FAITHS Community Partners Grant Program

The FAITHS Community Partners Grant Program, initiated by The San Francisco Foundation, supports faith-based organizations in advocating for racial and economic equity across five Bay Area counties. This program emphasizes building capacity, promoting civic participation, and addressing community needs such as affordable housing and food insecurity. Eligible applicants include 501c3 organizations that serve low-income communities and people of color. The initiative aims to empower faith leaders and strengthen interfaith relations through collaborative efforts.

Background
The faith community has historically been at the forefront of advocating for racial and economic equity, and it remains a crucial voice today. In 1993, The San Francisco Foundation created FAITHS (Foundation Alliance with Interfaith to Heal Society) — now a nationally recognized program — to enhance the work of faith-based organizations and congregations to organize and advocate for equitable policies and improve services and outcomes in their neighborhoods and the region.
FAITHS is now a multi-faith network of more than 600 congregations, faith-based agencies, and community organizations that address racial and economic equity issues in the five Bay Area counties that the foundation serves (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo). FAITHS grantmaking and other program activities align with the foundation’s goals to ensure that every Bay Area resident has access to a good job, lives in a safe and affordable home, has a strong political voice, and can live in a community that provides real opportunity.
Our Focus
FAITHS convenes faith leaders, offers technical assistance, capacity-building training, and grants centering building voice and power to support greater racial and economic equity in the region.
FAITHS grants support programs that strengthen interfaith and race relations, increase civic and cultural participation, develop leaders, and provide community services to low-income residents and communities of color and programs addressing the needs of our communities: affordable housing, food insecurity, civic engagement (advocacy, integrated voter engagement, civic education), mental health and re-entry programs for systems involved community.
Grantmaking Strategies
FAITHS grants support programs that strengthen interfaith and race relations, increase civic and cultural participation, develop leaders, and provide community services to low-income residents and communities of color and programs addressing the needs of our communities: affordable housing, food insecurity, civic engagement (advocacy, integrated voter engagement, civic education), mental health and re-entry programs for systems involved community members.
The grantmaking program will support faith-based organizations and congregations to:
Build and strengthen the capacity of organizations and leaders to engage in racial and economic equity issues through nonpartisan voter engagement, policy advocacy, and community
Provide programs that promote economic security, educational opportunity, and community well-being.
Provide programs and activities that address institutional and structural racism, discrimination, and implicit
Mandatory requirements
All applications must have some civic educational, advocacy, and/or policy component in the program. It must be included in the application, for example, voter registration, civic engagement activities.

Eligibility

Priority will be given to applicants who are:501c3 faith-based organizations/congregations.Fiscally sponsored faith-based organizations/congregations.Serve low-income communities and people of color in one or more of five Bay Area counties :Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San MateoIf your organization headquarters is outside of the Bay Area and the organization serves one or more of the five Bay Area counties, you are eligible to apply.Provide programs for underserved communities (e.g., low-income people of color, systems involved and/or formerly incarcerated residents, low-wage workers, mental health programs, youth, unhoused individuals, seniors, and immigrants)Have existing collaborations or partnerships within the work

Ineligibility

FAITHS will not fund capital improvements, grants to individuals, or event sponsorships.