Name

Kenneth Rainin Foundation

Legal name

Kenneth Rainin Foundation

Website

https://krfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Philanthropic Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK), Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL), Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAI)

Keywords

• Philanthropic grantmaking
• Early childhood literacy
• Arts grant programs
• IBD research funding
• Family foundation

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, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Grantmaking: The Kenneth Rainin Foundation is a private family foundation funded by the estate of its founder Kenneth Rainin. The Foundation receives its capital from Kenneth Rainin's estate upon his death in 2007 and invests the endowment to generate returns that fund annual grantmaking in Arts, Education, and Health. The Foundation does not generate revenue from products or services.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation is a private family foundation that provides philanthropic grants in three program areas: Arts (supporting visionary Bay Area dance, film, public space, and theater artists and small-to-mid-size arts organizations), Education (early childhood literacy programs serving Oakland children from birth through third grade), and Health (early-stage funding for Inflammatory Bowel Disease research). Grants are distributed through open and invite-only application cycles via the GivingData online portal, with selected programs administered through partner organizations such as SFFILM and United States Artists.

Product overview

Kenneth Rainin Foundation is a private family foundation, not a technology product company. It does not offer software products or services in the traditional sense. The foundation supports grantmaking programs in three areas: Arts (supporting Bay Area artists in dance, film, public space, and theater), Education (promoting early childhood literacy in Oakland), and Health (funding research to cure Inflammatory Bowel Disease). The foundation uses GivingData, a third-party online grants management portal, to process applications and manage grantee relationships.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Arts Grantmaking Program (Bay Area) Grantmaking program supporting visionary Bay Area dance, film, public space, and theater artists and small-to-mid-size arts organizations across Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties. Includes Innovator Awards, NEW Program, Open Spaces Program, Early Care Spaces, and film/individual artist grantmaking through SFFILM and United States Artists.
• Education Grantmaking Program (Oakland) Grantmaking program promoting early childhood literacy in Oakland, California, serving children from birth through third grade. Supports teacher professional development in structured literacy and translanguaging, family literacy engagement, school-based literacy interventions, and direct coaching for school principals as agents of change.
• Health Grantmaking Program (IBD Research) Global grantmaking program funding early-stage, high-risk research to spur breakthroughs in predicting, diagnosing, treating, and curing Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Includes Innovator Awards for individual and collaborative projects and the Rainin Visionary Scientist Award providing $300,000 over two years to postdoctoral researchers.
• Accelerating Literacy Leadership Program Invite-only initiative to dramatically improve K-2 students' reading outcomes by strengthening implementation capacity in Oakland school systems. Includes the Accelerating Literacy Leadership Institute with the Oakland Public Education Fund as implementation partner.
• Response Fund Invite-only responsive grantmaking fund allowing the Foundation to deploy resources quickly in response to urgent community needs. In January 2025, the Foundation dedicated $4 million to the Response Fund, amounting to 15% of overall 2025 grantmaking.
• SFFILM Rainin Filmmaking Grants Grant program for independent narrative feature filmmakers, administered by SFFILM as the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the United States, unique partnership began in 2009.
• Rainin Arts Fellowship Prestigious fellowship supporting visionary Bay Area artists working in dance, film, public space, and theater, administered in partnership with United States Artists.
• Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) Real estate-based initiative co-founded and seeded in 2013 with a $5 million, five-year grant from the Rainin Foundation. Uses innovative real estate strategy to help communities create permanent, affordable spaces for arts and cultural organizations. The model has inspired similar efforts in London, Vancouver, Seattle, Sydney, Austin, and Denver.
• Rainin Visionary Scientist Award Award providing $300,000 grants over two years to postdoctoral researchers conducting innovative biomedical research relevant to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
• Innovations Symposium Annual symposium bringing together clinicians, researchers, and trainees from around the world to exchange ideas and collaborate on IBD research, serving as a key engagement mechanism for Health grant program grantees.

Quantifiable outcome

• 204 arts organizations supported through NEW Program since 2015 with over $6 million
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 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.

• Oakland Public Education FundcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Implementation partner for Accelerating Literacy Leadership Institute, supporting Oakland systems in dramatically improving K-2 students' reading outcomes by strengthening implementation capacity. Received $4,111,622 grant in 2026.
• Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013CAST was seeded in 2013 with a $5 million, five-year grant from the Rainin Foundation. Uses innovative real estate strategy to help communities create permanent, affordable spaces for arts and cultural organizations. Model has inspired similar efforts in London, Vancouver, Seattle, Sydney, Austin and Denver.
• SFFILMcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2009Unique partnership began in 2009 with SFFILM Rainin Grant program, which is the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the United States. The partnership has awarded millions to support independent filmmaking.
• United States ArtistscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUnited States Artists administers the Rainin Arts Fellowship, a prestigious fellowship supporting visionary Bay Area artists working in dance, film, public space and theater.
• Scientific Advisory BoardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGroup of leading IBD researchers who provide scientific expertise to strengthen the Foundation's health grantmaking and strategies toward solving IBD. Members review Visionary Scientist Award applications and provide strategic guidance.
• NGOsourceminorOthersThe Foundation contracts with NGOsource to manage the Equivalency Determination process for international nonprofit institutions recommended for funding.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• SFFILM: San Francisco film organization that has administered the Rainin Filmmaking Grants since 2009; comparable as a core operating partner for the Foundation's largest film vertical.

Direct peers

• Hellman Family Foundation: Bay Area family foundation supporting Arts, Education, and environment in the same geography; directly comparable multi-vertical family funder operating in the same Bay Area Arts ecosystem.
• Crohn's and Colitis Foundation: U.S. nonprofit dedicated to funding IBD research and patient support; directly comparable on the Health vertical, and previously recognized Rainin with its Champion of Hope award.

Broad incumbents

• The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation: The largest U.S. Arts-focused foundation supporting culture, higher education, and humanities; directly comparable on the Arts vertical given similar dance, film, and theater grantmaking priorities.
• Doris Duke Charitable Foundation: Family foundation funding Arts, Education, and Medical Research with a focus on high-impact, evidence-based grantmaking; structurally analogous as a private family foundation with Arts + biomedical research verticals.
• The James Irvine Foundation: California-focused family foundation that funds Arts, Education, and statewide systems-change work; highly comparable as a multi-vertical California family foundation with similar arts-and-education emphasis.
• Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation: Bay Area-based family foundation funding science, environmental conservation, and patient care improvement; comparable because of the Bay Area base, similar scientific-instrument founder heritage, and overlapping IBD-adjacent research interests.
• The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation: Major Bay Area-based family foundation with deep Arts and Education portfolios; comparable because former Hewlett arts director Moy Eng now sits on the Rainin board, and both foundations use place-based Arts strategies in the same region.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies: Large multi-vertical family foundation running Arts (Public Art Challenge, Creative Cities), Education, and Health programs; comparable operating model as a vertically diverse grantmaker running parallel programmatic missions.
• The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust: Large family foundation with one of the most active IBD and Crohn's disease research portfolios; highly comparable as an IBD-focused grantmaker funding the same translational research audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/kr_foundation
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@KR_Foundation
• Facebookfacebook.com/kennethraininfoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kenneth-rainin-foundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/kr_foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments2 records

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Frequently asked questions about Kenneth Rainin Foundation