About Grants for Good

GFGF has pioneered collaborative fundraising models to provide financing for worthy programs in the 9-County Greater San Francisco Bay Area within its three sectors that serve its mission of assisting the Elderly, Children, Teens and Young Adults and the deserving Homeless.

The Foundation is grateful to have the dedication of Bay Area professionals that serve on its Board.

Our Objective

Grants for Good Foundation (GFG) was begun by Emanuel Kopstein and his wife Cary in 2008 as a California nonprofit for the purpose of providing existing charities valuable assistance with a) grant-writing and web site development to enable them to attract funding; b) fundraising consultation and experience enabling them to draw wider financial support; and to spur creation of fledgling charities focusing their programs in the following sectors:

• Needs of the elderly identified as needing financing to enable them to live in safe, competent and caring social environments, and for creation of new residential facilities;
• Needs of children, teens and young adults facing health and other challenges and/or experiencing crises in their development toward becoming productive members of society, whether through family disintegration, addictions, educational impairment, or physical or emotional challenges that prevent them from achieving their true potential;
• Needs of the homeless and downtrodden for housing, meals and employment to assist them in gaining a foothold into society's mainstream.

GFG will also a) assist fledgling charities meeting GFG's selection criteria to prepare grant proposals and develop web sites enabling them to raise funds for themselves; b) collaborate with new and current organizations in creating new means of raising funds to further their programs; c) solicit, screen, recommend and, through cooperative large-scale fundraising campaigns, fund grant proposals submitted by charitable agencies and organizations; d) educate the public on the charitable programs and activities of prospective grantees; and e) conduct related activities to enable accomplishment of GFG's charitable goals.

GFG will award net grants after shared expenses of fundraising up to $150,000 to nonprofit organizations offering programs and services within the specified sectors. Subsequently, GFG may adjust the award cap and expand or reduce the number of its initial beneficiaries.

The described activities advance the Foundation's purposes by improving the quality and duration of elders' lives, furthering education, self-esteem and self-sufficiency of our youth, and enabling the needy to become productive members of society.

Our Origins - Founder's Vision

Grants for Good Foundation emanates from Manny and Cary’s (a GFG advisor), experiences in their for-profit, non-denominational award-winning residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFE’s), L’Chaim House and L’Chaim House II, in San Rafael, California (www.lchaimhouse.com). The RCFE are administered by Cary.

The genesis of GFG occurred on a rainy weekend in March 2006 as Manny and Cary were preparing their first small assisted-living home for an open house. Joe and Helen, a sprightly couple in their mid-80’s, drove up, removed walkers from the trunk of their car and made their way to the front door. Joe said that although he and his wife were then living on their own, the couple was beginning to “look down the road” at residential options for their “later years”. Following a tour of the residence, Joe and Manny remained in touch, and Joe invited Manny to speak to the Marin City of Hope chapter Joe chaired on the topic of residential care options for Seniors in northern California.

Manny later saw Joe at a community event and, when Manny inquired about Helen, Joe’s eyes welled up as he told how his wife had broken her hip in a fall at home and was incapacitated. Manny understood Joe’s sadness at being unable to get out of the house and enjoy life because he and Helen could not afford much more extra help and Joe was Helen's primary caregiver. Even though this wonderful couple had progressed “down the road,” they now were stuck in the increasingly common predicament of seniors not being able to pay the high costs of residential care. The Founders that day became committed to finding ways to fund the gap in affordability for safe care of elders in a social environment.

While Grants For Good Foundation was borne of the Founders' vision that day as a means of funding the affordability gap in elder care, after reviewing our greater community’s needs in light of the current economic and charitable climate, GFG’s mission widened to manifest our commitment to create and enhance programs for other under-served groups in our midst: kids facing developmental, educational, family and other challenges, together with the needs of the homeless for a l ift to enable their reintegration with the mainstream in our society.