Introduction
For Bay Area nonprofits, the Zellerbach Family Foundation is a funder to consider when a project connects arts and culture with community life. Its tracked opportunities include support for public gatherings, community-engaged artistic work, contemporary arts, organizational capacity, youth, families, immigrants, and social services.
The foundation’s geography is especially relevant to organizations serving San Francisco and the broader Bay Area, including nonprofits working in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Marin counties when their work fits the stated program focus. The currently open opportunities listed here are described as rolling or having no deadline, but that does not mean an application can be treated casually. Rolling programs may still have guidelines, eligibility requirements, review schedules, or available funding that change over time.
Zellerbach’s open opportunities include grants ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 in programs where award amounts are specified, as well as opportunities where the amount is not specified. The strongest applications will make a direct connection between the proposed work, the communities served, and the foundation’s interest in arts, community development, social services, or youth.
Before investing time in a proposal, nonprofits can review and pre-screen opportunities by geography and funding area, then confirm the current requirements on the funder’s own application page.
What Zellerbach Family Foundation Supports
The foundation profile tracks focus areas in arts and culture, community development, social services, and youth. The open opportunities suggest several ways a nonprofit might fit:
- Arts organizations and artists developing community-engaged work
- Community-based organizations hosting gatherings that strengthen connection and belonging
- Youth-serving nonprofits addressing advocacy, safety, mental health, or related systems
- Social service organizations supporting immigrants, families, and residents facing instability
- Organizations building internal capacity, such as fundraising, administration, facilities, or development functions
This range is important. A nonprofit does not necessarily need to describe itself only as an arts organization to assess fit. A community gathering may have an artistic component. A youth initiative may also address safety, belonging, or social services. An arts program may be strongest when it explains how residents participate and benefit rather than presenting the project only as a performance, exhibition, or class.
At the same time, broad alignment is not enough. Applicants should avoid forcing a connection to the foundation’s priorities. Instead, identify the specific activity being funded and explain why that activity matters to the Bay Area communities involved.
Start with the project, not the organization
A common mistake is to begin with a general description of the nonprofit: its founding story, programs, staff, and accomplishments. Those details can matter, but the first question is more focused:
What exactly would Zellerbach funding make possible?
The answer might be a fair or festival, a community-engaged artistic project, a capacity-building effort, a facilities expansion, or a development function that helps an organization sustain its work. Once the project is clear, the rest of the application can show why the organization is equipped to deliver it and why the community needs it.
The Two Broadest Open Opportunities
Two currently open opportunities are particularly relevant to a wide range of Bay Area nonprofits: Together in Community Grants and Community Arts Grants.
Together in Community Grants
The Together in Community Grants application provides $5,000 or $10,000 for fairs, festivals, and public gatherings that celebrate historically underserved communities in the Bay Area. The opportunity is listed as rolling with no deadline.
This program may be a strong fit for an organization whose event is more than a standard outreach activity. The application should show how the gathering promotes community connection and engagement, who is being centered, and what role the nonprofit plays in making the event accessible and meaningful.
Useful questions for applicants include:
- Which historically underserved community or communities does the gathering celebrate?
- What will participants experience, contribute, or take away?
- How will the event promote connection rather than simply provide information?
- Who is involved in planning and decision-making?
- What will the grant pay for directly?
- How will the organization know whether the gathering achieved its purpose?
A clear budget is especially important for a public event. Break costs into practical categories such as artist or cultural worker compensation, accessibility, space, supplies, outreach, interpretation, transportation support, or event production, as applicable to the project. The request should be proportionate to the event and explain any other committed or anticipated support without relying on unsupported assumptions.
Community Arts Grants
The Community Arts Grants guidelines and eligibility page describes grants totaling around $1 million to support individual artists and nonprofit arts and culture organizations in the Bay Area. Eligible applicants can receive $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, and the opportunity is listed as rolling with no deadline.
For arts nonprofits, the central fit question is likely to be how the work engages a community and contributes to the cultural life of the Bay Area. A strong narrative can describe the artistic vision, but it should also explain who participates, how relationships are built, and why the work is relevant to the people it serves.
Consider organizing the proposal around five elements:
- Artistic activity: What will be created, presented, taught, or developed?
- Community engagement: How will residents, participants, or audiences shape or experience the work?
- Access: What steps will make participation possible for the intended community?
- Organizational capacity: Why is the applicant prepared to carry out the project?
- Outcomes: What changes for artists, participants, audiences, or the broader community?
The Zellerbach Community Arts Grant application is also listed as open on a rolling or no-deadline basis. Its description emphasizes artistic projects that involve community engagement and enrich the cultural scene in the Bay Area. Organizations and individual artists should compare the current application instructions carefully before deciding which route best describes their work.
Specialized and Legacy Opportunities
The tracked list also includes several opportunities connected to specific organizations or specialized arts and capacity-building work. These listings should not be treated as interchangeable general grants. Their descriptions point to particular activities, organizations, or applicant types.
Pro Arts Inc.
The Pro Arts Inc. Legacy Grant supports contemporary artists and cultural workers in the East Bay, helping them remain relevant and responsive to community needs. The opportunity is listed for nonprofit organizations and individuals involved in the arts in this region. The amount is not specified, and the deadline is rolling or none.
Applicants should make the East Bay connection explicit and describe how the work responds to current community needs. A concise explanation of the artistic or cultural activity, the people involved, and the intended benefit will be more useful than a broad statement about supporting the arts.
Center for New Music
The Center for New Music Legacy Grant supports initiatives that foster collaboration and growth in contemporary music. Artists and organizations involved in new music can apply, with the amount not specified and the opportunity listed as rolling or none.
A proposal should clarify the collaborative structure: who is working together, what will be developed or presented, and how the initiative contributes to growth in contemporary music. If the project includes community participation, explain that role without obscuring the core musical purpose.
Dancers’ Group
The Dancers’ Group Legacy Grant supports a pilot program to help emerging dance companies in the Bay Area improve fundraising skills and establish a stable donor base. Eligible applicants are emerging dance companies located in the Bay Area. The amount is not specified, and the opportunity is listed as rolling or none.
This is a useful reminder that foundation support may address organizational infrastructure, not only public programming. A dance company applying should describe its current fundraising challenge, the skills or systems the pilot will develop, and how it will assess progress toward a more stable donor base.
Community Music Center
The Community Music Center Legacy Grant will help the Community Music Center expand its facilities and enhance the quality of music programs for students of all ages. The opportunity is open to the Community Music Center as part of its capital campaign efforts. The amount is not specified, and the listing is rolling or none.
Because this opportunity is organization-specific and connected to a capital campaign, other applicants should not assume it represents a general facilities grant. However, it illustrates the importance of distinguishing program support, capacity building, and capital needs when researching funder fit.
Social Services, Youth, and Belonging
Zellerbach’s open listings also include opportunities connected to social services, youth, families, immigrants, and community safety. For nonprofits outside the traditional arts field, these grants may be relevant when the organization’s work aligns closely with the stated community or systems focus.
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant
The East Bay Sanctuary Covenant Legacy Grant funds capacity-building efforts for East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, which provides services to low-income asylum seekers seeking asylum and integration into their communities. The opportunity is open to the organization as it navigates challenges related to the impending demolition of its building. The amount is not specified, and the listing is rolling or none.
The description highlights a specific organization and situation. It should therefore be read as an organization-specific opportunity rather than a general immigration-services grant. For other nonprofits, the broader lesson is to distinguish between a funder’s general focus area and a tracked opportunity designed for a named organization.
Community Works West
The Community Works West Legacy Grant funds the hiring of a new development director to enhance administrative capacity. The organization addresses the impacts of incarceration and violence through youth-led advocacy. The opportunity is open to nonprofits focused on these issues, with the amount not specified and the listing rolling or none.
For an organization considering similar capacity-building support, the application logic is straightforward: identify the administrative constraint, explain how the proposed role will improve organizational performance, and connect that improvement to better service or advocacy outcomes. A request for a position should include a realistic explanation of responsibilities, expected gains, and how the organization will sustain the function.
Safety and Belonging Grants
The Safety and Belonging Grants information describes funding for community-based initiatives addressing the needs of residents, particularly youth and families, including immigrants. Eligible applicants include organizations working to improve justice, child welfare, mental health, safety net, and immigration systems at local and state levels. The amount is not specified, and the opportunity is listed as rolling or none.
This opportunity may be relevant to nonprofits whose work is systems-oriented rather than limited to a single direct-service program. Applicants should define the system challenge, identify the residents affected, and explain the organization’s role in improving access, safety, justice, or belonging.
Avoid presenting a long list of unrelated services. A focused application might center on one population and one system challenge, then show how the proposed work will produce practical improvements for youth, families, immigrants, or other residents.
How to Assess Your Fit Before Applying
A rolling opportunity still requires a disciplined review. Before drafting, create a one-page fit assessment with the following information:
- Applicant type: nonprofit, individual artist, emerging dance company, or another eligible category
- Geography: where the organization and proposed work are located, including the relevant Bay Area county
- Primary focus: arts and culture, community development, social services, or youth
- Project type: event, artistic project, capacity building, facilities, fundraising, or systems work
- Community served: specific residents, participants, artists, families, youth, or cultural communities
- Request amount: $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, or an amount appropriate to an opportunity where no amount is specified
- Evidence of readiness: staff capacity, partnerships, prior work, budget, and evaluation plan
Your organization readiness profile can help identify eligibility and documentation gaps before they slow down an application. Use it to confirm basic organizational information, check whether your profile supports the opportunity, and flag areas that need attention.
Next, research the funder’s pattern of support. Look for the kinds of organizations, projects, communities, and outcomes reflected in the opportunity descriptions. A funder directory and award-history view can help your team compare fit and analyze past awardees where that information is available.
The goal is not to imitate another applicant. It is to understand the level of specificity expected and to determine whether your proposal belongs in the same conversation.
Building a Strong Zellerbach Proposal
Lead with a specific request
The opening paragraph should identify the project and the amount requested. For example, an applicant might state that it seeks support for a community gathering, community-engaged arts project, fundraising capacity pilot, or youth and family initiative. The reader should not have to infer the request from several paragraphs of organizational history.
Show community participation
For arts and community grants, describe how the people affected by the work participate. Are they planners, artists, performers, students, audience members, advisors, or partners? Explain what participation looks like in practice and how the organization will make decisions responsive to community needs.
Connect activities to outcomes
Use a simple chain:
- Activity: what the grant will support
- Participants: who will take part
- Immediate result: what they will experience, learn, create, or access
- Longer-term value: how the work strengthens culture, connection, safety, belonging, advocacy, or organizational sustainability
Keep outcomes measurable where possible, but do not reduce meaningful community work to attendance counts alone. Pair quantitative measures with a plan to gather feedback, document participation, or learn from community partners.
Make the budget readable
A reviewer should be able to see how the request relates to the work. Separate direct project costs from organizational contributions and other support. If the request is for capacity building, show how the investment changes the organization’s ability to deliver its mission. If the request supports an event, connect each major expense to access, participation, production, or community engagement.
Treat rolling deadlines as an active pipeline
With opportunities listed as rolling or having no deadline, your team needs an internal deadline. Set a target submission date, assign ownership, and build in time for review. Keep the opportunity in a shared pipeline rather than assuming there will always be time later.
You can set up deadline reminders and recurring grant alerts so your team is notified when an opportunity’s status or guidance changes. A deadline calendar can also help coordinate board review, budget approval, letters, attachments, and final submission.
A Practical 30-Day Work Plan
A small development team can move from research to submission with a structured month-long process.
Days 1–5: Confirm fit
Review the relevant program description and current guidelines. Confirm geography, applicant type, project category, and request amount. Decide whether the project is a better match for Together in Community Grants, Community Arts Grants, the Zellerbach Community Arts Grant, Safety and Belonging Grants, or one of the specialized listings.
Days 6–10: Gather evidence
Collect a concise project description, organizational background, budget, community information, leadership details, and examples of relevant work. Ask program staff or community partners to verify that the narrative reflects how the work is actually experienced.
Days 11–18: Draft the core narrative
Write the need, project, community engagement, outcomes, and budget justification. Keep the request focused. If the opportunity is organization-specific, do not generalize it into a broader program that the listing does not describe.
For teams that need a starting point, an LOI and proposal drafting workspace can help organize the narrative and turn guidelines into a working outline. The final language should remain specific to your organization and grounded in your own evidence.
Days 19–24: Review for alignment
Ask a reviewer who was not involved in drafting to answer three questions:
- What is this organization asking Zellerbach to support?
- Which community will benefit, and how?
- Why is this a strong fit for the selected opportunity?
If the answers are unclear, revise the opening and project description before polishing prose.
Days 25–30: Finalize and submit
Check the application against the current instructions, confirm attachments, review the budget, and submit through the appropriate application page. Save a copy of the final materials and record the submission date, request amount, and follow-up tasks in your grants pipeline.
Conclusion: Make the Connection Clear
The Zellerbach Family Foundation’s open opportunities give Bay Area nonprofits several possible entry points: public gatherings that celebrate historically underserved communities, community-engaged arts projects, contemporary arts and music initiatives, dance fundraising capacity, facilities expansion, youth-led advocacy, and work supporting safety and belonging.
The key is specificity. Match the project to the opportunity, name the community involved, explain the role of arts or community development where relevant, and show how the requested support will produce a practical result. For organizations in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, or Marin counties, that disciplined fit review can help determine whether a Zellerbach opportunity belongs in the active grant pipeline.
Start by checking your nonprofit’s readiness and eligibility gaps, then review the current Zellerbach application instructions before preparing a focused request.