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We maintained our commitment to provide partners with long-term flexible support with our regular grantmaking budget of ~$20M and distributed an additional ~$20M in COVID-19 responsive grants. This significant responsive grantmaking resulted in one-time shifts to the data that represents our usual practices. For example, where we usually award more multi-year grants than one-year grants for our long-term partners, all of our responsive grants to our partners in 2020 and 2021 were awarded as one-year grants.

Our responsive grantmaking included targeted quarterly grants to organizations providing food, essential supplies, cash, and rental assistance, or legal aid to families as well as flexible grants to support both families and our partners. This dual focus acknowledged both the families seeking support in higher numbers across the year and the various short-and long-term organizational needs of nonprofits that capably pivoted to meet community need. 

We also responded to aligned collaborative funding opportunities, including: 

• The California Immigrant Resilience Fund, which provides direct cash assistance to families who are ineligible for COVID-19 federal and state safety net and relief programs. 

• Capacity grants to our partners managing Undocufunds in acknowledgment of associated administrative expenses. 

• The Together Toward Health initiative, which funds local community-based organizations that provide education, awareness, and outreach to populations disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

• Capacity grants to our partners participating in the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) in acknowledgment of the additional capacity required to enroll clients.

We entered 2022 with a renewed understanding of the importance of providing reliable long-term flexible support as pandemic-era government spending began to wind down. Based on that declining source of funding, sustained elevated need from families, and survey results from our grantee partners, we directed ~$4.6M in responsive funding to address urgent eviction prevention, direct cash assistance to families, and diaper and food distribution. As was the case last year, the relatively large number of these responsive grants resulted in one-time shifts to the number of one-year grants versus multi-year grants and lowered the average grant amount for the year.

We also sought to understand the longer-term impact on nonprofits facing a higher number of clients seeking support, rising costs, and myriad operational challenges to plan for ways to increase our grantmaking support in the years ahead. Finally, we began updating some of our approaches to prioritizing capacity building requests and considering increases to general operating support grants based on what we learned from grantee partners as well as principles of racial equity from our team’s ongoing learning journey.

In 2023, we returned to our regular budget practices after the 2020-2022 budget years in which we significantly ramped up our responsive grantmaking related to the pandemic. At the same time, we began a two-year project of increasing grant amounts across our portfolio as many partners faced declining public and private sources of funding while rising costs from inflation challenged organizations and households alike. The average grant amount across our portfolio rose even as the number of grants returned to pre-pandemic levels. To that end, we also made a concerted effort to ensure that multi-year grants once again represent the vast majority of grants. 

Finally, we made significant progress on elevating and expanding upon our commitment to racial equity through an intentional examination of our practices and programs. In one example of this commitment, we partnered with 15 new organizations and advanced two new initiatives, Community Voice and Mental Health. These initiatives center families experiencing poverty — predominantly from communities of color — who seek inclusion in decision making and leadership opportunities in their communities, and culturally responsive and affirming care in clinical and nonclinical settings.

Over the last year, our average grant amount continued to trend back up as we finalized a two-year process of deploying grant increases on the heels of responsive grantmaking during the pandemic. Further, a record 92% of grant dollars were multi-year, reflecting our long-term approach for core grantee partners and their commitment to the community. We also began reimagining the approach with our Strategic Opportunities portfolio with an eye toward more flexibly integrating some of our exploratory grantmaking across our work.

We marked our 10th anniversary as a funder with deep gratitude for all of our nonprofit partners and their unwavering dedication to children and families across the region.

Over the last year, our average grant amount continued to trend back up as we finalized a two-year process of deploying grant increases on the heels of responsive grantmaking during the pandemic. Further, a record 92% of grant dollars were multi-year, reflecting our long-term approach for core grantee partners and their commitment to the community. We also began reimagining the approach with our Strategic Opportunities portfolio with an eye toward more flexibly integrating some of our exploratory grantmaking across our work.

We marked our 10th anniversary as a funder with deep gratitude for all of our nonprofit partners and their unwavering dedication to children and families across the region.