Overview
The dynamics of San Antonio, Texas, one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, with one of the highest percentages of Latino residents outside of Puerto Rico, have led to unique opportunities and challenges for the San Antonio Area Foundation. Particularly after its own exponential growth in the mid-2010s, the Area Foundation took time to address racial equity issues with its board members, and how to change its grantmaking structure and strategy so that the people and communities that needed it most could benefit from the Foundation’s support.
The San Antonio Area Foundation began in 1964 through a $100,000 honorarium gift from Manny Goldstein. The Foundation continued to grow through the next 50 years, but the major financial turning point came in 2015, when real estate and cinema magnate John L. Santikos left most of his estate, valued at $605 million, to the Area Foundation, transforming it into one of largest community foundations in the country. By 2021, the San Antonio Area Foundation had $1.1 billion in total assets, distributed 1,375 nonprofit grants for a total of $48.4 million in grantmaking, and provided $5.1 million in scholarships for graduating high school and current college students from over 100 different funds.
Under the guidance of Patricia Mejia, Vice President of Community Engagement and Impact, the San Antonio Area Foundation adopted trust-based philanthropic principles in 2018. Trust-based philanthropy is a “charitable approach that reimagines the relationships between donors, nonprofits and communities to rebalance power and decision-making.” These principles led the Foundation to shift from helping people fulfill charitable legacies as an agnostic service provider to one that is committed to the idea of trust and the impact of their work. The Foundation began to fund underserved groups, articulated equity as a priority, changed its focus to include smaller organizations, worked to sensitize its board to the needs for equity in all aspects of its activities, and ended up with a fundamental change to its culture, while embracing learning opportunities and navigating the challenges of operating in South Texas.