Room to Breathe Project
San Francisco, CA · EIN 83-2600550. Reported 81 grants totalling $8,868,322 to 52 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
Does this foundation accept applications?
Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Room to Breathe Project did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $25,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $6,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $18 and the largest $1,000,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seneca Family of Agencies | Oakland, CA | $1,299,178 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Schwab Charitable | Lone Tree, CO | $1,075,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Schwab Charitable | San Francisco, CA | $1,000,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Peer Health Exchange Inc | Oakland, CA | $900,050 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| US Foundation for Queens University of Kingston | Washington, DC | $732,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| San Francisco Education Fund | San Franciso, CA | $637,769 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| Illuminate the Arts | San Francisco, CA | $500,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Tipping Point Community | San Francisco, CA | $350,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| San Francisco University High School | San Francisco, CA | $335,000 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Stanford School of Business - Gsb | Stanford, CA | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Insead Management Education Foundation | New York, NY | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Magen David Adom | New York, NY | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Children's Day School | San Francisco, CA | $190,550 | 10 | 4 | 2024 |
| Jewish Federation of North America | New York, NY | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Health Career Connection | Oakland, CA | $138,400 | 4 | 2 | 2024 |
| Jewish Community of Ottawa | Ottawa, Ontario K2A 1R9 | $136,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Friends of United Hatzalah | New York, NY | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Jcrc Bay Area | San Francisco, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of California Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mission Graduates | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mission Graduates Compaign | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Primary School - Bridge to Preschool | East Palo Alto, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Primary School | East Palo Alto, CA | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Senators Community Foundation | Ottawa, Ontario K2V 1A5 | $28,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hawaii Community Foundation | Honolulu, HI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Northstar Team | Truckee, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Silicon Valley Community Foundation | Mountain View, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| US Foundation for Queen's University at Kingston | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Jewish Community of Ottawa Development Foundation | Ottawa, Ontario K2A 1R9 | $17,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| United Jewish Appeal Federation | New York, NY | $16,880 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| La Cocina | San Francisco, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Le Royal | Ottawa, Ontario K1Z 7K4 | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Ottawa Hospital Foundation | Ontario K1Y 1J8 | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wellness Together | Roseville, CA | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pef Israel Endowment Funds Inc | New York, NY | $5,032 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Share Our Strength | Washington, DC | $5,032 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Canamission Food Hub | San Francisco, CA | $5,024 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Eatlearnplay | Oakland, CA | $5,024 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Sierra Community House | Incline Village, NV | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| San Francisco Elite Academy | San Francisco, CA | $1,750 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Tahoe Food Hub | Truckee, CA | $1,556 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Make More Music Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Paypal Giving Fund | Washington, DC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Pennfield Presbyterian Church | Battle Creek, MI | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Parkinson Canada | Toronto, Ontario M2P 2A9 | $741 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mental Health America | Alexandria, VA | $159 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Street Soccer USA | New York, NY | $62 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| American Foundation for Suicide Prevention | New York, NY | $38 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Feeding America | Chicago, IL | $38 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Unicef USA | Palo Alto, CA | $21 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Doctors Without Borders | New York, NY | $18 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
8 of 52 (15%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.
Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 29%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.
- Schwab Charitable
HAMILTON/BORO CHARITABLE FUND - US Foundation for Queens University of Kingston
SUPPORT PEER HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAMS - Seneca Family of Agencies
UE COACH ROLES AT DREW, MXA, AND JOHN MUIR - Peer Health Exchange Inc
TO SUPPORT HEALTH PROGRAMS - San Francisco Education Fund
EDUCATOR WELL BEING INITIATIVE - University of California Berkeley
PLEDGE PMT 2 OF 2 SUPPORTING GREATER GOOD ONLINE COURSES FOR EDUCATORS
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 44 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | $926,879 | $20,289 |
| 2022 | 14 | $1,983,750 | $4,625 |
| 2023 | 30 | $2,067,121 | $25,000 |
| 2024 | 27 | $3,890,572 | $50,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Room to Breathe Project has 8 of them, worth $1,738,523. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| US Foundation for Queens University of Kingston | Washington, DC | $1,099,375 |
| Peer Health Exchange Inc | Oakland, CA | $498,813 |
| San Francisco Education Fund | San Franciso, CA | $53,060 |
| Seneca Family of Agencies | Oakland, CA | $50,427 |
| Children's Day School | San Francisco, CA | $21,250 |
| San Francisco Education Fund | San Franciso, CA | $9,649 |
| Share Our Strength | Washington, DC | $5,032 |
| Peer Health Exchange Inc | Oakland, CA | $917 |
Where its money goes
69% of its giving went to organizations in California. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
Get funders for your state and cause by email
We email you funders that gave to organizations in your state and cause, up to five at a time each week and never the same one twice, from their own IRS filings. Free. The weekly email has not started yet.
Unsubscribe in one click from any email. We never sell or share your address. To match on your organization and typical grant size too, keep a private profile.
Funders that support the same organizations
These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $25,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in California.
- Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
- Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Room to Breathe Project's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.
Address of record on the latest return: 135 Main Street 850, San Francisco, CA, 94105. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.
EIN 83-2600550 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.