· Private foundation
Ellis 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k14 grants · $32k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $61k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| BALBOA PARK CONSERVANCY | $30,000 |
| TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY | $21,400 |
| VOICES FOR CHILDREN | $10,000 |
| REGIONAL TASK FORCE ON THE HOMELESS | $5,000 |
| CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY | $5,000 |
| PROJECT RESTORE HOPE | $5,000 |
| VOICE OF SAN DIEGO | $2,500 |
| RADY'S CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF SD | $2,500 |
| JACOB SLANIA MEMORIAL FUND | $2,500 |
| CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL - PHILADELPHIA | $2,500 |
| SAN DIEGO GRANTMAKERS | $2,000 |
| CAL MATTERS | $1,500 |
| URBAN DISCOVERIES MINISTRIES | $1,000 |
| NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE ASSOCIATION | $1,000 |
| MOVEMBER - SAM ATTISHA | $500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $64k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 62% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 16% of Ellis Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +44% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.
26 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- VFVOICES FOR CHILDREN9× · 2017–2025 · $115k · revenue +44%
- TCTEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY5× · 2021–2025 · $87k · revenue +31%
- RTREGIONAL TASK FORCE ON THE HOMELESS6× · 2020–2025 · $37k · revenue +145%
Funded once
- TSTHE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATIONone grant, 2023 · $3k · revenue -45%
- MIMed4OurWorld Incgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $3k · revenue +123%
- FPFOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INCone grant, 2017 · $2k · revenue +15%
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.
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.
Acquire, manage and protect land in perpetuity that supports sensitive habitats and species, and to educate and inspire people and communities as stewards and advocates of their natural environment.
The Federation brings together representatives of affordable housing community development corporations with others interested in the development and management of housing for low and moderate income persons in San Diego County to mutually…
The policy & innovation center's (pic) mission is to unlock the region's potential by cultivating and building partnerships. our niche is to address intractable issues that can only be solved with cross-sector, multi-jurisdictional…
San Diego Jewish Academy empowers each student to learn for life, guided by Jewish values and rooted in strength of community.
Dreams for Change's mission is to respond to the needs of San Diegans by creating innovative and cost-effective programs to empower and stabilize the lives of under-served families and individuals.
The mission of the building industry association of san diego is to proactively promote a positive business environment for the land development, home building and commercial development industry throughout san diego county.
To support and cultivate sustainable employment opportunities for San Diego County residents contributing to a prosperous local economy.
California Streets Initiative is a non-profit that practices solutions journalism at its five news websites listed above to educate inform and empower its readers.
The mission of investigative newsource is to produce investigative and community-powered journalism that informs citizens of san diego and imperial counties.
San Francisco CASA transforms the lives of children and youth traumatized and displaced in the foster care and related systems by providing one consistent, caring volunteer advocate, trained to address each childs needs in the court and…
Advocating for Human-Centered Design as a regional approach to improve economic, social, and civic life in our community.Design Forward Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to leveraging the power of design to drive social impact.…
How this is measured
31 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. 31 of the 57 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 VOICES FOR CHILDREN ↗
- Who funds BALBOA PARK CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds REGIONAL TASK FORCE ON THE HOMELESS ↗
- Who funds Neighborhood House Association ↗
- Who funds Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties ↗
- Who funds THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds VOICE OF SAN DIEGO ↗
- Who funds SECOND CHANCE INC ↗
- Who funds URBAN DISCOVERY MINISTRIES INC ↗
- Who funds CUREBOUND ↗
- Who funds PROJECT RESTORE HOPE ↗
- Who funds CalMatters ↗
- Who funds HELEN WOODWARD ANIMAL CENTER ↗
- Who funds THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds Med4OurWorld Inc ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY INTERFACE SERVICES ↗
- Who funds FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC ↗
- Who funds LUX ART INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CHALLENGED ATHLETES INC ↗
- Who funds CENTER FOR COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS ↗
- Who funds ALPHA PROJECT FOR THE HOMELESS ↗
- Who funds THE GOLDIN INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds San Diego Parks Foundation ↗
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 · The Conrad Prebys Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · The Parker Foundation · David C Copley Foundation · Price Philanthropies Foundation · Rancho Santa Fe Foundation · Sempra Foundation · Girard Foundation · The Nordson Corporation Foundation · The Patricia and Christopher Weil Family Foundation · Walter J & Betty C Zable Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Ellis Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ellis Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Ellis Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Ellis 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.
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