Saint Francis Foundation

What Saint Francis Foundation does

Saint Francis Foundation is an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization established in 1979 in San Francisco, California, that raises funds and makes grants to enhance healthcare access for vulnerable populations in the city. The Foundation was seeded from the endowment of Saint Francis Memorial Hospital (Dignity Health), with which it maintains a core partnership dating to the hospital's 1905 founding; the Foundation provides grants for capital projects, equipment, and programs at the hospital and for community health partners across San Francisco. Its grantmaking is organized around four strategic pillars: Innovation/Transformation, Behavioral/Mental Health, Aging, and Crisis Management/Response.

Name

Saint Francis Foundation

Legal name

Saint Francis Foundation

Website

https://saintfrancisfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Saint Francis Foundation is a San Francisco nonprofit founded in 1979 that raises funds and makes grants to enhance healthcare access for vulnerable populations, supporting Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and 100+ community partners across four funding pillars: Innovation, Behavioral Health, Aging, and Crisis Response.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Philanthropy

NAICS

Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA), Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

Keywords

• Healthcare philanthropy
• Nonprofit grantmaking
• Community health funding
• Behavioral health services
• Aging care support

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

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, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Charitable Donations: Individual donors contribute through online donations, phone, check, wire transfer, or securities/stock gifts. The Foundation offers workplace matching gift programs to amplify contributions.
2. Foundation Grants: Receives grants from other foundations (e.g., Delta Dental Community Care Foundation, Metta Fund) to support specific health initiatives and community programs.
3. Legacy Giving / Planned Gifts: Bequests in wills, charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and beneficiary designations on life insurance or retirement accounts provide long-term funding support.
4. Endowment Investment Returns: Returns from investment of the Foundation's endowment fund, established in 1948, provide ongoing revenue for grantmaking activities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Saint Francis Foundation is a nonprofit charitable foundation that raises funds through donations, foundation grants, and endowment returns and redistributes them as grants to Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and community health partners in San Francisco. Its grantmaking focuses on four pillars: Innovation/Transformation, Behavioral/Mental Health, Aging, and Crisis Management/Response, supporting programs such as the Bothin Burn Center, Gender Institute, Tenderloin Health Improvement Partnership (TLHIP), and the Community Grants Program.

Product overview

Saint Francis Foundation is a non-profit health foundation that operates as a single unified organization focused on raising funds and making grants to enhance healthcare access in San Francisco. The Foundation's portfolio includes four strategic funding pillars (Innovation/Transformation, Behavioral/Mental Health, Aging, and Crisis Management/Response) supported by specific programs: the Gender Institute for transgender healthcare services (established 2016), the Bothin Burn Center for specialized burn treatment, the Tenderloin Health Improvement Partnership for community health improvement, and a Community Grants Program supporting local health nonprofits. Additional offerings include legacy/planned giving programs, an ICU/CCU capital campaign, and emergency medicine support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Gender Institute Comprehensive physical and mental health services for San Francisco's transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and intersex individuals, including surgical care, counseling, education, and staff training. Recognized as a Center of Excellence by the Surgical Review Corporation.
• Bothin Burn Center A 16-bed specialized burn center at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, the only dedicated burn center in San Francisco and the only burn center in Northern California verified by the American Burn Association and American College of Trauma Surgeons. Treats approximately 500 patients annually (15% children) from across the western United States.
• Tenderloin Health Improvement Partnership (TLHIP) A collective impact partnership model led by the Foundation and Saint Francis Memorial Hospital that addresses neighborhood health challenges in San Francisco's Tenderloin district through collaboration with 100+ partner organizations. TLHIP has invested more than $3 million in collaborative initiatives since 2014.
• Community Grants Program Grant program supporting community health organizations in San Francisco with focus on the Tenderloin neighborhood. Has provided more than $6.5 million in grants to network partners including San Francisco Community Health Center, Larkin Street Youth Services, Curry Senior Center, Maitri Compassionate Care, Glide, Lyon-Martin Health Services, and Hyde Street Community Services.
• ICU/CCU Renovation Campaign Capital campaign to combine and modernize the Intensive Care Unit and Coronary Care Unit at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, with an $8.6 million project budget to create a state-of-the-art critical care center.
• Legacy Giving + Planned Gifts Planned giving program allowing donors to support the Foundation through bequests in wills, charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and beneficiary designations on life insurance or retirement accounts. The Saint Francis Legacy Circle recognizes planned giving donors.

Quantifiable outcome

• More than $8.8 million in total grants distributed to date
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and strategic.

• San Francisco Healthcare NonprofitscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2025$1.32 million in additional community grants distributed to healthcare nonprofits in San Francisco to support services for vulnerable populations amid federal funding cuts. Part of total $8.8 million in grants.
• Saint Francis Memorial HospitalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Foundation provides grants and support to Saint Francis Memorial Hospital for capital projects, equipment, programs, and community health initiatives. The hospital is the primary beneficiary of Foundation fundraising efforts.
• San Francisco Community Health Center (SFCHC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner receiving long-standing funding for Street Medicine and TransCare programs. $325,000 gift in 2025 to sustain trauma-informed care and street medicine services in response to federal funding cuts.
• Larkin Street Youth ServicesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSan Francisco's largest non-profit provider for young people experiencing homelessness. Foundation partnership supports and expands behavioral and mental health care for homeless youth.
• Curry Senior CentermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-time community partner providing holistic care to low-income and homeless seniors. Foundation funds case managers to coordinate patient care beyond hospital setting and capital campaign for Turk Street expansion.
• Maitri Compassionate CaremajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerModel eight-bed hospice in the Castro district providing residential care for hospice, 24-hour respite, and recovery support following gender-affirmation surgery. Foundation provided seed funding to expand Affirmation Center.
• GlidemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNearly 60-year history of providing food, shelter, and companionship to vulnerable San Franciscans. Foundation partnership delivers better behavioral health care and harm reduction outcomes.
• Lyon-Martin Health ServicesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides trauma-informed medical, gynecological, and mental health care to TGI communities and cis-gender women. Foundation partnered since 2014; provided lead gift for new larger health care center.
• Hyde Street Community Services (HSCS)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHospital Liaison Program partnership providing psychiatric, medical, substance abuse, and case management services. Successfully referred over 150 patients from hospital to outpatient care.
• Tenderloin Health Improvement Partnership (TLHIP) PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner100+ partner organizations including neighborhood serving organizations, local businesses, government agencies, funders, healthcare partners, and community stakeholders committed to improving health in the Tenderloin.
• Dignity Health and UCSF HealthstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerBay Area collaboration between Dignity Health (parent of Saint Francis Memorial Hospital) and UCSF Health announced in 2017 for integrated healthcare services.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• The California Endowment: Large statewide health foundation supporting underserved communities with a Building Healthy Communities model. Comparable grantmaking themes (community health, health equity) but at a significantly larger scale and broader California geography.
• Tides Foundation: San Francisco-based progressive philanthropic platform with grantmaking funds, donor-advised services, and impact investing capabilities. Comparable as a Bay Area grantmaker with multi-thematic funding, though operating with a broader social-justice lens.
• California Health Care Foundation: Large statewide health-focused foundation funding health systems, vulnerable populations, and innovation. Comparable mission (health access for underserved) but operates at a much larger, statewide scale.
• Blue Shield of California Foundation: Health grantmaking foundation funding domestic violence, mental health, and community health in California. Similar healthcare-focused grantmaking pillars but backed by a corporate sponsor and operating statewide.
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: One of the largest U.S. health-focused foundations funding health equity, behavioral health, and social determinants of health. Comparable thematic focus, though at a vastly larger national scale.

Direct peers

• Metta Fund: Tenderloin- and health-focused San Francisco foundation explicitly funding the same TLHIP collective impact work. Directly comparable as a behavioral-health and aging-focused grantmaker sharing grantees and geography with Saint Francis Foundation.
• San Francisco Foundation: San Francisco's largest community foundation, also a private grantmaker focused on the Bay Area. Highly comparable as a geographically co-located peer foundation operating under 501(c)(3) status with mixed funding pillars including health equity and vulnerable populations.
• CommonSpirit Health Foundation (Dignity Health): Philanthropic arm of CommonSpirit Health, parent of Saint Francis Memorial Hospital. Directly comparable as the hospital-affiliated foundation structure that Saint Francis Foundation's grantee sits within.

Regional players

• Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health: California-based hospital-affiliated pediatric health foundation. Comparable operating model (foundation supporting a flagship hospital plus community grants) but focused on children's health and Bay Area–adjacent.

Others

• Delta Dental Community Care Foundation: Corporate-sponsored foundation providing grants to Saint Francis Foundation ($150K in 2024). Comparable as a peer grantmaker funding similar vulnerable-population health initiatives, though with an oral-health thematic lens.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SFFound
• Facebookfacebook.com/SaintFrancisFoundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/saintfrancisfoundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments7 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Saint Francis Foundation