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David Sen Lin Lee Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

David Sen Lin Lee Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$85k
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$20k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Religion$141kPhilanthropy$124kArts & Culture$79kHuman Services$79kHealth$78kEducation$55kInternational$30kSocial Science$10kOther$0
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$20,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$361k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FRIENDS OF HAMILTON SCHOOLS FOUNDATION$20,000
CHINA INSTITUTE IN AMERICA$20,000
Individual grant recipient$20,000
UCSF FOUNDATION$15,000
THREE SQUARE$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 (FY18–23, $79k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%SELF HELP FOR THE ELDERLY: $1k → 10%THE LAN VO FOUNDATION: $1k → 9%THE LAN VO FOUNDATION: $1k → 9%BE A SHERO FOUNDATION: $51k → 13%BE A SHERO FOUNDATION: $25k → 13%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

MT
NY
NV
CA
AZ
AR
DC
HI
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.
04

Where the work is directed

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

About 95% of David Sen Lin Lee Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 27% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 5%.

David Sen Lin Lee Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
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 funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

63%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$385k · 9 repeat orgs$225k to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
17

Total granted

$385k
$180k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+54%
+86%

Still filing today

56%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $45k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesAnimalsPhilanthropyEducationInternationalOther
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

  • BA
    BE A SHERO FOUNDATION
    2× · 2022–2023 · $76k · revenue +160%
  • HS
    HAWAII SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
    4× · 2017–2023 · $54k · revenue +54%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF THE HAMILTON SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $25k · revenue +323%

Funded once

  • US
    UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDIAL CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $50k
  • PL
    PALPUNG LUNGTOK CHOELING
    one grant, 2020 · $40k
  • SP
    SOHO PLAYHOUSE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +260%
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
Shanghai Sonatas Foundation
Philanthropy
2
Hong Tao Tze Foundation
Human Services
3
Shoucheng Zhang Foundation
Education
4
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

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

Education
5
Yo San University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Yo san university, a non-profit organization, educates students to become exceptional practitioners of traditional chinese medicine and the taoist healing arts. the school facilitates the development of students' spiritual and professional…

—
6
Seattle Symphony Foundation

The primary purpose of the seattle symphony foundation is to aid and support the seattle symphony orchestra and benaroya hall music center endowments.

Arts & Culture
7
University of California Berkeley Foundation

The university of california berkeley foundation's mission is to advance the interest and promote the welfare of the university of california, berkeley (the "university"), to develop and increase the facilities of the university and to…

Education
8
San Francisco Opera Association

We believe opera is a uniquely compelling, entertaining and emotionally thrilling art form. our mission is to bring together growing audiences to experience opera's transformative power.

Arts & Culture
9
Asian Art Museum Foundation of San Francisco

The asian art museum celebrates, preserves, and promotes asian and asian american art and cultures for local and global audiences. we provide a dynamic forum for exchanging ideas, inviting collaboration, and fueling imagination to deepen…

Arts & Culture
10
San Francisco Ballet Endowment Foundation

The san francisco ballet endowment foundation was established in 1980 and in 1981 made its first distribution to the san francisco ballet association (the association), a california nonprofit public benefit corporation. (see schedule o)…

Arts & Culture
11
San Francisco Art Studio Foundation
—
12
So Hum Foundation
International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hawaiian Humane Society; the most unlike its peers is En-Yong Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

15 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. 15 of the 29 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/15
Grantees still filing
9/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ST GERAGOS ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH: $100,000 · OtherST GERAGOS ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCHIndividual grant recipient: $70,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientUT SOUTHWESTERN MEDIAL CENTER: $50,000 · OtherUT SOUTHWESTERN MEDIAL CENTERPALPUNG LUNGTOK CHOELING: $40,000 · OtherPALPUNG LUNGTOK CHOELINGIndividual grant recipient: $30,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientILF: $26,000 · OtherILFIndividual grant recipient: $20,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient+8 more: $31,489 · Other+8 moreHAWAII SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $53,500 · Arts & CultureHAWAII SYMPHON…SOHO PLAYHOUSE INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureSOHO PLAYHOUSE…+1 more: $500 · Arts & CultureBE A SHERO FOUNDATION: $75,874 · Human ServicesBE A SHERO FOU…+2 more: $3,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE HAMILTON SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $15,000 · EducationCHINA INSTITUTE IN AMERICA INCORPORATED: $20,000 · InternationalSTUF UNITED FUND INC: $10,000 · PhilanthropyEN-YONG FOUNDATION: $1,000 · PhilanthropyTHREE SQUARE: $10,000 · Food & NutritionHAWAIIAN HUMANE SOCIETY: $2,750 · AnimalsSOUTHWEST EXOTIC AVIAN RESCUE: $1,000 · Animals
Other$367,489Arts & Culture$79,000Human Services$78,874Education$40,000International$20,000Philanthropy$11,000Food & Nutrition$10,000Animals$3,750

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 budgetBE A SHERO FOUNDATION: $75,874 over 2y, 16% of budgetHAWAII SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $53,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE HAMILTON SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetSOHO PLAYHOUSE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetCHINA INSTITUTE IN AMERICA INCORPORATED: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTUF UNITED FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTHREE SQUARE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHAWAIIAN HUMANE SOCIETY: $2,750 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHWEST EXOTIC AVIAN RESCUE: $1,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetEN-YONG FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSELF-HELP FOR THE ELDERLY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSCOTTSDALE MUSEUM OF THE WEST INC: $500 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.

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 Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation IncNC8.2× affinity6 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile 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 David Sen Lin Lee Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from David Sen Lin Lee Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 29 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

    Play a game based on David Sen Lin Lee’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