How Your Donations Strengthen San Carlos
San Carlos has always been a place where neighbors look out for one another.
1923 - The first fire truck in San Carlos, CA was funded by holding fundraising card parties and dinners.
Image Source: San Carlos History Museum
With this year being our centennial year, it helps us remember our roots. Where our community started. And, from the beginning, we have been a community of neighbors helping neighbors. In fact, many firsts in San Carlos exist because of generous gifts, including our very first fire truck!
That spirit is at the heart of the Community Foundation of San Carlos, and it comes to life every time a resident chooses to give. Your generosity directly strengthens the local nonprofits that make our city a place where everyone can thrive.
Over the last six years, the Foundation has invested more than $1 million in grants to organizations meeting the real, everyday needs of our community. This year alone, residents helped fund $150,000 in grants—supporting food security, senior services, youth programs, arts education, and mental-health resources. These nonprofits are small, locally rooted, and deeply connected to the people they serve. Your donations ensure they have the stability and resources to continue their essential work.
Want to know more? See our annual report for this year.
Your support helped expand the reach of the Caring Cupboard, providing weekly groceries to San Carlos families.
Want to know more? See our grantees list.
Caring Cupboard
It strengthened Healthy Cities Tutoring and Friends for Youth, giving students the mentors, tutors, and academic support they need to succeed.
It fueled Voices of Recovery and California Clubhouse, organizations that help neighbors facing mental-health challenges find community and healing.
It sustained groups like WANDA, St. Vincent de Paul, Casa Círculo Cultural, and Multicultural Institute, which provide financial assistance, arts programs, job training, and critical services to residents and workers whose lives are closely tied to our city.
And beyond grants, your donations create connection and belonging. Over the years, neighbors like you have helped support Hometown Days, Week of the Family, Lunar New Year, United Against Hate, and the Blossoms Mural—events and public art that bring people together, celebrate culture, and make San Carlos feel like home.
Every gift, of every size, makes a tangible difference.
When you give to the Foundation, you uplift the nonprofits who support our most vulnerable neighbors, you build community, and you help ensure San Carlos remains a place where all who live, work, play, and learn can thrive.