Over the last few weeks, we called upon our readers to nominate the Bay Area's most impactful charitable organizations. From hundreds of nominations (well done!), we've narrowed the running to the Top 49. The time has come to vote in our annual Bay Area's Favorite Charities Contest, presented by PG&E and 7x7.
Don't forget! You will first vote for the Top 49 organizations, and again for the Top 7. The top six finalists that you select will receive $2,000 from PG&E, while the winning organization will take home $10,000 to help further its mission. All our finalists will be honored at a party this holiday season as a way to thank and congratulate these folks on all the good work they've been doing throughout the year. Read up on our Top 49 nominees below, and vote for your favorite at the end—voting will continue through Monday, November 7th.
VOTING IS NOW CLOSED.
(organizations are in alphabetical order)
Animal Assisted Happiness extends support to families experiencing special needs, health, or family challenges through different interactive programs with barnyard animals.
At the Crossroads reaches out to homeless youth and young adults at their point of need, and works with them to build healthy and fulfilling lives. They walk the streets of the Mission and Downtown San Francisco at nighttime, bringing help to their clients.
With aims to prevent child neglect and child abuse, this organization supports families in crisis by providing services such as free 24-hour residential care for children aged 0 to 11.
The Bay Area Lyme Foundation is dedicated to funding research projects to accelerate breakthroughs for Lyme disease, which it calls "a quiet epidemic" in the modern world.
Bayview-Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology, better known as BAYCAT, works to empower, educate, and employ youth from historically underserved communities in the digital media and tech field.
BayKids gives children facing medical challenges a therapeutic outlet of creative expression through programs in the art of filmmaking.
The Berkeley Humane Society is an animal adoption center that supports local East Bay animal shelters in their efforts to increase space for incoming animals and lower euthanasia rates.
Big Brothers / Big Sisters of the Bay Area
This mentoring program provides children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported 1-to-1 relationships that change their lives for the better, forever.
The Bread Project empowers individuals with limited resources on their path to self-sufficiency through skills instruction, on-the-job training, and assistance with establishing a career in the food service industry.
Breakthrough SF provides year-round academic enrichment for elementary, middle school, and high school students with limited education opportunities to help them attend college, and trains college students for educational careers.
Breast Cancer Action advocates for health justice for all women living with or at risk of breast cancer. The organization focuses on systemic interventions to address the root causes of the disease and broaden public health benefits.
This organization supports low-income, Spanish-speaking immigrants in acquiring the skills they need to thrive by providing education and legal services.
Down Syndrome Connection of the Bay Area
The Down Syndrome Connection is dedicated to encouraging the unlimited potential in children and adults with Down syndrome throughout the San Francisco Bay Area since 1998.
East Oakland Youth Development Center
Providing free academic and community-based programs, the East Oakland Youth Development Center aims to engage inner city youth in learning and mastering skills that contribute to both their own wellbeing and that of the community.
The Edible Schoolyard Project funds Edible Schoolyard Berkeley, a one-acre organic garden and kitchen classroom for urban public school students at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School used for the purpose of edible education.
Family builders offers free services helping find permanent, safe, stable, and nurturing families for children and youth in the foster care system.
Friends of Potrero Hill is a fully licensed, self-funded and independent nursery school serving San Francisco families since 1996.
Girls Incorporated of Alameda County
Girls Inc. offers academic enrichment activities, skill-building programs, and counseling services to girls and their families.
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy runs programs and projects in park stewardship, including building trails, maintaining bikeways, and restoring ecosystems, to support the 37 Golden Gate National Parks.
Haight Ashbury Psychological Services
Haigh Ashbury Psychological Services is dedicated to increasing access to quality mental health care through providing low-fee psychotherapy to the community.
Horizons is an academic enrichment summer program run by the SF Friends School that aims to close the opportunity gap for families who cannot afford to send their children to academic summer camps.
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future.
JCYC provides culturally-competent, comprehensive college preparation, information, and assistance targeting students of low-income who are the first of their family to enroll in college.
Lazarex provides resources for advanced stage cancer patients and the medically underserved by removing barriers to clinical trial participation and early stage diagnosis to improve cancer survival rates.
Leap provides residency programs for professional teaching artists to increase arts education programs and enhance creativity-based classroom curriculum in Bay Area elementary schools.
Love Never Fails is dedicated to the restoration, education and protection of those involved or at risk of becoming involved in domestic sex trafficking.
Now one of the largest chapters nationwide, Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area have granted over 7,800 wishes to date and grant over 378 wishes per year.
With programs such as low-cost clinics, lost-and-found pet services, pet training, and humane education, the Marin Humane Society is dedicated to the refuge, rehabilitation, and support of domestic animals and wildlife in the community.
Through programs in young professional mentorship, academic planning, and summer academic enrichment, Minds Matter SF is committed to helping low-incoming, high-achieving high school students in the Bay Area work towards achieving their dreams in college success.
This institution provides academic enrichment programs to low-income youth in the Mission District, with the goal of supporting them in their movement towards college education.
Muttville is dedicated to improving the lives of senior dogs. On a local level, Muttville rescues senior dogs and finds them new homes or gives them hospice. On a global level, Muttville provides information about caring for older dogs and support for people who do.
Nine Lives rescues cats and kittens from high-kill shelters and at-risk homeless situations, providing them with a no-kill shelter and on-site medical care, seeking permanent loving homes for them.
Oakland Emiliano Zapata Street Academy
This "small school" is a fully accredited college preparatory school with a focus to inspire and empower young adults in community-based social justice education.
Oakland Private Industry Council
The Oakland Private Industry Council is a one-stop shop providing training and employment services to local residents and employers.
The mission of Oasis For Girls is to partner with girls and young women of color from under-resourced communities in San Francisco to help them cultivate the skills, knowledge, and confidence to discover their dreams and build strong futures.
This organization works to create and distribute Night Night packages—free packages of childhood essentials including blankets, stuffed animals, and books—to reduce trauma and support the emotional and cognitive wellbeing of homeless children aged 0 to 12.
Project Open Hand is a nonprofit organization that provides meals with love to critically ill neighbors and seniors.
Raphael House provides programs for at-risk families to help them achieve stable housing and financial independence, and support them in taking ownership of their futures.
Rocket Dog Rescue actively searches for foster and permanent homes for dogs in danger of neglect, abuse, or euthanasia.
This program integrates ministries to provide services to inner city residents of San Francisco, including running a health and wellness center, a private elementary school, and mobile food bank.
SF Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation
SF Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation assists active and retired firefighters through care services such as early detection cancer screenings, and advocates on their behalf in securing research grand funding and conversing with the Workers' Compensation Division.
Providing home-delivered groceries, food stamp enrollment, and nutrition education classes, the SF Marin Food Bank to fight hunger and promote nutrition and health in the community.
Through creating partnerships across a broad spectrum of organizations and donors, the Sierra Club Foundation works to align financial resources with strategic outcomes in the environmental movement.
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
SASB works to help investors in making decisions involving corporate sustainability by establishing industrywide standards for the disclosure of environmental impacts of companies on US trade exchanges.
This organization provides services and programs for those living with life-threatening or chronic illnesses, aiming to aid their wellbeing through volunteer-based emotional and practical support.
Tandem Partners in Early Learning
Tandem delivers resources and programs in early literacy to families with aims to empower them in supporting their child's early learning and development at home.
This federally funded program provides programs to prepare high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed in college coursework and future careers focussed on STEM subjects.
Wildcare aims to create a sustainable world of coexistence by addressing the symptoms of human-wildlife interaction, and providing wildlife services as well as educational programs to the community.
White Pony Express helps eliminate hunger and poverty in Contra Costa County by delivering goods and food to those in need.
