Yerba Buena Fund

The Yerba Buena Fund is a San Francisco-based private family foundation established in 2013 by the Russell-Shapiro family. Alice Russell-Shapiro serves as President and Chair; her daughter Madeleine Russell-Shapiro is the sole paid Executive Director ($81,250 in FY2023); William Russell-Shapiro holds the Vice President role; and William H. Russell-Shapiro serves as Treasurer. All board members except Madeleine serve without compensation, reinforcing the deeply personal nature of this philanthropy. With $37.4 million in assets and annual giving consistently in the $1.4–$1.9 million range, the Yerba Buena Fund operates as a mid-size family foundation with intentionally personal grantmaking values.

The foundation's giving philosophy centers on long-term, relationship-driven investment in a tightly curated portfolio of organizations. This is not a grant program open to the public — the foundation's own website states it is not currently accepting unsolicited proposals, and its database record confirms preselected-only status. In practice, the foundation deepens relationships with a core set of grantees over multiple grant cycles rather than expanding its portfolio widely.

Organizations that receive support cluster into four clear thematic areas: (1) criminal justice reform and reentry employment, particularly in Los Angeles — Alma Backyard Farms, ManifestWorks, Good Soil Industries, Project Rebound, and The Pruno Fund are all multi-year grantees with cumulative totals well above $100,000 each; (2) Jewish community organizations and Middle East peace initiatives, including the Alliance for Middle East Peace ($350,000 cumulative over 3 grants), Jewish Jumpstart's JLENS program ($150,000), and multiple Jewish free-loan associations in San Francisco; (3) California arts and cultural heritage, including San Francisco Opera, SF Symphony, the Los Angeles Conservancy, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund; and (4) urban agriculture and food justice, anchored by Alma Backyard Farms and Planting Justice.

Geographic focus is heavily California (67% of all documented grants by count), with strong concentrations in both Los Angeles County and San Francisco proper. A smaller but consistent stream of national grants supports Washington, D.C.-headquartered advocacy organizations — notably in the Middle East peace space. First-time applicants should understand that a warm introduction from an existing grantee is essentially a prerequisite for any meaningful conversation with this foundation.

Annual giving from the Yerba Buena Fund has been stable and gradually growing since its founding. Grants paid by fiscal year: $750,000 (2013), $1,530,334 (2014), $1,349,000 (2019), $1,409,000 (2020), $1,443,000 (2022), $1,437,000 (2023), and approximately $1,565,000 in charitable disbursements for 2024 (full 990-PF not yet publicly extracted). Total giving including non-cash disbursements ranged from $1,643,803 (2019) to $1,865,584 (2022). The overall trend shows a maturing foundation with consistent payout in the $1.4–$1.9M range.

At the individual grant level, the portfolio is bifurcated. The foundation makes approximately 40–54 discrete grants per year (54 reported for FY2023), averaging $26,000–$28,000 per grant. The median single grant is estimated at $5,000–$10,000 based on IRS filing data — but these small grants coexist with significantly larger multi-year commitments to core partners. Among the top 50 documented grantees in the historical database, cumulative awards range from $20,000 (Asian Art Museum, 826 National, NAACP Empowerment Programs) to $600,000 (John Irwin House Project Jumpstart — a capital outlay grant spanning 2 awards). Other large cumulative relationships: Alma Backyard Farms ($430,000 over 6 grants, ~$72,000 per grant average), Alliance for Middle East Peace ($350,000 over 3 grants, ~$117,000 per grant), Project Rebound ($325,000 over 3 grants, ~$108,000 per grant), and ManifestWorks ($300,000 over 4 grants, $75,000 per grant).

By program area, criminal justice and reentry organizations account for roughly 22% of total documented giving. Jewish community and Middle East peace organizations represent approximately 18%. Arts and cultural institutions account for roughly 15%. Social services and humanitarian relief make up an additional 15%, food justice and urban agriculture about 10%, and education and miscellaneous the remainder.

Grant types skew heavily toward general operations support — the overwhelming majority of grants in the database are tagged GENERAL OPERATIONS, with capital campaign and restricted project grants reserved for long-established partners. This strong preference for unrestricted general operating support signals trust in grantee leadership and a bias toward organizational sustainability over prescribed project funding.

The five foundations identified as asset-comparable peers to Yerba Buena Fund each hold approximately $37.3–$37.4 million in total assets as of their most recent filings. All are classified under NTEE code T20 (Philanthropy & Grantmaking Foundations), though their programmatic focuses and geographies differ considerably from Yerba Buena Fund's California-centric, family-driven model. Limited public data exists for the peer group beyond asset size.

Among these asset-comparable peers, Yerba Buena Fund stands out for the transparency of its giving through IRS 990-PF filings and the distinct programmatic coherence of its portfolio — the reentry, Jewish community, and California arts clusters are clearly identifiable across multiple fiscal years. The William Fries II Foundation is the only California-based peer, which may indicate some geographic overlap in grantee populations. For organizations considering outreach to foundations in this $37M asset tier, the invitation-only posture of Yerba Buena Fund is typical of family foundations in this range and should calibrate expectations accordingly.

No press releases, news articles, or public announcements specific to the Yerba Buena Fund were found during searches covering 2025–2026. This is consistent with the foundation's deliberately private operating style — it maintains no active social media presence, has a placeholder website, and does not issue public grantee announcements.

The most recent complete filing publicly available is the FY2023 Form 990-PF, which confirms: total assets of $35,252,504, grants paid of $1,437,000, total giving of $1,827,622, and Executive Director compensation of $81,250 (Madeleine Russell-Shapiro). The FY2024 record shows assets grown to $37,384,738 with total revenue of $1,883,792, driven by dividends ($643,339), asset sales ($1,138,845), and interest ($104,265). Charitable disbursements for FY2024 are estimated at approximately $1,564,832, though the full extracted 990-PF is not yet publicly available.

Leadership has been entirely stable across all filings from 2013 through 2024. The Russell-Shapiro family — Alice (President), Madeleine (Executive Director), William (Vice President), and William H. (Treasurer) — has held the same roles without interruption. No leadership transitions, board additions, or succession signals have been announced.

The website's placeholder status — noting the fund is still forming its granting priorities and guidelines — is the most notable public signal and has been present since at least February 2026 per the database's web enrichment timestamp. Organizations in the reentry and Middle East peace space with existing relationship capital should monitor yerbabuenafund.org for any shift toward formal application guidelines.

Because the Yerba Buena Fund operates on a preselected-only, invitation basis with no public application process, the standard grant-writing toolkit provides limited direct value. The path to a grant runs entirely through relationships and mission alignment with the Russell-Shapiro family's personal philanthropic commitments.

Build connections through existing grantees first. The most reliable entry point is a warm introduction from an organization already in the portfolio. Core grantees — Alma Backyard Farms, ManifestWorks, Project Rebound, Alliance for Middle East Peace, Jewish Free Loan Association — have sustained multi-year relationships with the foundation. If your work intersects with any of these organizations programmatically or geographically, pursue a genuine collaborative relationship before asking for a referral.

Anchor your mission in exactly one of the four core clusters. Pitches that span multiple themes are less likely to resonate than those with a precise fit in criminal justice reform and reentry employment (especially in Los Angeles or San Francisco), Jewish community services and Middle East peace initiatives, California arts and cultural heritage institutions, or urban agriculture and food justice. Use specific outcome language: organizations served, direct community impact, and connections to historically underserved populations.

Demonstrate California presence, preferably LA County or San Francisco. With 67% of documented grants flowing to California, and strong representation from both metro areas, the foundation is most comfortable funding organizations with physical roots in these communities. Remote or national-scope organizations appear only when the mission is unmistakably aligned with priorities the foundation has maintained across multiple years (e.g., HIAS for refugee support, Alliance for Middle East Peace).

Frame your ask around sustained partnership, not a one-time project. The average documented grantee has received support across 3–4 grant cycles. The foundation appears to be selecting long-term partners. Any introduction-based outreach should emphasize multi-year organizational trajectory and financial sustainability — not a stand-alone project budget.

If the website launches with application guidelines, move quickly. A shift from placeholder to active application portal would represent a significant change in posture. Monitor yerbabuenafund.org and set a Google Alert for the domain. Foundations that move from preselected to open often receive a surge of applications in their first cycle, rewarding early and well-prepared applicants.