WHO WE ARE
French gastronomic traditions have had a substantial influence on California cuisine, with its emphasis on seasonal, high-quality ingredients and refined techniques.
France and Northern California enjoy a deep, multi-layered partnership that delivers economic, academic, and cultural benefits to both sides. Economically, the two regions are tightly linked: France is one of the United States’ top investors and trading partners.
Our mission is to carry forward the philanthropic vision on which our organization was founded and to advocate for French heritage and tradition in the community. We seek to invest our resources in caring for the culture, historical legacy and well-being of the Bay Area’s French Community.
Board of Directors
Marc Libarle
President
Paul Tour-Sarkissian
Vice President
Patrick Patterson
Treasurer
David Bourdet
Secretary
Jean-Pierre Bernard
Director
Robert Pechoultres
Director
Michel Baylocq
Director
Andre Armand
Director
Our History
La Société Française de Bienfaisance Mutuelle (The French Mutual Benevolent Society) was founded in 1851 to serve French-Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, many of whom had come to the U.S. during the gold rush and had suffered physical and financial hardships. 
One of the Society’s first tasks was to build the French Hospital, a leading-edge medical facility and the first Health Maintenance Organization in America.
The discovery of gold at the race-mill at Coloma, CA, generated great interest in France. This was the magnet that attracted some 20,000 French settlers to the San Francisco Bay Area between 1849 and 1851.
Among the new arrivals, many Frenchmen suffered from the hardships of the long journey and were unable to work. Others returned from the Placer mines in a state of physical exhaustion, without funds or friends and unable to speak English. This distressful situation moved some of the more fortunate French residents of the city to provide assistance to their compatriots. Under the leadership of journalist Étienne Derbec, they organized a Relief Society to “provide for the needs of the sick and furnish assistance to Frenchmen and any other citizens of other nationalities without resources…”
From its inception in 1851 to 1895, French Hospital had three different homes in the city. In 1895 a 170-bed facility was opened on Geary Boulevard. It was hailed as the most modern facility on the “Pacific Coast” and was equipped with the finest technology available. Leading physicians from throughout the city fought for the honor of becoming members of the medical staff.
La Société Française de Bienfaisance Mutuelle (The French Mutual Benevolent Society) was founded in 1851 and became the first Health Maintenance Organization in America. La Société Française de Bienfaisance Mutuelle’s primary purpose was to serve the medical and social needs of persons of French origin or descent in the San Francisco Bay Area and to support the French Hospital.
In 1963, the Society Francaise de Bienfaisance Mutuelle raised the funds needed to modernize the French Hospital campus. The 1895 building was torn down, and a new campus was constructed on the same site, with modern diagnostic equipment, operating rooms and patient facilities. Offices for visiting physicians and underground parking were added. French Hospital continued to operate as an independent hospital and HMO until 1989, when it merged with the Kaiser Permanante HMO organization. The current Kaiser Medical Center at 6th and Geary is called the French Campus.
Today, we are a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, whose mission is to carry forward the philanthropic vision on which our organization was founded and to advocate French Heritage and tradition in our community. We seek to invest our resources in caring for the culture, historical legacy and well-being of the Bay Area’s French community.