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Five Arts Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Five Arts 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.

$352k
Granted FY2025still arriving
40
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2025.

Arts & Culture$1.7MPhilanthropy$617kEducation$85kEnvironment$35kRecreation & Sports$7kCivil Rights$500Other$0
02FY2025 · 40 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k30 grants · $47k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $155k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $150k
$2,500
Median grant
2
States reached
$147k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC$50,000
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA$50,000
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA$50,000
NAPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$40,000
SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION$25,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC$20,000
THE METROPOLITAN OPERA$15,000
SAN FRANCISCO BAYKEEPER$15,000
Individual grant recipient$15,000
THE METROPOLITAN OPERA$5,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
SAN FRANCISCO PERFORMANCES$3,000
WEST EDGE OPERA$2,500
GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS$2,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 81% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%NAPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $50k → 9%William Jewell College: $50k → 8%NAPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $50k → 9%THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: $18k → 17%Houston Grand Opera: $25k → 16%NAPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $50k → 9%THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: $18k → 17%NAPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $40k → 9%NAPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $40k → 9%NAPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $40k → 9%NAPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $40k → 9%NAPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $40k → 9%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $110k → 10%NAPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $40k → 9%San Francisco Opera: $100k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $100k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $100k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $100k → 10%The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM): $70k → 10%UCB CAL Performances: $50k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $60k → 10%CAL PERFORMANCES: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $50k → 10%UCB CAL Performances: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $50k → 10%UC Berkeley: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $50k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $50k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $50k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $30k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $25k → 10%The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM): $20k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $20k → 10%The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM): $20k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $20k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%San Francisco Foundation: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%The San Francisco Foundation: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $20k → 10%Community Music Center: $20k → 10%COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $20k → 10%COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $20k → 10%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 17% of Five Arts Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Five Arts 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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 27 repeat orgs$70k to everyone else

27 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
15

Total granted

$1.7M
$69k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
+35%

Still filing today

78%
53%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationEnvironmentAnimalsOther
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

  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
    6× · 2018–2025 · $212k · revenue +4%
  • CM
    COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER
    4× · 2017–2021 · $80k · revenue +27%
  • MO
    Merola Opera Program
    9× · 2017–2025 · $41k · revenue +124%

Funded once

  • WJ
    William Jewell College
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue -3%
  • K
    KDFC
    one grant, 2021 · $5k
  • NR
    NATIONAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL
    one grant, 2024 · $3k
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
Opera Santa Barbara

See schedule 0founded in 1994, opera santa barbara is the signature provider of professional opera on the california central coast. we aspire to be a cultural leader in the santa barbara region, voicing and advancing our community's spirit…

Arts & Culture
2
Los Angeles Opera Company

To serve the public by producing world-class opera that preserves, promotes and advances the art form while embodying the diversity, spirit and artistic sensibility unique to los angeles. we envision an engaged and enlightened community in…

Arts & Culture
3
San Diego Opera Association

Mission: the mission of san diego opera is to deliver exceptional performances and exciting, accessible programs to diverse audiences, focusing on community partnerships, and the transformative and expressive power of the human voice. as…

Arts & Culture
4
Hawaii Symphony Orchestra

To present the highest-quality performances of great music, bringing national and international distinction to the orchestra and its community; to delight and educate audiences of all ages and backgrounds, and enhance the cultural vitality…

Arts & Culture
5
Foundation for Modern Opera
—
6
Arizona Opera Company

Arizona opera elevates the transformative power of storytelling through music - cultivating community and strengthening a state and people as adventurous and diverse as the place they call home.

Arts & Culture
7
California Bach Society Inc

Choral Music Performances: California Bach Society is a 30-voice chamber choir known for finely wrought interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque music, often accompanied by leading period instrumentalists. Each season, the choir performs…

—
8
San Francisco Bach Choir

The san francisco bach choir brings people together to experience choral musics transformative power to touch, engage and inspire.

—
9
New York City Opera

New york city opera was famously dubbed "the people's opera" by mayor fiorello laguardia at its founding in 1943. more than 80 years later, city opera continues its historic mission to inspire audiences with innovative and theatrically…

Arts & Culture
10
Florentine Opera Company Inc

The florentine opera company is driven to produce the full range of operatic works reflecting the highest musical and theatrical standards, and to support community and education programs that foster the current and next generation of…

Arts & Culture
11
Seattle Symphony Orchestra Inc

To present symphonic music of the highest quality in a distinctive way for the cultural enrichment, education, engagement and enjoyment of the people of our community.

Arts & Culture
12
Seattle Opera

To thrill, inspire and educate through the shared experience of opera. seattle opera is vital to the dynamic cultural and civic life of our region and to the evolution of opera across the world.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Santa Fe Opera; the most unlike its peers is Pocket Opera Inc. 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

33 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. 33 of the 48 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/33
Grantees still filing
21/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA ASSOCIATION: $870,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO OPERA ASSOCIATIONCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $80,000 · Arts & CultureCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTERSan Francisco Performances Inc: $58,500 · Arts & CultureMerola Opera Program: $40,645 · Arts & Culture+17 more: $97,345 · Arts & Culture+17 moreCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE NAPA VALLEY: $390,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE N…THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $227,000 · PhilanthropyTHE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATIONTHE METROPOLITAN OPERA: $141,923 · OtherTHE METROPOLITA…Individual grant recipient: $75,000 · OtherIndividual gran…Individual grant recipient: $41,500 · OtherIndividual gran…UC Berkeley: $27,000 · OtherUC BerkeleyIndividual grant recipient: $22,500 · OtherIndividual gran…+12 more: $22,650 · Other+12 moreSAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $211,500 · EducationSAN FRANCISC…William Jewell College: $50,000 · EducationWilliam Jewe…+3 more: $7,800 · EducationBaykeeper: $30,000 · EnvironmentGOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY: $6,500 · EnvironmentGREATER FARALLONES ASSOCIATION: $250 · Animals
Arts & Culture$1,146,490Philanthropy$617,000Other$330,573Education$269,300Environment$36,500Animals$250

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSAN FRANCISCO OPERA ASSOCIATION: $870,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE NAPA VALLEY: $390,000 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetTHE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $227,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $211,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $80,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetSan Francisco Performances Inc: $58,500 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetWilliam Jewell College: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMerola Opera Program: $40,645 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetBaykeeper: $30,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $25,150 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWEST EDGE OPERA: $21,310 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetOpera Parallle: $8,700 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $7,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCORPORATION OF THE FINE ARTS MUSEUMS: $7,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY: $6,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOPERA SAN JOSE INCORPORATED: $6,450 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPACIFIC SINGERS & ACTORS WORKSHOP: $4,300 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetOPERA AMERICA INC: $3,750 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOJAI VALLEY SCHOOL: $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CARNEGIE HALL CORPORATION: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SANTA FE OPERA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA & CHORALE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBYRD HOFFMAN WATER MILL FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPOCKET OPERA INC: $935 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGRABHORN INSTITUTE: $750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKQED INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSIERRA CLUB: $400 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWINGS FOR LEARNING: $300 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER FARALLONES ASSOCIATION: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Frick Collection: $150 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 SAN FRANCISCO OPERA ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE NAPA VALLEY ↗
  • Who funds THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER ↗
  • Who funds San Francisco Performances Inc ↗
  • Who funds William Jewell College ↗
  • Who funds Merola Opera Program ↗
  • Who funds Baykeeper ↗
  • Who funds Houston Grand Opera Association Inc ↗
  • Who funds WEST EDGE OPERA ↗
  • Who funds Opera Parallle ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY ↗
  • Who funds CORPORATION OF THE FINE ARTS MUSEUMS ↗
  • Who funds GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds OPERA SAN JOSE INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds PACIFIC SINGERS & ACTORS WORKSHOP ↗
  • Who funds OPERA AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds OJAI VALLEY SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds THE CARNEGIE HALL CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds Lyric Opera of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds THE SANTA FE OPERA ↗
  • Who funds PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA & CHORALE ↗
  • Who funds BYRD HOFFMAN WATER MILL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds POCKET OPERA INC ↗
  • Who funds GRABHORN INSTITUTE ↗

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 San Francisco Fou…Ann & Gordon Getty Fo…The William & Flora H…Marin Community Found…The Bernard Osher Fou…Jewish Community Fede…Carol Franc Buck Foun…Ululani FoundationBob a Ross Foundation…The Sam Mazza Foundat…Koret FoundationHorizons Foundation
The San Francisco FoundationCA23.6× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · The Bernard Osher Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · Carol Franc Buck Foundation · Ululani Foundation · Bob a Ross Foundation Inc · The Sam Mazza Foundation · Koret Foundation · Horizons 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 Five Arts Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Five Arts Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 48 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Five Arts’ 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