James Irvine Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The James Irvine Foundation mainly supports initiatives for work and economic opportunity in the state of California. It also makes grants for its priority communities of Fresno, Salinas, Riverside, San Bernardino and Stockton.
IP TAKE: Well over half of the James Irvine Foundation’s grantmaking goes to California-based initiatives for economic advancement, including support vocational programs, labor rights, improved worker protection and labor policy development. Only a small portion of grantmaking goes to national initiatives for labor and organizations in other states. Across all areas, this funder prioritizes low-income and marginalized people. Grantees range from grassroots organizations to prominent policy development institutes.
At this time, the Irvine Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals, but grantseekers may share their ideas via the foundation’s contact page.
PROFILE: The James Irvine Foundation was established in 1937 by the late California agricultural pioneer and real estate developer James Irvine. The foundation maintains operations in Los Angeles and San Francisco and its overarching goal is “a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically.” This grantmaker’s main initiatives are Better Careers, Fair Work and Just Prosperity. The foundation also makes grants for Priority Communities in California. Funding focuses on the state of California and national initiatives that are relevant to its areas of interest. In addition to grantmaking, the foundation runs a Leadership Awards program that recognizes individuals “whose innovative solutions to critical state challenges improve people’s lives, create opportunity, and contribute to a better California.”
Grants for Work and Opportunity
The James Irvine Foundation makes grants for work and economic opportunity via its Better Careers and Fair Work grantmaking programs. The Better Careers program aims to connect all Californians to “good jobs with family-sustaining wages and advancement opportunities.” Recent funding has emphasized career paths for high school graduates, the dismantling of systemic injustices in training and hiring practices, jobs for formerly incarcerated individuals and programs that help people who lost jobs during the COVID-19 crisis. Recent grantees include California’s Center for Employment Opportunities, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Jobs to Move America and Brotherhood Crusade, a Los Angeles-based organizations that helps people with “multiple barriers to employment.”
Irvine’s Fair Work grantmaking program, toward which the foundation committed $186.5 million in 2023, promotes “fairness, dignity, and respect for California workers.” The program prioritizes low-income workers in the areas of agriculture, homecare, healthcare, childcare and other service industries. One recent grant supported MCTF, which works with employers to increase compliance with safety and protective measures for janitorial workers in California. Another grant went to the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which, among other issues, has worked to improve working conditions and pay for workers in hospitality, food services and shipping industries. Other past grantees include the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, Working Partnerships USA and the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, which supports the rights of indigenous farm workers in California.
Irvine also prioritizes the needs of low-income and marginalized people through public policy in California via its Just Prosperity program, a $107 million four-year initiative unveiled in March 2022. This initiative focuses on policy relating to the dismantling of traditional barriers to economic stability and structural racism. Early grantmaking has gone to the Public Policy Institute of California, Policy Link, the California Budget and Policy Center and California Calls, which supports grassroots organizations working with low-wage earners.
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
Irvine’s Better Careers and Fair Work initiatives have supported organizations involved in civic engagement, voters’ rights and labor policy in recent years. A recent grant went to the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, which names environmental justice and voting rights as priority areas. The foundation also supports civic engagement via its Priority Communities program, which focuses on the cities of Fresno, Salinas, Riverside, San Bernardino and Stockton. Grantees include the League of Women Voters California Education Fund, the Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and California’s Center on Policy Initiatives.
Important Grant Information:
The James Irvine Foundation made over $90 million in grants in a recent year. Grants range from $25,000 to $5 million, with an average grant size of about $200,000. Grantmaking prioritizes nonprofits in the state of California, but national initiatives and organizations in other parts of the country have received funding on occasion. Irvine’s largest area of giving is work and economic opportunity; vocational training programs and organizations involved in the protection of workers’ rights receive more than half of all funding. For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s searchable awarded grants page.
At this time, the James Irvine Foundation is not accepting applications for funding. The foundation invites grantseekers to read about its grantmaking approach and model and to share ideas via its online contact page.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS: