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Carolyn and Gordon Davidson Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Carolyn and Gordon Davidson Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$5.3M
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$5.3M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Philanthropy$6.5MEnvironment$85kCivil Rights$70kArts & Culture$30kEducation$30kHealth$20kFood & Nutrition$10k
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$5,259,941
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHARLES SCHWAB CHARITABLE FUND$5,259,941
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–20) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 82% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%ECUMENICAL HUNGER PROGRAM: $10k → 8%KQED: $20k → 10%SIERRA WATCH: $10k → 11%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $20k → 17%THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: $25k → 18%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $10k → 7%BEREA COLLEGE: $10k → 16%STANFORD UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: $20k → 8%KQED: $10k → 10%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $10k → 17%THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: $15k → 18%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $15k → 10%PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AM: $20k → 17%THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: $10k → 18%AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: $20k → 17%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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.6M · 4 repeat orgs$105k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
7

Total granted

$6.6M
$105k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+50%

Still filing today

75%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentFood & NutritionEducationCrime & LegalArts & CultureHealthOther
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

  • SP
    SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC
    3× · 2018–2020 · $50k · revenue +23%
  • NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC
    2× · 2018–2020 · $30k · revenue +37%
  • KI
    KQED INC
    2× · 2018–2020 · $30k · revenue +35%

Funded once

  • TD
    TRUCKEE DONNER LAND TRUST
    one grant, 2019 · $20k · revenue +6%
  • PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $20k · revenue +50%
  • AC
    AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
    one grant, 2020 · $20k
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
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
2
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
3
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
4
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
5
Property and Environment Research Center

Perc is dedicated to advancing conservation through markets, incentives, property rights, and partnerships.

Public Benefit
6
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
7
Washington Forest Law Center

Dedicated to protecting the world's natural environment on behalf of the public by serving as a public interest law firm. refer to schedule o, part iii, line 4a, for list of litigated cases or advocacy work.

—
8
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
9
Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest

The environmental law & policy center (elpc) is the midwest's leading public interest environmental legal advocacy and ecobusiness innovation organization, and among the nation's leaders. we develop and lead successful strategic…

Environment
10
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
11
The Trust for Public Land

The trust for public land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. in the past year, we helped communities to plan for parks and conservation, fund parks and conservation,…

Environment
12
Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente

To strenghten people's ability to guarantee their individual and collective right to a healthy environment, via the development, implementation, and effective enforcement of national and international law.

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated; the most unlike its peers is Ecumenical Hunger Program. 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

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

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 11 of the 13 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
11/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHARLES SCHWAB CHARITABLE FUND: $6,533,508 · OtherCHARLES SCHWAB CHARITABLE FUND+2 more: $30,000 · OtherNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $30,000 · EnvironmentTRUCKEE DONNER LAND TRUST: $20,000 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $15,000 · EnvironmentSIERRA WATCH: $10,000 · EnvironmentSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $50,000 · Crime & LegalKQED INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $20,000 · EducationBEREA COLLEGE: $10,000 · EducationPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $20,000 · HealthECUMENICAL HUNGER PROGRAM: $10,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$6,563,508Environment$75,000Crime & Legal$50,000Arts & Culture$30,000Education$30,000Health$20,000Food & Nutrition$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $50,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKQED INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetECUMENICAL HUNGER PROGRAM: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSIERRA WATCH: $10,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetBEREA COLLEGE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Carolyn and Gordon Davidson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Carolyn and Gordon Davidson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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.

    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 13 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
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    The regranting layer
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    $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