The Kiwanis Club of San Diego maintains a charitable foundation which annually provides more than $200,000 to projects and organizations in the community reflective of the organization's mission.

The primary purpose of the foundation is to provide a means for members and others to provide charitable contributions and to ensure those contributions are utilized charitably in accordance to state and federal law. 

Each year the club committees prepare their annual budgets and these budgets are presented to the club Board of Directors.  The club board then proposes a budget to the foundation board to meet the committees requests.

The foundation board reviews the charitable requests and approves those requests that meet the guidelines and appropriate uses of those funds.

Guidelines For Use of Foundation Funds

Funds of the San Diego Kiwanis Club Foundation, Inc., must be used for charitable, educational, religious or other eleemosynary activities, as provided by the Bylaws of the Kiwanis Club and the Foundation, and must also be consistent with provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and the California Revenue and Taxation Code to preserve the foundation's tax-exempt status.  These are general guidelines - reasonable variations may be considered by the Trustees.

• Funds should be used primarily for charitable purposes involving the Club, Club committees and Club members, rather that being a conduit for contributions to other worthy community causes.
  
• Generally, priority should be given to using funds for projects where the assistance of other agencies is not readily available.
  
• To permit maximum use of funds granted, emphasis should be more on donations to groups and less on individuals.
  
• Generally, funds should be applied to advance the goals, aims or objectives of the individual or group donee, rather that be used for administrative expenses.
  
• A specific objective for the use of funds is more desirable that a broader one.
  
• The use of funds should be limited primarily to the City of San Diego and County of San Diego, but may be applied to other geographic locations as determined by the Board of Trustees.
  
• Donees should be required to provide public recognition of the Kiwanis source of the donation when feasible; this is particularly the case when capital donations are made and a plaque of acknowledgment may be appropriate. We should be reluctant to make a contribution where this is not possible.
  
• Scholarship awards will be made under the supervision of the Scholarship Committee, following the Foundation's criteria and guidelines.
  
• Funds may not be given to or used for individual Club or Foundation members or their relatives.
  
• Except in unusual circumstances, contributions to government agencies should be avoided.
  
• Contributions for capital improvements should be infrequent.