Furthur Foundation

For nearly 20 years, the Furthur Foundation has been giving money to progressive groups working on environmental and social change issues in the Bay Area and around the world.

We focus on smart-thinking groups that are small and close to their target---groups that know their business, share our politics, and spend the money carefully, without a lot of bells and whistles, overhead, and wasted effort.

Our working capital is a series of donations from Bobby Weir, given over a decade ago, and donations from good and like-minded people that stream in throughout the year. This allows the Board to grant anywhere from 30 to 60 thousand dollars a year.

Our braintrust on the Board of Directors is a great group of far-sighted volunteers, including Carolyn Garcia: Grateful Dead family member since the beginning; Andre Carothers, former Board member of Greenpeace USA and founder of the Rockwood Leadership Program; Chris Desser, environmentalist and lawyer; and of course, Bob Weir, musician, philanthropist and hot sauce vender.

The foundation is managed and directed by Andre Carothers in Berkeley. The financial and accounting side of the foundation is overseen by a team of generous and talented people, including financial adviser (and Board member) Ray Palmarini, an accounting team led by Tim Jorstad, and attorney Jeffrey Ehlenbach.

Thanks to everyone for the donations and good work that will help the foundation do even more for the earth and its inhabitants.

Below you will information on applying for a grant or supporting the Furthur Foundation. There is also a list of past Grantees.

For more information, contact us. The information is at the bottom of the page.

Spring Tour with The Dead

Great Seats for Great Causes

The Furthur Foundation, the Rex Foundation and Unbroken Chain Foundation have come together with the Dead to continue the long-standing tradition of community service that has always been a hallmark of the Grateful Dead and the Deadhead community.

In the coming weeks we will be auctioning tickets for the best seats in the house to all shows on the ‘09 tour.

Each ticket sold will include a poster signed by all the band members, to be picked up at the show when you get there!

The Dead will also be auctioning some special memorabilia, so keep checking in to see how you can help others while bidding.
Tickets will be auctioned by Charity Folks.

Please watch for our announcements and more details in the usual places, including the Dead’s own list, this website, and the sites of our allied foundations And while you’re waiting, check out our websites to see what causes and organizations we support.

And be sure to check dead.net for the latest tour, band and community information.

Thank you and see you down the road!

Sincerely,
Bobby, Ray, Mountain Girl, Andre, Chris, Lorne, Jeffrey, Tim, and all your friends at the Furthur Foundation

Grant Information and Process

Thanks for your interest in the Furthur Foundation. Our executive director and our board of directors meet once a year, generally in the spring, to consider and select worthy causes. There is no deadline for applications.

Nearly all of our grants are between $1,000 and $5,000. This is not much money, and we therefore do not ask for much work from you.

The process goes like this:

Email with a one-paragraph query note to see if your project is appropriate for the foundation. We will try to get back to you as soon as possible.
If we respond positively, we will send another email with a request for certain details about the work.
If the proposal is accepted for consideration, we will fold it into a docket that is considered at our annual meeting
We send out the checks after the annual meeting

FYI, We tend to support smaller, grassroots and community-based organizations whose orientation is to apply the money directly toward realizing their goals.

These range from providing food and shelter to planting trees, from children's summer recreation programs to activist training camps, from educating about endangered plants to preserving the culture of endangered peoples.

What we do fund:: environmental issues, in particular the loss of habitat;; the poor, the homeless, and children in the Bay Area, with a special emphasis on personal development and education to provide them with the knowledge they'll need to bettedms that address the core of our community's ability to work together to make real change, regardless of the issue.
What we do not fund:: Individuals; Organizations without 501-(c)(3) status; Organizations with budgets over $1 million

Past Grantees

A partial list of previous grantees can be found by clicking here.

Contribute to the Furthur Foundation.

The Furthur Foundation relies in part on tax-deductible donations from private contributors. Email for more information.

Here's how to reach us.

Furthur Foundation
1710 Rose Street
Berkeley CA 94703