RSF Foundation’s expertise in philanthropy and grantmaking positions us well to make effective grants to address the greatest needs in the community. We work to enhance collaboration among nonprofits receiving the grants and providing the services. The Community Impact Fund pays out approximately $180,000 per year.
GET INVOLVED
We encourage donors to get involved in community grantmaking by donating to the Community Impact Fund.
This fund is an endowment established by visionary, generous donors throughout RSF Foundation’s history. These donors have seen the potential for greater impact from multiple donors giving together to address an issue or a need in the community than most individual donors could have on their own. In order to fulfill this vision and increase the effectiveness of collective giving at RSF Foundation in the present and the future, we welcome new donors to contribute to the Community Impact Fund at any time.
Donate today!
OUR 2020/2021 FUNDING AREAS
North County COVID19 Response Fund: In 2020 and 2021 the Community Impact Fund focused its efforts to address the needs seen in the community in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic. We were honored to come together with Coastal Community Foundation and Leichtag Foundation to create the North County COVID19 Response Fund. Learn more about the fund and the grants it has made into the community.
OUR 2019 FUNDING AREAS
Human Trafficking
Research indicates an underground sex economy worth $810 million a year. Human Trafficking is the world’s fastest growing form of organized crime. The CIA estimates that 45,000 to 50,000 thousand persons are trafficked each year into the United States and that many of them pass through the San Diego County – Tijuana Region. Persons are often recruited by force, deception, and coercion such as: kidnapping, internet, maid or modeling schemes, employment companies, babysitting, among others. We are committed to providing resources to organizations serving those victims of human trafficking. Grant applications are by invitation only and will be awarded during Summer 2019.
Free to Thrive works hand in hand with community organizations, law enforcement, government agencies, and law firms to ensure human trafficking survivors’ recovery and transition from survivors to thrivers.
Project LIFE (Living In Freedom from Exploitation) offers trauma informed services that include victim advocacy, crisis management, safety planning, intensive case management and therapy to survivors throughout San Diego County.
kNOw MORE! is a student-centered human trafficking awareness and prevention curriculum, for middle and high school age youth in San Diego County. The curriculum was designed to help young people recognize the red flags and vulnerabilities around trafficking and to equip them to take action.
Cyber Patrol in North San Diego County uses strategies aimed at stopping current buyers, deterring future buyers, and educating the public about the harms inherent to sex-buying and sex trafficking. BSCC is a collaborative partner of the CEASE Network dedicated to fighting the demand for illegal commercial sex throughout the U.S.
Project ROOTS is an after school intervention that aims to build the resilience of vulnerable children ages 8 – 13 through the provision of group mentoring and coping skills in a safe and trusted environment.
OUR 2018 FUNDING AREAS
Workforce Development for Transition Age Youth
We believe that providing workforce development opportunities for youth that have experienced difficult circumstances such as homelessness, foster care, and/or incarceration can have significant impact on their future. Applications for this funding are invite-only and have been requested. Below are the grant recipients for 2018.
Project Launch is a culinary apprenticeship program serving at-risk youth, veterans re-entering the workforce and the previously incarcerated. The program prepares these individuals with the technical and workforce readiness skills to become employed and self-sufficient. The program is expanding to North County.
Pathways to Financial Power is a multi-year, individualized and integrated service that helps foster youth participants achieve self-sufficiency and well-being through an annual conference and ongoing workshops on smart money management, resume building, interview skills, networking, along with opportunities for meaningful employment.
GreenBuild Tech provides students a learning strategy that will integrate meaningful community service with academic and career technical instruction. Following a semester of shop-based hands-on learning, students will participate in a service project wherein they will conduct an energy efficiency audit and subsequent green rehabilitation on a group home.
Human Trafficking
According to the FBI, San Diego is one of the 13th highest sex trafficking areas in the United States. In California, the majority of trafficking victims are American women and girls; their average age at recruitment is 15. We are committed to providing resources to organizations serving those victims of human trafficking.
kNOw MORE! is a student centered, theater-based human trafficking awareness and prevention curriculum, for middle school and high school aged youth. The curriculum is designed to help young people recognize the red flags and vulnerabilities around trafficking and equip them to take action for themselves and their peers. The program is offered at schools and strategic youth-based community organizations.
PROTECT is an anti-human trafficking education program that will be rolled out in all public schools in San Diego County. The age-appropriate curricula are delivered to students at the elementary, middle, and high school by their teachers. Using an online learning management system, PROTECT can engage educators efficiently while delivering the tools that teachers need.
Project LIFE –expansion of trafficking prevention program to double the capacity to provide prevention/early intervention for youth who demonstrate warning signs of exploitation.
PAST GRANTS
Workforce Development for Transition Age Youth
Project LIFE is an advocacy program that works with people of all ages who have been or are currently victims or survivors of Sex and Labor Trafficking identified by local law enforcement, self-identify, or the community. The program offers trainings on human trafficking to raise community awareness and to give first responders and the community the tools they need to identify signs and report.
From 2014 through 2017 our grantmaking was focused on North County Senior Connections, a program dedicated to addressing needs of vulnerable seniors in North County communities. San Diego nonprofits supported through the Community Impact Fund in recent years include, The Monarch School, Community Housing Works, R. Roger Rowe School, RSF Community Center, RSF Senior Center, Barrio Logan College Institute, Natural High, San Diego Second Chance and The Tomorrow Project.
