The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation, Inc.

The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation (PCLB) is a private family foundation that seeks to help people solve problems in their communities. We identify and support dynamic leaders and effective organizations who work unselfishly to improve and empower those around them. We provide problem-solvers with connections, information, experience, and money that they need to provide their communities with critical skills and resources – ultimately, to do something remarkable.

PCLB makes grants in five program areas:

• Education
• Outdoors
• Science
• Medicine
• Family Projects

Our choice of work in these program areas is guided by a desire for strategic and systemic change, by our founders’ intent, by our Board members’ interests, and by our staff’s expertise.

Within these program areas, we seek to support the highest-quality, most effective organizations that align with our broad mission of giving motivated people the tools they need to help themselves and that align with our more specific program area goals. Broadly, we provide the following types of financial support:

• General Operating: PCLB prefers to make general operating grants, to give our grantees the greatest ability to do the work they know is most important to meet our shared goals. Generally, we have general operating relationships with organizations that last for an extended period, recognizing that many of the issues on which we work take time to address.
• Restricted Support: PCLB also makes restricted grants, often to focus on areas of particular geographic interest or to support a specific department or area of work within an organization that has a broad scope.
• Big Bets: Philanthropy is uniquely positioned to take risks and try big things. In this spirit, PCLB makes a limited number of grants to fund especially large, time-limited projects that have the potential to change narratives around and trajectories of grantees’ work.
• Program-Related Investments: PCLB makes Program-Related Investments (PRIs) in the form of low-interest loans. PRIs are offered to current PCLB grantees to complete land conservation projects and to meet the facility needs of charter schools. Loans are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, within guidelines established by the Foundation.

Core Values

PCLB’s work is guided by five core values:

• Excellence: We are rigorous in everything we do. We believe every task warrants our best work and will not begin a project unless we can accomplish it with the highest standards. We understand that rigor and quality take time, and are patient, persistent and diligent in working towards our outcomes. We strive for continuous improvement.
• Fairness: We are open to and respectful of a diversity of people, viewpoints, and ideas. We treat all with dignity, regardless of whether we agree with their ideas or how well they align with our mission. We listen to broad perspectives, include all voices, and put effort into ensuring we are listening equitably. We are cognizant of the inherent power paradigm in our work.
• Humility: We are here to help people. While we have well-formed opinions and act based on what we think is right, we know that we will sometimes be wrong. We are receptive to feedback and criticism, and evolve as we learn from the communities we serve. We eschew public acclaim and do not seek the spotlight unless it is in the specific interest of our program; we let our grantees and their results speak for themselves.
• Self-Reliance: We are independent in motivation and action. We seek perspectives and information from others and use that input to make our own decisions. We build the expertise and capabilities necessary to do the work – and lead that work, when appropriate. Ultimately, we are comfortable forging our own path.
• Trustworthiness: We are good partners. We keep our promises and maintain a consistency of purpose over time, ensuring that we are a reliable resource for those with whom we work. We are honest about our actions and beliefs, and conduct our business in a transparent manner. We act in good faith, and we expect others to do the same. We seek and share the truth, even when that truth is difficult – doing the right thing, even when nobody is watching.