Arrow Impact is a left-of-center private foundation that is funded by investment manager Mark Wolfson and his wife Sheila that is led by Charlie Wolfson. ¹ It makes grants to organizations seeking to address socioeconomic issues by funding education, housing, business development, and other programs that are exclusively offered to low-income individuals and ethnic minorities. ²

Background

Arrow Impact is a private foundation that was founded in 2018 to address economic mobility issues by funding initiatives that campaign for equity and diversity initiatives, racial justice, and welfare for low-income communities. ³ It also funds education, business development, childhood development, job training, and housing programs. ²

As of April 2025, Arrow Impact had committed $85 million in grants since its founding, and it announced that it planned on tripling its grantmaking by 2030. ³

Funding

Arrow Impact is solely funded by investment manager Mark Wolfson and his wife Sheila Wolfson. In 2023, Mark and Sheila Wolfson contributed $7.5 million to Arrow Impact as well as $8.8 million in 2022, $23.5 million in 2021, and $9.6 million in 2020. ⁴

Mark Wolfson

Mark Wolfson is a founder and partner of the investment management firm Jasper Ridge Partners. Wolfson is also an adjunct professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business where he teaches courses on investment management and philanthropic strategy. From 2004 to 2017, he was an advisor to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and as of 2025 sat on the board of the executive committee of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, a position he had held since 1990. ⁵

Grantmaking

California Immigrant Resilience Fund

In 2020, Arrow Impact made a $250,000 grant to the Tides Foundation California Immigrant Resilience Fund. ⁶ In April 2020, the Tides Foundation helped launch the California Immigrant Resilience Fund, serving as its fiscal sponsor, and was organized by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR). The fund sought to raise $50 million to provide direct cash assistance to illegal immigrants in California who were ineligible for federal relief and welfare programs created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. ⁷

San Francisco Foundation

Arrow Impact made grants of $200,000 in 2020, $200,000 in 2021, and $450,000 in 2022 to the San Francisco Foundation (SFF). ^{6 8 9} In an interview with the Aspen Institute, Arrow Impact executive director Charlie Wolfson stated that Arrow Impact’s grantmaking to SFF allows it to “outsource” its grantmaking to local organizations. By doing so, he argues Arrow Impact and other donors can donate to similar organizations without having to understand the nuances of local issues or how to best serve them. ¹⁰

On its website, Arrow Impact reported that, as of 2025, it funds SFF in support of its “racial equity” and “economic inclusion” initiatives housed within its programming that addresses civic engagement, education, economic, and housing issues in the Bay Area. ¹¹ As part of its racial equity and economic inclusion initiatives, SFF reported that it has “intentionally prioritized race and socioeconomic status” in its grantmaking as it argues low-income ethnic minorities are disadvantaged by public policy in obtaining housing, education, jobs, and in engaging in civic participation. ¹²

Per Scholas

Arrow Impact made a $2.5 million grant to Per Scholas in 2023, making up 58.1 percent of its total grantmaking. It also made a $2.5 million grant in 2022 to Per Scholas, making up 37.5 percent of its grantmaking for the year, and $2.5 million in 2021, making up 53.1 percent of its total grantmaking for 2021. ¹³ Per Scholas is a free technical school that offers information technology (IT) certification courses to address socioeconomic mobility issues. ¹⁴ To be eligible for Pre Scholas’ no-cost certification programs, applicants’ incomes are required to be below 80 percent of their campus’s Median Family Income as reported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). ¹⁵

Leadership

As of 2025, Charlie Wolfson was the executive director of Arrow Impact. From 2015 to 2018, Wolfson worked as a director of data strategy for Alliance College-Ready Public Schools. Prior to that, he was a board resident in urban education for the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and an Education Pioneers Graduate School Fellow for Rocketship Education. ¹⁶

Financials

In 2023, Arrow Impact reported $8.7 million in total revenue, $7.5 million of which came from contributions while the remainder came from dividends and interest. ¹⁷ It also reported $4.6 million in total expenses, which included $4.3 million in grants paid. ¹⁸

1. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990PF). Arrow Impact. 2023.
2. “Supporting initiatives that create pathways to economic prosperity.” Arrow Impact. Accessed November 30, 2025. https://www.arrowimpact.org/grantees.
3. “Arrow Impact: Director.” Arrow Impact. April 2025. https://valhalla.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Arrow-Impact-Director-Job-Description_April-2025.pdf.
4. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990PF). Arrow Impact. 2020-2023. Schedule B, Part I.
5. “Mark Wolfson: Founder & Partner.” Jasper Ridge Partners. Accessed November 30, 2025. https://www.jasperridge.com/team/mark-wolfson.
6. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990PF). Arrow Impact. 2020. Part XV.
7. “GCIR and Philanthropic Partners Announce Creation of California Immigrant Resilience Fund.” Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. Accessed April 15, 2020. https://www.gcir.org/news/gcir-and-philanthropic-partners-announce-creation-california-immigrant-resilience-fund.
8. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990PF). Arrow Impact. 2021. Part XIV.
9. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990PF). Arrow Impact. 2022. Part XIV.
10. “Evolving the Community Foundation Business Model of the Future.” Aspen Institute. February 2025. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/EVOLVING-THE-COMMUNITY-FOUNDATION-OF-THE-FUTURE_02.2025.pdf.
11. “San Francisco Foundation.” Arrow Impact. Accessed November 29, 2025. https://www.arrowimpact.org/san-francisco-foundation.
12. “Grantmaking to Advance Racial Equity.” San Francisco Foundation. Accessed November 30, 2025. https://sff.org/what-we-do/grantmaking-to-advance-racial-equity/.
13. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990PF). Arrow Impact. 2021-2023. Part XIV.
14. “About Per Scholas.” Per Scholas. Accessed November 29, 2025. https://perscholas.org/about-per-scholas/.
15. “Pre-Training Income Policy.” Per Scholas. Accessed November 29, 2025. https://perscholas.org/pre-training-income-policy/.
16. “Charlie Wolfson.” Arrow Impact. Accessed November 29, 2025. https://www.arrowimpact.org/#mypopout2.
17. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990PF). Arrow Impact. 2023. Part I, Lines 1-12.
18. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990PF). Arrow Impact. 2023. Part I, Lines 25-26.