General Operating Support Grants (The California Endowment)

General Operating Support Grants (The California Endowment) is sponsored by The California Endowment. The California Endowment offers general operating support grants as part of its commitment to advancing health, justice, and community well-being in California.

How to get funding from the California Endowment | Inside Philanthropy OVERVIEW: The California Endowment supports health and racial equity throughout California. Its expansive view of health encompasses healthcare access, community development, affordable housing, environmental justice, criminal justice reform, immigrant rights, education, youth leadership, civic participation and grassroots organizing.

IP TAKE: The California Endowment is a must-know California funder, with roughly $4. 6 billion in assets and a broad view of what makes communities healthy. TCE has moved well beyond traditional healthcare philanthropy, backing work on housing, environmental justice, immigrant rights, public schools, criminal justice reform and grassroots power.

Its approach rests on a simple idea: health is shaped not only by medical care, but by the policies, institutions and community conditions that govern people’s lives. That makes TCE a deeply collaborative funder, active in pooled funds, public-private partnerships and statewide advocacy networks. Core funding remains invitation-only, though the foundation increasingly favors general operating support and trust-based practices.

Grantseekers should not expect a cold proposal to go far. The stronger route is through TCE’s regional and issue ecosystems: current grantees, coalitions, intermediaries, public-health networks and foundation-sponsored convenings. Interested grantseekers may not only try to network with TCE’s grantees to get on this funder’s radar, but to participate in one of TCE’s programs and events .

The best prospects are community-accountable organizations working toward systems change—not only service delivery. TCE tends to favor groups that build leadership, shift policy, strengthen civic power and expand agency and belonging. Its one-time Go!

Gifts pilot offered a rare open door, but that opportunity has closed. PROFILE: The California Endowment was created in 1996 with proceeds from Blue Cross Blue Shield of California’s acquisition of WellPoint Health Networks. Since then, the California Endowment has become the largest private foundations in California.

It is a private, statewide foundation and describes itself as California’s largest private health foundation. This funder pursues a mission to “expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. ” In recent years, it has updated its values to meet the moment in California.

It focuses on the larger community as an “ecosystem of health,” changing systems, policies and conditions rather than only healthcare access. TCE’s grantmaking addresses three bold ideas: People Power; Reimagined Public Institutions; and 21st Century Health for All System.

This funder makes grants and impact investments across five focus areas : Health Systems, Inclusive Community Development, Justice Reinvestment, Power Infrastructure and Schools. TCE divides its California work into four regions : North, Central, Los Angeles and South. TCE is operating under a Bridge Strategy through 2027—a strategic refinement rather than a wholesale replacement of the earlier plan.

The foundation is increasing its payout , simplifying requirements and sustaining health-justice and power-building grantees while refining its future direction. Grants for Public Health and Access TCE’s Health Systems work aims to ensure that Californians have access to affordable, quality care.

The foundation takes a broad systems approach, connecting healthcare with public health, prevention, culturally appropriate wellness resources, workforce development, community accountability and payment structures that reward better health outcomes rather than the volume of services provided.

Funding supports healthcare access and coverage, safety-net institutions, community health, public-health advocacy, mental health, reproductive health and efforts to develop a workforce that better reflects California’s population. Recent grantee lists include the California Black Health Network, California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, California Primary Care Association, Health Access Foundation, LifeLong Medical Care, Charles R.

Drew University of Medicine and Science and the National Health Law Program. At the lower end of its giving, grants have supported many small, community-led health initiatives that bring needed services to underserved communities.

Grantees include the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective of Culver City, the Contra Costa Regional Health Foundation, Los Angeles’s Southeast Asian Community Alliance and Generation Red Road, a Native American-led nonprofit in Upper Lake, California that runs addiction recovery and prevention programs. TCE also makes large health-system investments through its Social Bond.

Its dashboard lists commitments of $13 million to the California Primary Care Association, $7. 5 million to the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network and $6. 35 million to Health Access Foundation.

These unusually large commitments should not be treated as representative of ordinary grants. Grants for Community Development, Housing and Environmental Justice The Inclusive Community Development focus area examines how land, housing, labor, natural resources and capital affect community health.

TCE links poor health outcomes to displacement, disinvestment, environmental degradation, undesirable land uses and limited community control over development decisions. Funding in this area may support affordable housing, tenants’ rights, anti-displacement work, equitable development, transportation justice, food systems, community ownership and climate resilience.

Environmental funding strongly favors community-led efforts in low-income communities, communities of color, rural areas and tribal communities. The Endowment’s 2025 annual report highlights ACT-LA, a Los Angeles coalition working on affordable housing, transit justice, public health and environmental justice. TCE reports supporting the coalition with nearly $1.

1 million over approximately a decade. The annual report also features the Redwood Region Climate and Community Resilience Hub, a Social Bond grantee coordinating climate-justice work with rural and tribal communities on California’s North Coast. Grants for Power Building, Racial Justice and Civic Engagement The Power Infrastructure portfolio is central to TCE’s strategy.

It supports networks of organizations that engage people most affected by inequity, develop community leadership and build collective capacity to change policies, institutions and public systems. This is fertile ground for grassroots organizers, movement-building organizations, civic-engagement groups, communications organizations, advocacy coalitions and philanthropic intermediaries.

TCE’s language strongly favors organizations that center affected communities and can demonstrate power beyond a single service or project. Grantees include ACCE Institute, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, California Calls Education Fund, California Black Power Network, Power California, Dolores Huerta Foundation, PICO California, Urban Habitat, Youth Leadership Institute and numerous regional organizing groups.

TCE also supports intermediaries and pooled funds, including Liberty Hill Foundation, California Black Freedom Fund, Latino Community Foundation, Community Partners, Common Counsel Foundation, Borealis Philanthropy and NEO Philanthropy.

Its Social Bond dashboard includes $8 million for Community Coalition, $5 million for Liberty Hill Foundation, $5 million for the California Black Freedom Fund and $5 million for the Latino Community Foundation’s Latino Power Fund. These grants support organizing, leadership, civic power and movement infrastructure rather than isolated projects.

TCE does not fund political campaigns, voter-registration drives or lobbying for specific legislation. Grantseekers should distinguish permissible nonpartisan organizing, advocacy and civic participation from the activities explicitly excluded by the foundation. Grants for Immigrant Rights Immigrant justice is not listed as a standalone focus area, but it runs through TCE’s health, power-building and community-development work.

Funding supports immigrant-led organizing, legal services, policy advocacy, worker rights, culturally responsive healthcare and efforts to counter exclusion and anti-immigrant policies.

Recent grantee lists include the California Immigrant Policy Center, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, National Immigration Law Center, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Al Otro Lado, United Cambodian Community, Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project and Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño.

The foundation’s current Bridge Strategy cites threats to healthcare coverage, economic stability and civic participation and says it expects its increased spending to enable engagement with new partners working toward a healthier California. TCE has not, however, announced a general open application process for those new partnerships.

Grants for Criminal Justice Reform TCE’s Justice Reinvestment work seeks to replace punitive approaches with prevention, restoration, healing and community-based resources. The foundation explicitly links incarceration and structural racism to intergenerational health harms for individuals, families and communities.

Grants support decarceration, reentry, youth justice, violence prevention, restorative justice, organizing by formerly incarcerated people and alternatives to policing and incarceration.

Grantees include A New Way of Life Reentry Project, Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Alliance for Safety and Justice, Anti Police-Terror Project, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, Critical Resistance, Dignity and Power Now, Essie Justice Group, Youth Justice Coalition and the National Center for Youth Law.

TCE’s Social Bond awarded $2 million to Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice for a space where young people can develop leadership and pursue healthier and safer communities. Grants for Schools, Youth and Education The Schools focus area connects academic achievement, health and inclusive learning environments.

TCE is particularly concerned with racial disparities, underinvestment, exclusionary discipline and the school-to-prison and deportation pipelines. Its stated focus is California’s public school system, although universities and community colleges also receive grants for research, workforce development and other foundation priorities.

Funding supports student organizing, youth leadership, education equity, school climate, parent engagement, restorative practices and stronger accountability to communities. Grantees include Black Students of California United, Californians for Justice Education Fund, Oakland Kids First, Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, Youth Together, Parent Institute for Quality Education and the National Center for Youth Law.

Higher-education recipients include campuses of the University of California and California State University systems, but these awards should not automatically be understood as Schools grants. Universities also receive support for health-workforce development, research, evaluation, data, communications and community partnerships.

In 2021, TCE issued a $300 million Social Bond to expand funding for racial justice and health equity over a 10-year period. The initiative supports what the foundation calls “Good Troublemakers”—organizations pursuing systemic change through community power and long-term institutional reform. In 2026, TCE piloted Go!

Gifts , a one-time, open-access opportunity intended to reach small organizations in underfunded rural communities. The initiative allocated $2. 5 million through $25,000 flexible gifts and required no full proposal or project budget.

Applications are now closed, and the foundation reports approving 99 gifts. TCE complements its grants with a $350 million impact-investing allocation consisting of $200 million for program-related investments and $150 million for mission-related investments. TCE is developing the Robert K.

Ross Center for Hope and Healing on property adjacent to its Los Angeles headquarters. Plans call for approximately 124 affordable housing units and about 66,000 square feet of space for community and health services. Grants have been awarded in amounts of up to tens of millions, but they generally range from $15,000 to $500,000.

TCE has more than $4 billion in assets; its 2025 annual report financials list $4. 458 billion in total assets as of December 31, 2024. The California Endowment’s grantmaking is conducted through a health equity lens.

Health is the endowment’s largest area of giving, and other giving areas reflect the importance of equity, community development and education as important predictors of health and wellness. Grantseekers may wish to reach out to staff at one of the endowment’s five locations throughout the state. The current headquarters address is 1000 N.

Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 . For information about past giving, see the news page and a recent annual report . Submit general inquiries to the California Endowment via email at questions@calendow.

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