OVERVIEW: Crankstart is the charitable foundation of Michael Moritz and Harriet Heyman. The majority of its grantmaking stays in the Bay Area, though it also has grantmaking footprints in Chicago and the United Kingdom. The foundation’s primary funding interests center on education, economic mobility, housing, democracy, the environment and medical research.
IP TAKE: The Crankstart Foundation was established over two decades ago, but its endowment and grantmaking rapidly expanded in recent years, in tandem with its founders’ growing wealth. With assets nearing $4 billion, Crankstart is now a major Bay Area Funder. IP’s Kavate characterizes Crankstart as a “fast-growing and fast-evolving grantmaker” that has thrown “substantial support behind collaborative efforts supporting democracy and grassroots power-building, with a focus on BIPOC-led groups.” Notably, in 2022 Crankstart received the “Newcomer of the year” award in IP’s annual philanthropy awards. Crankstart has participated in major national funding collaboratives, including the Democracy Frontlines Fund and the California Black Freedom Fund.
Crankstart’s sparse yet well-organized website states that it doesn’t accept unsolicited grant inquiries, yet it also includes a contact form, along with a message inviting those who have reviewed Crankstart’s programs and past grantees to reach out via the form. The website also includes a full list of program directors, with links to corresponding LinkedIn pages. While this funder is only moderately accessible at this time, it is rapidly expanding, so Bay Area nonprofits should check back often for updates.
PROFILE: Established in 2000, the Crankstart Foundation is based in San Francisco, California and is the family foundation of Harriet Heyman and Michael Moritz. Harriet is a sculptor, novelist and former New York Times journalist. Michael was born in Wales and attended Oxford, where he earned a B.A. in history. He later moved to the states and received an M.B.A. from Wharton and then then worked as a journalist for Time magazine. He authored a book about Apple and co-authored another on Chrysler before joining the tech investment firm Sequoia Capital in 1986, where the couple gained their fortune. Moritz has also served on the boards of Google, LInkedIn, Kayak and the Green Dot Corporation, among others. Moritz and Heyman are Giving Pledge signatories.
The Crankstart Foundation is dedicated to “bolstering the foundations of a just society – wider access to better education, jobs with prospects for advancement, housing security, social welfare and the protection of civil rights.” Its grantmaking Programs include Education, Economic Mobility, Democracy, Housing Security, the Environment, and Medical Science & Innovation. About 60% of its grantmaking stays in San Francisco Bay Area, but Chicago and the U.K. are also geographic priorities.
Grants for Civic Engagement, Democracy, Immigrants, Refugees and Criminal Justice Reform
Democracy has been Crankstart’s largest giving area in recent years, accounting for about a third of its total annual grantmaking. Major goals here center on fair elections and increasing voter engagement, but the program also names immigrants’ rights, criminal justice reform and anti-recidivism initiatives as additional areas of interest.
- Grants related to elections and voting rights have supported All Voting is Local, the Center for Technology and Civic Life and the Center for Secure and Modern Elections.
- Grants for immigrant and criminal justice have supported Californians for Safety and Justice, the National Center for Youth Law, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Oakland’s Centro Legal de la Raza.
- Crankstart has also awarded $3.4 million to the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Immigrant Defense Unit to hire additional attorneys for immigration services, including defense representation, know-your-rights education, and filing constitutional defenses against illegal deportations. (Read IP’s recent reporting on this for more insight.)
Grants for Economic Opportunity and Community Development
The foundation’s grantmaking program for Economic Mobility is another major area of focus, accounting for about a quarter of its annual giving. This giving targets “root causes of economic disenfranchisement” and communities most “hurt by generational poverty.”
- Specific areas of interest include job training, safety net and public benefit programs, and programs that “mitigate[…] the insidious effects of fines and fees that erode wealth.”
- Recent grants from this program have gone to San Francisco’s Young Community Developers, Golden State Opportunity, Code for America and the Booker T. Washington Community Service Center, also of San Francisco.
- In 2024, the foundation contributed $14 million to the University of California San Francisco for a large scale Career Pathways initiative that will “train community members for well-paid roles as medical practice coordinators, medical assistants and radiology technologists at UCSF.”
- While health is not a stated priority of this program, grants have supported community health organizations in the Bay Area including San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, the Alameda Health Consortium, Asian Health Services of Oakland and Mission Neighborhood Health Centers of San Francisco.
Grants for Education and Youth
Education is a smaller giving program, accounting for about 14% of the foundation’s annual giving. Grantmaking supports programs and initiatives from early childhood through adult education. The foundation strives to provide educational opportunities that offer everyone “regardless of circumstances, an opportunity to shape their lives.” This program names three main areas of interest.
- Grants for post-secondary access target academic and vocational training programs that help students gain entry to high-paying jobs and careers.
- Grants for early childhood and out-of-school learning prioritize “historically marginalized communities.”
- The foundation also supports teacher education, development and retention initiatives.
- Education grants have supported the San Francisco and Oakland Unified School Districts, the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Education, Spark SF Public Schools, Oakland REACH and the East Oakland Youth Development Center.
Grants for Housing and Homelessness
The work of Crankstart’s Housing Security program is mainly limited to San Francisco and Oakland. Giving aims to reduce homelessness, increase the number of affordable homes in the area and support policy and governance for “economically integrated communities.” Housing grants account for about 11% of the foundation’s giving.
- Grantees working to reduce homelessness include the 3rd St. Youth Center and Clinic in San Francisco, Bay Area Community Services and Episcopal Community Services, among others.
- In the area of affordable housing, the foundation has made grants to the Chinatown Community Development Center, the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California and the Terner Center for Housing Intervention.
- Housing policy grantees include the Mission Economic Development Association and the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation.
Grants for the Environment and Climate Change
The Crankstart Foundation’s Environment grantmaking aims to partner with “communities disproportionately affected by climate change” in mitigation efforts.
- Clean energy transition and ecosystem conservation are the program’s main areas of focus.
- In recent years, this has been a smaller area of giving, making up about 8% of annual grantmaking.
- This program maintains a broader geographic scope, supporting several national organizations, and even a few international programs.
- Grantees include the ClimateWorks Foundation, the Environmental Defense Fund, the International Council on Clean Transportation and Wetlands International, among others.
Grants for Public Health, Diseases and Scientific Research
Giving stemming from Crankstart’s Medical Science & Innovation program has tapered off in recent years. However, the foundation seeks to support “basic science” with the potential to discover “breakthroughs that benefit humans and life on earth.”
- The main beneficiary of the foundation’s recent giving in this area has been the ARC Institute in Palo Alto.
- ARC is “an independent institute that operates in collaboration with” Stanford University and the University of California campuses at Berkeley and San Francisco.
- ARC’s mission is to “to accelerate scientific progress and understand the root causes of complex diseases.”
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
Crankstart names Chicago and the U.K. as additional areas of grantmaking interest, although it does not name thematic goals for this giving.
- Chicago grants appear to focus on education and opportunity, supporting organizations including A Better Chicago, Hope Chicago, Chicago Scholars and the Chicago State University.
- In the U.K., giving appears to prioritize education and arts. Grantees include the Royal Drawing School, the Booker Prize, the Royal Academy, the National Gallery and the Crankstart Scholarships for Oxford University.
Important Grant Details:
The Crankstart Foundation’s grants tend to range from $100,000 to $1 million. Some grants have been awarded in amounts as high as $12.3 million, although most grants stay below the $1 million mark.
- More than half of this funder’s grants stay in the Bay Area of California, but with hundreds of grants going out the door each year, many national organizations also receive support.
- Secondary geographic priorities include Chicago and the U.K.
- Most of Crankstart’s grants support medium- to large-sized organizations that have strong reputations in their fields.
- The foundation does not accept unsolicited requests for funding at this time.
- Grantseekers may contact the funder via its online Contact page. The program’s team page provides links to staff members’ LinkedIn pages. Crankstart’s phone number is listed as (415) 561-6540.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
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