Saba Foundation Inc.

Saba Foundation Inc. is a small, hyper-local private foundation based in San Rafael, CA (administered by the accounting/law firm Kramer, Blum & Associates) that funds exclusively within Sonoma County. Since its 2018 founding, its entire known grantmaking — $420,000 across 12 grants — has gone to just six organizations, each receiving two grants apiece. That pattern signals a board that favors sustained, repeat relationships with a small, trusted grantee roster over broad, one-time giving to new applicants. All three unpaid trustees (President Lewis Warren, Secretary Jaimee Modica, Treasurer Dale Dockins) draw no compensation, consistent with a family or closely-held foundation run on a volunteer basis rather than by staffed program officers.

For applicants, this has two practical implications. First, fit is existential: because 100% of documented grantees and grant dollars sit inside Sonoma County and one of three narrow causes — animal welfare, children with developmental disabilities, and parks/playgrounds — organizations outside the county or working in adjacent-but-different causes are unlikely to get traction regardless of proposal quality. Second, the two-grants-per-recipient pattern suggests the foundation renews support for existing partners rather than continuously prospecting new ones, so first-time applicants should expect a longer cultivation arc — possibly a smaller, exploratory first grant — before becoming an ongoing funding relationship.

The foundation's own guidelines describe a formal but lightweight process: a cover letter, specific funding request, personnel information, organizational information, and financial information, capped at 10 pages and submitted as two PDFs by email. There is no online portal or LOI-first funnel, so the proposal itself is both the introduction and the ask. Because trustees meet only twice a year, timing matters — missing a cycle likely means a roughly six-month wait rather than a rolling decision. Given the foundation's modest asset base ($7.04M) and tight geographic mandate, applicants should not expect transformative, multi-year grant commitments up front; Saba Foundation is best approached as one funder within a blended Sonoma County community-support strategy, particularly well-suited to organizations renewing or scaling existing local programs that map directly onto its three cause areas.

Saba Foundation's most complete fiscal year on record, FY2022, shows $313,550 in total giving and $210,000 in direct grants paid, against $5.13M in total revenue (driven almost entirely by a $4.98M contribution that year), $123,792 in net investment income, and $7.04M in total assets. Giving has been highly volatile year to year: FY2021 shows $0 in total giving on near-zero revenue; FY2020 shows just $27,442 in giving against $2.25M in contributions received; and FY2018-2019 show negligible activity ($1 in reported assets/revenue), consistent with a foundation still being funded and largely pre-operational before roughly 2020.

At the grantee level, the available data shows 12 grants totaling $420,000 across six organizations (likely spanning more than one fiscal year), for an average grant size of $35,000. Grants cluster into two tiers: a $20,000-per-grant tier — Forget Me Not Farm Children's Services, Giant Steps Therapeutic Equestrian Center, Lime Foundation, Sonoma Ecology Center, and Sonoma Equine Rescue Rehab & Adoption, each receiving two $20,000 grants ($40,000 total per organization) — and a $90,000-per-grant tier, represented solely by Sonoma County Parks Foundation (two grants totaling $180,000) for new signage at Spring Lake Regional Park in Santa Rosa. Median grant size is $20,000; range is $20,000-$90,000 per individual grant.

By cause, animal welfare and therapeutic-animal programs account for three of six grantees (Giant Steps, Sonoma Equine Rescue, and partially Forget Me Not Farm), reflecting the 'prevent abuse and cruelty to animals' pillar expressed practically as equine rescue and therapeutic riding rather than conventional animal-shelter work. Parks and recreation (Sonoma County Parks Foundation, plus Sonoma Ecology Center's Sugarloaf Ridge State Park support) represents the single largest allocation at $180,000, or 43% of total documented giving. Lime Foundation's grant for general operating support is the only unrestricted grant in the dataset, indicating the foundation will fund core operations for aligned organizations rather than requiring project-restricted asks. 100% of grants and 100% of grantees are located in Sonoma County, CA — there is no geographic diversification in the record.

These five peers were matched to Saba Foundation on total assets alone — all cluster within roughly $6,600 of Saba's $7,039,910 — and share its generic IRS classification (Philanthropy & Grantmaking), not a common cause focus; none published grantee-level or funding-priority data in this dataset, and only East Seattle Foundation maintains a public website. That is typical of small, closely-held private foundations under $10M in assets: most operate without staff, websites, or public grant announcements, often administered through an accounting or law firm exactly as Saba Foundation is (via Kramer, Blum & Associates). Saba Foundation stands out within this peer set for actually publishing funding guidelines and a defined application process online — a real advantage for prospective applicants, since most similarly sized foundations offer no public entry point at all.

No news coverage, press releases, or grant announcements dated 2025 or 2026 were located for Saba Foundation Inc. in web search — consistent with its profile as an unstaffed, non-publicized private foundation that does not issue press releases. The foundation's most recent Form 990-PF reflected in the available data covers FY2022 ($313,550 in total giving); more recent filings for FY2023-2025 were not located in this research pass, which is common for small foundations given the IRS's typical 12-24 month disclosure lag on Form 990-PF. The foundation's contact page lists Kenneth J. Blum and Nichole Rowles of Kramer, Blum & Associates as administrative directors, and the board of trustees — President Lewis Warren, Secretary Jaimee Modica, Treasurer Dale Dockins — appears unchanged across every filing year in the provided data, with no leadership turnover detected. The foundation's database record was last verified on August 8, 2026, confirming sabafoundation.org remains active with current funding guidelines and application instructions published. In the absence of dated news, the clearest available signal of recent activity is the grantee-level pattern itself: all six known recipients received two grants each, indicating the foundation renewed support across its full existing roster in its most recent active giving cycle rather than expanding to new organizations or discontinuing an existing partner.

Confirm eligibility before drafting anything. Saba Foundation funds only Sonoma County, CA organizations working in one of three areas: animal welfare (specifically preventing abuse/cruelty), financial aid to children with developmental disabilities, or acquisition/development/operation of parks and playgrounds for children. Proposals outside the county or these causes are unlikely to get a response.

• Follow the two-PDF format exactly. PDF #1 (10 pages max) needs five clearly labeled sections: Cover Letter, Specific Request, Personnel Information, Organizational Information, Financial Information. PDF #2 needs your IRS determination letter and most recent audited financials (or Form 990 if unaudited). Deviating from this structure works against you with a small, formal, firm-administered reviewer.
• General operating support is fair game. The Lime Foundation grant shows Saba will fund core operations, not just discrete projects — don't feel obligated to invent a narrow project if unrestricted support better fits your need.
• Anchor the ask to observed grant sizes. Most grants are $20,000; the outlier ($90,000, to Sonoma County Parks Foundation for a capital-adjacent signage project) suggests larger asks succeed when tied to a highly specific, visible community asset. First-time applicants should likely anchor near the $20,000 median rather than the top of the range.
• Respect the exclusions precisely. No individuals, no capital campaigns or endowments, no fundraising events, no operating deficits, no sectarian religious activities or facilities. Even a strong program fit will be screened out if the proposal reads as covering excluded costs.
• Time submissions around the semi-annual board cycle. With no published deadline, call ahead (415-981-2966) or use the contact form at sabafoundation.org/contact/ to confirm the current submission window before sending — missing a cycle likely means a six-month delay, not a rolling review.
• Write for a financial/legal reviewer, not a program officer. Because the foundation is administered by a CPA/law firm rather than in-house philanthropy staff, keep the proposal precise, well-organized, and numbers-forward rather than narrative-heavy.
• Treat a first grant as a relationship opener. Every known grantee received two grants; a strong initial project may be the entry point to renewed, larger support rather than a one-time award.
• Avoid generic national-funder boilerplate. Proposals should explicitly name Sonoma County communities, parks, or populations served — the foundation's entire giving history is 100% local.