Tides Foundation
The Tides Foundation is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Drummond Pike to streamline philanthropic support for progressive causes through donor-advised funds and fiscal sponsorship services.[1][2] It manages over $1.4 billion in assets, facilitating grants to social justice initiatives, environmental advocacy, and civic engagement efforts by allowing donors to recommend distributions anonymously, often to fiscally sponsored projects that lack independent nonprofit status.[3][4] As part of the broader Tides Network, it has distributed billions in funding since inception, prioritizing equity and power-shifting to marginalized groups, though its structure has drawn criticism for enabling opaque "dark money" flows to politically partisan organizations, including those involved in anti-energy projects and campus protests.[5][6][7]
Founding and Early Development
Establishment in 1976
The Tides Foundation was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in San Francisco, California, on January 1, 1976, by Drummond Pike, who served as its founding president and chief executive until 2010.[6] Prior to establishing Tides, Pike had coordinated anti-war efforts as national coordinator for the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam in 1970 and then directed the Shalan Foundation from 1973 to 1976, a family foundation focused on progressive environmentalism and economic restructuring.[8] [9] Pike co-founded the organization with Jane Bagley Lehman, an heir to the Reynolds tobacco fortune through her mother, who provided seed capital and chaired the board until her death in 1988.[10] [11] Lehman, an unconventional philanthropist committed to social justice, sought mechanisms to direct family wealth toward emerging progressive initiatives without direct involvement.[10] The founding structure drew inspiration from community foundations but adapted the donor-advised fund model to streamline grantmaking for donors supporting left-leaning causes, enabling anonymity and fiscal efficiency in a nascent ecosystem for such philanthropy.[11] [12] From inception, Tides operated as a centralized pass-through entity, receiving contributions and disbursing them to grantees vetted for alignment with progressive priorities, a model Pike designed to reduce administrative burdens on small donors and activists while amplifying impact on underrepresented movements.[6] Early operations were modest, with initial assets under $1 million, reflecting Pike's intent to build a scalable infrastructure amid limited institutional support for non-establishment philanthropy in the post-Vietnam era.[11] This framework addressed a perceived gap in traditional foundations, which Pike viewed as overly conservative or bureaucratic, prioritizing instead rapid-response funding for social change efforts.[12]Initial Focus on Environmental and Social Causes
The Tides Foundation was founded in 1976 by Drummond Pike in San Francisco as a mechanism to channel anonymous donor contributions primarily to environmental organizations and community-based groups pursuing social change.[13][14] Pike, drawing from his prior role as executive director of the Shalan Foundation—which emphasized economic restructuring and environmental protection—designed Tides to enable philanthropists to support grassroots advocacy without public attribution, starting with aid to a New Mexico couple funding local environmental efforts.[9][14] This donor-advised fund model prioritized progressive causes, reflecting Pike's background in anti-war activism and policy advocacy during the 1970s.[11] In its formative years through the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tides directed resources toward environmental protection initiatives, including support for organizations combating pollution, resource exploitation, and habitat loss, often aligning with emerging progressive networks skeptical of corporate and governmental environmental policies.[15] Social causes received parallel emphasis, with early funding facilitating community organizing around equity, public interest litigation, and anti-poverty efforts, though specific grant details from this period remain limited due to the emphasis on donor anonymity.[13] By 1980, Tides had expanded involvement in social advocacy by co-founding People for the American Way, an organization dedicated to countering perceived threats to civil liberties and promoting secular values.[16] This dual focus on environmental and social domains established Tides as an incubator for left-leaning projects, enabling rapid scaling of grants without the administrative burdens typically faced by small nonprofits.[11] While the foundation's opaque structure has drawn scrutiny for potentially obscuring donor intentions, its initial operations demonstrably amplified under-resourced campaigns in these areas, setting precedents for fiscal sponsorship in progressive philanthropy.[15] Annual grant volumes started modestly, growing from seed contributions to multimillion-dollar distributions by the 1990s, underscoring the model's efficacy in sustaining long-term advocacy.[7]Organizational Structure and Operations
Donor-Advised Funds and Fiscal Sponsorship Model
The Tides Foundation operates donor-advised funds (DAFs) as a core mechanism for grantmaking, holding over 400 such funds that enable donors to contribute assets for immediate tax deductions while retaining advisory privileges over distributions.[17] Contributors to these DAFs receive tax benefits upfront, unlike private foundations which require annual minimum distributions, and can recommend grants to qualified 501(c)(3) organizations or fiscally sponsored projects at their discretion, with Tides handling administrative compliance and due diligence.[18] This structure supports flexible, donor-directed philanthropy focused on social justice initiatives, allowing timing of payouts to align with strategic opportunities rather than rigid schedules.[19] Complementing DAFs, the Tides Foundation employs fiscal sponsorship, particularly Model C single-entity funds (SEFs), to partner with organizations lacking independent 501(c)(3) status.[20] Under this model, Tides assumes legal and fiscal responsibility for the sponsored entity, treating it as an internal program while providing back-office support such as payroll, auditing, and grant compliance, in exchange for the sponsored group adhering to Tides' oversight and mission alignment.[21] Donors via DAFs can then recommend grants to these sponsored projects, effectively channeling funds to emerging or niche efforts without the sponsored entities needing to navigate separate IRS recognition, which streamlines operations but centralizes control within Tides' framework.[4] The integrated DAF and fiscal sponsorship model facilitates scaled philanthropy by aggregating donor capital and distributing it through Tides' network, including to Tides Center-sponsored initiatives that emphasize nonprofit acceleration and project incubation.[22] This approach has enabled Tides to manage billions in assets and grants, though it has drawn scrutiny for potentially obscuring donor identities in public records, as grants appear under Tides' name rather than revealing underlying advisors.[23] Tides maintains variance power over funds, allowing ultimate discretion in distributions to ensure charitable purposes, which underscores its role as an intermediary rather than a mere pass-through.[24]Components of the Tides Network
The Tides Network operates through five interconnected legal entities, each specializing in distinct aspects of philanthropy, fiscal management, and advocacy to facilitate resource allocation toward social justice initiatives. These entities share administrative support, leadership, and operational infrastructure, enabling efficient scaling of funding and project incubation while maintaining separate legal statuses.[25] Tides Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, serves as the core grantmaking arm, managing over 400 donor-advised funds, single-entity funds, and collective action funds that direct resources to grantees focused on equity, human rights, environmental sustainability, and related causes. It provides strategic advisory services to donors and partners with individual, family, and institutional funders to expedite capital flow to social change organizations.[25][26] Tides Center, also a 501(c)(3), functions primarily as a fiscal sponsor for emerging social ventures and nonprofits, offering comprehensive back-office services including financial management, HR, legal compliance, insurance, governance support, and grant administration. This model allows sponsored projects to operate under Tides Center's nonprofit umbrella without forming independent entities, with fees typically ranging from 8% to 15% of funding received, higher for government grants due to added auditing requirements; it has sponsored hundreds of initiatives since its inception in 1996 as a spin-off from the Tides Foundation's incubation activities.[25][27][28] Tides Advocacy, operating as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, concentrates on political and policy advocacy, enabling unrestricted funding for lobbying, community mobilization, and power-building efforts that align with progressive priorities such as policy reform and electoral influence. Unlike its 501(c)(3) counterparts, it can engage directly in partisan activities within legal limits, serving as a vehicle for donors seeking impact beyond charitable grantmaking.[25][29] Tides Network acts as the central coordinating body or "home office," employing most staff to deliver shared services like executive leadership, human resources, accounting, legal compliance, communications, and administrative functions across the other entities, often in exchange for service fees. It oversees operations, board appointments, and strategic alignment to ensure cohesive support for the network's mission.[25][30] Tides Inc. and Tides Two Rivers Fund, grouped under Tides Converge, manage physical infrastructure including collaborative workspaces in San Francisco and New York City tailored for social justice organizations, providing office facilities, asset management, and value-added services to nonprofit tenants to enhance their operational efficiency and mission fulfillment. The Two Rivers Fund specifically holds assets to support these real estate operations and related charitable activities.[25]Financial Scale and Donors
Major Contributors and Funding Sources
The Tides Foundation primarily receives funding through its donor-advised fund model, which aggregates contributions from individuals, families, private foundations, corporations, and other entities, often with provisions for donor anonymity. In fiscal year 2023, the organization reported total contributions of $693,087,260, enabling it to distribute grants across its network.[31] This structure, while facilitating flexible philanthropy, has drawn scrutiny for obscuring the ultimate sources of funds channeled to advocacy groups.[6] Among identifiable major contributors, left-leaning grantmaking foundations predominate. The Open Society Foundations, funded by George Soros, provided $25.8 million to the Tides Foundation between 2020 and 2021, supporting various initiatives within the Tides network.[32] Additional contributions from the Open Society Foundations totaled $17.8 million from 2022 to 2023.[6] The Ford Foundation has been a recurring donor, though specific recent amounts remain undisclosed in public filings; historical patterns indicate multimillion-dollar support aligned with progressive priorities.[33] Other significant funders include the Rockefeller Foundation ($50 million from 2022-2023), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ($30 million from 2022-2023), and the Democracy Fund of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, which has seeded Tides operations alongside Soros-linked entities.[6] The Silicon Valley Community Foundation contributed $7.5 million in 2019, reflecting tech-sector involvement in Tides' ecosystem.[6] Corporate and family philanthropy, such as from Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies ($10 million since 2020), further bolsters inflows, often routed through fiscal sponsorships.[6] Government grants, while present historically (e.g., $3.35 million from the EPA in 1997-2001), constitute a minor fraction compared to private sources.[6] Overall, these contributions underscore Tides' role as a conduit for large-scale, ideologically aligned funding, with total inflows reaching $1.2 billion from 2022 to 2023 across its primary donors.[6]Asset Growth and Annual Grantmaking Volumes
The Tides Foundation's total assets grew substantially from $156.7 million in 2011 to a peak of $1.23 billion in 2021, driven by large contributions to its donor-advised funds, before contracting to $646.1 million by 2023 amid elevated outflows and variable donor inflows.[34] This expansion reflects the foundation's role in channeling philanthropic capital, with assets fluctuating based on the timing of deposits and distributions typical of donor-advised fund operations.[34] Annual grantmaking, captured primarily within reported expenses, has scaled in tandem, rising from $106 million in 2011 to $711.6 million in 2023, with grants constituting the bulk of expenditures.[34] In 2023 alone, the foundation distributed $690.3 million in grants through its donor-advised and other funds.[23] [35] The following table summarizes key financial metrics for select years, illustrating the trajectory:| Year | Total Assets (millions) | Expenses (millions, primarily grants) |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 156.7 | 106.0 |
| 2015 | 187.0 | 166.0 |
| 2019 | 531.4 | 475.3 |
| 2020 | 1,008.6 | 619.0 |
| 2021 | 1,232.2 | 614.8 |
| 2023 | 646.1 | 711.6 |