Crankstart Foundation
/OVERVIEW: Crankstart is the charitable foundation of Michael Moritz and Harriet Heyman. It supports organizations across the US, but the majority of its grantmaking stays in the Bay Area. The foundation's primary funding interests center on education, economic and racial justice, civic engagement, the basic sciences, and climate.
IP TAKE: Two-thirds of this funder’s grants have stayed in the Bay Area, while groups in New York City and Chicago have received most of the remaining third. Grantseekers outside of these areas will find it difficult to secure funding. The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for support, which makes it difficult for grantseekers, regardless of geographic location.
Crankstart is not particularly accessible. It’s website offers sparse information on grantmaking strategies or how to qualify for a grant. However, this is an open-minded funder that likes to take some grantmaking risks. It works with very limited staff, so be patient about receiving a response after contacting them through their online portal. To learn more about how their giving may be evolving or how it narrows down what to fund, contact them, but expect some time delay as with all modest, mostly regional funders.
PROFILE: Established in 2000, the Crankstart Foundation is based in San Francisco, California and is the family foundation of Harriet Heyman and Michael Moritz. It seeks to support “leaders and organizations that demonstrate know-how in areas of critical need and that have the ambition and grit required to tackle what often seems impossible.” Harriet is a sculptor and former journalist. Michael was born in Wales and attended Oxford, where he earned a B.A. in History. He later moved to the states and received an M.B.A. from Wharton. He then briefly worked as a writer for Time, wrote a book on Apple computers and coauthored another on Chrysler before joining the tech investment firm Sequoia Capital in 1986. Moritz and his wife, Harriet, are Giving Pledge signatories. Through the Crankstart Foundation, they focus their philanthropy on education, economic and racial justice, civic engagement, the basic sciences, and climate.
Grants for K-12 , Higher Education, and College Readiness
Crankstart does not have clearly defined grantmaking programs beyond general interest areas; however, the foundation has demonstrated a strong interest in education. Crankstart doesn’t name specific grantmaking strategies focused on education. Instead, the foundation prefers to keep things more general so that it can fund a wider variety of work. Past education grantees include 826 Valencia, Mission Promise Neighborhood, Project Rebound, Underground Scholars, and dozens of after school, college access and scholarship programs. Crankstart has also supported U.C. Berkeley and Stanford’s Institute for Economic Policy Research. In the K-12 education space, Crankstart has invested in college readiness and access. Its college readiness grantees include College Track and the YMCA of San Francisco. Other Bay Area recipients include the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Arts Education Project and First Place for Youth of Oakland, which supports foster youth. In 2021, the foundation committed $25 million to San Francisco’s Summer Together initiative, which provides free classes to students in the city’s public schools, and was supported by a wide range of city agencies and corporate partners. It also created an endowment at the Juliard School to help students from underrepresented groups study classical music.
Grants for Security and Human Rights, Immigrants and Refugees, and Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights
After education, human rights is Crankstart’s largest grantmaking area. In this instance, human rights is defined expansively to include civil rights and support for immigrants and refugees. However, Crankstart does not appear to name specific grantmaking theories or approaches here.
Past related grantees include the California Black Freedom Fund, Democracy Frontlines Fund, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, and Partnership for a New American Economy Research Fund.
Grants for the Environment
While the foundation does not have a program dedicated to support for environmental organizations, it does make grants in this space and lists the environment as a priority through it remains quiet about the ways in which it imagines this funding space. This suggests that the foundation prefers to funder a range of organizations rather than being too niche. Past grantees include California Environmental Justice Alliance, Greenlining Institute, and Indigenous Environmental Network. Additionally, million-dollar grants have gone to Earthjustice, which has received support since 2019. The foundation made a $7.5 million pledge to the Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund, an intermediary that supports climate justice work in several key states.
Grants for Science Research and Public Health
Crankstart lists “the basic sciences” as a funding priority. This category includes support for both science research and public health. The foundation has previously supported Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Research (PBBR) at UCSF, San Francisco Free Clinic, La Clínica de La Raza, Roots Community Health Center, and Asian Health Services.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The foundation does not name it as a standalone priority, but the arts are clearly another priority. Past general arts grantees include Museum of the African Diaspora, Youth Speaks, East Bay Center for Performing Arts, San Francisco Arts Education, and $50 million to Julliard School to endow its Music Advancement Program. In 2019, Crankstart’s founders also agreed to sponsor the Booker Prize for five years.
Grants for Democracy, Civic Engagement, and Criminal Justice Reform
The foundation labels civic engagement and criminal justice reform as one of its key funding areas. Crankstart has thrown substantial support behind collaborative efforts supporting democracy and grassroots power-building, with a focus on BIPOC-led groups. The California Black Freedom Fund received $5 million from the foundation, and the Democracy Frontlines Fund — a collaboration of several major foundations spearheaded by the Libra Foundation — counts Crankstart as one of its 14 backers. The foundation has also placed a focus on immigrant-serving organizations, like Centro Legal de la Raza and Immigrant Legal Resource Center ($7.5 million).
Other past grantees include UnCommon Law, San Francisco and Alameda County Public Defender Offices for Clean Slate, and San Francisco District Attorney's Office for Healing Justice. Crankstart also has supported Bay Rising for community organizing, and American Civil Liberties Union for individual liberties.
Grants for Housing, Homelessness and Community Development
Support for economic justice is one of this funder’s central funding interests. Previous grantees include Expecting Justice, Opportunities for All, Center for Employment Opportunities, Jewish Vocational Services, and Young Community Developers. Million-dollar gifts in 2019 and 2020 went to the Unity Council, an all-purpose service organization, as well as a pair of housing-focused efforts, Keep Oakland Housed and the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund. Much of this funding came through a $25 million commitment Crankstart made to the accelerator and its partners. And in 2021, the foundation pledged multiyear funding to the 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic to help shelter homeless youth, though it’s unclear whether such support was at a similar scale. Other 2021 grantees across its various community buckets included Larkin Street Youth Services, Enterprise Community Partners, Center for Employment Opportunities, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Code for America, and MegaBlack SF.
Important Grant Details:
While most grants stay in the Bay Area, the foundation occasionally supports nonprofits around the country (particularly in Chicago) and in the United Kingdom. Crankstart grants have been awarded in amounts up to $15 million; however, most grants remain below $500,000, and the average grant size is about $100,000.
The foundation currently contributes only to pre-selected organizations and does not welcome unsolicited grant applications. It does not make grants to individuals. Nonprofits can contact the funder via an online form.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINK: