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El Gato Channel Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

El Gato Channel Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$244k
Granted FY2024still arriving
20
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$38k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Environment$843kArts & Culture$210kFood & Nutrition$43kAnimals$41kEducation$31kPublic Safety & Disaster$25kYouth Development$25kCivil Rights$15kOther$0
02FY2024 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k5 grants · $28k
  • $10k–50k15 grants · $216k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$4.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER$37,530
NORTHERN CHUMASH TRIBAL COUNCIL$20,000
COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL$17,500
SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL KEEPER$15,566
SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION$15,000
LOS PADRES FORESTWATCH$15,000
SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY$15,000
SANTA BARBARA BUCKET BRIGADE$10,000
PEACE IN A POD MONTESSORI$10,000
EXPLORE ECOLOGY$10,000
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES$10,000
CHANNEL ISLANDS RESTORATION$10,000
LA COLONIA DE EDEN GARDENS INC$10,000
SB COUNTY ACTION NETWORK$10,000
LAGUNA BLANCA SCHOOL$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY19–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 93% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%CENTRAL COAST ALLIANCE UNIT: $10k → 10%INTERNATIONAL BIRD RESCUE: $25k → 10%COMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $10k → 10%LA COLONIA DE EDEN GARDENS INC: $10k → 11%MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM FOUNDATION: $10k → 12%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HIS: $50k → 14%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $30k → 7%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $25k → 14%NATURE CONSERVANCY: $28k → 7%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $25k → 14%NATURE CONSERVANCY: $20k → 7%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $20k → 14%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $15k → 14%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $15k → 10%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%MONTESSORI CENTER: $13k → 14%MONTESSORI CENTER: $10k → 14%LAGUNA BLANCA SCHOOL: $10k → 14%PEACE IN A POD MONTESSORI ELEMENTARY: $8k → 14%COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $50k → 14%COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $47k → 14%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER: $38k → 14%COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $35k → 14%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER: $30k → 14%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER: $30k → 14%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER: $28k → 14%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER: $28k → 14%SANTA BARBARA LOWER WEST SIDE COMMUNITY CENTER: $20k → 14%EXPLORE ECOLOGY: $20k → 14%COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $18k → 14%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER: $17k → 14%COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $11k → 14%EXPLORE ECOLOGY: $10k → 14%EXPLORE ECOLOGY: $10k → 14%LA COLINA JUNIOR HIGH: $9k → 14%PEACE IN A POD MONTESSORI: $10k → 14%SB COUNTY FOOD ACTION NETWORK: $8k → 14%CHANNEL ISLANDS RESTORATION: $25k → 14%SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL KEEPER: $20k → 14%SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL KEEPER: $16k → 14%SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL KEEPER: $15k → 14%SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL KEEPER: $10k → 14%WILDERNESS YOUTH PROJECT: $10k → 14%SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL KEEPER: $10k → 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.
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 10% of El Gato Channel Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 94% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 89%.

El Gato Channel Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.4% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.0M · 20 repeat orgs$142k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +52% since the first grant, against +41% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
7

Total granted

$1.0M
$107k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+52%
+41%

Still filing today

75%
14%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $36k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentCrime & LegalAnimalsArts & CultureEducationPublic Safety & DisasterOther
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

  • ED
    ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER
    6× · 2019–2024 · $171k · revenue +34%
  • CE
    COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL
    5× · 2020–2024 · $160k · revenue +52%
  • SB
    SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
    5× · 2020–2024 · $90k · revenue +52%

Funded once

  • SB
    SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HIS
    one grant, 2019 · $50k
  • IB
    INTERNATIONAL BIRD RESCUEgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +41%
  • CC
    CENTRAL COAST ALLIANCE UNIT
    one grant, 2022 · $10k
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
California Institute of Environmental Studies

The institute is dedicated to scientific research, the results of which are used to promote public awareness and education in the areas of conservation biology and ecology,including the wise use of natural resources.

Animals
2
Nature Collective

Nature collective's mission is to drive a passion for nature for all. we think inclusively and diversely when serving those devoid of nature those who remember nature and want to connect back to it and those who have an affinity with…

Environment
3
Sustainable Conservation

Sustainable Conservation advances the collaborative stewardship of Californias land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people. For over three decades, Sustainable Conservation has built coalitions of people with different…

Environment
4
The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County

To conserve natural resources, agricultural land and open spaces for present and future generations.

Environment
5
California Institute for Biodiversity

Create and publish educational materials, conduct professional development, promote awareness, and sponsor research on the spectacular biological diversity of the State of CA.

Education
6
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
—
7
The Wildlands Conservancy

The Wildlands Conservancy's dual mission is to preserve the beauty and biodiversity of the earth and to provide programs so that children may know the wonder and joy of nature.

Environment
8
Santa Lucia Conservancy

To protect and steward in perpetuity the unique natural, cultural, and asthetic resources of the preserve and serve as a model of ecologically sustainable development to committees outside the preserve.

Environment
9
Turtle Island Restoration Network

To mobilize people in local communities around the world to protect marine wildlife and the oceans and inland watersheds that sustain them.

Environment
10
California Wildlife Foundation

The foundation works with diverse groups representing many interests to acquire and restore critical wildlife habitat and protecting species

Animals
11
California Coastkeeper dba California Coastkeeper Alliance

California Coastkeeper Alliance unites Waterkeeper programs statewide to fight for swimmable, fishable, and drinkable waters for all Californians.

Environment
12
California Ocean Science Trust

California ocean science trust (ost) is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating progress towards a healthy and productive ocean future for california. created by state legislation, ost bridges the gap between cutting-edge…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Explore Ecology; the most unlike its peers is The Riviera Ridge School. 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

20 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. 20 of the 32 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/20
Grantees still filing
16/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $159,868 · EnvironmentCOMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCILSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $150,200 · EnvironmentSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATIONSANTA BARBARA CHANNELKEEPER INC: $70,579 · EnvironmentSANTA BARBARA CHANNELKEEPER INCChannel Islands Restoration: $65,000 · EnvironmentChannel Islands RestorationEXPLORE ECOLOGY: $40,000 · EnvironmentEXPLORE ECOLOGYLOS PADRES FORESTWATCH INC: $20,000 · Environment+1 more: $10,000 · EnvironmentTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $77,868 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYSANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HIS: $50,000 · OtherSANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NAT…SANTA BARBARA LOWER WEST SIDE COMMUNITY CENTER: $30,000 · OtherSANTA BARBARA LOWER WEST SI…MONTESSORI CENTER: $25,000 · OtherMONTESSORI CENTERSANTA BARBARA URBAN CREEKS COUNCIL: $21,700 · OtherSANTA BARBARA URBAN CREEKS …SB COUNTY ACTION NETWORK: $15,000 · OtherSB COUNTY FOOD ACTION NETWORK: $12,500 · OtherWilderness Youth Project Inc: $15,000 · Other+8 more: $57,300 · Other+8 moreENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER: $170,806 · Crime & LegalENVIRONMENTAL DE…LA COLONIA DE EDEN GARDENS INC: $10,000 · Crime & LegalLA COLONIA DE ED…SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $90,000 · Arts & CultureSANTA BARBARA …NORTHERN CHUMASH TRIBAL COUNCIL: $70,000 · Arts & CultureNORTHERN CHUMA…INTERNATIONAL BIRD RESCUE: $25,000 · AnimalsMONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM FOUNDATION: $16,500 · AnimalsSanta Barbara Bucket Brigade: $25,000 · Public Safety & DisasterLAGUNA BLANCA SCHOOL: $12,563 · EducationThe Riviera Ridge School: $8,000 · Education
Environment$515,647Other$304,368Crime & Legal$180,806Arts & Culture$160,000Animals$41,500Public Safety & Disaster$25,000Education$20,563

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 budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER: $170,806 over 6y, 1.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $159,868 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $150,200 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $90,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $77,868 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSANTA BARBARA CHANNELKEEPER INC: $70,579 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetNORTHERN CHUMASH TRIBAL COUNCIL: $70,000 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetChannel Islands Restoration: $65,000 over 6y, 1.5% of budgetEXPLORE ECOLOGY: $40,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetINTERNATIONAL BIRD RESCUE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSanta Barbara Bucket Brigade: $25,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetLOS PADRES FORESTWATCH INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetMONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM FOUNDATION: $16,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWilderness Youth Project Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetLAGUNA BLANCA SCHOOL: $12,563 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLA COLONIA DE EDEN GARDENS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetSANTA BARBARA BOTANIC GARDEN: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetThe Riviera Ridge School: $8,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGOOD SAMARITAN SHELTER: $5,700 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 ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds SANTA BARBARA CHANNELKEEPER INC ↗
  • Who funds NORTHERN CHUMASH TRIBAL COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds Channel Islands Restoration ↗
  • Who funds EXPLORE ECOLOGY ↗
  • Who funds INTERNATIONAL BIRD RESCUE ↗
  • Who funds Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade ↗
  • Who funds LOS PADRES FORESTWATCH INC ↗
  • Who funds MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Wilderness Youth Project Inc ↗
  • Who funds LAGUNA BLANCA SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY INITIATIVES ↗
  • Who funds LA COLONIA DE EDEN GARDENS INC ↗
  • Who funds SANTA BARBARA BOTANIC GARDEN ↗
  • Who funds The Riviera Ridge School ↗
  • Who funds GOOD SAMARITAN SHELTER ↗

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.

Santa Barbara Foundat…Hutton Foundation Dba…Fund for Santa Barbar…Patricia Bragg Founda…Emmett FoundationJames S Bower Foundat…Williams-Corbett Foun…Www FoundationMarin Community Found…The Artemisia FundBragg Health Foundati…The Osherenko-Young F…
Santa Barbara FoundationCA29.8× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Santa Barbara Foundation · Hutton Foundation Dba Hutton Parker Foundation · Fund for Santa Barbara Inc · Patricia Bragg Foundation · Emmett Foundation · James S Bower Foundation · Williams-Corbett Foundation · Www Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · The Artemisia Fund · Bragg Health Foundation · The Osherenko-Young 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 El Gato Channel Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from El Gato Channel Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%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
    0get no government money at all
    6report 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 El Gato Channel Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to El Gato Channel 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.

    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 32 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 El Gato Channel’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