Fthree Foundation

The Fthree Foundation is a tightly held, invitation-only family foundation founded in 2000 — originally as the Farese Family Foundation — by Nancy Richards Farese and Dr. Robert V. Farese Jr. in San Francisco. Nancy Farese, who serves as president, is the daughter of Southwire founder Roy Richards Sr. (family wealth estimated at ~$1.4 billion in 2015) and is herself a documentary photographer, author, and co-founder of CatchLight, a Bay Area visual storytelling nonprofit that places documentary photographers in newsrooms. Her governing philosophy — "the health of our journalism systems is directly related to the health of our democracy" — is the foundation's north star. Dr. Farese, secretary/treasurer, is a cell biologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The family board also includes Julie Shafer and Conor Farese, all uncompensated.

The foundation holds $30.4M in assets (FY2023) — up 56% from $19.5M in 2019 — driven largely by a remarkable $8.2M net investment income year in FY2023. Annual grantmaking has risen from $1.04M (FY2019) to $1.57M (FY2023), a 51% increase over four years.

The critical gateway: All grantmaking is managed by Hirsch Philanthropy Partners (hirschphilanthropy.com), a Bay Area philanthropic advisory firm. The foundation has no public grant portal, accepts no unsolicited applications, and does not maintain an active website (www.fthree.org resolves to an unrelated manufacturing business). The foundation's own application instructions state: "For guidelines and more information, see www.hirschassoc.com" — the legacy domain for Hirsch & Associates, now operating as Hirsch Philanthropy Partners. Hirsch conducts proactive grantee identification rather than processing inbound applications.

Who gets funded: The foundation strongly favors established organizations with a proven track record in journalism, civic engagement, and democracy reform. First-time grantees typically receive $5,000–$25,000 in general operating support. Long-term grantees (3–4 years of consecutive support) receive $50,000–$125,000 annually; flagship relationships like KQED have accumulated $400,000 over four grant cycles. Every documented grant is for general operating support — the trust-based philanthropy model that Hirsch champions — meaning the foundation does not fund project-specific or restricted grants.

The Democracy Reform Innovation Fund, launched in 2021 in response to escalating threats to democratic institutions, is the foundation's most recent strategic evolution: a focused bet on organizations building scalable, systemic solutions in election integrity, campaign finance accountability, and government transparency. Organizations entering the portfolio for the first time should frame their pitch within this mandate.

Cumulative giving across 380 documented grants totals $5,801,500, with an average per-grant of $15,267 and a median of $5,000. The distribution is strongly bimodal: a flagship tier of 15–20 core grantees accumulates $100,000–$400,000 in multi-year support (typically $50,000–$100,000 per year over 3–4 cycles), while a broader community tier of 30–40 organizations receives one-time or lightly recurring grants of $5,000–$40,000.

Annual grantmaking trajectory: - FY2019: $1,040,000 grants paid - FY2020: $1,349,500 (+30%) - FY2021: $1,365,000 (+1%) - FY2022: $1,543,500 (+13%) - FY2023: $1,572,000 (+2%)

With $30.4M in assets and the IRS 5% minimum distribution requirement, the floor for annual grantmaking is approximately $1.5M — consistent with the FY2023 figure. FY2023 revenue spiked to $8.83M (vs. $1.72M in FY2022) due to exceptional net investment income of $8.21M, substantially bolstering the asset base and suggesting increased future grantmaking capacity.

By focus area (estimated from top-50 grantee data): - Journalism & media (~40%): KQED ($400K cumulative), Center for Investigative Reporting ($350K), CalMatters ($200K), News Literacy Project ($200K), NPR ($150K), Youth Radio ($150K), Center for Public Integrity ($120K), City Bureau ($75K), Lenfest Institute ($25K) - Democracy & civic engagement (~35%): Issue One ($240K), MapLight ($240K), Mi Familia Vota ($215K), IGNITE ($215K), Brennan Center for Justice ($200K), Rock the Vote ($200K), Protect Democracy ($150K), VoteDotOrg ($165K), iCivics ($125K), Campaign Legal Center ($100K), RepresentUs ($85K), Voting Rights Lab ($25K) - Education (~8%): Howard University ($170K), 10,000 Degrees ($25K) - Community & humanitarian (~12%): Food banks — Contra Costa/Solano, SF-Marin, Alameda County — ($90K+ combined), Canal Alliance ($22.5K), World Central Kitchen ($30K), Huckleberry Youth ($20K), International Rescue Committee ($20K), Sandy Hook Promise ($20K) - Human rights & global (~5%): Human Rights Watch ($20K), Global Fund for Women ($20K), Global Citizen Year ($20K)

Geographic breakdown: California dominates with 160 of ~350 documented grants, reflecting the founders' San Francisco roots. Washington, DC accounts for 43 grants (national policy organizations). Massachusetts (38), New York (34), and Georgia (32) follow. The Georgia concentration likely reflects ties to the Southwire/Richards family's Carrollton, GA roots.

The five asset-comparable peer foundations are all classified as NTEE T22 (Philanthropy & Grantmaking) with assets in the $30.3M–$30.4M range as of the most recent available filings. Detailed annual giving and focus area data for the peer foundations are not publicly available at the same level of granularity as Fthree's 990-PF disclosures, but a structural comparison is possible.

Fthree stands apart from asset-comparable peers in two important ways. First, it maintains unusually detailed public grantee-level disclosures in its 990-PF filings — 380 grants documented at the recipient-and-purpose level — making it among the more transparent family foundations at this asset tier. Second, its singular ideological focus on journalism and democracy distinguishes it sharply from the generalist Philanthropy & Grantmaking category; most NTEE T22 foundations at this size are diffuse family foundations with no defined programmatic identity. The Hirsch Philanthropy Partners management structure provides consistent, professionalized grantmaking that is rare for a sub-$50M private foundation.

No formal press releases or public news announcements from the Fthree Foundation were identified for 2025–2026. The foundation deliberately maintains a low public profile and publishes no annual reports, newsletters, or external communications.

November 2025 — FY2024 filing: The foundation submitted its FY2024 Form 990-PF on November 17, 2025. Reported figures show total assets of $30,358,299 and revenue of $2,641,465 — a normalization from FY2023's exceptional $8.83M revenue year (which was driven by $8.21M in net investment income). Full FY2024 grants paid data has not yet been published in public grant databases as of June 2026.

FY2023 notable: first outside contributions since 2019. The foundation received $400,000 in external contributions — the only documented inflow from outside donors since at least FY2019. The source is not publicly identified; it may reflect new co-funding from aligned democracy funders, additional family corpus contributions, or a one-time gift.

2021 — Democracy Reform Innovation Fund. The foundation publicly identified the launch of this dedicated fund as a response to what trustees described as escalating systemic threats to democratic institutions. This initiative has been the foundation's most visible strategic evolution and remains the primary lens for civic engagement grantmaking.

Ongoing — CatchLight and NPR Foundation. President Nancy Richards Farese remains publicly active through CatchLight (visual storytelling nonprofit she co-founded) and her board seat at the NPR Foundation — both clear signals of sustained personal investment in the journalism-democracy space.

1. Accept that there is no application process — the path runs through Hirsch. Hirsch Philanthropy Partners (hirschphilanthropy.com) is the sole channel for all Fthree Foundation grantmaking. The foundation's own instructions direct inquirers to Hirsch, and no formal RFP, LOI portal, or direct contact channel exists for grant seekers. Any outreach to the foundation's P.O. Box (Carrollton, GA 30112) or phone number (415-561-6540) for grant purposes will go unanswered; these are administrative contacts, not grant inquiry channels.

2. Position yourself in the Hirsch ecosystem before making any ask. Hirsch Philanthropy Partners works across multiple Bay Area family foundations. Attending public convenings — Democracy Funders Network, Bay Area Funders Network, press freedom summits, and Council on Foundations events — where Hirsch program staff appear is a legitimate and effective way to build name recognition before any formal introduction.

3. Warm introductions from current grantees are the most reliable path. The foundation's top grantees — KQED ($400K), Center for Investigative Reporting ($350K), Issue One ($240K), MapLight ($240K), CalMatters ($200K), Brennan Center for Justice ($200K) — have multi-year relationships with Hirsch. An email introduction from a program director or executive director at one of these organizations is likely more valuable than any cold outreach.

4. Trust-based framing is mandatory, not optional. Every single documented grant is for "general operating support" or closely equivalent unrestricted purposes. Do not pitch project-specific work, restricted programs, capital campaigns, or endowment requests. The foundation's model requires organizations to demonstrate they can drive impact with core support — leadership quality, organizational infrastructure, and long-term trajectory are the evaluation criteria.

5. Nail the journalism-democracy intersection. The foundation's core thesis is explicit: healthy journalism is a precondition for healthy democracy. Organizations working purely in voter registration or purely in investigative journalism are secondary priorities compared to those operating at the crossover — news literacy that deepens civic participation, investigative reporting on election administration, or media accountability work tied to democratic governance.

6. Enter small; patience is rewarded. The typical entry point is $5,000–$25,000. Based on the grantee data, top-tier relationships take 3–4 grant cycles to reach $50,000–$100,000 annually. Do not approach Hirsch with a six-figure ask as a first-time applicant; frame the first conversation around building a relationship and demonstrating fit over time.

7. Avoid these structural misalignments: faith-based organizations, direct service without policy or civic dimensions, arts and culture without democracy alignment, or international development beyond human rights (Human Rights Watch and Global Fund for Women are exceptions at modest $20K/year levels).