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· Private foundation

Clarence E Heller Charitable Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.6M
Granted FY2024still arriving
42
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$800k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0198% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Environment$4.1MArts & Culture$3.4MPhilanthropy$2.6MFood & Nutrition$2.0MCommunity Improvement$986kEducation$938kCivil Rights$560kScience & Tech$330kOther$0
02FY2024 · 42 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $7k
  • $10k–50k20 grants · $620k
  • $50k–250k19 grants · $1.2M
  • $250k+1 grant · $800k
$40,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$72M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION$800,000
SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS INC AND CALIFORNIANS FOR PESTICIDE REF$100,000
AS YOU SOW$75,000
KITCHEN TABLE ADVISORS$75,000
CARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE$75,000
MOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER$75,000
LEADERSHIP COUNSEL FOR JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY$75,000
THE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CHICO$75,000
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH$75,000
MANDELA PARTNERS$75,000
PIE RANCH$50,000
BLACK FARMER FUND$50,000
INTERMUSIC SF$50,000
COMMUNITY ALLIANCE WITH FAMILY FARMERS FOUNDATION$50,000
JUSTICE OUTSIDE$50,000
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:

Your human-services grants (FY20–22, $100k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 25% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SACRED HEART COMMUNITY SERVICE: $75k → 8%BIRD SCHOOL PROJECT: $25k → 13%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.

Which US states your grants reach

VT
MI
NY
OR
CA
CO
MO
VA

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.

04

Where the work is directed

The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.

About 14% of Clarence E Heller Charitable Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another.

Clarence E Heller Charitable Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address

Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$8.7M · 62 repeat orgs$4.5M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +44% since the first grant, against +9% for the ones you funded once.

62 repeat relationships — 32 still active in FY2024, 30 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

62
118

Total granted

$8.7M
$4.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
+9%

Still filing today

82%
42%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $380k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationFood & NutritionCivil RightsCommunity ImprovementOther

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

  • IC
    INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS INC
    3× · 2021–2023 · $450k · revenue +91%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF THE EARTH
    5× · 2020–2024 · $415k · revenue +71%
  • CC
    CARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE
    5× · 2020–2024 · $375k · revenue +54%

Funded once

  • SF
    San Francisco Foundation
    one grant, 2018 · $250k
  • RITTER CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue +8%
  • HB
    HEALTHY BABIES BRIGHT FUTURES
    one grant, 2022 · $100k

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
California Youth Symphony Association

The mission of the California Youth Symphony (CYS) is to serve the community while providing talented young musicians with the finest musical experience and the opportunity for personal growth through the training and performance of…

Arts & Culture
2
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…

—
3
San Jose Chamber Orchestra

The mission of the San Jose Chamber Orchestra (SJCO) is to share exciting, though-provoking, and vibrant Music by contemporary and time-honored composers reflecting the cultural diversity of our everchanging community, and to support and…

Unclassified
4
The Fresno Philharmonic Association

The mission of the Fresno Philharmonic is to enrich the lives of Central San Joaquin Valley residents through inspiring performances of orchestral music. We are an essential and collaborative member of a vibrant arts scene which unites,…

Arts & Culture
5
Californians for the Arts

Our mission at Californians for the Arts is to ensure that the arts are accessible to all Californians; are an ongoing part of the public dialogue and to encourage Californians to care about the arts as a critical component of their own…

Arts & Culture
6
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
7
Socal Symphony Society

The Culver City Symphony Orchestra strives to enlighten and inspire the diverse citizenry of Culver City and the Los Angeles area through the presentation of orchestral music concerts, to present works of American composers, and to…

Arts & Culture
8
The Living Earth Show

The Living Earth Show's mission is to commission, collaborate, and amplify vital musical creators from a truly diverse range of communities - including crucial artists from those that are often marginalized and overlooked by traditional…

Arts & Culture
9
California College of the Arts

California college of the arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. benefitting from its san francisco bay area location, the college prepares…

Education
10
Sonoma Botanical Garden
—
11
Camerata Pacifica

Camerata Pacifica's mission is to affect positively how people experience live performances of classical music. The Organization will engage our audience intellectually and emotionally by presenting the finest performance of familiar and…

Arts & Culture
12
California Music Center

To seek and nurture exceptional young string musicians, foster and further their performance and professional skills development, and provide them with performance opportunities and monetary support.

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is San Francisco Symphony and the most unlike its peers is Friends & Alumni of Castelar Elementary School. 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 26 years old; the field is 13. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number24%6%<5yr16%9%5–10yr20%26%10–20yr17%27%20–35yr11%19%35–55yr12%12%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value24%7%<5yr16%8%5–10yr20%17%10–20yr17%44%20–35yr11%16%35–55yr12%7%55yr+

The field is 24% startups (under 5 years old) — 6% of your grantees by number, and just 7% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.9% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.9%1/109
the rest of the field
14%
13,972/97,147

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.

05the grantee network

108 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. 108 of the 192 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
28
Early backer (in before they grew)
107/108
Grantees still filing
71/108
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CALIFORNIANS FOR PESTICIDE REFORM — $400,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY ALLIANCE WITH FAMILY FARMERS — $320,000 · OtherAS YOU SOW — $300,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ — $275,000 · OtherINSIDE CLIMATE NEWS INC — $450,000 · OtherINSIDE CLIMATE NEWS INCLEADERSHIP COUNSEL FOR JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY — $300,000 · OtherCARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE — $375,000 · Other+112 more — $5,423,145 · Other+112 moreTHE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION — $2,244,000 · PhilanthropyTHE SAN FRANCISCO…JUSTICE OUTSIDE — $170,000 · PhilanthropyJUSTICE OUTSIDE+2 more — $52,250 · PhilanthropyInterMusic SF — $225,000 · Arts & CultureInterMusic SFEnriching Lives Through Music — $165,000 · Arts & CultureEnriching Live…CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES — $140,000 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNIA ACA…New Century Chamber Orchestra — $115,000 · Arts & CultureNew Century Ch…COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER — $110,000 · Arts & CultureCOMMUNITY MUSI…Harmony Project Bay Area Inc — $110,000 · Arts & CultureHarmony Projec…Angelica Center for Arts and Music — $110,000 · Arts & CultureAngelica Cente…EL SISTEMA USASALINAS INC — $105,000 · Arts & CultureWISHTOYO FOUNDATION DBA WISHTOYO CHUMASH FOUNDATION — $100,000 · Arts & CultureTHE EXPLORATORIUM — $80,000 · Arts & CultureSan Francisco Philharmonic Orchestra — $75,000 · Arts & Culture+24 more — $716,000 · Arts & Culture+24 moreFRIENDS OF THE EARTH — $415,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS O…Sustainable Conservation — $150,000 · EnvironmentSustainab…Urban Tilth — $150,000 · EnvironmentUrban Til…The Sierra Fund — $125,000 · EnvironmentThe Sierr…CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICTS — $75,000 · EnvironmentCALIFORNI…Ten Strands — $75,000 · EnvironmentTen Stran…RESOURCE RENEWAL INSTITUTE — $50,000 · Environment+7 more — $222,625 · Environment+7 moreMandela Partners Prev Mandela Marketplace Inc — $350,000 · Community ImprovementMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER — $245,000 · Community ImprovementBAYVIEW HUNTERS POINT COMMUNITY ADVOCATES INC — $170,000 · Community ImprovementBLACK FARMER FUND INC — $150,000 · Community ImprovementKITCHEN TABLE ADVISORS — $350,000 · Food & NutritionEcological Farming Association — $140,000 · Food & NutritionAgroecology Commons — $50,000 · Food & NutritionCenter for Food Safety — $50,000 · Food & Nutrition+1 more — $11,500 · Food & NutritionEDSOURCE INC — $87,750 · EducationOAKTOWN JAZZ WORKSHOPS — $80,000 · EducationThe University Foundation California State University Chico — $75,000 · EducationSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC — $70,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS CORPORATION — $50,000 · EducationOCEAN DISCOVERY INSTITUTE — $30,000 · EducationCOTA (COLLABORATIONS TEACHERS AND ARTISTS) INC — $30,000 · EducationFRIENDS & ALUMNI OF CASTELAR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL — $20,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA FARMLINK — $20,000 · EducationGRANTMAKERS FOR EDUCATION — $17,800 · Education+1 more — $15,000 · Education
Other$7,843,145Philanthropy$2,466,250Arts & Culture$2,051,000Environment$1,262,625Community Improvement$915,000Food & Nutrition$601,500Education$495,550

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTHE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION — $2,244,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetINSIDE CLIMATE NEWS INC — $450,000 over 3y, 5.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE EARTH — $415,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetCARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE — $375,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetMandela Partners Prev Mandela Marketplace Inc — $350,000 over 5y, 2.9% of budgetKITCHEN TABLE ADVISORS — $350,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY ALLIANCE WITH FAMILY FARMERS — $320,000 over 5y, 3.3% of budgetLEADERSHIP COUNSEL FOR JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY — $300,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetAS YOU SOW — $300,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER — $245,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetInterMusic SF — $225,000 over 5y, 6.7% of budgetFIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE — $200,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCreate CA — $200,000 over 4y, 6.7% of budgetJUSTICE OUTSIDE — $170,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetBAYVIEW HUNTERS POINT COMMUNITY ADVOCATES INC — $170,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetEnriching Lives Through Music — $165,000 over 5y, 3.5% of budgetBLACK FARMER FUND INC — $150,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetSustainable Conservation — $150,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetUrban Tilth — $150,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES — $140,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetEcological Farming Association — $140,000 over 3y, 9.4% of budgetASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS — $125,000 over 5y, 15% of budgetThe Sierra Fund — $125,000 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetYES Nature to Neighborhoods — $120,000 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetNew Century Chamber Orchestra — $115,000 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER — $110,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetHarmony Project Bay Area Inc — $110,000 over 3y, 54% of budgetAngelica Center for Arts and Music — $110,000 over 5y, 13% of budgetLEAGUE TO SAVE LAKE TAHOE — $105,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetEL SISTEMA USASALINAS INC — $105,000 over 4y, 4.3% of budgetRITTER CENTER — $100,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetPIE RANCH — $100,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetHUNTERS POINT BIOMONITORING FOUNDATION INC — $100,000 over 2y, 53% of budgetWISHTOYO FOUNDATION DBA WISHTOYO CHUMASH FOUNDATION — $100,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetEDSOURCE INC — $87,750 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetOAKTOWN JAZZ WORKSHOPS — $80,000 over 4y, 9.2% of budgetTHE EXPLORATORIUM — $80,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSan Francisco Philharmonic Orchestra — $75,000 over 3y, 17% of budgetCALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICTS — $75,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetThe University Foundation California State University Chico — $75,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSACRED HEART COMMUNITY SERVICE — $75,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTen Strands — $75,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC — $70,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAttitudinal Healing Connection Inc dba The Center for ArtEsteem — $70,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetGeneration Music & Art Academy — $65,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetCalifornians Dedicated to Education Foundation — $60,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSan Francisco Contemporary Music Players — $55,000 over 2y, 7.5% of budgetEL SISTEMA SANTA CRUZ — $55,000 over 2y, 4.6% 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.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The San Francisco Fou…Marin Community Found…The William & Flora H…The Keith Campbell Fo…Clif Family FoundationThe Schmidt Family Fo…The California Endowm…The Joseph and Vera L…Resources Legacy FundPatagoniaorgColburn FoundationTomkat Ranch Educatio…
The San Francisco FoundationCA60× affinity44 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment Inc · Clif Family Foundation · The Schmidt Family Foundation · The California Endowment · The Joseph and Vera Long Foundation · Resources Legacy Fund · Patagoniaorg · Colburn Foundation · Tomkat Ranch Educational Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Clarence E Heller Charitable Foundation 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 · 10%5%19%42%75%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    37report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 Clarence E Heller Charitable Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Clarence E Heller Charitable Foundation 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 192 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    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