San Francisco Foundation
Legal name: The San Francisco Foundation
Overview
Mission
Founded in 1948, the San Francisco Foundation is one of the nation’s largest community foundations—a grantmaking public charity dedicated to improving life within a specific local region. Our mission is to mobilize resources and act as a catalyst for change to build strong communities, foster civic leadership, and promote philanthropy in the San Francisco Bay Area.
What it reported doing in 2024
Through the generosity of donors, past and present, the foundation funds approximately 3,200 non-profit organizations in the bay area and across the country each year, working on a broad range of charitable purposes in response to the ever-changing needs of our communities. With its programmatic grantmaking, the foundation works to ensure that all people in the bay area are economically secure, rooted in vibrant communities, and have a voice in the decisions that impact them.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 89% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 91% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 010679337
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Phone
- (415) 733-8500
- Rating
- 90
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Public Foundations
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some related-organization disclosures are missing.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 93
- Transparency & Controls: 80
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 87
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 94.4%; rating input score 94
- Program expense ratio: 95.1%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: $65.25 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Pass
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.4%; rating input score 99; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: No; rating input score 0
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 29%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.54; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.5%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 94.4% of revenue deployed · 95.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $242.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $671K · 26 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.6M reported
- Consistency: 40 of 42 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 annual filings from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1718 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1701 filed related-organization links
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Leadership & pay
26 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- FRED BLACKWELL (CEO): $670,879 total reported compensation
- SONJA VELEZ (CFO): $418,013 total reported compensation
- JUDITH BELL (CIO): $397,145 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.