Room to Breathe Project
ActivePhilanthropy & VoluntarismFunds Individuals
About Room to Breathe Project
Room to Breathe Project concentrates on supporting youth-focused education, mental and peer health, and arts programming—primarily in the Bay Area but with some international/graduate education ties. Grants skew toward institutional recipients (schools, nonprofits, and foundations) and include both programmatic support for adolescent well-being and capital or institutional gifts to educational institutions. The foundation also appears to use intermediaries/donor-advised vehicles for large, flexible funding.
Focus Areas
Peer health education and adolescent mental-health programs (school-based curricula and peer educators)Support for Bay Area K–12 independent schools and school wellbeing initiatives (capital and program grants)Youth social services and in-school coaching (e.g., emotional/behavioral supports delivered in public schools)Arts education and community arts programs for young peopleGraduate/business school mental health and leadership education funding
Who They Fund
youth and young people (including students and peer educators)public school students
About Room to Breathe Project
Room to Breathe Project’s most distinctive recent pattern is its repeated support for peer health and educator well-being, alongside large flexible gifts routed through donor-advised intermediaries. In 2025, the funder gave $732,000 to the US Foundation for Queens University of Kingston for peer health education programs, and it also made a $235,480 grant to the San Francisco Education Fund for a well being program. Those grants sit within a broader portfolio that reaches youth-serving schools, mental health initiatives, and arts organizations, with institutional recipients ranging from public-school partners to independent schools and community foundations. The foundation’s grant history also shows a mix of program support and capital or infrastructure funding. It backed school-based coaching through Seneca Family of Agencies, supported the mental health fund at Stanford School of Business, and made a capital grant to San Francisco University High School. Arts education appears as another strand, with support for Illuminate the Arts and other youth-centered community organizations. Room to Breathe Project also funds individuals, and its recent grants include scholarships and designated gifts through intermediary vehicles as well as direct grants to nonprofit and education institutions.
What Room to Breathe Project Funds
Peer health education is one of the clearest threads in Room to Breathe Project’s grantmaking. A 2025 grant of $732,000 to the US Foundation for Queens University of Kingston supported peer health education programs, while a 2023 grant of $300,000 to Peer Health Exchange Inc. was for creating education opportunities for peers to share tools and resources young people need to make healthy decisions. Educator well-being is another defined area. The foundation gave $235,480 to the San Francisco Education Fund for a well being program in 2025, and in 2023 it awarded $43,250 to Children’s Day School for an educator well being stipend initiative. Youth mental health and school-based support also appear in grants to Seneca Family of Agencies, including $525,000 for UE coach roles at Drew, MXA, and John Muir and $50,428 for its unconditional education program. Arts-related support includes a $500,000 general support grant to Illuminate the Arts.
How Room to Breathe Project Gives
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$5M
Total Assets
$113.6M
Total Revenue
$54.8M
Total Expenses
$6.4M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $160 and $71K, with a median of $5K.
25th Percentile
$160
Median
$5K
75th Percentile
$71K
Geographic Reach
Regional5 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Where Room to Breathe Project Funds
Top 2 recipient countries by grant volume for Room to Breathe Project.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 66 | $7.8M | 93.0% |
| 2 | Canada |
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