The Fleishhacker Foundation is a family-run organization with deep roots in San Francisco, focusing on grant making in the areas of arts and education for the enrichment of San Francisco residents.
The foundation is in the middle of a 3-year literacy initiative concentrated in literacy support for disadvantaged K-5 public school students who are behind or are in danger of falling behind in reading.
Recent grantees include 826 Valencia and Reading Partners — two organizations adhering closely to the goals of Fleishhacker in bringing disadvantaged students up to grade-level proficiency by the end of the third grade — with students in this grade having been shown by research to be at the critical age for gaining reading competency.
Located in the Mission District, 826 Valencia is a community-based organization that provides literacy help to about 5,000 children each year. Reading Partners is a growing agency, founded in 1999, which is focused upon providing reading clinics at the school sites of disadvantaged public schools.
Additionally, Fleishhacker’s longstanding commitment to supporting the arts in San Francisco encompasses the fields of dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts. Supporting local organizations whose work is important to the Bay Area’s reputation for artistic vitality is an integral function of the foundation.
Recent grantees whose activities help local artists create and present new works for art-minded audiences include CounterPULSE — a busy performing arts space on Mission Street off 8th street downtown; Robert Moses’ Kin — a 17-year-old modern dance company founded by Robert Moses; and Southern Exposure — a local visual art gallery whose annual activities encompass up to 500 artists.
Mortimer Fleishhacker Sr., a banker and businessman, founded the Fleishhacker Foundation in 1947. He was involved in various philanthropic activities, including the Community Chest —forerunner to the United Way — and he served as a trustee for the University of California.
His legacy of supporting the improvement of San Francisco passed through several generations of the Fleishhacker family, from the original trustees to his son Mortimer Fleishhacker Jr., and his daughter Eleanor F. Sloss, and then to the current principal trustees. It is a family tradition.
The crux of the original foundation’s value lay within a building owned by the elder Fleishhacker at the corner of Market Street and Van Ness Avenue. The building housed an automobile showroom on the ground floor and a dancehall on the upper floor. The rents generated from the building supported funds for worthy contributions.
After the death of his father in 1953, the younger Fleishhacker took over management of the foundation and established a board that made yearly contributions in the fields of art and music. He then sold the building in 1970 for $1,250,000, and then turned the money over to an investment firm to increase the funds.
Fleishhacker was the key player, with a little assistance from Cyril Magnin, in bringing the American Conservatory Theatre to San Francisco and founding the American Conservatory Theatre Foundation — which set the theatre company up in the Geary Theater, where they continue to thrive today.
In 1976, the younger Fleishhacker died, and the management of the foundation was taken over by his sister Eleanor. He also left $991,000 in his will to his wife Janet for charitable purposes, and with those funds a new foundation was created — the Janet and Mortimer Fleishhacker Foundation. Upon her death, the Janet and Mortimer Fleishhacker Foundation became the property of the Fleishhacker children — Delia Ehrlich, Mortimer III, and David — who decided to merge the two foundations in 1988 and enlarge the board.
By 1990, the foundation’s assets totaled $6.5 million, and grants were being concentrated primarily in arts and education. Today the foundation is worth approximately $13 million.
The third and fourth generations of descendants of the senior Fleishhacker are the principle trustees. This is a family foundation, and 10 of the 12 current board members are from the family.
David Fleishhacker, a retired educator, joined Fleishhacker when the two foundations merged and has been president for over a decade. He is expecting to step down from that role as soon as the next generation takes over — all three of his children are involved with the foundation.
He stated that the most rewarding aspect of his involvement is watching his children and siblings gradually assert their independence and display their skills within the foundation.
Fleishhacker spends his spare time during retirement performing research on the family’s history, reading, or going to the theatre, symphony or ballet. He also is an amateur performer.
The future of the Fleishhacker Foundation and the family is close to his heart and will be an important topic of the family’s retreat next fall — where keeping the family together, through working in philanthropy and annual reunions is a benefit of the family-centered foundation.
They get to enrich San Francisco while keeping the Fleishhacker family healthy and autonomous.
As the director of the Peace Corps in Afghanistan — where David Fleishhacker served in 1962–1964 — used to tell him, “The best policy is in enlightened self-interest.” The retired Fleishhacker declared that one should understand that it is not enough to want to do good. One should always be aware that doing good is in one’s own interest. It should not be a burden, but a life-enhancing experience. “Our foundation has tried to benefit others while enriching the lives of those who must decide on what causes should be served,” he said.
More information about the Fleishhacker Foundation can be found on their website, www.fleishhackerfoundation.org/.
