OVERVIEW: The James Irvine Foundation is a major regional grantmaker that supports initiatives for work and economic opportunity in the state of California. It also makes grants for its priority communities of Fresno, Salinas, Riverside, San Bernardino and Stockton.
IP TAKE: The James Irvine Foundation is a legacy grantmaker that revamped its grantmaking strategy in 2016 to focus exclusively on low-income workers and economic opportunity in California. More recently, Inside Philanthropy reporter Philip Rojc commented on the “bold tenor” of Irvine’s strategy, which prioritizes collaboration and coalitions to advocate for public and corporate policy change. Irvine president and CEO Don Howard maintains that “the opportunity for folks to do better than their parents has significantly diminished over the years, and I think this is the chance to rebuild the economy and the middle class in a way that’s racially inclusive. I think we’re up to the challenge and I hope philanthropy plays a big role.”
This is a transparent funder, with detailed information about the foundation’s finances and grantees available online. Across all areas, Irvine prioritizes low-income and marginalized people. Grantees range from grassroots organizations to prominent policy development institutes. The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals or letters of inquiry, but grantseekers may share their ideas via the foundation’s contact page. To get on the radar here, your work will need to closely align with Irvine’s outlook on diversity, equity and inclusion, which it outlines clearly as part of its grantmaking strategy.
PROFILE: The James Irvine Foundation was established in 1937 by the late California agricultural pioneer and real estate developer James Irvine. Over time, the foundation’s assets grew significantly through sales of the Irvine Company’s shares. This grantmaker’s main initiatives are Better Careers, Fair Work and Just Prosperity. The foundation also makes grants for Priority Communities in California, and between 2022 and 2024 ran a grantmaking portfolio focused on housing affordability in California. Additional programs include:
- The Leadership Awards program recognizes individuals “whose innovative solutions to critical state challenges improve people’s lives, create opportunity, and contribute to a better California.”
- Irvine’s Exploratory Grantmaking program supports funding investments that the foundation makes in areas that “have the potential to become priorities for the Foundation.”
Grants for Economic Development
The James Irvine Foundation makes grants for work and economic opportunity via its Better Careers, Fair Work and Just Prosperity grantmaking initiatives.
The Better Careers initiative aims to connect all Californians to “good jobs with family-sustaining wages and advancement opportunities.” This program prioritizes initiatives for a more equitable, inclusive and resilient workforce statewide.
Areas of interest include career paths for high school graduates, the dismantling of systemic injustices in training and hiring practices, jobs for formerly incarcerated individuals and programs that help people who lost jobs during the COVID-19 crisis.
Recent grantees include the Foundation for California Community Colleges, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, the City of Santa Ana, the Workforce Development Board of Solano County and the Merced County Workforce Development Board.
Irvine’s Fair Work grantmaking program, which the foundation committed $186.5 million to in 2023, works towards “advancing fairness, dignity, and respect for California workers” with particular impact goals. This initiative focuses developing fairness and opportunity for California workers:
This initiative prioritizes low-income workers in the areas of agriculture, homecare, healthcare, childcare and other service industries.
Past grantees include the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, Working Partnerships USA and the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, which supports the rights of indigenous farm workers in California.
Irvine also prioritizes the needs of low-income and marginalized people through public policy in California via its Just Prosperity program, a $107 million four-year initiative unveiled in March 2022.
This initiative focuses on policy relating to the dismantling of traditional barriers to economic stability and structural racism.
Grantees include the Chinese Progressive Association, the University of California at Berkeley, the NALEO Education Fund and the Movement Innovation Collaborative, “an organizer-led effort to amplify and accelerate the field of power building.”
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
Irvine’s Better Careers, Priority Communities and Fair Work initiatives have supported organizations involved in civic engagement, voters’ and labor rights in recent years.
The Better Careers initiative works supports organizing and policy related to its program goals of equitable career and economic opportunity in California. A recent grant went to the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, which names environmental justice and voting rights as priority areas.
The Priority Communities program focuses on the cities of Fresno, Salinas, Riverside, San Bernardino and Stockton. Grants through this initiative aim to create jobs that offer family-sustaining wages, benefits, and advancement opportunities for workers in low-wage jobs — and support communities as they create economies that work for all residents. Grantees include the League of Women Voters California Education Fund, the Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and California’s Center on Policy Initiatives.
Grants for Housing
The Housing Affordability project ran from 2022 through 2024 and addressed the “housing challenges low-wage workers face” with $40 million in grants for “community solutions to protect low-income renters, preserve existing affordable units, and produce new and permanently affordable homes.”
Grantees include the California Community Foundation, which received funding for its work to “advance equity-centered inclusive development and land use policies in Los Angeles,” and the San Francisco Foundation, which received funding for to “grow the capacity” of organizations involved in housing justice across the state.
Important Grant Details:
The James Irvine Foundation typically makes over $100 million in grants a year, with grants ranging from $10,000 to $4.5 million.
Grantmaking prioritizes nonprofits in the state of California, but national initiatives and organizations in other parts of the country have received funding.
Irvine’s largest area of giving is work and economic opportunity; vocational training programs and organizations involved in the protection of workers’ rights receive more than half of all funding.
For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s searchable awarded grants page.
- At this time, the James Irvine Foundation is not accepting applications for funding. The foundation invites grantseekers to read about its grantmaking approach and model and to share ideas via its online contact page.
- Submit questions via the Share Your Ideas page. The foundation’s phone number is (415) 777-2244.
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