For Individual Donors

In addition to grants administration, Tides offers strategic consulting for individual and family philanthropists as well as giving circles. We can help translate your values into a robust giving plan, handling all of the details along the way. Our services include, but are not limited to: values planning sessions, landscape research, grant application processes, personalized funding recommendations, comprehensive program consulting, sophisticated grant reporting and tracking, and award or scholarship fund development. After identifying the options that match your needs, we'll create a tailored roadmap to help you make your mark.

Tides has made thousands of grants to over 150 countries. Our deep bench of experience assures that grants are appropriate and effective within the laws, cultures, and traditions of your desired country of impact. Our services for global grants include, but are not limited to: navigation of U.S.-based and international regulations, opportunities for both individual and collaborative giving, translation services, and rigorous attention to detail within all of our funding options.

Within any individual approach to charitable giving, Tides encourages donors to start with core impact goals and work outward to identify the right options for them. This can go beyond grantmaking to include market-driven opportunities. Impact investing, whether in the form of a donor advised fund invested in a socially responsible portfolio or a specific mission-related investment in a for-profit company, can offer a powerful way to deepen or enhance your desired social change outcomes.

Tides has been at the forefront of new approaches for charitable impact for over 40 years. We've developed the deep expertise and partnerships to offer due diligence, rigorous impact metrics, and the know-how to customize investment structures for specific philanthropic goals. Like all of our solutions, Tides' impact investing options are tailored for each partner to create the best possible strategy for your specific needs and vision.

Through Tides Converge SF and NY, we offer social change leaders affordable, sustainable office and event spaces within a community of like-minded nonprofits and social ventures. Tides Converge San Francisco is an ideal space for leaders to connect, learn from one another, and innovate.

Some issues - like poverty, global health, or gender equity, for example - are daunting for any one person to tackle on their own. In these cases, coordinating the resources of several donors can help make it possible to approach the challenge. To facilitate this, Tides manages funding collaboratives and collective action funds that help you leverage the resources, knowledge, and expertise of others in order to amplify impact. Collaborative giving at Tides benefits from a neutral platform for accepting grants, administrative processes, programmatic consulting, support for governance, and help with staffing or other programmatic operations.

Tides also supports giving circles, which support collaboration for community-based philanthropy; we recognize that solutions to problems in a particular community are best identified by its members. Giving circles also encourage donor education and civic engagement. Our expertise in giving circles can support the knowledge and confidence of your members, strengthening the collective commitment to shared action. To this end, we offer services that include collective action funds, grants administration, programmatic consulting, resources for technical assistance and networking opportunities, and educational opportunities.

Donors with a visionary idea for social change can overcome daunting administrative hurdles by partnering with Tides to create a fiscally sponsored project. You can identify a social entrepreneur or team of leaders to head up the effort; from there, Tides can use your fund's grantmaking dollars to support the project's programming and take care of all back-office management tasks on your behalf. Our fiscal sponsorship services include human resources management, financial administration, and risk management. Of course, you're also free to participate in your project as a volunteer!

Tides has partnered closely with donors to create and support projects working on spirituality, citizen journalism, film & media, and pressing issues.

As an engaged and thoughtful individual, your values are an integral part of the legacy you leave. Tides works collaboratively with you and your financial advisor to understand your values and priorities, crafting a plan that can benefit your family while creating positive social impact for years to come. Planned gifts with Tides ensure that your philanthropic vision will be honored and supported.

If you have a donor advised fund with Tides, a charitable memo of intent will ensure that your charitable resources will continue to benefit the world - either guided by Tides or your designated successors. You can also designate Tides as a beneficiary of your retirement account, charitable remainder trust, or a testamentary gift through your will.