Maxwell Hanrahan Foundation

The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation operates on a fundamentally different premise than most private foundations its size: it does not accept unsolicited grant applications for its flagship award programs. Founded in 2018 by Delle Maxwell and Patrick Hanrahan — a couple with deep ties to Silicon Valley technology and design — the foundation has grown from $25.6M in assets (2019) to more than $561M by 2024, fueled by more than $529M in personal contributions over five years. Annual giving scaled proportionally, from $354,662 in 2019 to $17.5M in 2024.

The foundation's giving philosophy is people-centered at its core. Rather than funding programs or projects in the abstract, the founders deliberately designed a model that identifies and rewards talented individuals — scientists, artisans, teachers, farmers, and conservationists — doing exemplary hands-on work. Their stated mission to "support individual scientists, teachers, conservationists and creators" is not rhetorical; it describes the literal unit of grantmaking. The highest-value awards ($100,000 each, unrestricted) go directly to individuals, not institutions.

For major award programs (Field Biology, Craft, Food, Earth Science), the foundation recruits rotating panels of external field experts who confidentially nominate candidates. Recipients are not informed in advance and cannot self-nominate. For institutional grants — supporting internship programs, fellowship endowments, teacher resource grants, and conservation land projects — the foundation identifies partner organizations directly and extends invitations.

First-time applicants should understand that the path to a Maxwell/Hanrahan grant typically runs through professional reputation, not a proposal portal. The foundation's Submittable platform (themaxwellhanrahanfoundation.submittable.com) hosts occasional open calls for institutional programs, particularly internship pipelines, teacher resource grants, and conservation work. These represent the most accessible entry points for organizations outside the foundation's existing network.

The founders — recognized as Outstanding Philanthropists by AFP Golden Gate in November 2024 — have demonstrated consistent commitment to equity across all seven program areas. Awards consistently prioritize BIPOC practitioners, first-generation field scientists, and underrepresented communities. Organizations aligned with hands-on, field-based learning and inclusion have the strongest natural fit with this funder.

The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation's grantmaking reveals a two-tier structure: high-value individual awards and variable-size institutional partnership grants, with total giving of $17.5M in FY2024 and $14.3M in grants paid.

Individual awards anchor the portfolio. Field Biology, Craft, and Food programs each recognize approximately five to six individuals per year at $100,000 each, unrestricted — roughly $1.5–$2M per year flowing directly to practitioners with no reporting restrictions or project parameters. Earth Science follows a similar individual award model.

Institutional grants span a wide range. The largest tracked institutional grant is $700,000 to Rhode Island School of Design for an endowed movement arts fellowship across two grants. Philanthropic Ventures Foundation received $285,000 across three grants for Bay Area teacher programs in environmental science, arts, and technology. UC San Diego (Scripps Institution of Oceanography) received $270,000 across three grants for student fellowships and internships. San Francisco Botanical Garden Society received $250,000 for nursery infrastructure. California Institute of the Arts received $200,000 for IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) faculty development.

Mid-range institutional grants ($30,000–$130,000) support field-based internship programs, conservation operating grants, and scientific illustration internships at institutions including California Academy of Sciences ($132,500 across six grants), Sonoma Land Trust ($130,000), Trust for Public Land ($130,000), and Nature Conservancy California ($115,000). Smaller grants ($10,000–$50,000) fund individual student field experiences, graduate fellowships, and K-12 teacher classroom resources.

Geographically, California dominates: 145 of 264 tracked grants (55%) flow to California-based organizations and individuals, concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hawaii (14 grants), New York (18 grants), Washington (8 grants), and Massachusetts (7 grants) represent secondary clusters aligned with marine biology, field research institutions, and craft programs.

The foundation's asset base doubled from $315M (FY2023) to $561M (FY2024) on $227M in new personal contributions plus $260M in net investment income. Grants paid grew from $6.6M (2022) to $10.6M (2023) to $14.3M (2024). Applicants should anticipate continued program expansion through 2026.

The five asset-peer foundations in the same range ($554M–$561M in assets) share balance sheet scale but diverge sharply in mission and grantmaking approach.

Maxwell/Hanrahan stands apart in two critical ways. First, it is the only peer foundation in this cohort that makes unrestricted $100,000 awards directly to individual practitioners — all peers fund organizations exclusively. Second, its asset base grew nearly 700% in five years (from $25.6M in 2019 to $561M in 2024), making it one of the fastest-scaling private foundations in the country. The Smith Richardson Foundation has operated since the 1930s; Maxwell/Hanrahan achieved comparable scale in under a decade. The curated nomination model and people-first philosophy are uniquely distinctive among foundations of this size.

2025 was the most active announcement year in the foundation's short history. In July 2025, the foundation released its 2025 Awards in Field Biology, committing $500,000 to five scientists including Natalia Llopis Monferrer, each receiving $100,000 unrestricted for hands-on ecological and biological research. In October 2025, the foundation announced its 2025 Awards in Food, recognizing six recipients including BJ Dennis — chef and one of the only cultural preservationists of Gullah Geechee foodways — and farming partners Maria Gonzalez and Rudy Jimenez of Green Thumb Farms.

The 2025 Craft Awards, administered through United States Artists, named five recipients: Jolie Ngo (ceramics), Kevin Aspaas (Navajo textile and fiber), Neal Thomas (basket making, age 85), Robert K. Mills (Tlingit metalwork and wood), and Teri Greeves (Kiowa beadwork), each receiving $100,000 unrestricted.

In November 2024, founders Delle Maxwell and Patrick Hanrahan received the AFP Golden Gate Chapter's Outstanding Philanthropist Award, recognizing their rapid transformation from personal philanthropy to major institutional grantmaking, including a $20M endowment gift to the Gardens of Golden Gate Park.

Also notable: the foundation awarded $260,000 in two-year capacity building grants to craft guilds through a learning cohort model — an expansion from individual awards toward craft ecosystem infrastructure. The OBFS Research Experience Grant partnership continued into 2025, distributing $15,000 annually to graduate students conducting field research at biological field stations worldwide.

The most important strategic reality for this funder: for individual award programs (Field Biology, Craft, Food, Earth Science), you cannot apply — the path runs through professional reputation, not a portal.

For individual practitioners seeking recognition: - Build relationships within institutions the foundation already funds: California Academy of Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, National Geographic Society, RISD, and United States Artists are the ecosystem where nominators circulate. - Present at national field biology meetings, craft symposia, and conservation convenings. Nominating panels are drawn from active professionals who attend these gatherings. - Emphasize hands-on, field-based work. The foundation explicitly favors practitioners over theorists. Laboratory-only researchers, gallery-only artists, and desk-based policymakers are unlikely candidates. - Demonstrate underrepresented identity or perspective. Award recipients consistently reflect BIPOC backgrounds, international field contexts, and communities historically excluded from mainstream funding.

For institutional programs: - Check themaxwellhanrahanfoundation.submittable.com monthly for open calls. As of early 2026, no calls were listed, but open cycles do appear periodically. Set a calendar reminder. - Apply through partner intermediaries where programs are active: OBFS (for field station Research Experience Grants, ~$15,000 pool, deadline typically February), Philanthropic Ventures Foundation (Bay Area teacher resource grants), and National Geographic Society (STEM Field Assistant Program nominations). - Craft proposals around student stipends, field immersion experiences, and diversity outcomes — not facility costs or administrative overhead. - Lead with participant demographics. Programs funding BIPOC students, first-generation scientists, and students with financial need consistently receive support across all seven program areas. - Keep initial outreach concise: email info@maxwell-hanrahan.org, attention Kim Traynor, with a one-paragraph program description, participant demographics, and geographic scope. Do not attach a full unsolicited proposal.