A young tradesperson wearing a face shield, protective gloves, and dark coveralls uses an angle grinder on metal held in a vise, sending orange sparks flying across the workbench.

Our Approach

We are honored to support great nonprofit organizations whose work is to build community, promote justice and create opportunity. We support those who work to ensure the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable populations, who create pathways to economic mobility, who uplift veterans and first responders and who combat hatred and bigotry in all their ugly forms.

To help dedicated nonprofit leaders do what they do best, we generally make unrestricted grants to organizations led by trusted, visionary teams. We seek to fund work they leverage in service to their vital missions. We do not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for donations.

Please have a look at just a few of these valiant organizations. Additional information regarding organizations we’ve supported is found in our most recent Form 990-PF tax return.

Build

It’s the brilliance of skilled tradespeople who literally build and maintain our homes, hospitals, schools and roads – who’ve built and will build our communities. It’s the hard-working people who build community and create welcoming and respectful places and programs.

A high school student wearing safety glasses and work gloves works on the dashboard wiring inside a classic car in an auto shop classroom, while an instructor and other students stand in the background.

Supporting High School Skilled Trades Education

Harbor Freight Tools for Schools is the flagship program of the Smidt Foundation, established by Harbor Freight Tools owner and founder Eric Smidt in collaboration with the company’s senior leadership team, to advance excellent skilled trades education in U.S. public high schools.

An adult and three children view pop art in a museum gallery, including a Warhol soup can painting, a Lichtenstein-style comic panel, and a sculpture in a display case.

Supporting the Arts

To increase the capacity of public-serving local organizations that are open to all, Susan and Eric Smidt donated $25 million to expand the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Families flock to the museum’s welcoming campus to enjoy visual and performing arts, picnics and workshops. LACMA has also created an active presence in the county’s neighborhoods, parks and community centers.

In 2025, the foundation, guided by Abby Smidt, launched a three-year grant to NexGenLA, a program of LACMA. NexGenLA is the largest free youth arts membership in the nation, engaging over 200,000 local young people under the age of 17, along with their adult companions. Membership includes free admission, discounted art classes and invitations to family-friendly events, offering young museum visitors fun and creative learning opportunities through dance, music, visual arts and story telling.

To uplift local artists and arts workers devastated by the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, the Smidt Foundation supported the LA Arts Community Relief Fund, which provided over 1,700 recipients with $14.3 million in support.

Repair

It’s the talented health care professionals who save lives, providing care and hope. It’s the courageous leaders who stand up to combat hate and bigotry in all their ugly forms. It’s the determined teams who rush with help in responding to disasters and shortfalls.

A group of middle school students walks single file along a sidewalk beneath red and black Holocaust Museum LA banners during a school field trip.

Taking a Stand Against Hatred

Our philanthropy supports Los Angeles-based organizations who bring neighbors together to both advance opportunity and combat discrimination. Among these are the Community Coalition, Brotherhood Crusade, Los Angeles Urban League and InnerCity Struggle.

With a $5 million grant from the foundation in 2023, Holocaust Museum LA broke ground on an expansion project to grow its capacity to inform and inspire people of all ages, faiths and backgrounds. This expansion is vital, not only because knowledge of basic facts about the Holocaust is declining in the United States, but also keenly because of the timeless lessons this history, told with integrity and respect, offers today. When the project is complete in 2026, the museum will be able to annually welcome 150,000 students and their families to experience the stories of the Holocaust and utilize that history to stand strong against bullying and bigotry.

Over the last decade, our grants have helped the Anti-Defamation League stand up to antisemitism in the United States and around the world, and have furthered ADL’s commitment to working with others to understand, expose and counteract all forms of bigotry.

A doctor in a white coat uses a pointer to explain an anatomical heart model to two patients in an exam room, while one patient points at the model's cross-section."

Heart Health Care & Research

In 2018, Susan and Eric Smidt joined the foundation in pledging what was then the largest gift in the history of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to name the Smidt Heart Institute. The gift helped advance Cedars-Sinai on the path to being a global leader in heart health care and research.

Make Communities Safe

It’s the brave veterans, police and firefighters, who protect us from harm, serving at the front lines of danger. It’s the community champions, who work to ensure family stability and economic mobility - a place to call home, good food, access to opportunity.

An older man wearing a U.S. Navy Veteran cap and tan vest smiles and gives a thumbs-up while seated with a walker in front of a slatted fence.

Supporting Veterans

To meet needs for housing, mental health and other supports, the foundation has been a consistent annual supporter of U.S.VETS and the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. The foundation has provided unrestricted funding – leaving the organizations’ leaders to determine how to best deploy those funds to care for veterans well-being and to help them find employment, housing and care.

A firefighter kneels beside a young girl in a yellow toy fire helmet, helping her spray a fire hose in front of an LAFD fire engine as other children and parents watch.

Supporting First Responders

Our heroes are those who run toward danger to provide protection, aid and comfort for our communities. Through Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC, a subsidiary of the Smidt Foundation, we are proud to support the work and wellbeing of first responders.

In addition to supporting police/community safety partnerships, the foundation has provided funding to equip several air support units and fire stations across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, and to help pay for modernized facilities, safety and protective gear, fitness equipment, kitchen appliances, and comfortable places to sit and sleep for those with 24/7 posts.

Photo: Harry Berkson, LA Fire Department Foundation

Four smiling staff members wearing LA Family Housing t-shirts and lanyards stand together with arms around each other outdoors.

Creating Homes for Vulnerable Neighbors

We are proud to work with several outstanding organizations creating homes and care for some of the more than 60,000 people living without shelter in Los Angeles County.

LA Family Housing was founded in 1983 by three interfaith leaders to combat a rise in homelessness in the San Fernando Valley. The entrepreneurial nonprofit provides a continuum of housing and support services that transition people out of homelessness and poverty. Starting with the purchase of a 40-unit motel that was converted to housing, LA Family Housing is a recognized leader and innovator, keeping faith with its founding aims. The Smidt Foundation’s grants LA Family Housing have supported these efforts.

The foundation salutes Downtown Women’s Center, whose determined work is meeting the specific needs and challenges of women who have been living on the streets. Women living on the streets experience crime and sexual violence at alarming rates. The center provides a caring community of safety, housing, health care, and access to employment.

A Red Cross volunteer moves a tall pallet of American Red Cross comfort kit boxes from a delivery truck at a warehouse loading dock.

Supporting Disaster Response and Recovery

The foundation has provided major grants to ensure the American Red Cross has support on hand before disasters occur in the United States, for immediate response and to support the long road to recovery.