Blume Foundation

The Blume Foundation is a deeply private Bay Area family foundation with a 65+ year history of concentrated, relationship-driven philanthropy rooted in the legacy of John A. Blume — the pioneering earthquake engineering professor who founded the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center at Stanford University — and his wife Jene F. Blume, whose experience with Parkinson's disease shaped a second major philanthropic pillar. The foundation is administered from San Mateo, CA by the Aleshire family, with Dana Aleshire serving as uncompensated President.

The most critical fact for any prospective applicant: this is a preselected-only grantmaker. IRS filings explicitly state the foundation makes contributions only to preselected charitable organizations. There is no published application form, no grants portal, no stated deadlines, and no RFP cycle. This is not an oversight — it is the deliberate operating model of a small family foundation that prizes long-term institutional relationships over competitive grantmaking.

The foundation's 16 annual grants go to essentially the same organizations year after year. Multiple grantees have received 4 consecutive annual grants at identical amounts, suggesting a stable portfolio of trusted partners established over years of relationship-building. Entry into this portfolio requires cultivating relationships with board members or existing grantees before any grant request is appropriate.

The board composition reflects the foundation's two institutional anchors. Anne Kiremidjian is a Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering specializing in structural reliability and seismic hazard — a direct link to the earthquake engineering legacy. Jaimie Henderson, listed as Secretary, is a distinguished Stanford neurosurgeon, connecting the board to the Parkinson's research investments. This is not coincidental: the board was built around the foundation's philanthropic identity, not around broad grantmaking expertise.

Outside the Stanford axis, the foundation funds women's direct services (Woman Inc, Planned Parenthood), Bay Area arts and media (Destiny Arts Center, KQED), San Mateo County human services (St. Anthony Foundation, Boys & Girls Club), animal welfare (Peninsula Humane Society), and community education (San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation). Every grant is in California. First-time applicants should enter through the women's services or community education lane, as these show the broadest range of entry-level grant sizes ($8,000–$100,000) and represent the foundation's most mission-general giving.

The Blume Foundation distributes approximately $1.07–1.1 million annually across exactly 16 grants — a strikingly consistent pattern held from fiscal years 2019 through 2022. The median grant size is $45,000, with a practical range from $2,000 (minimum observed) to $400,000 (maximum, reserved exclusively for the Stanford Parkinson's Disease Fund). The average grant is $67,023.

Cumulative grantee analysis reveals a highly concentrated portfolio. The top 4 grantees — all Stanford-affiliated funds — absorb roughly 60% of total historical giving: - Stanford Parkinson's Disease Fund: $1,600,000 cumulative (4 grants, ~$400,000/year) - Stanford Jene F. Blume Parkinson's Caregiver Fund: $400,000 cumulative (4 grants, ~$100,000/year) - Stanford John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center: $400,000 cumulative (4 grants, ~$100,000/year) - Stanford Urban Resilience Initiative (Blume Center): $200,000 cumulative (4 grants, ~$50,000/year)

The remaining 40% of giving is distributed across 14 organizations: - Woman Inc: $400,000 cumulative ($100,000/year) — women's services - Destiny Arts Center: $400,000 cumulative ($100,000/year) — arts - Peninsula Humane Society: $320,000 cumulative ($80,000/year) — animal welfare - Planned Parenthood: $168,500 cumulative (4 grants, ~$42,125/year) — women's health - KQED: $140,000 cumulative (3 grants) — public media - Mid-Peninsula Boys & Girls Club: $80,000 cumulative ($20,000/year) — youth - St. Anthony Foundation: $80,000 cumulative ($20,000/year) — human services - San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation, Jasper Ridge Farm, Mills Peninsula Hospital: $40,000 each cumulative - Lowell School Alumni Association: $20,000 cumulative ($5,000/year) - The Bridge School, JFCS, Mission Economic Development Agency: $8,000–$10,000 each

By sector: Stanford/research approximately 60%; women's services (Woman Inc, Planned Parenthood) 13%; arts and media (Destiny Arts Center, KQED) 12%; animal welfare 7%; human services 4%; education/community 4%.

Total assets have held steady at $17.2–19.6M over the past decade. Net investment income — the sole revenue driver (no contributions received in most years) — ranges from $548,536 (FY2019) to $1,858,734 (FY2012), averaging approximately $900,000 annually. The foundation spends modestly more than it earns in lower-income years, gradually drawing down assets over time. The 2018 giving spike ($2,154,000) remains unexplained in public filings.

The Blume Foundation occupies a distinctive niche among Bay Area private foundations: mid-sized assets ($17.2M), restricted preselected grantmaking, and deep institutional loyalty to a small portfolio of anchor grantees — a model closer to a family endowment than a traditional foundation with open competition.

Blume most closely resembles the Bernard Osher Foundation in operating philosophy: both are invitation-only, maintain long-term institutional partnerships, and concentrate giving within a defined geography and legacy interest area. However, Osher is nearly 60 times larger and operates a national scholarship infrastructure. Among comparable-asset Bay Area foundations, Blume is unusually concentrated — where a foundation of similar size might spread $1.1M across 30–50 small grants, Blume concentrates the same budget across 16 organizations with multi-year commitments averaging $67K each. Organizations already in the Peninsula Community Foundation or Walter S. Johnson Foundation grantee portfolios are well-positioned to demonstrate Bay Area credibility that could matter to the Blume board.

Web research for 2025–2026 returned no news specific to the Blume Foundation (EIN 94-6073163). The foundation has no public news page, social media presence, or press release archive, consistent with a family foundation that deliberately avoids public solicitation.

The most recent confirmed activity from public IRS filings covers fiscal year 2022: $1,077,000 distributed across 16 grants, a figure statistically identical to fiscal years 2020 ($1,067,000) and 2021 ($1,105,500). This three-year consistency reinforces that no major strategic changes occurred in that period.

The notable historical anomaly remains fiscal year 2018, when grants paid reached $2,154,000 — nearly double the run rate — with total giving of $2,499,438. No public explanation exists; this likely reflects a one-time endowment contribution, capital campaign pledge fulfillment, or pass-through gift to a Stanford fund.

On leadership: Richard Aleshire was listed as PRESIDENT/CEO in earlier filings with compensation of $43,750 (FY2019) and $75,000 (earlier years). More recent filings show Dana Aleshire as sole President with zero compensation. This transition to uncompensated family leadership, combined with the foundation's institutional address at a wealth management firm, signals an organization that has further reduced its administrative footprint. Board members Anne Kiremidjian and Jaimie Henderson have remained stable across multiple filing years, suggesting continuity in grantmaking relationships and institutional priorities.

The foundational reality of applying to the Blume Foundation is that no standard application pathway exists. The foundation selects its grantees; they do not select from applicants. Every concrete strategy below is therefore oriented toward relationship cultivation and positioning rather than completing a form.

Leverage the Stanford network above all else. More than 60% of this foundation's historical giving flows to Stanford-affiliated funds. Organizations with Stanford faculty collaborators, Stanford-housed programs, or missions that complement Stanford's civil engineering or neuroscience research stand closest to the board's existing values. Board member Anne Kiremidjian's Stanford department (civil and environmental engineering, seismic risk) and board member Jaimie Henderson's neurosurgery practice represent two direct entry points for institutional introductions.

Mirror the women's services portfolio. Woman Inc ($100,000/year) and Planned Parenthood (~$42,000/year) represent the foundation's most consistent non-Stanford investments. Bay Area organizations providing direct services in domestic violence response, reproductive health, or women's economic empowerment are the most natural adjacent candidates. Align your program language to crisis intervention, direct service delivery, and measurable Bay Area impact — the language visible in Woman Inc's operating model.

Demonstrate San Mateo County depth. Multiple grantees are explicitly San Mateo County-based: Peninsula Humane Society, Mid-Peninsula Boys & Girls Club, Mills Peninsula Hospital, San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation. Geographic specificity within the foundation's home county appears to carry meaningful weight alongside mission alignment.

Plan for a multi-year entry strategy. The foundation's giving patterns suggest it adds new grantees rarely and organically. A realistic timeline from first contact to first grant could be 12–24 months. Reaching out in Q1 (January–March) positions you ahead of any internal review cycle the foundation may run in spring or summer.

Use the right communication channel. Direct phone contact at (650) 378-3719 or a mailed letter to Dana Aleshire at 160 Bovet Rd, Suite 220, San Mateo, CA 94402 is appropriate. There is no public grant inquiry email. Keep initial outreach to a single concise paragraph stating your mission, Bay Area geography, and reason for reaching out.

Ask for a small amount first. Historical data shows new-entrant grants at $8,000–$20,000 (The Bridge School, Lowell School Alumni Association). Matching this range in an initial ask signals familiarity with the foundation's grantmaking culture rather than opportunism.