OVERVIEW: The Nasiri Foundation awards grants to organizations using tech solutions to alleviate societal problems around the world, though it partners largely with U.S. organizations. It supports organizations working for disaster relief, violence prevention, poverty alleviation, food security, healthcare access, global peace, and Iranian and Persian culture.
IP TAKE: This is a small funder interested in a broad array of social and economic justice issues. Nasiri seeks to nurture emerging projects with strong, bold leaders and tech-driven solutions, along with supporting larger organizations with successful track records. It prefers to make unrestricted “seed investments” and does not generally make multi-year grants. It describes its grantmaking process as “fairly informal” and welcomes proposals from interested parties. It is accessible and relatively responsive to both grantseekers and grantees. In addition to its national funding, Nasiri supports “specific mission-aligned projects, events, and fundraisers in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City.”
PROFILE: Steve Saeed Nasiri established the Nasiri Foundation in 2012 to “support innovative non-profit organizations leveraging technology to alleviate social problems.” Steve Nasiri emigrated from Iran in 1972 and graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977. He received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from San Jose State University and an MBA from Santa Clara University. Nasiri held various key positions as a co-founder and or executive of several startups, including SenSym, which was acquired by Honeywell and NovaSensor, which was acquired by General Electric. He went on to found the motion-tracking technology company lnvenSense, which went public in 2011 at a value of some $800 million. The Nasiri Foundation takes an “angel investor” approach to funding rather than a traditional grantmaking approach, in that it seeks to make “‘seed investments’ in early stage organizations” in the areas of education, poverty, healthcare and initiatives promoting non-violence and diplomacy.
Grants for Humanitarian Aid and Poverty Alleviation
Nasiri does not have a grantmaking program dedicated to disaster and refugee aid; however, it broadly awards grants to humanitarian aid organizations around the world.
- Past grantees in this space include Rescue.org, which received support for its humanitarian disaster relief work and Save the Children, which received a grant for its worldwide humanitarian support.
- Nasiri also shows a sustained interest in poverty alleviation organizations, including Tipping Point Community and Robin Hood Foundation.
Grants for Violence Prevention
In the violence prevention grantmaking space, Nasiri supports larger national organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as well as smaller, local organizations such as Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence. The foundation’s violence prevention work primarily centers on preventing domestic abuse, civil rights abuses, and violence against women and children, among other concerns.
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
The Nasiri Foundation’s health-related grantmaking primarily supports access to healthcare and disease research, especially for children. It supports major medical institutions like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, organizations that seek to expand access to healthcare like Ronald McDonald House and Sirum, and major disease-related organizations like the American Heart Association and the International Society for Children with Cancer.
Grants for Food Security
A newer area of funding, grants for food security invest in innovative approaches to agriculture, food distribution, and nutrition that ensure access to healthy, affordable food for all.
Grants for Global Security
This funder supports organizations working to build peace and heal differences, especially between the West, Israel, and the Muslim world.
- As Nasiri is an Iranian immigrant, it is no surprise that much of this support centers around organizations like the National Iranian American Council, Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, and United for Iran.
- The foundation also supports groups like Jewish Voice for Peace, the U.N. Refugee Agency,
Important Grant Details:
Nasiri Foundation grants range from $10,000 to $50,000.
- The foundation does not currently award multi-year grants; however, it imposes a lifetime grant cap of $250,000 for all of its grantees.
- While the foundation’s grantmaking generally centers around the San Francisco Bay Area, it has no explicit geographical restrictions.
- To learn more about the types of organizations the foundation supports, examine its grants list.
- The Nasiri Foundation accepts unsolicited proposals and requests for funding. Its process is very informal and typically takes eight to 12 weeks.
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