Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation DossiersMostly funded, not a grantmaker — see who funds it →
Plinth

· Public charity

Avenue Greenlight

Revitalization of micro-grant programs to support San Francisos local communities and local merchant association members

$1.1M
Granted FY2022
25
Grants FY2022
1
States reached
$95k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2021–2024.

Community Improvement$3.1MEnvironment$55kHuman Services$25k
02FY2022 · 25 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 25 grants below total $991,017 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,105,458 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $114,441 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2022

  • Under $10k2 grants · $14k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $352k
  • $50k–250k11 grants · $625k
$48,168
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Bayview Merchants Association$95,000
West Portal Merchants Assoc$55,000
Union Street Association$55,000
Fillmore Merchants & Improvement Assoc$55,000
Dogpatch Green Benefit District$55,000
Glen Park Merchants Assoc$55,000
Clement Street Merchants Assoc$55,000
Outer Sunset Merchant and Professional Assoc$50,000
Mission Merchants Assoc$50,000
Tenderloin Community Benefit District$50,000
Balboa Village Merchants Assoc$50,000
Excelsior and Outer Mission Merchants Assoc$48,650
Divisadero Merchants Assoc$48,168
Valencia Corridor Merchants Assoc$39,499
Fisherman's Wharf Merchants Assoc$37,713
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY21–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 99% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Good Stuff Partners LLC: $17k → 8%Balboa Village Merchants Assoc: $50k → 10%Good Stuff Partners LLC: $10k → 8%See attached list: $1.4M → 10%See attached list: $507k → 10%West Portal Merchants Assoc: $55k → 10%San Francisco Council of District Merch Assoc: $10k → 10%Haight Ashbury Merchants Assoc: $50k → 10%Divisadero Merchants Assoc: $48k → 10%Lower Haight Merchants and Neighbors Assoc: $16k → 10%Lower Haight Merchants and Neighbors Assoc: $11k → 10%Bayview Merchants Association: $95k → 10%Clement Street Merchants Assoc: $55k → 10%Northeast Mission Business Assoc: $25k → 10%South of Market Business Assoc: $9k → 10%Excelsior and Outer Mission Merchants Assoc: $49k → 10%Hayes Valley Merchants Assoc: $50k → 10%Hayes Valley Merchants Assoc: $5k → 10%Dogpatch Green Benefit District: $55k → 10%Portrero Dogpatch Merchants Assoc: $50k → 10%Portrero Dogpatch Merchants Assoc: $28k → 10%Portrero Hill Neighborhood House: $25k → 10%Castro Merchants Association: $50k → 10%Glen Park Merchants Assoc: $55k → 10%Fillmore Merchants & Improvement Assoc: $55k → 10%Nihonmachi Merchants Assoc: $50k → 10%Fisherman's Wharf Merchants Assoc: $38k → 10%Chinatown Merchants Association: $37k → 10%Chinatown Merchants Association: $18k → 10%Outer Sunset Merchant and Professional Assoc: $50k → 10%Inner Sunset Merchants Assoc: $29k → 10%Valencia Corridor Merchants Assoc: $39k → 10%Inner Sunset Merchants Assoc: $26k → 10%Valencia Corridor Merchants Assoc: $16k → 10%Tenderloin Community Benefit District: $50k → 10%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

26%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$351k · 7 repeat orgs$979k to everyone else

7 repeat relationships — 7 still active in FY2022, 0 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
3

Total granted

$351k
$150k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+107%
+201%

Still filing today

29%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 16% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $829k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’21’22
Community ImprovementEnvironmentOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • PD
    POTRERO DOGPATCH MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION
    2× · 2021–2022 · $78k
  • HV
    HAYES VALLEY MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION
    2× · 2021–2022 · $55k
  • IS
    INNER SUNSET MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION
    2× · 2021–2022 · $55k

Funded once

  • MO
    Merchants of Upper Market Incgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +201% · 42% of their budget
  • NM
    NIHONMACHI MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue -27% · 55% of their budget
  • HA
    HAIGHT ASHBURY MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION INC
    one grant, 2021 · $50k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Noe Valley Merchants and Professionals Association Inc

Noe valley mercahnt visibility in the san francisco community

Community Improvement
2
Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce

Provide resources and assistance to vietnamese small businesses and community in oakland area

Community Improvement
3
San Francisco Community Business Resources

Educational financial resources to LMI communities

Community Improvement
4
Montclair Village Association

The Montclair Village Association (MVA) is a Business Improvement District made up of approximately 230 retail and service businesses located in Montclair Village. The MVAs mission is to support its merchant members, and to help the…

Community Improvement
5
Olvera Street Merchants Association Foundation

Recognize and promote the endeavors of those who contributed to the

Arts & Culture
6
Cole Valley Merchant Association

Promoting Cole Valley businesses

Community Improvement
7
Chinatown Merchants United Association of San Fran
Human Services
8
Downtown Berkeley Association

The Downtown Berkely Assocaition works to strengthen the Downtown as a vibrant and welcoming urban destination for arts, culture, and commerce through effective advocacy, prmotion and direct services.

—
9
Oceanview Merced Ingleside Cultural Participation Project

OMI-CPP serves San Franciscos 94112 and 94132 neighborhoods by promoting equity, inclusion, and empowerment through multicultural events, homeless outreach, civic engagement, small business marketing & graphic design, and social justice…

Community Improvement
10
Mission Art 415 Inc

Mission Art 415 Inc aims to represent and promote artists and art projects, enhancing community engagement and cultural vibrancy through the celebration of art.

—
11
San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation

To save historic movie theaters in san francisco.

Arts & Culture
12
Monterey Bay Chinese Association

Provide Chinese Culture and Help to Advance social, economic well-being of Chinese American at Monterey Bay, California.

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Balboa Village Merchants Association and the most unlike its peers is Dogpatch & Northwest Potrero Hill Green Benefit District. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 14 years old; the field is 18. You back the younger end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number20%15%<5yr14%25%5–10yr18%25%10–20yr19%5%20–35yr16%20%35–55yr13%10%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value20%6%<5yr14%74%5–10yr18%9%10–20yr19%2%20–35yr16%7%35–55yr13%2%55yr+

The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 15% of your grantees by number, and just 6% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 4% lost their exemption, against 11% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
4%1/26
the rest of the field
11%
694/6,400

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

16 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 16 of the 25 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/16
Grantees still filing
8/16
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Clement Street Merchants Assoc — $178,168 · OtherClement Street Merchants AssocPOTRERO DOGPATCH MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $77,500 · OtherPOTRERO DOGPATCH MERCHANTS ASSOCIATIONHAYES VALLEY MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $55,082 · OtherHAYES VALLEY MERCHANTS ASSOCIATIONINNER SUNSET MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $55,000 · OtherINNER SUNSET MERCHANTS ASSOCIATIONCHINATOWN MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $55,000 · OtherCHINATOWN MERCHANTS ASSOCIATIONFILLMORE MERCHANTS & IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION INC — $55,000 · OtherFILLMORE MERCHANTS & IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION INCWEST PORTAL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION INC — $55,000 · OtherWEST PORTAL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION INCUNION STREET ASSOCIATION INC — $55,000 · OtherUNION STREET ASSOCIATION INCMerchants of Upper Market Inc — $50,469 · OtherMerchants of Upper Market IncMission Merchants Association Incorporated — $50,000 · OtherMission Merchants Association IncorporatedNIHONMACHI MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $50,000 · OtherNIHONMACHI MERCHANTS ASSOCIATIONEOMM INC — $48,650 · OtherEOMM INCFISHERMANS WHARF MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $37,713 · Other+4 more — $87,569 · Other+4 moreBAYVIEW MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $95,000 · Community ImprovementBAYVIEW MERCHANTS ASSOCIATIONGLEN PARK MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $55,000 · Community ImprovementGLEN PARK MERCHANTS ASSOCIATIONValencia Corridor Merchants Association — $54,999 · Community ImprovementValencia Corridor Merchants Ass…North of MarketTenderloin Community Benefit Corporation — $50,000 · Community ImprovementNorth of MarketTenderloin Commu…HAIGHT ASHBURY MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION INC — $50,000 · Community ImprovementHAIGHT ASHBURY MERCHANTS ASSOCI…Balboa Village Merchants Association — $50,000 · Community ImprovementBalboa Village Merchants Associ…+1 more — $10,000 · Community ImprovementDogpatch & Northwest Potrero Hill Green Benefit District — $55,000 · Environment
Other$910,151Community Improvement$364,999Environment$55,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetGLEN PARK MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $55,000 over 1y, 95% of budgetCHINATOWN MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $55,000 over 2y, 22% of budgetUNION STREET ASSOCIATION INC — $55,000 over 1y, 81% of budgetDogpatch & Northwest Potrero Hill Green Benefit District — $55,000 over 1y, 6.6% of budgetMerchants of Upper Market Inc — $50,469 over 1y, 42% of budgetMission Merchants Association Incorporated — $50,000 over 1y, 97% of budgetNIHONMACHI MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $50,000 over 1y, 55% of budgetNorth of MarketTenderloin Community Benefit Corporation — $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBalboa Village Merchants Association — $50,000 over 1y, 96% of budgetFISHERMANS WHARF MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION — $37,713 over 1y, 75% of budgetPOTRERO HILL NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE INC — $25,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO COUNCIL OF DISTRICT MERCHANTS ASSOCIATIONS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 22% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Avenue Greenlight funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Avenue Greenlight?

    Find your warmest path to Avenue Greenlight through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 25 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports $555k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2022, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines