Walter A. Haas, Jr. and his wife Evelyn Danzig Haas, guided by love for their community and the people who live there, created their family foundation in 1953 based on values of fairness, equality and opportunity.

The roots of family philanthropy run deep in the Haas, Jr. family. Walter A. Haas, Jr.’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 to UC Berkeley, he was credited in a 1902 obituary for his “numberless unostentatious acts of charity in which neither race nor creed were recognized.”

Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. had the vision to create a family foundation that could adjust to changing needs and opportunities. When Walter passed away in 1995, Evelyn and her son Walter J. Haas became Co-Chairs of the Board of Trustees. Robert D. Haas is Treasurer of the Fund’s Board and Betsy Haas Eisenhardt serves as Secretary. Under their leadership, the Fund takes on complex and pressing problems, such as promoting equal rights and opportunities for immigrants, gays and lesbians, and reducing racial and economic disparities in academic achievement to move people out of poverty and into family-supporting jobs.

During the past several decades, the Fund’s philanthropic focus has evolved and sharpened with new and ambitious programs. The Fund’s assets have increased from $430 million in 1997 to $621 million at the close of 2007, and our grantmaking has more than doubled—from $13.7 million to $31 million—in the same period.

Inspired by the values and vision of Walter A. Haas, Jr. and Evelyn D. Haas, the Fund strives to contribute in meaningful and effective ways at the local, state and national levels. Since its inception, the Haas, Jr. Fund has made more than $300 million in grants ranging from critical investments in community-based groups to significant gifts to major cultural institutions. Although the Fund’s areas of concentration have evolved—and will continue to evolve—over time, our core values remain constant.