Northern California Grantmakers (NCG)

NCG runs trainings through its Racial Equity Action Institute, Unconscious Whiteness in Philanthropy Cohort, and other groups, to advance these far-left philanthropic ideas. ⁵ NCG’s members include Arabella Advisors, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, Pritzker Family Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. ⁶

History and Leadership

Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) was founded in 1965 ⁷ and received tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service in 1981. ⁸

NCG originally started as the “Lunch Bunch” in the early 1960s before formalizing itself as Northern California Grantmakers in 1985. ³

Dwayne Marsh is the president and chief executive officer of Northern California Grantmakers. Prior to joining NCG, he was the co-director of the left-wing Government Alliance on Race and Equity and the vice president of institutional and sectoral change at Race Forward. He also worked in the Obama administration U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ⁹ and at the left-of-center San Francisco Foundation ¹⁰ When Marsh joined NCG in 2020, the organization committed itself to the far-left concepts of equity and social justice. ³

Janet Spears is the chair of the board of directors of NCG. Prior to joining NCG, she was the chief operating officer of the East Bay Community Foundation. ¹¹

NCG is headquartered in San Francisco, California. ¹²

Activities and Funding

Northern California Grantmakers is a membership organization of left-of-center philanthropic organizations and nonprofits that support far-left concepts of equity. ^{1 2} The organization also works to promote what it considers to be pro-democracy priorities. ⁴

In 2022, NCG spent $5,985,172 on its programming, which includes conferences, events, and information sessions that focus on the far-left concepts of racial equity and social justice ¹³ and various left-of-center climate policies. ^{14 15 16 17}

NCG’s “north star” is the concept of racial equity. In 2017, NCG completed interviews with more than 100 foundations that named racial equity as something that is needed for the philanthropic field. ³ To support these objectives, NCG analyzes how foundations engage in grantmaking practices, sharpens election-related philanthropy, and mobilizes left-of-center investments to fund policy groups that amplify “intersectional policies and voices.” ^{18 18}

NCG defines democracy as the processes, systems, and structures for historically marginalized and underrepresented community members to participate in a political system that fulfills the promise of an equitable multi-racial society. ² The organization provides cohort-based institutes, trainings, and series engagement across the philanthropic sector, including its Racial Equity Action Institute, the Rising Leaders Cohort, the Unconscious Whiteness in Philanthropy Cohorts, Foundations of Racial Equity, the New Grantmakers Institute, the Funding Strategies to Accelerate Power-Building Cohort, the Communications Institute, the Racial Equity Peer Learning Exchange, and the Mission Investing Institute. ⁵

The far-left Racial Equity Institute promotes racial equity and opposes the elimination of various diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. ¹⁹ NCG’s Foundation of Racial Equity group claims that anti-black racism, white supremacy, and systemic racism are embedded in philanthropy across American institutions and serves as a path towards the far-left concept of racial justice and anti-racism. ²⁰ Its Unconscious Whiteness in Philanthropy Cohort is for white professionals to hear from others about the alleged burdens others face through sessions that claim that philanthropy allegedly promotes white supremacy. ²¹

In 2022, the organization made a grant of $870,000 to the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation. ²²

Membership and Partners

As of June 2024, Northern California Grantmakers has more than 200 institutional members and 4,000 individual members. ³ NCG itself primarily does not serve as a grantmaker, but its membership primarily consists of grantmaking organizations. ³

NCG’s participating organizations include the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, Arabella Advisors, the Asian Pacific Fund, Borealis Philanthropy, California Forward, California Change Lawyers, California Endowment, the California Health Care Foundation, California Humanities, the California Wellness Foundation, CalMatters, Candid, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the City of San Francisco, the Common Counsel Foundation, the Compton Foundation, the Crankstart Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation, the East Bay Community Foundation, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, the Fledgling Fund, the Full Circle Fund, the Gaia Fund, the Genentech Foundation, the General Service Foundation, Google, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, the Grove Foundation, the Hearst Foundations, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Hellman Foundation, the Horizons Foundation, Informing Change, the James B. McClatchy Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, the John and Marcia Goldman Foundation, the John Pritzker Family Fund, JP Morgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente, the Kataly Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the Latino Community Foundation, the Libra Foundation, the Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund, the Pritzker Family Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the Marin Community Foundation, the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund, Okta, PayPal, the Pisces Foundation, the Robertson Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the Rosenberg Foundation, the S.H. Cowell Foundation, Salesforce, the Satterberg Foundation, The Seed Fund, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Skoll Foundation, the Skyline Foundation, the Stuart Foundation, Sunlight Giving, the Target Corporation, the San Francisco Foundation, the Tides Foundation, Tides Advocacy, United Way Bay Area, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the Wells Fargo Foundation, the Westly Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, and others. ⁶

NCG also relies on informal partnerships with groups such as the left-of-center One for Democracy. ²³

Funding

Northern California Grantmakers receives funding from individual contributions and grants. In 2022, NCG reported revenue of $7,576,972 and expenses of $7,322,382. In 2021, the organization reported revenue of $6,676,722 and expenses of $5,974,684. ²⁴