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Craigslist Charitable Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

Craigslist Charitable Fund

Its FY2020 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$124k
Granted FY2019
40
Grants FY2019
14
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

98% of Craigslist Charitable Fund’s FY2020 grant dollars went to Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2020 names 52 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2019, the last year Craigslist Charitable Fund named its own grantees at scale: 28 organizations, $124k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

88
’17
69
’18
28
’19
52
’20

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

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2020.

Philanthropy$28MAnimals$507kArts & Culture$336kFood & Nutrition$214kPublic Benefit$153kCivil Rights$140kCommunity Improvement$127kScience & Tech$123kOther$0
02FY2019 · 40 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2019

  • Under $10k36 grants · $59k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $65k
$1,200
Median grant
14
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Evidence Action$20,319
Friends of Calaveras Animal Services$15,000
Friends of the Animal Community$15,000
Northside Pet Connection$15,000
Sonora Cat Rescue$7,500
Individual grant recipient$6,000
OARC Inc$5,400
DonorsChooseorg$4,734
LACES$3,000
Mother Lode Wildlife Care$3,000
Anchorage Community Theatre$3,000
Project Veritas$3,000
LACES$3,000
LACES$3,000
Dragons Leap$2,400
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 (FY17–20, $90k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 97% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Recreational Aviation Foundation: $3k → 10%Northside Pet Connection: $18k → 15%Trans Pride Initiative: $2k → 14%Young Ctr for Immigrant Children's Rights: $150 → 14%Northside Pet Connection: $15k → 15%Trans Pride Initiative: $300 → 14%Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights: $150 → 14%Northside Pet Connection: $15k → 15%Northside Pet Connection: $12k → 15%Bike Rescue Inc: $300 → 10%Evangel Home Inc: $3k → 19%Latino Community Foundation: $3k → 10%Evangel Home Inc: $2k → 19%The Arc San Francisco: $750 → 10%The Arc San Francisco: $300 → 10%Larkin Street Youth Services: $3k → 10%Larkin Street Youth Services: $3k → 10%Urban Angels SF: $6k → 10%Urban Angels SF: $2k → 10%Children's Book Project: $3k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
WA
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
OH
PA
CT
CA
CO
KY
VA
MD
DE
NC
SC
DC
AL
TX
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.

54%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.3M · 67 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

67 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2019, 52 since wound down; 46 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call). Read against FY2019, 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

67
82

Total granted

$1.3M
$963k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+67%

Still filing today

79%
70%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $146k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20
Arts & CultureAnimalsEducationHealthHuman ServicesCivil RightsOther
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

  • PRO PUBLICA INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $201k · revenue +48%
  • VO
    VEGAN OUTREACH INC
    2× · 2018–2020 · $174k · revenue +3%
  • EF
    Electronic Frontier Foundation Inc
    3× · 2017–2020 · $102k · revenue +24%

Funded once

  • JC
    Jewish Community Endowment Fund
    one grant, 2017 · $248k
  • COMMUNITY INITIATIVESgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $126k · revenue +254%
  • ST
    Swords to Plowshares
    one grant, 2017 · $100k
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
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
2
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
3
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
4
Food Forward Inc

Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.

Food & Nutrition
5
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…

Science & Tech
6
The Bar Association of San Francisco

The bar association of san francisco champions equal access to justice and promotes humanity, excellence, and diversity in the legal profession. we provide legal services to disadvantaged and underserved individuals in san francisco. we…

—
7
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
8
American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California

The american civil liberties union of northern california (aclu nc union) defends and advances the principles of freedom, equality and justice contained in the united states constitution. aclu nc union, a california mutual benefit…

—
9
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
10
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
11
Marin Humane Society

Marin humane transforms lives through exceptional animal care, humane education, and advocacy. every day, marin humane inspires compassion and positive relationships between people and animals.

Animals
12
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory

The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory is dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats through science and outreach.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Evidence Action; the most unlike its peers is Oakland Aviation Museum. 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

161 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. 161 of the 203 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)
35
Early backer (in before they grew)
156/161
Grantees still filing
124/161
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $27,597,487 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND+2 more: $1,500 · Community ImprovementJewish Community Endowment Fund: $247,500 · OtherThe Center for Investigative Reporting Inc: $150,000 · OtherElectronic Frontier Foundation Inc: $101,500 · OtherSwords to Plowshares: $100,000 · OtherMEALS ON WHEELS OF SAN FRANCISCO INC: $54,500 · OtherSAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK: $52,250 · OtherTHE DC CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $50,000 · OtherLOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK: $50,000 · OtherNORTHSIDE PET CONNECTION: $60,000 · OtherDONORSCHOOSEORG: $52,534 · Other+132 more: $536,576 · OtherPRO PUBLICA INC: $200,600 · Arts & CultureLARK TRADITIONAL ARTS: $49,500 · Arts & CultureKQED INC: $10,200 · Arts & Culture+11 more: $28,080 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF THE ANIMAL COMMUNITY: $67,050 · AnimalsSonora Cat Rescue: $60,000 · AnimalsFRIENDS OF CALAVERAS ANIMAL SERVICES OR FOCAS: $60,000 · AnimalsOREGON HUMANE SOCIETY: $38,250 · Animals+10 more: $23,978 · AnimalsVEGAN OUTREACH INC: $174,000 · Food & NutritionTHE GOOD FOOD INSTITUTE INC: $15,000 · Food & Nutrition+5 more: $8,250 · Food & NutritionCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $125,750 · PhilanthropyTHE CLEAR FUND: $19,500 · Philanthropy+10 more: $6,750 · PhilanthropyELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER: $100,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $5,400 · Civil RightsTransgender Law Center: $4,050 · Civil Rights+5 more: $7,515 · Civil Rights
Community Improvement$27,598,987Other$1,454,860Arts & Culture$288,380Animals$249,278Food & Nutrition$197,250Philanthropy$152,000Civil Rights$116,965

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $27,597,487 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetPRO PUBLICA INC: $200,600 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetVEGAN OUTREACH INC: $174,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetThe Center for Investigative Reporting Inc: $150,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $125,750 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetElectronic Frontier Foundation Inc: $101,500 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER: $100,000 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ANIMAL COMMUNITY: $67,050 over 4y, 8.2% of budgetSonora Cat Rescue: $60,000 over 4y, 11% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS OF SAN FRANCISCO INC: $54,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $52,534 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK: $52,250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE DC CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLARK TRADITIONAL ARTS: $49,500 over 1y, 44% of budgetLACES (LIFEANDCHANGEEXPERIENCEDTHRUSPORTS: $42,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetOREGON HUMANE SOCIETY: $38,250 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $21,375 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetEVIDENCE ACTION: $20,319 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetALAMEDA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: $20,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CLEAR FUND: $19,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER ON CONSCIENCE & WAR: $18,000 over 2y, 7.6% of budgetESCUELA BILINGUE INTERNACIONAL: $17,970 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $16,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GOOD FOOD INSTITUTE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOARC Inc: $11,250 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetKQED INC: $10,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHEALTHRIGHT 360: $7,590 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUrban Angels SF: $7,500 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetPoverello House: $7,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetANCHORAGE COMMUNITY THEATER INC: $7,500 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetNATIONAL COALITION FOR WOMEN WITH HEART DISEASE INC: $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOXFAM-AMERICA INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION: $6,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLarkin Street Youth Services: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMERICAN ANTI-VIVISECTION SOCIETY: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBay Area Country Dance Society: $6,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $5,400 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEVANGEL HOME INC: $4,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTARA REDWOOD SCHOOL: $4,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $4,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTRIANGLE RESIDENTIAL OPTIONS FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSERS INC: $4,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $4,200 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTransgender Law Center: $4,050 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetST PAUL'S DAY SCHOOL OF OAKLAND DBA ST PAUL'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $3,885 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWomens Audio Mission: $3,750 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Z Space Studio: $3,150 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $3,150 over 2y, 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.

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.

Marin Community Found…The San Francisco Fou…The Yelp FoundationEast Bay Community Fo…The William & Flora H…Silicon Valley Commun…Arthur and Charlotte …McNabb FoundationWalter and Elise Haas…Kenneth Rainin Founda…Teichert FoundationHorizons Foundation
Marin Community FoundationCA23.9× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Marin Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · The Yelp Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Arthur and Charlotte Zitrin Foundation · McNabb Foundation · Walter and Elise Haas Fund · Kenneth Rainin Foundation · Teichert Foundation · Horizons 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 Craigslist Charitable Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Craigslist Charitable Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 80%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: 63% of income from government
  • Sandy Hook Promise Foundation: 0% of income from government
  • Americares Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Oxfam-America Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
8get no government money at all
33report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
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 203 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 2019, released 2019. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Craigslist’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