About Bella

Bella partners with organizations to empower youth, promote environmental education, and support community development through hands-on learning, sustainability awareness, and locally driven initiatives that foster resilience, connection, and growth.

Our Mission

Bella Charitable Foundation supports youth empowerment, environmental education, and community development projects that honor lived experience and community-led solutions.

Community Development

Youth Empowerment

Environmental Education

Our Vision

A future where personal growth, collective wellbeing, and environmental sustainability are interconnected and flourishing.

Our History

The Bella Charitable Foundation was founded in 2015 by husband-and-wife team Juan Jaen and Anita Galeana.

The Journey Begins in Madrid

Juan, the eldest of four, was born in Southern Spain and moved with his family to Madrid for better educational opportunities. At 16, he earned a scholarship to attend high school in Livonia, Michigan, where he learned English and met Anita. After returning to Spain and earning a college degree from Universidad Complutense in 1980, Juan came back to Michigan for graduate school and received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Michigan.

Raising a Family in Ann Arbor

Juan and Anita married in 1981, settling in Ann Arbor, where Juan completed his degree and Anita worked as an intensive care cardiology nurse at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Juan began his medicinal chemistry career at Warner-Lambert Parke-Davis before the couple moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Anita retired to raise their four children and studied piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Founding the Bella Charitable Foundation

Juan has led drug discovery and development for over 30 years and now heads cancer immunotherapy research at Arcus Biosciences, which he co-founded in 2015. Anita has supported various nonprofit educational causes over the years, and now co-manages the Bella Foundation with their grown children. Together they are dedicated to helping a new generation of young people succeed in school and life—finding joy in both family and service.

Who We Are

Bella is a small private family foundation that has supported youth education and collective empowerment initiatives since 2015. We fund and collaborate with organizations that enact meaningful change in their communities.

Anita Galeana

Founder

  • Anita brings over 20 years of experience in working with community foundations and non-profits. In 2015, she co-founded the Bella Charitable Foundation, where she currently works alongside her daughter, Grace.

    Since 2014, Anita has been a dedicated University of California Master Gardener, serving the vibrant communities of San Mateo and San Francisco Counties. Bella CF has been instrumental in numerous projects, including funding the green house at the Garden Education Center, collaborating with CuriOdyssey Science Museum and Playground on their conservation trail and native garden, and chairing development efforts for UC Master Gardeners. 

    Anita is a lifelong learner who firmly believes in the power of collaboration to solve global challenges, strengthen communities, and protect the planet—all while creating inclusive opportunities for all. Looking to the future, she is committed to fostering meaningful connections between people and places, cultivating a strong sense of community, and championing environmental stewardship through science-based education.

Grace Jaen

Director of Education & Programs

  • Grace Jaen has a background in nonprofit business management and holds a Master's degree in education. Her goals at Bella are to provide hands-on, experiential learning opportunities for children that expose them to different ways of thinking and understanding the world. She strives to support and create educational spaces that address social topics that are often left out of the traditional educational system, and believes education should be centered on critical social-emotional skill sets that not only equip youth for success in their own lives, but also teaches them how to care for the health and wellbeing of the entire planet. Since 2016, Grace has lived in Denver, Colorado, and embraces all that the outdoors have to offer, including hiking, paddle boarding, camping, and snowshoeing. In her spare time, she can be found playing with her six nieces and nephews.