The Buck Family Fund

For decades, the Buck Family Fund of the Marin Community Foundation has funded community-led initiatives that support the most marginalized Marin County residents. We fund nonprofits based in Marin and those based outside the county that bring high-quality programs and services to Marin residents. 

While grantmaking is an essential way to support Marin’s hard-working nonprofit network, we have established many other additional resources to help in different ways. 

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GRANTS

Strategic Initiatives Grants

Every year, Wells Fargo, acting in its capacity as Investment Trustee of the Buck Trust, provides MCF with a distribution from the Trust. It uses a court-ordered formula to arrive at the amount, which is typically in the range of $25 - $30 million annually. 
 
MCF’s three strategic initiatives are funded by the Buck Trust. 

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Affordable Housing & Homelessness

Every person deserves to live in a safe and secure home. However, the high cost of housing and limited supply of affordable homes in Marin forces many people into unjust housing situations or homelessness.

Man wading through a flooded street with a submerged car near San Francisco sign.
Climate Justice

Vulnerable communities face far greater risks of poorer health and economic outcomes from climate change. They need support to adapt to or recover from climate disruptions such as flooding, sea level rise, extreme heat, wildfire, and smoke.

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Community Power

Marin’s hardworking nonprofits deserve the opportunity to focus on the work at hand. With multi-year, general operating support grants, we recognize the effectiveness of these organizations and shift some of the power from the foundation to the community.

Grantees

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Legal Aid of Marin

A grantee under the Affordable Housing & Homelessness initiative, LAM recently received a grant to hire an additional eviction attorney.

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Marin Clean Energy

MCE received a grant in the Climate Justice initiative Spring cycle to expand local decarbonization workforce programs in Marin County in partnership with the LIME Foundation, Strategic Energy Innovations, Association for Energy Affordability and others.

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Play Marin!

A new MCF grantee, Play Marin! received a multi-year, general operating grant as part of the Community Power initiative.

CommunityFirst Loan Fund

 

We provide financing options to nonprofits in Marin that may not be able to access or afford traditional commercial debt. 

 

LEARN ABOUT LOAN FUNDS

Organization funds

For many small and medium sized organizations, having an Organization fund at MCF is a better alternative to a traditional banking relationship. It allows your assets to be invested in one or more of MCF’s professionally managed pools; it provides the ability for your organization to receive complex assets easily; to accept planned gifts (such as bequests); and for MCF to handle all of the administration. 

Local events

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Bread and Roses 2024 Fall Benefit Concert

Saturday, November 23rd at 5:30pm
St Joseph’s Art Society, San Francisco

Headline of We Are Such Stuff is surrounded by a headband of flowers and straw, with details about the 2024 gala
Marin Shakespeare Company's 2024 Gala

We Are Such Stuff 
Sunday, December 8, 2024, from 5 - 8pm

514 Fourth St, San Rafael

Illustration for "Our Inaugural Winter Gala" with green and gold design accented by sparkles.
Marin City Health & Wellness Center Inaugural Winter Gala

Saturday, December 7th from 6-11pm

Peacock Gap Golf Course

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BOOK A CONFERENCE SPACE

If you are a nonprofit organization based in Marin, or a current Buck Family Fund grantee, we’re happy to be able to offer you meeting rooms at no cost. MCF offers three meeting rooms of various sizes in our office located in Novato.

​Please follow the steps outlined here if you would like to take advantage of this offering:

Review Marin Community Foundation Meeting Room Reservation Program’s Policies and Procedures to find out more about our program offerings, requirements, and available rooms.

Request an on-site training and orientation by emailing reservations@marincf.org.

Visit the Meeting Rooms Reservation Calendar to login to your account and make a reservation request. If you do not recall your login information or if you are not sure if your organization already has an account, you can request information and assistance by clicking the appropriate link on the login page.

Once you have logged into your account, please select a date and time on the Reservation Calendar for your meeting. Be sure to include 30 minutes at the beginning and end of your meeting for set-up and break-down.

As a reminder, all requirements must be submitted and a training must be scheduled before a meeting reservation request is approved. If you have any questions, please reach out to Trevor Reeves at reservations@marincf.org or (415) 464-2508.

MCF looks forward to welcoming our nonprofit partners to the Hangar!

RESERVE A ROOM

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Redwood

A modern conference room with a large table, chairs, and artwork on the wall.

Oak

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Maple

GET ON OUR RADAR

Register with us

Are you a nonprofit organization looking for funding opportunities? We’d like to know about you! Register with us through our nonprofit profile form, and your organization’s information will be accessible to our entire Philanthropic Partnerships team, who work with our more than 560 donors.

REGISTER

get in touch

CONTACT US