San Diego Foundation Awards $104 Million In Grants

SAN DIEGO, CA — San Diego Foundation awarded a record-breaking $104.1 million in grants to 2,000 nonprofit organizations during the 2021 fiscal year, officials announced Tuesday.

Most of the roughly 7,000 grants stayed in the San Diego region, according to the foundation.

The grants included approximately $35 million to nonprofits specializing in health and human services, $20 million to education nonprofits, $17 million to youth development groups, $11 million for arts and culture, $10.2 million for civil society nonprofits and $6.3 million for environmental nonprofits, according to the foundation's annual report.

Additional grants were made in various other categories.

"Our success this year is due to all the donors, nonprofit organizations and staff who helped our historic work happen," Foundation President and CEO Mark Stuart said in a statement. "Because of their valuable contributions, we were able to help more San Diegans than ever before during a time when they needed it most."

This past year, the foundation also continued working with the San Diego COVID-19 Community Relief Fund, launched in March 2020.

That fund has granted more than $67 million to San Diego nonprofits and provided more than 2.3 million people with services including child care, education, financial assistance, food security, medical support and workforce development. An estimated 79% of those receiving help were living in poverty.

In July, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department recognized the foundation for its work with a Secretary's Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships. It was among six foundations recognized this year.

The foundation ended the year with $1.3 billion in assets, the largest in its 46-year history, officials said. More information on the 2020-21 fiscal year can be found at www.sdfoundation.org/news-events/annual-report-2021/.

— City News Service