Bothin Foundation

The Bothin Foundation is among the oldest private foundations in the American West, established in 1917 by Henry E. Bothin — San Francisco's largest individual commercial landowner at the time. That origin matters: this is an endowed, family-governed institution that has operated continuously for over 100 years without external fundraising pressure, which translates into a deliberate, unhurried grantmaking culture with deep institutional consistency.

The giving philosophy is pragmatically capital-focused. Bothin funds specific, durable physical assets that can be touched and measured — a passenger van, a renovated kitchen, a battery storage system, new computers for a health clinic. They do not fund programs, staff, operating budgets, or strategic planning. This eliminates ambiguity: your proposal must center on a concrete object or construction improvement, not a theory of change or programmatic outcome.

Leadership is family-based volunteer governance (all officers show $0 compensation) supported by professional staff at Pacific Foundation Services. Devon Laycox currently serves as President, with Kimberly Casey and Lyman R. Casey as Vice Presidents. Executive Director Tiffany Wood and Senior Program Officer Rebecca Handler handle grantee relationships and application review.

There is no LOI or cultivation stage. The relationship with applicants is direct and portal-based — organizations submit through SmartSimple during one of three annual windows (Spring, Fall, Winter). Staff conducts eligibility screening; the board votes three times per year in February/March, May/June, and October/November.

Successful grantees in the database span arts (Beats Rhymes and Life Inc, African-American Shakespeare Company), youth transportation (Mid-Peninsula Boys & Girls Club, Booker T Washington Community Service Center), health facilities (One Life Counseling Center, South County Community Health Center / Ravenswood Family Health Network), environmental education (Vida Verde Nature Education, Audubon Canyon Ranch), and immigrant services (Vital Immigrant Defense Advocacy & Services, Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto). The breadth reflects a genuinely wide mandate — what unites every funded project is a specific capital asset serving more than 50% disadvantaged populations in the four-county Bay Area.

First-time applicants should note the strict 3-year gap requirement. If a peer organization sharing your address received a grant recently, confirm that your separate EIN was not the actual recipient before investing in an application.

The Bothin Foundation has distributed grants with notable consistency over more than a decade. Total grants paid ranged from $1.237M in 2011 to $2.134M in 2022, with the 2023 figure at $1.985M. Total charitable giving (including non-grant distributions) has run $1.849M–$2.846M annually. The foundation's total assets peaked at $49.4M in 2021 on strong equity market returns before settling to $42.6M in 2023.

Individual grant sizes run $5,000–$50,000 per the published guidelines. The database median grant is $20,000, with an average of approximately $21,500–$26,000 depending on the dataset vintage. The practical funding sweet spot for a single-cycle award is $20,000–$50,000; requests below $10,000 are uncommon among funded projects. The $50,000 ceiling is firm — no single-cycle award exceeds it.

Some organizations in the top-50 grantee list accumulated $80,000–$110,000 in total receipts across multiple award cycles (e.g., Tides Center, Beats Rhymes and Life, California Indian Museum, Urban Ed Academy — each at $110,000 across 4 grants). This reflects multi-year capital campaigns funded through successive applications after the 3-year gap expires, not an exception to the per-grant ceiling.

By program category, the grantee database reveals four rough funding bands: - Building renovation (~35% of awards): Renovations, roof replacements, ADA compliance upgrades, kitchen remodels, and classroom improvements. Individual awards range $45,000–$100,000 per cycle (e.g., Mission Neighborhood Centers $100,000 renovation to expand early childhood seats; Farming Hope $100,000 to renovate Refettorio SF building). - Vehicles (~25%): Passenger vans, shuttle buses, and accessible minivans for youth and client transport. Awards cluster $58,000–$80,000 in aggregate per organization (e.g., Ayudando Latinos A Soar $80,000 for a passenger van; Peninsula Volunteers $58,000 for a Meals on Wheels delivery van). - Equipment and furnishings (~25%): Dental monitors, generators, playground surfaces, musical instruments, and commercial kitchen appliances (e.g., Pediatric Dental Initiative $80,000 for anesthesia monitors; Marin City Health & Wellness Center $92,600 for a generator). - Technology (~15%): Computers, Chromebooks, IT hardware, and VR equipment (e.g., Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto $74,800 for computers and IT hardware; Lime Foundation $90,000 for VR technology for a trades academy).

All 164 grants in the available dataset are in California, consistent with the four-county geographic restriction.

Bothin occupies a distinctive niche among Bay Area private foundations: a fully open application portal, three submission cycles per year, a clear capital-only mandate, and an accessible grant ceiling of $50,000 that puts it within reach of small and mid-sized nonprofits.

Bothin is the only foundation in this comparison group with a fully open portal requiring no prior relationship or invitation — a meaningful advantage for smaller organizations that lack the track record or funder relationships to access the others. At a ~4.7% payout rate ($1.985M of $42.6M assets in 2023), Bothin meets IRS minimums without being aggressive. The S.H. Cowell Foundation, with roughly four times the assets and three times the annual giving, accepts LOIs twice yearly and funds a broader Northern California footprint. For Bay Area nonprofits targeting a capital ask under $50,000, Bothin remains one of the most reliably accessible private funders in the region.

Asset figures for peer foundations are approximate based on public filings and may reflect different fiscal years.

No major news announcements, leadership transitions, or new program launches were publicly identified for 2025-2026. The foundation continues under the same leadership: Devon Laycox as President, Kimberly Casey and Lyman R. Casey as Vice Presidents, and Tiffany Wood as Executive Director through Pacific Foundation Services. Rebecca Handler serves as Senior Program Officer.

The 2023 Form 990 (most recent available) shows grants paid of $1.985M against total assets of $42.57M — a slight decline from 2022's $2.13M in grants paid, likely reflecting lower net investment income ($1.535M in 2022 vs. $2.006M in 2023) rather than any strategic retrenchment.

A notable pattern in recent grant cycles: the foundation funded several mobile-delivery capital projects — Beats Rhymes and Life's Hip Hop Therapy Mobile Studio Bus, Karat School Project's Mobile Learning Hub for children living in RVs in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, and Social Good Fund's Weekend Adventures passenger vehicle. The concentration of mobile-asset grants may signal board interest in meeting youth in non-traditional settings, a trend that accelerated during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Girl Scouts of Northern California received $50,000 toward 'the Hub at Camp Bothin' — the camp carries the foundation's name, reflecting a historic connection between Henry Bothin's original philanthropy and what is now Camp Bothin in Marin County. This relationship underscores the foundation's deep roots in the Bay Area nonprofit community dating back more than a century.

Prepare offline before the window opens. The single most important step is downloading the Application Outline PDF from bothinfoundation.org before the submission period begins. Compose every narrative response in Word or Google Docs. The SmartSimple portal does not auto-save, and submissions cannot be edited after you click submit — arriving at the portal without prepared text is a common and costly mistake.

Know the submission windows. The next available opportunities are Fall 2026 (July 20-31, awards October 2026) and Winter 2026 (November TBD, awards March 2027). All submissions must arrive by 5:00 p.m. on the final day of the window. There are no extensions.

Name the asset, not the program. Your narrative must describe a specific durable capital object: the make and model of the van, the square footage of the renovation, the number of computers, the type of medical equipment. Do not open with your mission statement or program theory — the foundation staff can see your 990; they want to know what you are buying and who will use it.

Quantify the user population precisely. State how many individuals will directly interact with the funded asset and what percentage meet the eligibility threshold (low-income children/youth ages 0-24, families with children, or people with disabilities). Vague language like 'underserved communities' without percentages weakens the eligibility case.

Budget transparency is non-negotiable. List every funding source for the capital project, both secured and proposed. If the total project cost exceeds the Bothin request, complete the Funder Worksheet. Reviewers want evidence the project will actually be completed within 12 months of receiving the grant.

Alignment language to use: 'durable capital investment,' 'direct service to low-income youth,' 'completable within 12 months,' 'located within San Francisco/Marin/Sonoma/San Mateo County.' Avoid: 'general operating support,' 'program expansion,' 'capacity for advocacy,' 'planning phase,' 'consulting services.'

Direct questions before submission to grantsupport@pfs-llc.net. The Pacific Foundation Services team can confirm eligibility edge cases (fiscal sponsors, multi-county projects, school eligibility under the learning-differences carve-out) before you invest time in a full application.