We invest in the people and ideas that elevate human dignity.
Francon Foundation makes focused grants to work that combats hate, empowers the next generation, and advances science and energy literacy.
A small institution, deliberately focused.
Francon Foundation is a private grantmaking institution based in Oakland, California. We support a small number of organizations and researchers doing work we believe will compound over time — where the people are capable, the partners committed, and the need real.
We make grants across three program areas: combating hate, empowering future leaders, and supporting science. We work patiently, concentrate rather than scatter, and measure ourselves by the durability of what our partners build.
See our work →Three areas, held with conviction.
We hold a small portfolio on purpose: focus is how a small institution earns its keep.
- 01 Combating hate Building unity and uplifting communities historically denied access to education — confronting the logic of hate at its root, not only its symptoms.
- 02 Empowering future leaders Backing capable people and the institutions that sharpen judgment — across geography and discipline.
- 03 Energy literacy and supporting science One commitment to science — from the literacy that helps people reason about energy to the discovery and care that change lives.
On the work of small institutions.
Francon was founded on a simple premise — that small, focused institutions can move with a care and conviction that is harder for larger ones to sustain.
In our first three years, we have made grants to a public elementary school in our hometown, to cancer researchers, to a children's hospital, and to a policy institute studying questions we believe matter. This year, we have also begun supporting early-career investigators at partner research institutions.
We do not believe philanthropy is a substitute for public investment, civic participation, or the slow work of building institutions that endure. We believe it is a complement — a place where private commitment can take risks and back convictions that public funding will not.
We have kept the institution deliberately small. We hold a short list of partners and stay with them. We would rather do a few things with conviction than many things at arm's length.
If your work aligns with ours, we would like to hear from you.
Independently governed, mission-bound.
Francon Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity governed by its Board of Directors, which approves the annual grants budget and holds the institution to its mission and its public-charity obligations.
Leadership & governance →Few partners, multi-year support, and the patience to let work compound.
Latest from Francon.
On the work of small institutions
Our second annual letter, on focus, patience, and the kinds of work that compound.
Supporting early-career cancer research at Fred Hutch
A grant supporting early-career oncology researchers at Fred Hutch Cancer Center.
Supporting children's care and research at CHOP
A grant supporting pediatric care and clinical research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Tell us about your work.
We welcome inquiries from organizations, researchers, and individuals whose work aligns with our three program areas.