The Prebys Foundation’s strategic plan focuses on building an inclusive, equitable, and dynamic future for San Diego. Guided by Conrad Prebys’s legacy, the foundation supports the arts, youth success, healthcare, and medical research. Beyond grantmaking, it fosters collaboration, innovation, and partnerships to ensure every resident has the opportunity to thrive.
Created with Community
In 2022, the foundation, led by CEO Grant Oliphant and a team of board members, staff, and consultants engaged hundreds of local leaders, nonprofit organizations, and community members to learn how Prebys could best serve San Diego County.
In 2023, we released our strategic plan, which reflects what we learned through those conversations. The plan centers on creating an inclusive, equitable, and vibrant future for all San Diegans, acknowledging that true community well-being depends on ensuring every person’s sense of purpose, opportunity, and belonging. This approach aims to unlock San Diego’s full potential by increasing participation and opportunities for all residents, especially those who have historically been left out.
The foundation’s work is organized into four key program areas that align with Conrad Prebys’s passions and lifetime giving:
- Visual and Performing Arts
- Youth Success
- Healthcare
- Medical Research
Beyond Grantmaking
Beyond traditional grantmaking, Prebys is also committed to using all its resources to advance its mission.
This includes supporting innovative initiatives, building collaborations, addressing the core capacity needs of nonprofit partners, and fostering relationships with other donors to co-invest in impactful projects.
The foundation also embraces risk-taking and innovation, using our philanthropic dollars to test new ideas that can drive lasting change in the community. Through strategic messaging, convenings, and its leadership, the foundation seeks to amplify its efforts and bring more people into the work of building a San Diego where everyone can thrive.
This plan treated the first two years as an exploration, and will evolve as we listen to the community and learn from our grantmaking.
2023 Strategic Plan Rollout
Frequently Asked Questions
You are calling your strategic plan an "initial plan." What do you mean by that?
This plan is based on the intense community listening that we did over the past year. We are confident that the priorities named in each of our four program areas are appropriate given the combination of instruction provided by our founder, Conrad Prebys, and the feedback ascertained from the community. But we also know that just the process of implementing this plan will prove informative, bring new feedback, and give us new insights to consider. We call it a “learning” or “initial” plan because we know – and hope – it will continue to evolve.
How do I contact your team to apply for a grant?
We will announce opportunities for grantmaking over the course of the year.
We will communicate via email, post on our website, and share updates at events. We expect our staff to get to know your organization and vice-versa. Our grantmaking will arise out of those engagements with you and other people and organizations in the community.
During your first two years you opened your application process twice a year so that we and anyone else could apply. What’s your new process? How will I apply for funding? Will that process be open to everyone and anyone?
During your first two years you opened your application process twice a year so that we and anyone else could apply. What’s your new process? How will I apply for funding? Will that process be open to everyone and anyone?
That process was appropriate when we started out, especially in the midst of a pandemic and the economic fallout it brought. Today, we are moving into a more focused phase of our work, which requires different processes.
While the Foundation previously made grants in limited funding cycles through an application process, it will expand the methods and the timing in which it makes grants to include open applications, requests for proposals, invitations, and community-led grantmaking. Which methods we employ will depend on what we are trying to accomplish in a given area or at a specific time.
We will provide more information about specific funding opportunities and applications in the coming months.
Importantly, we are growing our team to engage with you. The best grantmaking always emerges from close partnerships. We are investing in building the team that will make those partnerships possible. In the meantime, please review our plan in detail and consider how your work aligns with ours. To review details of our grantmaking priorities, please visit our Grants page.
We will communicate via email, post on our website, and share updates at events. If you are not on our email list, please consider signing up HERE.
Will you continue to fund capital campaigns?
Some, but not as many, and not the way we initially did. San Diego is blessed with many major living donors who can and thankfully do make major capital grants. We will still make the occasional capital grant, but the number and amount will be limited and smaller than those we announced during our first years.
We’ve received funding from the foundation a few times. Will The Conrad Prebys Foundation still fund our requests?
We understand how important this question is and we are grateful to all of the organizations whose work we have been privileged to support. But of course, the answer to whether that funding will continue will depend on how well our work aligns in the future. We will certainly be continuing to provide significant funding to the community going forward. The foundation gave $94 Million in grants from 2020 – 2022. This month alone, we have made $12 Million in grants to the community, and we expect our grantmaking this year overall to exceed $50 million.
Our new grantmaking strategy is designed to help us realize our mission and impact with an even stronger emphasis on equity. In the coming weeks, we will hold a series of community events to allow you to meet and engage with our team. Our relationships with the community will inform our grantmaking going forward.
Conrad cared passionately about my organization/this cause. Will we remain a priority for you?
We carry the spirit of Conrad’s vision into all of our work. In life, Conrad supported many worthy organizations. But his charge to us was to carry forward his broad vision for a community made stronger through the arts, youth, health care, and medical research. The question we must focus on is of course how we can best serve today’s community needs through our work within those areas.
Conrad used to give grants to things that delighted him. Why don’t you just do the same?
Conrad Prebys was committed to the future of San Diego. Like him, we are open and inspired and will make grants to support a vibrant region. But as an institution created for the benefit of a community, we believe we have an obligation to that community to set a long-term strategic course, make decisions based on data, and share with the community what we are learning as we go. Like our founder, delight remains a cornerstone of our efforts.