California · Private foundation
Downing Family 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.
- $96k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 4
- Grants FY2025
- 4
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 0%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $6,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $80,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 4 to 9
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 1
- Total assets, FY2025
- $2.8M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 0% of the organizations Downing Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 0% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 4 | $96k | 0% |
| FY2024 | 4 | $118k | 0% |
| FY2023 | 6 | $108k | 33% |
| FY2022 | 4 | $95k | 0% |
| FY2021 | 6 | $125k | 0% |
| FY2020 | 5 | $213k | 20% |
| FY2019 | 7 | $163k | 29% |
| FY2018 | 9 | $135k | 33% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego Society of Natural History | $520,000 | 8 | 1% |
| Downing Family Operating Foundation | $252,500 | 7 | 100% |
| Emilio Nares Foundation | $185,000 | 6 | 6% |
| San Diego Yacht Club Sailing Foundation | $35,000 | 4 | 30% |
| Padres Foundation | $30,000 | 3 | 2% |
| Cortez Racing Association | $30,000 | 2 | 19% |
| Balboa Park Cultural Partnership | $25,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Bishop School | $21,900 | 3 | n/a |
| San Diego Astronomy Association | $21,000 | 4 | 32% |
| Pacific Coast Sailing Foundation | $15,000 | 1 | 4% |
Show all 15 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego Society of Natural History | $520,000 | 8 | 1% |
| Downing Family Operating Foundation | $252,500 | 7 | 100% |
| Emilio Nares Foundation | $185,000 | 6 | 6% |
| San Diego Yacht Club Sailing Foundation | $35,000 | 4 | 30% |
| Padres Foundation | $30,000 | 3 | 2% |
| Cortez Racing Association | $30,000 | 2 | 19% |
| Balboa Park Cultural Partnership | $25,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Bishop School | $21,900 | 3 | n/a |
| San Diego Astronomy Association | $21,000 | 4 | 32% |
| Pacific Coast Sailing Foundation | $15,000 | 1 | 4% |
| Forever Balboa Park | $15,000 | 1 | 1% |
| St Helena Hospital Foundation | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Reuben H Fleet Science Center | $2,500 | 1 | 0% |
| Uc San Diego Foundation | $2,500 | 1 | 0% |
| Patrons of the Prado | $1,000 | 1 | 0% |
Plus 6 recipients with no EIN on record ($114k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Downing Family Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 3 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 14 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: The San Diego Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · Sempra Foundation · The Conrad Prebys Foundation · Price Philanthropies Foundation · Downing Family Operating Foundation · Jw Sefton Foundation · Heller Foundation of San Diego · The Thomas C Ackerman Foundation · Walter J & Betty C Zable Foundation · David C Copley Foundation · Rancho Santa Fe Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Downing Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Downing Family 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.
About Downing Family Foundation
- How much does Downing Family Foundation give?
- Downing Family Foundation reported 4 grants totaling $96,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 4 and 9 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Downing Family Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (45%), Human Services (20%), Health (15%).
- Who are Downing Family Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: San Diego Society of Natural History ($520k), Downing Family Operating Foundation ($253k), Emilio Nares Foundation ($185k).
- Does Downing Family Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 0% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Downing Family Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Downing Family Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The San Diego Foundation, Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, Sempra Foundation.
- Where is Downing Family Foundation based?
- Downing Family Foundation is based in CA.
Play a game based on Downing Family’s filings →