What We Fund
Priority Areas
The Scott Foundation believes in providing children with every opportunity to be successful, healthy, and happy individuals. Our focus areas are:
Educational Equity / Early Childhood Education
Access and enrollment for young children in preschool programs and support programs for elementary school children
Girls and Women in STEM
Encouraging girls and women to be passionate about and enter the fields of computing and technology, as well as promoting interest and careers in STEM fields more generally
Hunger
Food assistance programs for children and families
Social Impact
Organizations making a significant impact on the community
Funding Guidelines
We primarily focus our grantmaking on Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties in California. Generally, our grants range from $5,000 – $50,000 depending on the need, scope, and strength of the program. Our grants are one-year grants, with the potential for continued support based on the success of the first-year grant and the availability of funds.
We provide program support and seed funding. We will consider general operating funds if the mission of the organization is in direct alignment with our focus areas.
Restrictions
We believe in investing our philanthropic dollars close to home, therefore we only consider requests from organizations located or working in Santa Clara or San Mateo Counties. On rare occasions, we will consider requests from other San Francisco Bay Area counties if there is strong alignment with our focus areas.
We do not fund:
- Grants to individuals
- Capital campaigns
- Grants to religious organizations unless their programming is not restricted to their own membership
Apply for a Grant
Over the past few years, we have discovered that the best way for us to make an impact on our focus areas is to concentrate on sparking connections with new grantees organically, based on current partnerships, collaborations, mutual interest, and innovation. This allows us to form stronger relationships and provide more meaningful support to our grantees.
The Scott Foundation values your time. To ensure that requests are in line with our funding priorities, we are transitioning to an invite-only application process.
If requested to apply, a representative of The Scott Foundation will email you with a username and password. Once you have received this information, click here to log in to your account and complete the application and upload the required documents. Further instructions about the application will be provided upon login.