OVERVIEW: The San Francisco-based TomKat Foundation makes grants and forms partnerships in the areas of climate change, clean energy, sustainable agriculture and financial system reform.
IP TAKE: The TomKat Foundation is a small family foundation that supports several national organizations promoting climate change mitigation, sustainable agriculture and financial system reform. The sparse website briefly outlines TomKat’s priority areas, but doesn’t include contact information or anything about its grantmaking process. It should be noted that TomKat is one piece of the larger political and philanthropic giving of Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor, who are also known for their political spending (which totaled over $66 million in 2020) and for founding NextGen America, a progressive advocacy nonprofit that mobilizes young voters. They’ve given substantial sums toward sustainable agriculture and sustainable energy R&D, including $40 million to create the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy at Stanford University and $25 million to establish Yale’s Energy Sciences Institute. The bottom line: Tomkat is a low-profile funder with no clear avenue for getting in touch. Networking with past grantees may help to open the door.
PROFILE: The TomKat Foundation was founded in 2008 by financier and once-presidential hopeful Tom Steyer and his spouse, Kat Taylor, the CEO of Beneficial State Bank. The couple, who are signatories of the Giving Pledge, earned M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University and, after years in the private equity world, co-founded OneCalifornia Bank, which is now known as Beneficial State Bank and specializes in community development. They also own and operate TomKat Ranch, an environmentally sustainable farming operation that raises grass-fed cattle. Based in San Francisco, the TomKat Foundation “creates and partners with innovative organizations that envision a world with climate stability, a healthy and just food system, and broad prosperity.” It names good money, good food and good energy as funding priorities.
Grants for Environment, Climate Change and Clean Energy
TomKat’s good energy grantmaking appears to be its largest giving area. Giving targets organizations making “bold” strides toward the clean energy transition, focusing specifically on the prevention of climate disaster and the preservation of “American prosperity.”
- Climate grantees working nationally for climate action and policy include Nextgen Climate America, the Sustainable Markets Foundation and the Climate Action Campaign.
- Grants also support some regional and local environmental efforts, especially in California. Grantees include the League to Save Lake Tahoe and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.
Grants for Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Nutrition
The good food focus area seeks to bring expertise from the fields of agriculture, environmental science and health to “create a sustainable food system for the next one hundred years.”
- Good food grantmaking overlaps significantly with environmental giving, making grants for agriculture, food systems and sustainable animal agriculture.
- The foundation provides ongoing support to the affiliated TomKat Ranch and its education programs, which describes itself as a “learning laboratory for animal agriculture focused on climate stability, nature’s benefits, healthy food, biodiversity, and vibrant community.”
- Other past grantees include the Center for Food Safety, the Land Institute and the Sustainable Food Alliance.
Grants for Work and Economic Opportunity
TomKat’s good money priority area aims to support equitable access to financial services and financial literacy for underserved, underbanked and otherwise marginalized communities.
- TomKat has provided multi-year support to Oakland’s Beneficial State Foundation, which works in partnership with Beneficial State Bank, advocates for and pursues banking practices that emphasize the “triple bottom lines” of “people, planet and profit.”
- Other past good money grantees include South Carolina’s Regenesis Community Development Corporation, the Social Venture Circle of Kingston, New York and the New Venture Fund.
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
This funder does not name civic engagement as a priority, but grants have supported progressive organizations for civic engagement and activism, especially pertaining to areas of climate, environment and economic justice. Grantees include the Latino Community Foundation of San Francisco, Oakland’s Movement Strategy Center and the Social Good Fund.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Arts and culture are smaller areas of giving for TomKat, with only a few grants awarded each year. Giving tends to stay in the Bay Area of California. Past grantees include San Francisco’s Dancers’ Group, Marin Performing Stars and Oakland’s Museum of Jazz and Art.
Important Grant Details:
TomKat’s grants typically range from $10,000 to $250,000. The foundation’s occasional grants of over $1 million tend to go to organizations with which the foundation maintains ongoing collaborative partnerships.
- Grantmaking is mainly limited to the U.S., although grants have supported U.S.-based organizations that work globally in the areas of climate change and clean energy production.
- California is a main geographic priority.
- TomKat does not accept unsolicited proposals.
- For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s recent tax filings.
This funder does not provide a direct way to get in touch. Its phone number is (415) 529-5692.
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CONTACT:
TomKat Foundation
111 Sutter St., 10th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 529-5692