Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund  ["Haas 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 2016, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund has awarded nearly $577 million in grants.

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

The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund supports San Francisco Bay Area institutions such as UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and 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.

History

Haas'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."

Evelyn and Walter's three children and three grandchildren are the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund's Board Directors: Walter J. Haas, Rober D. Haas, Betsy Haas Eisenhardt, Elise Haas, Jesse Eisenhardt, and Walter A. Haas.

Additional Reading