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Bob a Ross Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Bob a Ross Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$520k
Granted FY2025still arriving
29
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$60k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.6MHousing & Shelter$906kFood & Nutrition$464kHealth$284kYouth Development$215kPhilanthropy$90kCivil Rights$57kAnimals$55kOther$0
02FY2025 · 29 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $47k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $412k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $60k
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$931k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SANTA FE OPERA$60,000
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA$46,000
GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY$40,000
SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION$40,000
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS$35,000
SAN FRANCISCO GAY MENS CHORUS$30,000
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY$30,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES$25,000
LENSIC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER$25,000
FRAMELINE$20,000
FINE ARTS MUSEUMS OF SAN FRANCISCO$20,000
QUEER ARTS FEATURED$16,200
OPENHOUSE$10,000
CHANTICLEER$10,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $260k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MANDY'S FARM: $10k → 14%EMBARCADERO YMCA: $10k → 10%LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES: $50k → 10%LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES: $40k → 10%LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES: $30k → 10%LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES: $25k → 10%LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES: $25k → 10%LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES: $25k → 10%LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES: $25k → 10%LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES: $20k → 10%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.3M · 39 repeat orgs$210k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against +10% for those funded once.

39 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

39
20

Total granted

$4.3M
$138k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
+10%

Still filing today

69%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $72k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementCivil RightsHousing & ShelterOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • O
    Openhouse
    9× · 2017–2025 · $916k · revenue +122%
  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $513k · revenue +37%
  • LS
    Larkin Street Youth Services
    8× · 2017–2025 · $240k · revenue +90%

Funded once

  • OA
    OASIS ARTS INC
    one grant, 2024 · $18k · revenue 0%
  • AL
    AIDS LEGAL REFERAL PANEL
    one grant, 2017 · $15k
  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO-PARIS SISTER CITY COMMITTEE INC
    one grant, 2022 · $13k · revenue -100% · 83% of their budget
How this is measured

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

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
San Francisco Basque Folkloric Groups
Arts & Culture
2
San Francisco Filipino Cultural Center
Arts & Culture
3
San Francisco Guzheng Music Society
Arts & Culture
4
San Francisco Performances Inc

SFP presents internationally acclaimed and emerging performing artists, introduces innovative programs, and builds new and diversified audiences for the arts through education and outreach activities.

Arts & Culture
5
San Francisco Challenge dba AmericaOne
Recreation & Sports
6
San Francisco Art Studio Foundation
—
7
San Francisco City Chorus Association

Educate chorus members and perform concerts

Philanthropy
8
Art Foundation
Arts & Culture
9
Pocket Opera Inc

Pocket Opera shares the beauty, artistry, and scope of the operatic repertoire sung in English, through performance, outreach, and education.

Arts & Culture
10
California Bach Society Inc

Choral Music Performances: California Bach Society is a 30-voice chamber choir known for finely wrought interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque music, often accompanied by leading period instrumentalists. Each season, the choir performs…

—
11
Voices of Silicon Valley

Community Music / Arts Organization

Arts & Culture
12
San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company

Sfbatco unites artists and audiences through live theatre that is reflective of the authentic perspectives and history of the san francisco bay area.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is San Francisco Symphony; the most unlike its peers is Spectrum Institute. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

44 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 44 of the 67 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
44/44
Grantees still filing
27/44
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MEALS ON WHEELS: $440,000 · OtherMEALS ON WHEELSGay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society: $205,000 · OtherGay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Histori…SHANTI PROJECT: $205,000 · OtherSHANTI PROJECTIndividual grant recipient: $195,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientSAN FRANCISCO GAY MENS CHORUS: $135,000 · OtherSAN FRANCISCO GAY MENS CHORUSPETS ARE WONDERFUL SUPPORT: $55,000 · Other+29 more: $404,964 · Other+29 moreSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $512,500 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATIONSAN FRANCISCO OPERA ASSOCIATION: $206,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO OPERA ASSOCIATIONSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $180,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONYSAN FRANCISCO CHANTICLEER INC: $86,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO CHANTICLEER INCTHE SANTA FE OPERA: $85,000 · Arts & CultureTHE SANTA FE OPERANew Conservatory Theatre Center: $75,000 · Arts & CultureFrameline Inc: $70,000 · Arts & CultureTheatre Rhinoceros Inc: $62,500 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO SPECIAL EVENTS COMMITTEE: $60,000 · Arts & Culture+12 more: $149,517 · Arts & Culture+12 moreOpenhouse: $916,000 · Housing & ShelterOpenhouseLarkin Street Youth Services: $240,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $10,000 · Human ServicesMANDY'S SPECIAL FARM: $10,000 · Human ServicesLENSIC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER: $90,000 · PhilanthropyGIANTS COMMUNITY FUND: $80,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $5,000 · PhilanthropyHorizons Foundation: $35,000 · Community ImprovementSAN FRANCISCO LESBIAN GAY BISEXUAL TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CENTER: $10,000 · Community ImprovementGLBT NATIONAL HELP CENTER INC: $7,500 · Community ImprovementTENDERLOIN TESSIE HOLIDAY DINNERS: $21,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$1,639,964Arts & Culture$1,486,517Housing & Shelter$916,000Human Services$260,000Philanthropy$175,000Community Improvement$52,500Food & Nutrition$21,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetOpenhouse: $916,000 over 9y, 9.1% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $512,500 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetLarkin Street Youth Services: $240,000 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO OPERA ASSOCIATION: $206,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetGay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society: $205,000 over 8y, 2.9% of budgetSHANTI PROJECT: $205,000 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $180,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetLENSIC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER: $90,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO CHANTICLEER INC: $86,000 over 8y, 0.9% of budgetTHE SANTA FE OPERA: $85,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGIANTS COMMUNITY FUND: $80,000 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetNew Conservatory Theatre Center: $75,000 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetFrameline Inc: $70,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetTheatre Rhinoceros Inc: $62,500 over 9y, 3.8% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO SPECIAL EVENTS COMMITTEE: $60,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetSF Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Pride Celebration Cmte: $47,514 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO HOST COMMITTEE: $42,500 over 5y, 5.7% of budgetYERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $37,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetHorizons Foundation: $35,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetPHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA & CHORALE: $26,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPRC: $22,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTENDERLOIN TESSIE HOLIDAY DINNERS: $21,000 over 7y, 4.6% of budgetOpera Parallle: $20,376 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetCORPORATION OF THE FINE ARTS MUSEUMS: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOASIS ARTS INC: $17,641 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO OPERA GUILD AT THE WAR MEMORIAL OPERA HOUSE: $15,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO-PARIS SISTER CITY COMMITTEE INC: $12,500 over 1y, 83% of budgetBare Chest Calendar Inc: $11,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO LESBIAN GAY BISEXUAL TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMANDY'S SPECIAL FARM: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGAPA FUND: $9,500 over 3y, 8.9% of budgetGLBT NATIONAL HELP CENTER INC: $7,500 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetOLD SANTA FE ASSOCIATION: $6,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetSan Francisco Philharmonic Orchestra: $5,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetMerola Opera Program: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetROSE PAK COMMUNITY FUND: $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetACCION LATINA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetIntersection for the Arts: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSPECTRUM INSTITUTE: $3,500 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetDance Film SF Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUNITED IRISH SOCIETIES OF SAN FRANCISCO INC: $1,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

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

  • Who funds Openhouse ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Larkin Street Youth Services ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO OPERA ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society ↗
  • Who funds SHANTI PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY ↗
  • Who funds LENSIC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO CHANTICLEER INC ↗
  • Who funds THE SANTA FE OPERA ↗
  • Who funds GIANTS COMMUNITY FUND ↗
  • Who funds New Conservatory Theatre Center ↗
  • Who funds Frameline Inc ↗
  • Who funds Theatre Rhinoceros Inc ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO SPECIAL EVENTS COMMITTEE ↗
  • Who funds SF Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Pride Celebration Cmte ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO HOST COMMITTEE ↗
  • Who funds YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds Horizons Foundation ↗
  • Who funds PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA & CHORALE ↗
  • Who funds PRC ↗
  • Who funds TENDERLOIN TESSIE HOLIDAY DINNERS ↗
  • Who funds Opera Parallle ↗
  • Who funds CORPORATION OF THE FINE ARTS MUSEUMS ↗
  • Who funds OASIS ARTS INC ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO OPERA GUILD AT THE WAR MEMORIAL OPERA HOUSE ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO-PARIS SISTER CITY COMMITTEE INC ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The San Francisco Fou…Horizons FoundationThe William & Flora H…Jewish Community Fede…Marin Community Found…The Hb and Lucille Ho…Koret FoundationThe James Irvine Foun…McNabb FoundationSilicon Valley Commun…The Bernard Osher Fou…Phyllis C Wattis Foun…
The San Francisco FoundationCA28.1× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · Horizons Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · Marin Community Foundation · The Hb and Lucille Horn Foundation · Koret Foundation · The James Irvine Foundation · McNabb Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Bernard Osher Foundation · Phyllis C Wattis Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Bob a Ross Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bob a Ross Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Bob a Ross Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Bob a Ross Foundation Inc 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 67 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Bob a Ross’ filings →

    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 endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home