Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund

The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund is a private foundation established in 1953 by Evelyn D. Haas and Walter A. Haas, Jr. As of 2011, the Fund has awarded nearly $390 million in grants.

Based in San Francisco, California, the Haas, Jr. Fund supports nonprofit organizations and initiatives in five main program areas: Immigrant Rights and Integration; Gay and Lesbian Rights; Education Opportunities; Nonprofit Leadership; and Community Partnerships and Initiatives.

The foundation is known in the San Francisco Bay Area for its support for institutions such as UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,^[1] and for its involvement in local efforts such as the San Francisco Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund and the transformation of Crissy Field from a military base to an urban national park.^[2]

History

Walter A. Haas, Jr.’s great-great-uncle Levi Strauss, an immigrant from Bavaria, arrived in San Francisco in 1853 and started a dry-goods house that grew into a prosperous business and eventually became Levi Strauss & Co. A donor to organizations serving children and the poor, as well as UC Berkeley, Strauss was credited in a 1902 obituary for his “numberless un-ostentatious acts of charity in which neither race nor creed were recognized.”^[3]

Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. started the Haas, Jr. Fund while Walter was working as an executive at Levi Strauss & Co. In its mission statement, the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund describes its goal “to fulfill (its) founders’ vision of a just and caring society where all people are able to live, work and raise their families with dignity.”^[4]

Evelyn and Walter’s three children are trustees of the Fund’s Board: Walter J. Haas is Chair, Robert D. Haas is Treasurer, and Betsy Haas Eisenhardt is Secretary.

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