$50 million from Anthropic’s Daniela Amodei, still in her 30s, brings holiday help and long-term support to her hometown

Daniela Amodei grew up in San Francisco, went to Lowell High School, and later helped start one of the world’s most important artificial intelligence companies a few miles from home.

Now Anthropic, the company she co-founded and leads as president, has committed $50 million to the Bay Area.

The money goes into a donor-advised fund at the San Francisco Foundation and will be granted to community organizations, mainly in San Francisco, by the end of 2027.

The first grants are already out.

Four local groups are sharing $500,000 just as the holidays and cold weather arrive.

The SF-Marin Food Bank works with 265 community organizations across two counties and feeds more than 8,000 households a week.

GLIDE, a fixture of the Tenderloin since 1963, serves three free meals a day, 364 days a year.

The Interfaith Winter Shelter, started by the San Francisco Interfaith Council, has brought together more than 50 faith communities for over three decades to offer a warm bed, a hot meal, and a shower.

Active and retired firefighters have run the San Francisco Firefighters Local 798 Toy Program since 1949.

It is the oldest program of its kind in the country and brings toys to children starting over after fires and disasters or living in shelters, hospital wards, or protective custody.

In announcing the gift, Daniela Amodei spoke as someone giving back to the city that raised her.

“San Francisco has always been a place of enormous possibility, but that possibility isn’t shared equally by everyone,” she said.

“We have been privileged to build Anthropic here, and we want to make sure our success expands opportunity, not widens the gaps that already exist. That’s why we’re partnering with the San Francisco Foundation, whose deep knowledge of the Bay Area will help guide this commitment to where it’s needed most.”

The words fit her path.

Unlike most of Anthropic’s founders, who came from physics and engineering, she studied English literature at UC Santa Cruz on a classical flute scholarship.

She started out in international development and global health, worked on a congressional campaign in Pennsylvania, and handled communications on Capitol Hill.

She returned to San Francisco to join Stripe when it had only a few dozen employees and grew from founding recruiter to a leader in its risk operations.

At OpenAI, she managed technical teams and became vice president of safety and policy.

She left in 2021 with her brother Dario and five colleagues to found Anthropic, where she now chairs the board and runs the executive team.

That background in people, policy, and service shows in how the gift is set up.

Anthropic went to the San Francisco Foundation only about a week before the announcement, wanting to make a difference right away.

A donor-advised fund at a nearly 80-year-old community foundation made that possible.

Anthropic recommends the grants, and the foundation contributes its local knowledge and handles the details.

Future recipients will be picked the same way, with the foundation advising, so there is no application process.

Fred Blackwell, the foundation’s chief executive, called it one of the largest corporate gifts in the foundation’s history and hopes it inspires others.

“Where you live matters, and so does what you put into it,” he said.

“The Bay Area has always been a place where people build big things. That should include building strong communities. Anthropic is making a real commitment to the place it calls home, and we hope others are inspired to do the same.”

The leaders receiving the first grants talked about the people they serve.

Tanis Crosby of the SF-Marin Food Bank said the support “puts more fresh, healthy groceries within reach across San Francisco and Marin.” Dr. Gina Fromer of GLIDE said it “helps us keep the table set and the doors open.”

Michael G. Pappas of the Interfaith Council said it allows “a warm, dignified place to rest.” Sam Gebler, who leads the firefighters’ toy program, said his members give their off-duty hours so local children “know their city believes in them.”

The commitment adds to giving that is already part of Anthropic’s culture.

The company’s seven co-founders have pledged to give away 80 percent of their wealth, and the company matches employees’ charitable donations. It is also Anthropic’s largest gift to its hometown so far, coming as the company prepares to go public.

Daniela Amodei’s point is that a company that grew up in San Francisco should help the city’s neighbors grow too, starting this winter with groceries, warm meals and beds, and toys for children.