Master Mariners Benevolent Foundation

The Master Mariners Benevolent Foundation preserves the craftsmanship, skills, and spirit of traditional wooden sailing on San Francisco Bay. Through grants, scholarships, and partnerships with maritime organizations, it supports boat restoration, maritime education, and community heritage projects, helping ensure that classic vessels and the traditions behind them remain active and visible for future generations.

Established as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation, the Foundation provides financial assistance to individuals, vessels, and organizations engaged in preserving wooden boats, promoting seamanship, and sustaining the Bay Area’s maritime heritage. Its roots trace back to the 19th-century Master Mariners Benevolent Association, which created the Foundation in 1988 to manage restoration funding for the historic Bird Boat Polly. That early effort demonstrated how charitable giving could directly support hands-on preservation.

By 1999, the Foundation had grown into an independent nonprofit partner to the Association, with an expanded mission to support education, documentation, and the living practice of traditional boatbuilding and sailing throughout the region.

Since then, it has funded a wide range of organizations, including the Arques Maritime Preservation Foundation and its School of Traditional Boatbuilding, Spaulding Marine Center, Call of the Sea and the Matthew Turner Project, Wooden Boats for Veterans, and the Sausalito Community Boating Center. Its collaborative work also includes supporting student tool purchases, youth boatbuilding programs, and educational projects connected to the Annual Master Mariners Wooden Boat Show, held each June.

Beyond grantmaking, the Foundation has played a key role in major initiatives such as Sail San Francisco 1999, which brought international tall ships to the Bay; the establishment of the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center in 2004; the restoration of Freda (circa 1885), the oldest sailing yacht on the West Coast; and efforts to preserve the working waterfront of Sausalito.

By investing in restoration, education, and waterfront preservation, the Foundation ensures that traditional seamanship on San Francisco Bay remains a living practice, not just a historical memory. Participation, whether through attending events, volunteering, or donating, directly supports this continuing legacy.