Skip to content
Discover a Star at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Discover a Star

To provide grants to local non-profit organizations whose initiatives target children's causes and homeless intervention.

$160k
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$61k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Human Services$1.7MHealth$458kHousing & Shelter$429kEducation$403kEmployment$315kArts & Culture$196kFood & Nutrition$174kRecreation & Sports$41kOther$0
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 5 grants below total $149,852, the rows itemized in this filing. The $159,852 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $10,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $30k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $112k
$20,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LA$61,303
VARIOUS 5000 OR LESS$51,049
LA FAMILY HOUSING$20,000
HOMEBOY INDUSTRIES$10,000
TREE PEOPLE$7,500
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 (FY17–24, $1.6M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%DOWNTOWN WOMENS CENTER: $101k → 14%DOWNTOWN WOMENS CENTER: $87k → 14%DOWNTOWN WOMENS CENTER: $80k → 14%DOWNTOWN WOMENS CENTER: $56k → 14%DOWNTOWN WOMENS CENTER: $49k → 14%DOWNTOWN WOMENS CENTER: $30k → 14%VALLEY FAMILY CENTER: $25k → 14%VALLEY FAMILY CENTER: $25k → 14%VALLEY FAMILY CENTER: $25k → 14%VALLEY FAMILY CENTER: $25k → 14%COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $140k → 14%COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $106k → 14%COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $76k → 14%COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $75k → 14%COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $55k → 14%COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $30k → 14%UNION STATION HOMELESS SERV: $21k → 14%PEOPLE ASSISTING THE HOMELESS: $25k → 14%MEND: $64k → 14%MEND: $61k → 14%MEND: $60k → 14%MEND: $41k → 14%MEND: $26k → 14%ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGE: $84k → 14%ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LA: $70k → 14%ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LA: $61k → 14%ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGE: $59k → 14%ASSISTANCE LEAGUE: $35k → 14%ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGE: $26k → 14%ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGE: $25k → 14%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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.3M · 19 repeat orgs$273k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +46% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

19 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 15 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
14

Total granted

$3.3M
$266k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+17%

Still filing today

95%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesHealthYouth DevelopmentEducationRecreation & SportsArts & CultureOther
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

  • CH
    COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA
    6× · 2017–2023 · $482k · revenue +197%
  • DW
    DOWNTOWN WOMEN'S CENTER
    6× · 2017–2023 · $403k · revenue +285%
  • AL
    ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES
    7× · 2017–2024 · $361k · revenue +65%

Funded once

  • LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $34k · revenue +17%
  • HF
    HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC
    one grant, 2019 · $30k
  • JA
    JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT USA
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +14%
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
Hillsides

We are a premier provider dedicated to healing children and young adults, strengthening families, and transforming communities through quality comprehensive services and advocacy. we envision a world in which children and young adults,…

Human Services
2
Interval House

The mission of the organization is to ensure safety and stability for people who are battered, abused, homeless or at risk; to create public awareness about the epidemic of violence; and to mobilize the community to prevent violence and…

Human Services
3
Allies for Every Child Inc

All children need a childhood. Allies for Every Child brings together and strengthens families, cultivating conditions for children to succeed in life. (Continues on Schedule O)

Human Services
4
Housing Works

Our mission is to create housing and service options that model, with respect and dignity, sustainable, environmentally sensitive, affordable communities for people of limited resources.

Housing & Shelter
5
Wellnest Emotional Health & Wellness

Through a holistic approach to emotional well-being, Wellnest offers hope, healing, and opportunity to the children, young adults, families, and communities we serve. Our commitment remains steadfast as we enter our second century of…

Human Services
6
Habitat for Humanity of La Plata County Inc

To build decent, affordable homes in partnership with families in need.

—
7
Mercy House Living Centers

Mercy house's most significant exempt activities focus on ending homelessness and providing comprehensive housing and support services. the organization offers homeless prevention, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, and…

Housing & Shelter
8
Wayfinder Family Services

The mission of Wayfinder Family Services is to ensure that children, youth and adults facing challenges always have a place to turn. Founded in 1953 as the Foundation for the Junior Blind, the organization initially enabled visually…

Human Services
9
The Anti-Recidivism Coalition

The anti-recidivism coalition (arc) works to end mass incarceration in california. to ensure our communities are safe, healthy, and whole, arc empowers formerly and currently incarcerated people to thrive by providing a support network,…

Crime & Legal
10
Transition House

Transition House is dedicated to the solution of family homelessness in the Santa Barbara community. Capable and motivated families with children are offered life tools and respectful, non-sectarian residential services designed to…

Housing & Shelter
11
Raphael House of San Francisco Inc

The mission of raphael house is to help low-income families and families experiencing homelessness strengthen family bonds by achieving stable housing and financial independence.

Human Services
12
Didi Hirsch Psychiatric Service

The roots of the los angeles didi hirsch psychiatric service dba didi hirsch mental health services ("dhmhs") extend back to the 1930s, when a group of women funded psychiatric care for people whose lives were devastated by the depression.…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is M F Place Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Panda Charitable Family Foundation (Fka the Panda Charitable Foundation). 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

34 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. 34 of the 36 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/34
Grantees still filing
24/34
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $481,580 · Human ServicesCOVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIADOWNTOWN WOMEN'S CENTER: $402,737 · Human ServicesDOWNTOWN WOMEN'S CENTERASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES: $360,614 · Human ServicesASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELESMEND - Meet Each Need With Dignity: $250,078 · Human ServicesMEND - Meet Each Need With DignityValley Family Center: $100,000 · Human ServicesValley Family Center+2 more: $46,480 · Human ServicesLOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK: $100,500 · OtherLOS ANGELES REGIONAL…MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $95,500 · OtherMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATI…VARIOUS 5000 OR LESS: $90,904 · OtherVARIOUS 5000 OR LESSA PLACE CALLED HOME: $75,000 · OtherA PLACE CALLED HOMELOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER: $33,619 · OtherLA FAMILY HOUSING CORPORATION: $30,000 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $30,000 · OtherInclusion Matters by Shanes Inspiration: $133,000 · OtherInclusion Matters by…CONCERN FOUNDATION: $27,000 · OtherBRIGHT HORIZONS FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN: $25,000 · Other+5 more: $48,437 · Other+5 morePROVIDENCE HEALTH & SERVICES FOUNDATION SAN FERNANDO & SANTA CLARITA VALLEYS SA: $256,500 · HealthPROVIDENCE …PROJECT ANGEL FOOD: $73,500 · HealthPROJECT ANG…Children's Hospital Los Angeles: $25,000 · HealthChildren's …+2 more: $20,000 · HealthHOMEBOY INDUSTRIES: $315,000 · Youth DevelopmentHOMEBOY IN…JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT USA: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentJUNIOR ACH…THE PAINTED TURTLE: $15,000 · Youth DevelopmentSCHOOL ON WHEELS INC: $300,000 · EducationSCHOOL ON…BURBANK ARTS AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $20,000 · EducationBURBANK A…+1 more: $10,000 · EducationM F PLACE INC: $247,516 · Housing & ShelterA WINDOW BETWEEN WORLDS: $92,729 · Arts & CulturePIECE BY PIECE: $83,329 · Arts & Culture
Human Services$1,641,489Other$688,960Health$375,000Youth Development$355,000Education$330,000Housing & Shelter$247,516Arts & Culture$176,058

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 budgetCOVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $481,580 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetDOWNTOWN WOMEN'S CENTER: $402,737 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES: $360,614 over 7y, 1.5% of budgetHOMEBOY INDUSTRIES: $315,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetSCHOOL ON WHEELS INC: $300,000 over 6y, 2.2% of budgetPROVIDENCE HEALTH & SERVICES FOUNDATION SAN FERNANDO & SANTA CLARITA VALLEYS SA: $256,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMEND - Meet Each Need With Dignity: $250,078 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetM F PLACE INC: $247,516 over 6y, 1.8% of budgetInclusion Matters by Shanes Inspiration: $133,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetLOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK: $100,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetValley Family Center: $100,000 over 4y, 3.3% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $95,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetA WINDOW BETWEEN WORLDS: $92,729 over 5y, 2.2% of budgetPIECE BY PIECE: $83,329 over 4y, 15% of budgetA PLACE CALLED HOME: $75,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetPROJECT ANGEL FOOD: $73,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetLOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER: $33,619 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLA FAMILY HOUSING CORPORATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCONCERN FOUNDATION: $27,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT USA: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBRIGHT HORIZONS FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN: $25,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetChildren's Hospital Los Angeles: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPATH: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $21,480 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBURBANK ARTS AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetTHE PAINTED TURTLE: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTOGETHER WE RISE: $10,518 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHeart Touch Project: $10,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetMY STUFF BAGS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE JACK AND JILL LATE STAGE CANCER FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTREEPEOPLE INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe New Horizons Foundation Inc: $5,500 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 Ahmanson Foundati…The Annenberg Foundat…California Community …The Rose Hills Founda…The Ralph M Parsons F…Orange County Communi…Morgan Stanley Global…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…National Philanthropi…Charities Aid Foundat…American Online Givin…
The Ahmanson FoundationCA17.6× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Ahmanson Foundation · The Annenberg Foundation · California Community Foundation · The Rose Hills Foundation · The Ralph M Parsons Foundation · Orange County Community Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Online Giving Foundation Inc

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 Discover a Star funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Discover a Star. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Discover a Star?

    Find your warmest path to Discover a Star 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 36 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 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 Discover a Star’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