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Cq Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Cq Foundation

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.

$12k
Granted FY2023
10
Grants FY2023
2
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

70% of Cq Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to The Board Of Trustees Of The Leland Stanford Junior University, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 6 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2023, the last year Cq Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 5 organizations, $12k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

4
’17
3
’18
2
’19
5
’20
5
’21
3
’22
5
’23
3
’24
6
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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.

Education$125kCivil Rights$43kReligion$8kScience & Tech$7kHealth$7kArts & Culture$6kPublic Safety & Disaster$3kCommunity Improvement$700Other$0
02FY2023 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY$3,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY$3,000
HARVARD UNIVERSITY$2,500
fremont union high school districtf$1,000
WWII PACIFIC WAR MEMORIAL HALL$1,000
The Home of Christ Church in Cupert$500
CALIFORNIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION$500
KQED$500
BUDDHIST TZU CHI FOUNDATION$300
US Hunan Association$50
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, $4k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%CARING CHOICES: $500 → 18%SUNNYVALE COMMUNITY SERVICES: $1k → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $1k → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $700 → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $400 → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $300 → 8%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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$173k · 18 repeat orgs$33k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +11% since the first grant, against -50% for those funded once.

18 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2023, 10 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call). Read against FY2023, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

18
9

Total granted

$173k
$22k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
-50%

Still filing today

28%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k 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
Human ServicesArts & CultureHealthReligionEducationCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • KI
    KQED INC
    3× · 2021–2023 · $4k · revenue +4%
  • AN
    American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches
    4× · 2017–2020 · $3k · revenue +46%
  • CA
    CALIFORNIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
    2× · 2021–2023 · $2k · revenue +19%

Funded once

  • SP
    SUNNYVALE PUBLIC LIBRARY
    one grant, 2019 · $10k
  • CL
    CUPERTINO LIBRARY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $4k · revenue -50%
  • HS
    Haas School of Business
    one grant, 2021 · $3k
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
Southern California University of Health Sciences

The mission of southern california university of health sciences (scu) is to educate students as competent, caring and successful practitioners of integrative healthcare. the university is committed to providing excellence in academics,…

Education
2
Sutter Bay Hospitals

MISSION STATEMENT: MISSION: CARING FOR OUR PATIENTS FIRST AND OUR PEOPLE ALWAYS. VISION: TO BE THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED AND CONNECTED HEALTH SYSTEM FOR GETTING AND STAYING WELL. VALUES: EXCELLENCE - We deliver high-quality,…

Health
3
Sutter Bay Medical Foundation

Mission statement: mission: caring for our patients first and our people always. vision: to be the most comprehensive, integrated and connected health system for getting and staying well. values: excellence - we deliver high-quality,…

Health
4
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc

To provide high-quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve.

Health
5
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
6
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest

To provide high-quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve.

Health
7
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado

To provide high-quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve.

Health
8
University of California San Francisco Foundation

Organization's mission ====================== the university of california, san francisco(ucsf) is among the world's leading universities dedicated to advancing health worldwide through biomedical research, graduate-level education in the…

Education
9
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington

To provide high-quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve.

Health
10
Ucsf Health Community Hospitals Fka Saint Francis Memorial Hospital

Ucsf health community hospital's mission statement is caring, healing, teaching, and discovering.

Health
11
California Pacific Medical Center Foundation

MISSION STATEMENT: MISSION: CARING FOR OUR PATIENTS FIRST AND OUR PEOPLE ALWAYS. VISION: TO BE THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED AND CONNECTED HEALTH SYSTEM FOR GETTING AND STAYING WELL. VALUES: EXCELLENCE - We deliver high-quality,…

Health
12
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgiainc

To provide high-quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Sunnyvale Community Services; the most unlike its peers is Us Hunan Association. 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

15 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. 15 of the 39 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/15
Grantees still filing
5/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: $65,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF FLORIDAMINDS MATTER SF COMMUNITY: $42,500 · OtherMINDS MATTER SF COMMUNITYUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY: $32,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEYSUNNYVALE PUBLIC LIBRARY: $10,000 · Other+23 more: $38,388 · Other+23 moreTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $20,500 · EducationTHE BOARD OF T…President and Fellows of Harvard College: $8,000 · EducationPresident and …CALIFORNIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: $2,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA ALU…KQED INC: $3,500 · Arts & CultureWW II PACIFIC WAR MEMORIAL HALL: $1,600 · Arts & CultureAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $2,800 · Human ServicesSUNNYVALE COMMUNITY SERVICES: $1,000 · Human ServicesCaring Choices Inc: $500 · Human ServicesBAY AREA CANCER CONNECTIONS: $2,000 · HealthKAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS: $2,000 · HealthBUDDHIST TZU CHI FOUNDATION: $2,200 · ReligionThe East Oakland Collective: $700 · Community Improvement
Other$187,888Education$30,500Arts & Culture$5,100Human Services$4,300Health$4,000Religion$2,200Community Improvement$700

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 budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $20,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCUPERTINO LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $4,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetKQED INC: $3,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $2,800 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBUDDHIST TZU CHI FOUNDATION: $2,200 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetBAY AREA CANCER CONNECTIONS: $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetKAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWW II PACIFIC WAR MEMORIAL HALL: $1,600 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetSUNNYVALE COMMUNITY SERVICES: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCaring Choices Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGOFUNDMEORG: $333 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.

  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds CUPERTINO LIBRARY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds KQED INC ↗
  • Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
  • Who funds BUDDHIST TZU CHI FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BAY AREA CANCER CONNECTIONS ↗
  • Who funds KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITALS ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds WW II PACIFIC WAR MEMORIAL HALL ↗
  • Who funds SUNNYVALE COMMUNITY SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds The East Oakland Collective ↗
  • Who funds Caring Choices Inc ↗
  • Who funds GOFUNDMEORG ↗
  • Who funds US HUNAN ASSOCIATION ↗

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.

American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
American Online Giving Foundation IncDE6.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Cq Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Cq 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%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of 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 · 0–20%
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 39 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Cq’s 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