OVERVIEW: The Clif Family Foundation (formerly the Clif Bar Family Foundation) is a California-based funder that prioritizes sustainable agriculture, food systems, the environment and related human health.
IP TAKE: The Clif Family Foundation is a mid-sized funder that conducts the majority of its giving through a very focused food systems and community health lens. The foundation’s assets recently increased substantially, making Clif a key funder to know about in this space. Clif’s website states that it prioritizes “small to mid-size grassroots groups” working on the food system, equitable health and protecting “the places we play by being stewards of our environment and natural resources.” This funder prefers organizations that demonstrate strong community ties and operate at the community level. Clif is an accessible funder with a straightforward online grant application that’s open for submissions twice per year. The rest of the time, the foundation prefers a proactive approach and accepts applications by invite-only. The majority of grants provide general operating support and invest in U.S. nonprofits, but it also operates a Canadian portfolio with a separate grants database.
PROFILE: The Clif Family Foundation, formerly the Clif Bar Family Foundation, was launched in 2006 by Kit Crawford and her husband Gary Erickson, founders of energy and health food brand Clif Bar & Co.
The Clif Family Foundation remained a small corporate foundation associated with Clif Bar & Co. until 2022, when Clif Bar was acquired by Mondelez International in a $2.9 billion deal, and the foundation became an independent entity. That same year, the foundation’s assets ballooned from $500,000 to $500 million. According to reporting at Forbes, this was the direct result of charitable contributions from Kit and Gary, who used their profits from the corporation’s sale to fund the foundation.
The foundation’s three-pronged mission is to “transform food systems, revitalize the environment, and enhance community health.” Its grantmaking includes operational support and project specific funding for groups working in its five priority areas: Regenerative and Organic Farming, Food Production Workers’ Health and Safety, Climate Justice, Healthy Food Access, Inclusive Outdoor Access, and Indoors and Outdoors Safe from Pollution.
Grants for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
Grants for sustainable agriculture and food systems constitute a major focus area for this funder and account for about half of its overall giving each year.
- The Regenerative and Organic Farming focus area helps farmers and agricultural produces adopt sustainable practices, including “organic, climate-resilient, equitable, and agroecological approaches.”
- The Food Production Workers’ Health and Safety area targets initiatives that improve the working and living conditions, health, safety and empowerment of all people working in the food production field.
- The Healthy Food Access program focuses on the broad accessibility of food that is affordable, healthy, sustainable and culturally appropriate for consumers.
Notably, the foundation supports a broad range of organizations across these areas of interest, including several small, community-based groups. One grantee, Basil’s Harvest of Chicago, links farmers with businesses to create “institutional demand for sustainably grown food.” Other grantees include Alaska’s Calypso Farm and Ecology Center, the Fair Food Network, the Hmong American Farmers Association and Vermont’s Milk with Dignity.
Grants for the Environment, Community Development and Public Health
The Clif Family Foundation situates environmental and related health concerns squarely in affected communities and makes grants through three overlapping areas of focus.
- Clif’s Climate Justice program area supports “community-centered” initiatives to mitigate climate change and “empower those who have been historically marginalized.”
- Grantmaking for Inclusive Outdoor Access also works directly with communities to develop outdoor spaces that “enable healthy physical activity and improve mental health.”
- Related giving stems from Indoors and Outdoors Safe from Pollution, which focuses on the elimination of toxic substances from environments as a crucial means of improving and maintaining health.
Giving in these areas tend to focus on smaller organizations with innovative approaches to environmental and health-related work. Grantees include Oakland’s Center for Creative Land Recycling, LA Compost, Seattle’s Bike Works and California’s YES Nature to Neighborhoods, which helps communities “reclaim their connection to the natural world.”
Important Grant Details:
The Clif Family Foundation’s grants have ranged anywhere from $100 to $1 million, but most grants stay under $300,000.
This funder has recently made over 350 grants in a year to organizations of all sizes. Small outfits are very well represented among its grantees.
- Clif likes to support innovative organizations working directly with communities to improve health and well-being through healthy food and environment.
Applications for grants of up to $50,000 are accepted twice per year, with deadlines generally falling on March 1 and August 1. Recipients are usually announced within four months of the last deadline. Applications for the foundation’s larger grants, usually in the areas of climate justice and food systems, are accepted by invitation only.
- For additional information about the foundation’s giving, see its searchable grantee database.
Reach out with questions via email at info@cliffamilyfoundation.org. The foundation’s phone number is listed as (510) 596-6383.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
What Grantees Tell GrantAdvisor:
.png)
