Chan Zuckerberg Community Fund

Chan Zuckerberg Community Fund supports nonprofit organizations that are helping build a thriving San Mateo County, where everyone has the opportunity to prosper. The CZ Community Fund is an annual grantmaking program for local organizations to have access to the resources they need to advance their work.

Now in its tenth grantmaking cycle, the CZ Community Fund supports organizations that provide direct services across seven priority areas: affordable housing, homelessness, food security, workforce development, health & wellbeing, education and youth, and arts and culture.

About the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges — from curing or preventing disease to improving education and addressing the needs of our local communities. We provide the operational support across our areas of work. For more information, please visit chanzuckerberg.com

About Family Giving
Family Giving’s  place-based portfolios support and uplift the neighborhoods where we live and work. In San Mateo County, we aim to be a valued community partner working to strengthen our local ecosystem through community affairs grants, the CZ Community Fund, the Community Space and responsive giving.

Organizations working in San Mateo County are eligible for the Community Fund.
The CZ Community Fund request for applications (RFA) opens on May 5, 2026, at 8 a.m. PT and closes on June 5, 2026, at 5 p.m. PT. Selected organizations will join the CZ Community Fund grant partner cohort and will receive a two-year unrestricted or project grant of up to $200,000.

The CZ Community Fund hosts an open request for applications and was established by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, who care deeply about San Mateo County and giving back to the communities where they live and work. The CZ Community Fund is seeking to fund organizations providing direct services within San Mateo County in the following priority areas:

• Affordable Housing
• Homelessness
• Food Security
• Workforce Development
• Health & Wellbeing
• Education and Youth
• Arts and Culture

All proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Response to Community: Preference will be given to organizations whose work supports the economic and community well-being within San Mateo County.
• Geography: Organizations working in communities across San Mateo County.
• Community Engagement: Preference will be given to organizations that (1) center the voices of those within their local communities, and (2) demonstrate a long-term commitment and connection to the communities they serve.
• Intended Impact(s): Preference will be given to organizations that (1) demonstrate a clear and nuanced analysis of issue(s) and opportunities locally; (2) clearly outline their approach; (3) define what short, medium, and long-term success looks like; and (4) identify potential challenges and possible solutions for those challenges.
• Leadership, Staff, and Governance: Preference will be given to organizations whose leadership, staff, and governance (1) have deep experience in the communities supported; and (2) have experience and expertise that makes them well-suited to support the chosen communities.
• Collaboration: Preference will be given to organizations that demonstrate a collaborative spirit through (1) an awareness of potential overlapping and complementary efforts among other nonprofit partners; (2) partnerships to increase impact, where appropriate; and (3) an understanding of local community context and the desire and ability to leverage existing community relationships and/or build new ones.

Organizations interested in funding through the CZ Community Fund must meet the following criteria:

• Tax Status: Organizations must be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; or have a valid fiscal agent or sponsor that is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Valid documentation must be submitted with your proposal by the proposal deadline of June 5, 2026, at 5 p.m. PT. 
• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Grantee Status: Organizations with grants from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative that end on or before December 31, 2026, are eligible to apply for funding from the CZ Community Fund. Organizations with grants from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative that extend beyond December 31, 2026, are not eligible to apply for funding from the CZ Community Fund. Please reach out with any questions. In addition, the CZ Community Fund is available only for nonprofit partners that did not receive funding support during last year’s CZ Community Fund RFA.
• Local School Districts, School Foundations and Government Agencies: CZI supports local school districts and school foundations in various ways, but not through the CZ Community Fund. We do accept applications from organizations working in, or collaborating with local school districts.

Applications must be submitted online through the SurveyMonkey Apply portal at apply.chanzuckerberg-com-preprod.go-vip.co. All proposals must be completed and submitted no later than Friday, June 5, 2026, at 5 p.m. PT.

All applications will be reviewed by an application review panel consisting of CZI employees. Applications will be evaluated based on the eligibility requirements and fund criteria. Recipients will be notified by Fall 2026, with grants to be disbursed soon after.

To download an English version of the CZ Community Fund application, please click here. Please note, all applications must be submitted through the SurveyMonkey Apply portal at apply.chanzuckerberg.com.

Para obtener la versión de la solicitud del CZ Community Fund en español, haga click aquí. Tenga en cuenta que todas las solicitudes deben enviarse a través del portal de SurveyMonkey Apply en apply.chanzuckerberg.com.

Community Fund Technical Assistance

If you need additional assistance, please contact community@chanzuckerberg.com with the subject line “Community Fund Application Technical Assistance.”

All submitted applications will be kept confidential, except as necessary for evaluation or to comply with any applicable laws. All applications submitted through the shared portal will be shared with a team of reviewers including CZI employees, selected at the sole discretion of CZI. CZI will also aggregate and anonymize data and learnings from the RFA to inform future program development, which may be shared externally.

From time to time, our external partners, specifically other regional funders, ask for information about CZ Community Fund applicants. You will have the option to “opt-in” to sharing your application in the SurveyMonkey Apply portal.

Q: What if I already have a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative? Can I still submit a proposal to the CZ Community Fund? 

Yes! We encourage all current and past grant partners to consider submitting a proposal. To be eligible, any current grants to your organization from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative must end by December 31, 2026. Note: If you have a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative that is less than $20,000, you do not need to meet this requirement.

Local organizations that received funding support during last year’s (2025) CZ Community Fund grantmaking cycle will not qualify for funding. If you have any questions or concerns about eligibility, please contact community@chanzuckerberg.com.

Q: Can organizations that do not serve San Mateo County apply?

No. This CZ Community Fund request for application (RFA) is available only to organizations supporting communities in San Mateo County.

Q: Am I able to save my application and return to it at a later date?

You can safely save and resume your proposal and upload your budget documents any time before the proposal deadline. You will also be able to check the status of your proposal once it has been successfully submitted. Due to the anticipated high volume, we will not be able to follow up on incomplete or inaccurate information. Please be sure that your proposal is complete prior to submission.

Upon submission of your proposal, you will receive an email confirming receipt. Please let us know if you did not get a confirmation email by emailing us at community@chanzuckerberg.com with the subject line “Missing Email Confirmation.”

Q: How will CZI decide between making unrestricted and project grants? 

The CZ Community Fund provides unrestricted, general operating support or project support grants  to help partner organizations advance their missions.

We do anticipate instances where project support—funding restricted to specific activities—will be more appropriate. Examples include:

• A national or statewide organization that works in San Mateo County.
• Organizations that offer a broad array of activities and services that fall beyond the scope of the CZ Community Fund.
• Upon specific request of the organization

CZI will review applications individually and make these specific funding decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Q: What are the budget guidelines? What documentation do I need to submit? 

To make decisions about financial sustainability, we ask that you provide a clear and current budget for your organization and a fiscal sponsor letter. We do not require a specific format for these budget document(s); however, if you need a budget template, please contact us directly at community@chanzuckerberg.com.

Q: Is the CZ Community Fund the only CZI funding available to community organizations in the Bay Area?

While the CZ Community Fund is currently our only open RFA for community organizations in the Bay Area, it is just one component of CZI’s broader commitment to San Mateo County and the larger San Francisco Bay Area. CZI funds local and regional solutions, and convenes and connects organizations and leaders to share knowledge and identify collaborative responses to issues facing the community.

Q: How do I give feedback on the application process? 

Once you have completed the application, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to an experience survey. We welcome your feedback on the application process and experience.

Q: Why are CZ Community Fund grants structured as two-year grants?

The structure of these grants stems from feedback received from partners in the local nonprofit ecosystem. Multi-year grants can provide partners with greater flexibility, so they can respond to crises, build capacity, and strengthen outcomes.

Q: How was the community involved in the creation of the CZ Community Fund? 

Conversations with local leaders and community members helped inform the creation of CZ’s Community Fund. Feedback from local nonprofit organizations, including a steering committee made up of leaders representing local organizations, advised on the purpose, process, and structure of the CZ Community Fund.

CZI continues to engage the community in its local work, convening community members and local organizations to support the CZ Community Fund goals and strengthen all community-focused programming.

Q: How often will you open RFAs and give grants from the CZ Community Fund?

The CZ Community Fund is an annual funding opportunity. This will be the tenth cycle for the CZ Community Fund.

Q: How much is CZI committing to this year’s CZ Community Fund?

The CZ Community Fund will make grants to nonprofits serving San Mateo County. Selected organizations will receive two-year unrestricted or project grants ranging up to $200,000.

Q. How does the review panel work?

The review panel, composed of CZI employees, will help inform CZ Community Fund funding decisions.

Q. Will CZI continue recruiting community members for the Community Fund Review Panel?

Moving forward, CZI will no longer recruit community members to serve on the CZ Community Fund Review Panel. Instead, we will continue to engage CZI employees in the review process. We deeply appreciate the time, dedication, and lived experience that community members have brought to this process. Their contributions have been invaluable in shaping our grantmaking approach and ensuring that funding decisions reflect the needs and perspectives of the communities we aim to support. We are grateful for their partnership and the insights they have shared over the years.

Q. Does CZI have a new funding strategy?

When CZI was founded, we worked on a wide range of issues ranging from science and education research to supporting our local communities, and also policy and social advocacy. As we’ve focused on science, we’ve wound down our social advocacy funding. This includes our previous work on immigration reform, criminal justice reform, and our racial equity grantmaking.

If you have specific questions about your organizations’ eligibility, please reach out to us at community@chanzuckerberg.com.