On Monday we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day — a day when Americans honor Dr. King’s legacy by engaging in service for the betterment of our communities. So it is befitting to reflect on this day 75 years ago when the San Francisco Foundation was founded as a vehicle for community philanthropy in the Bay Area.
The year that the foundation was born, 1948, a young Martin Luther King — then just 19 — graduated from Morehouse College and entered seminary school. As a fellow Morehouse Man, my worldview was deeply affected by Dr. King’s teachings. While at Morehouse in the late 1980s and early ’90s, my classmates and I would assemble weekly in the chapel that was named after Dr. King. We would hear from Black leaders from around the country about the importance of leadership, service and civil rights.
Those teachings and that immersion continue to serve as a compass in my philanthropic work today. “Philanthropy is commendable,” King said in 1963, “but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.”
Those circumstances and systems continue to exclude far too many people in the Bay Area. Today, one in 10 Bay Area neighborhoods is a segregated area of white wealth; Native American and Black workers have the highest rates of joblessness; and only a third of top elected officials are people of color, despite the fact that people of color make up 60% of the population, according to the Bay Area Equity Atlas.
To address these inequities, the San Francisco Foundation today is singularly focused on racial equity as our region’s greatest challenge. To do this, we’ve expanded our work beyond traditional philanthropy. From policy advocacy, impact investing, donor partnerships and grantmaking, we’re doing everything in our power to create a Bay Area where everyone thrives.
In the past year, we — together with our many partners — helped pass legislation to ensure paid sick leave for domestic workers in San Francisco. We helped win $20 million from the state to protect tenants, produce new affordable housing and preserve already affordable housing. And we’ve made a $10 million investment to build power among communities of color in the Bay Area and throughout the state.
Ex // Top Stories
The automatic speed enforcement program now seeks a stamp of approval from the Board of Supervisors, with agency staff hoping to have the cameras online by early 2025
Yes SF, a World Economic Forum program, is backing 14 environmentally focused startups to help revitalize downtown San Francisco
The City is earning high ratings for being healthy, happy and desirable — but don’t tell its critics
These are some of the ways in which we show up in service to the Bay Area today. And as we mark our 75th anniversary, we’re also reflecting on the ways in which our history has a social justice throughline that embodies Dr. King’s values and radical imagination.
With just $20 in the bank, the San Francisco Foundation was established by three incredible individuals: Marjorie De Young Elkus and Leslie Ganyard — two nationally regarded social welfare experts — and Daniel E. Koshland Sr. of Levi Strauss & Co, who served on progressive nonprofit boards throughout his life. On Jan. 16, 1948, The San Francisco Examiner reported that the foundation would provide the community with “a contemporary agency sensitive to current social needs, and one which will help build a future which will magnify the opportunities of generations yet to be born.”
Since then, we’ve granted more than $3 billion to thousands of nonprofits in the Bay Area. These organizations have played critical roles in many of the largest social justice movements that have shaped the Bay Area, from disability rights and the AIDS epidemic to reproductive and immigrant rights, to our shared vision of racial equity today.
As we reflect on 75 years of service to the Bay Area, we are deeply grateful to all of the community members and organizations that have partnered with us to make change happen. But our collective work is far from done. We look ahead to our next 75 years knowing that we can all step up, use our social capital, and create an equitable Bay Area where everyone can thrive and reach their full potential.
“It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal,” said Benjamin Mays, Dr. King’s mentor and the former president of Morehouse College. “The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.”
