What Rose Foundation does

Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1992 in Oakland, California by Jill Ratner and Tim Little, operating as a community-rooted philanthropic intermediary that mobilizes resources toward environmental justice, consumer rights, youth leadership, and community-based advocacy. The foundation runs an interconnected portfolio of programs: Grassroots Environmental Grants (supporting small and emerging groups in California, Washington, and Oregon, with awards typically ranging from $1,000 to $50,000), Consumer Rights Grants (funded through cy pres awards focused on privacy, AI, and data security), the New Voices Are Rising youth leadership program (STEAM-based environmental justice training for frontline Bay Area youth), and an annual Anthony Grassroots Prize recognizing community activists. It also administers donor-advised funds (Charitable Checkbook from $25,000 and Endowed Funds from $100,000), provides fiscal sponsorship to emerging organizations such as Community Water Center, and offers planned giving vehicles including Charitable Remainder Trusts and Charitable Gift Annuities.

The foundation's revenue mechanics combine four streams: individual and institutional donor contributions; cy pres and mitigation awards from legal settlements (Rose serves as trustee for over 600 such environmental and consumer rights funds); donor-advised fund service fees (1% recognition fee on opening gifts, 5% grantmaking fee per grant, and annual maintenance fees scaled to endowed fund size); and fiscal sponsorship fees. In 2023 Rose distributed $7.6 million across 22 funds. Geographic reach spans California, Washington, Oregon, and national initiatives, with key partnerships including San Francisco BayKeeper, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Bank of America, the Kresge Foundation, and (most recently) UC Riverside. The foundation is governed by a Board of Directors and is led by Executive Director Deb Self (appointed 2025), supported by approximately 11 core staff across Finance, Programs, Operations, and Youth Leadership divisions.

Name

Rose Foundation

Legal name

Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment

Website

https://rosefdn.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Rose Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1992 in Oakland, California that grantmakes for environmental justice, consumer rights, and youth leadership, administers 600+ legal settlement funds, and offers donor-advised and planned giving services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Grantmaking and Philanthropic Services

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Social Advocacy Organizations (81331), Civic and Social Organizations (8134)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental & Climate Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Social Justice & Human Rights Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAN), Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB), STEM, Digital Literacy & Maker Education Nonprofits (BPAGADAG)

Keywords

• Environmental grantmaking
• Donor-advised fund administration
• Youth environmental leadership
• Fiscal sponsorship services
• Consumer rights advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donor Contributions: Individual and institutional donations support the foundation's grantmaking activities across environmental stewardship, community justice, consumer rights, and youth leadership programs.
2. Legal Settlement Funds (Cy Pres and Mitigation): Rose Foundation serves as trustee for over 600 environmental and consumer rights settlement funds, directing remediation payments back to impacted communities. The foundation receives cy pres awards from court cases and mitigation funds from environmental violations.
3. Donor-Advised Fund Administration: Rose manages donor-advised funds, charging a 1% recognition fee on opening gifts and a 5% grantmaking fee on each grant awarded. Endowed funds also incur annual maintenance fees scaled to fund size.
4. Fiscal Sponsorship: Rose provides fiscal sponsorship services to emerging community organizations, helping them build capacity and access funding.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Rose Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation that channels resources to grassroots environmental and consumer protection organizations through direct grantmaking, runs the New Voices Are Rising youth environmental leadership program in the Bay Area, and administers donor-advised funds, fiscal sponsorship arrangements, charitable remainder trusts, and charitable gift annuities for philanthropic donors. It also serves as trustee for more than 600 cy pres and mitigation legal settlement funds awarded by courts, distributing awards to environmental and consumer advocacy work.

Product overview

Rose Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization offering a portfolio of interconnected philanthropic programs united around environmental stewardship, community justice, consumer rights, and youth leadership. The core offerings include Grassroots Environmental Grants (supporting small emerging groups across California, Washington, and Oregon), the New Voices Are Rising youth leadership program (STEAM-based environmental justice training for Bay Area youth), Donor-Advised Funds (charitable giving vehicles with minimums from $25,000 to $100,000), Environmental Legal Settlements (trustee services for 600+ restitution funds), and Consumer Rights Grants. Additional programs include planned giving vehicles (Charitable Remainder Trusts and Charitable Gift Annuities), the Anthony Grassroots Prize, Fiscal Sponsorship, and the Grassroots Leadership Fund. The organization connects donors to community-driven environmental solutions through capacity building, grantmaking, and hands-on program delivery.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• New Voices Are Rising (NVR): Youth leadership program building next-generation environmental justice activists through STEAM-based curriculum for Bay Area youth
• Grassroots Environmental Grants
• Consumer Rights Grants
• Environmental Legal Settlements
• Donor-Advised Funds

Products and services

• Grassroots Environmental Grants Program Annual grantmaking program that funds small, community-based environmental and environmental justice organizations with general operating or program support, prioritizing groups from communities most impacted by environmental harm.
• New Voices Are Rising Youth Leadership Program Bay Area-based youth leadership program for high school students from environmental justice communities that combines in-school environmental curricula, summer fellowships, and internships to develop the next generation of environmental leaders.
• Donor-Advised Funds (Charitable Checkbook and Endowed) Charitable giving account service offered in two tiers: the Charitable Checkbook DAF ($100,000 minimum, 1% recognition fee, donor-directed grantmaking) and the Endowed Fund ($25,000 minimum, 5% grantmaking fee, foundation-managed grantmaking).
• Environmental and Consumer Cy Pres and Mitigation Fund Administration Trustee and administrative service for cy pres and mitigation awards from environmental, consumer protection, and civil rights class action settlements, through which the foundation receives, manages, and disburses settlement residuals to mission-aligned grantees.
• Consumer Rights Grants Program Grantmaking program funding consumer protection, privacy, and civil rights advocacy organizations through general support and project-specific grants.
• Fiscal Sponsorship Program Service enabling emerging nonprofit projects to operate under Rose Foundation's 501(c)(3) status, with the foundation providing administrative, financial, and compliance oversight as the project matures toward independent status.
• Legacy Giving (Charitable Remainder Trusts and Charitable Gift Annuities) Planned giving vehicles for individual donors and their advisors, including Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts (minimum $500,000 contribution) and Charitable Gift Annuities (minimum $100,000 contribution) that provide donors with income payments and tax benefits while supporting the foundation's mission.
• Grassroots Leadership Fund Regranting vehicle through which the foundation partners with community foundations and other intermediaries to distribute grants to additional grassroots environmental and consumer organizations beyond its direct grantmaking reach.

Quantifiable outcome

• Distributed $7.6 million across 22 funds in 2023
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• UC RiversidecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Rose Foundation awarded a major research grant to UC Riverside for tackling port pollution in San Pedro Bay.
• Community Water CentercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2007Rose launched its first fiscal sponsorship program helping Community Water Center grow into a powerful Central Valley champion of the human right to water. CWC has since expanded to work with 80 California counties.
• San Francisco BayKeepercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSan Francisco BayKeeper awarded Rose a $50,000 settlement to launch the SF Bay Citizens Action Fund supporting grassroots funds protecting the San Francisco Bay watershed. This began a long partnership with citizen enforcement organizations to benefit impacted communities.
• Puget Soundkeeper AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSeattle-based Puget Soundkeeper Alliance asked Rose to distribute their record $1.5 million settlement from BNSF railway. Rose launched the Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund guided by a local advisory board, supporting groups protecting Puget Sound watersheds.
• West Oakland's Downs Memorial Methodist ChurchminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNew Voters Are Rising partnered with the church in 2004 to recruit over 150 local youth who successfully registered over 2,000 voters.
• San Francisco BaykeepercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership directing over $2 million from Valero and Amports settlement to environmental protection efforts in the San Francisco Bay area.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Kresge Foundation: Large Detroit-based national foundation that partners with Rose on the CREWS Initiative / Grassroots Leadership Fund. Comparable as a funder of equitable climate and community resilience work, though materially larger and operating a national strategy rather than grassroots intermediary model.
• Public Welfare Foundation: Washington, DC-based legacy foundation that makes direct grants to advance justice, opportunity, and equity, including criminal justice, youth, and worker rights. Comparable at the macro level as a multi-issue justice grantmaker, though larger and more focused on direct national grantmaking than grassroots intermediary work.

Direct peers

• New Venture Fund: Washington, DC-based 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor and grantmaker that incubates and administers projects across environment, democracy, and public interest causes. Closely comparable given the parallel fiscal sponsorship and project incubation model alongside grantmaking.
• Akonadi Foundation: Oakland-based foundation supporting racial justice movement building led by and for communities of color. Highly comparable on Bay Area geography, justice-centered grantmaking, and movement-building orientation, with some thematic overlap on environmental justice.
• Solidago Foundation: Massachusetts-based foundation supporting state-level progressive organizing, with grants for environmental justice, democracy, and economic justice. Comparable as a smaller-staffed, movement-focused intermediary that funnels resources to grassroots grantees.
• Tides Foundation: San Francisco-based public charity and fiscal sponsor that, like Rose, channels philanthropic capital to progressive environmental, social justice, and human rights causes through grants, donor-advised funds, and project incubation. Closest direct peer given shared Bay Area footprint, donor-advised fund services, fiscal sponsorship, and environmental justice grantmaking.
• Amalgamated Foundation: New York-based donor-advised fund sponsor and grantmaker supporting progressive causes including climate, racial justice, and economic equity. Comparable DAF/grantmaking structure with social-impact screening and multi-issue programmatic giving.
• Common Counsel Foundation: Oakland-based family foundation intermediary that pools resources from multiple donor funds and redistributes to grassroots community organizing, environmental justice, and social movement groups. Highly comparable as a Bay Area intermediary doing pooled, grassroots-focused, multi-issue grantmaking.
• Headwaters Foundation for Justice: Minneapolis-based foundation that pools donor funds and redistributes to grassroots organizations working on economic, racial, and environmental justice. Comparable pooled-grant, grassroots-oriented, multi-issue model with environmental component.
• Threshold Foundation: San Francisco-based progressive foundation that pools resources from members and redistributes to grassroots social change, environmental, and economic justice organizations. Comparable as a Bay Area pooled-grant intermediary supporting grassroots organizing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/rosefoundation
• Facebookfacebook.com/RoseEnvironment
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-rose-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rose Foundation