preselected organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests.

Community Charities

Danville, CA

Tikkun Olam Foundation Inc

New York, NY

Tikkun Olam Foundation supports women’s health, gender justice, and reproductive rights, including social justice and community organizing; its 2024 grants ranged from $2,500 to $1 million, with a median of $60,000. Grants went mainly to organizations in New York, California, Massachusetts, Washington, DC, and Minnesota. It does not accept unsolicited requests and funds only preselected charitable organizations.

The New World Foundation

New York, NY

The New World Foundation funds grassroots and community-led work on civic engagement, economic opportunity and worker power, and climate and environmental justice, in the U.S. and around the world. Its 2024 median grant was $25,000, though awards ranged from $7,900 to $3 million. It invites aligned organizations to explore partnerships but does not explicitly state whether it accepts unsolicited grant requests.

Furthur Foundation

Berkeley, CA

Furthur Foundation supports small organizations working on environmental preservation, social change, community needs, youth, and arts, with a particular focus on the Bay Area but also grants elsewhere. Most grants are $1,000–$5,000; its 2026 awards ranged from $2,000 to $9,000. It accepts written applications for consideration, but the profile does not say whether unsolicited requests are accepted.

Penney Family Fund

Berkeley, CA

The Penney Family Fund supports grassroots organizing, advocacy, civic participation, and movement building focused on racial, economic, and environmental justice, with recent grants concentrated in North Carolina, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Georgia. Its 2024 grants ranged from $250 to $35,000, with a median of $20,000. It does not accept unsolicited requests; proposals are by invitation only.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Mountain View, CA

Silicon Valley Community Foundation funds work in areas such as housing, economic security, education, health, the environment, arts and culture, and civic engagement, with Community Action Grants supporting local, community-led organizations in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Its 2024 grants had a median of $51,716, though amounts varied widely; applications depend on the program, and SVCF states that it does not accept unsolicited proposals for advised funds.

California Community Foundation

Los Angeles, CA

The California Community Foundation funds work in education, health, housing, immigration, and other community needs, primarily in Los Angeles County. Its 2025 grants had a median of $50,000, though amounts varied widely; it does not accept unsolicited funding requests.

Tides Foundation

San Francisco, CA

Tides Foundation funds community-led organizations advancing equity and justice, including work on health, climate, gender equity, democracy, and immigrant communities. Its 2024 grants had a median of $50,000, though amounts varied widely, and it funds eligible organizations in the U.S. and abroad, with the most grant dollars going to California, New York, and Washington, D.C. Some programs are open or invitation-only; the Advancing Girls Fund is listed as open, but the profile does not state a general policy on unsolicited grant requests.

The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

Menlo Park, CA

The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation funds education, climate and conservation, the arts, gender equity, governance, democracy, and philanthropy, with work in the San Francisco Bay Area, the U.S. West, nationally, and internationally. Its 2024 grants had a median of $150,000, though awards ranged from $50 to more than $11 million; it often provides long-term general operating support. It generally does not accept unsolicited requests, except through invited open processes.