Sonoma County Community Foundation

About Sonoma County Community Foundation

Sonoma County Community Foundation’s grantmaking is shaped by a local recovery-and-resilience lens: large gifts support disaster recovery, housing, food security, education, and community infrastructure across Sonoma County. A 2025 grant of $1,877,650 to Pepperwood Foundation was for general support, and the foundation also awarded $1,400,000 to Alliance Redwoods Conference Grounds for general support. Those kinds of gifts sit alongside recurring investments in institutions that anchor county life, including the Charles M Schulz Museum & Research Center, which received $1,505,000 in 2023 for general operating support and another $750,000 in 2025 for general support. The foundation funds through a public charity and community foundation structure, with a mix of program-specific grant programs and unrestricted support. Its stated work includes arts and culture, education, environment, health and human services, basic human needs, housing and homelessness, disaster resilience and recovery, mental health, foster youth, and animal welfare. Recent grants also show attention to countywide capacity: school scholarships, environmental education pathways, and support for organizations serving undocumented community members, seniors, and people facing food insecurity.

What Sonoma County Community Foundation Funds

In education, Sonoma County Community Foundation supports both scholarships and K–14 enrichment. It gave $484,738 to 10000 Degrees for scholarships in 2023–2024 and $400,000 to Roseland Charter School for Bridge and Gaining Ground scholarships. Environmental education is another clear thread: Pepperwood Foundation received $498,800 for the Environmental Education Pathways Initiative, and Landpaths received $335,167 for the same initiative. The foundation also backs basic-needs infrastructure. Redwood Empire Food Bank received $346,150 to provide food assistance and general operating support, while another grant of $336,600 targeted increasing food insecurity with emergency food programming. Community health appears through Aliados Health, which received $392,316 for grants to community health centers and general operating support, and through UCSF Foundation, which received $407,500 for neurology research on Alzheimer’s disease treatments and cures.

How Sonoma County Community Foundation Gives