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Gaia Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

Gaia Fund

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.6M
Granted FY2024still arriving
84
Grants FY2024still arriving
12
States reached
$100k
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 2024.

Public Benefit$3.0MFood & Nutrition$2.5MPhilanthropy$2.3MEnvironment$2.0MArts & Culture$1.7MReligion$1.6MCivil Rights$1.2MEducation$356kOther$0
02FY2024 · 84 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k54 grants · $178k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $370k
  • $50k–250k16 grants · $1.1M
$5,000
Median grant
12
States reached
$43M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Accelerate Change Inc$100,000
Working America Education Fund$100,000
Workmoney Foundation Inc$100,000
New Venture Fund$90,000
Voto Latino Foundation$75,000
Real Organic Project$75,000
Organic Farming Research Fdn$60,000
Jewish Community Federation$50,000
Tides Foundation$50,000
Contemporary Jewish Museum$50,000
Cornucopia Institute$50,000
Southern Vision Alliance$50,000
Community Alliance With Family Farm$50,000
NEO Philanthropy$50,000
Nonprofit VOTE Inc$50,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $236k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 89% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Workmoney Foundation Inc: $100k → 17%Womens Rights and Empowerment Netwo: $7k → 16%Womens Rights and Empowerment Netwo: $3k → 16%Latino Community Foundation: $50k → 10%Latino Community Foundation: $25k → 10%Latino Community Foundation: $20k → 10%Brigid Alliance: $2k → 17%Brigid Alliance: $1k → 17%Brigid Alliance: $1k → 17%Friends in Sonoma Helping: $3k → 9%Sonoma Community Center: $3k → 9%Sonoma Community Center: $3k → 9%Sonoma Community Center: $3k → 9%Sonoma Community Center: $3k → 9%Friends in Sonoma Helping: $3k → 9%Friends in Sonoma Helping: $3k → 9%Sonoma Community Center: $3k → 9%Sonoma Community Center: $3k → 9%Sonoma Community Center: $3k → 9%Vintage House: $1k → 9%Sonoma Community Center: $1k → 9%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.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
PA
CA
CO
NE
VA
AZ
KS
NC
SC
DC
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 7% of Gaia Fund’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 55% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 58%.

Gaia Fundlessmore 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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$12M · 119 repeat orgs$1.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +24% for those funded once.

119 repeat relationships: 63 still active in FY2024, 56 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

119
35

Total granted

$12M
$889k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+24%

Still filing today

73%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 65% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $476k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentArts & CultureFood & NutritionCivil RightsPublic BenefitHuman ServicesOther
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

  • AP
    AMERICAN PROMISE EDUCATION FUND INC
    7× · 2017–2023 · $1.5M · revenue ×13 · 32% of their budget
  • NEO Philanthropy Inc
    8× · 2017–2024 · $442k · revenue +191%
  • FS
    FREE SPEECH FOR PEOPLE INC
    5× · 2018–2022 · $350k · revenue +185%

Funded once

  • TU
    The University Foundation California State University Chicograduated
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +63%
  • SM
    Sustainable Markets FoundationCivil
    one grant, 2017 · $75k
  • IF
    INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH SPIRITUALITY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $75k · revenue +184%
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
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
2
California Farmland Trust

The mission of the California Farmland Trust is to help farmers protect the best farmland in the world.

Environment
3
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
4
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
5
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
6
The Sierra Fund

The Sierra Fund (TSF) is a non-profit organization with a mission to restore ecosystem and community resiliency in the Sierra Nevada.

Environment
7
Food Forward Inc

Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.

Food & Nutrition
8
Sf Partnership

SF Partnership is an organization comprised of SF's leading employers dedicated to supporting an equitable, resilient, and vibrant economy shared by all people working and living in San Francisco. Through education, advocacy, and research,…

—
9
Climate Foundation

To research and develop healthy climate solutions comprising global food security, ecosystem regeneration and carbon balance in seas and soils.

Science & Tech
10
California Certified Organic Farmers Inc

Ccof advances organic agriculture for a healthy world. we accomplish our purpose through organic certification, education, advocacy and promotion. we envision a world where organic is the norm.

—
11
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
12
Organic Farmers Association

The mission of the Organic Farmers Association is to provide a strong and unified national voice for domestic certified organic producers so that organic agriculture will become the basis of a viable United States food and agricultural…

Food & Nutrition
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma; the most unlike its peers is Sonoma League for Historic Preservation. 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

129 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. 129 of the 176 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
29
Early backer (in before they grew)
128/129
Grantees still filing
86/129
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMERICAN PROMISE EDUCATION FUND INC: $1,500,000 · OtherAMERICAN PROMISE EDUCATION FUND INCCONGREGATION EMANU-EL: $1,040,000 · OtherCONGREGATION EMANU-ELCalifornia State University Chico: $400,000 · OtherCalifornia State University ChicoCommunity Alliance With Family Farm: $300,000 · Other+93 more: $4,210,500 · Other+93 moreNEW VENTURE FUND: $601,000 · EnvironmentNEW VENTURE FU…Urban Adamah: $260,000 · EnvironmentUrban AdamahReal Organic Project Inc: $255,000 · EnvironmentReal Organic P…Earth Island Institute Inc: $223,500 · EnvironmentEarth Island I…MULTIPLIER: $210,000 · EnvironmentMULTIPLIERWilderness Torah: $115,000 · EnvironmentWilderness Tor…+16 more: $362,200 · Environment+16 moreTHE CONTEMPORARY JEWISH MUSEUM: $1,066,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CONTEMP…SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $342,400 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCIS…Jewish Film Institute: $55,000 · Arts & Culture+12 more: $165,000 · Arts & Culture+12 moreNEO Philanthropy Inc: $441,500 · Public BenefitNEO Phila…MapLight: $250,000 · Public BenefitMapLightCOMMON CAUSE EDUCATION FUND: $235,000 · Public BenefitCOMMON CA…ISSUE ONE: $200,000 · Public BenefitISSUE ONEOPENSECRETS: $100,000 · Public BenefitOPENSECRE…SOUTHERN VISION ALLIANCE: $50,000 · Public Benefit+2 more: $42,500 · Public BenefitBIONUTRIENT FOOD ASSOCIATION INC: $303,000 · Food & NutritionBIONUTRIE…Center for Food Safety: $210,000 · Food & NutritionCenter fo…THE CORNUCOPIA INSTITUTE INC: $190,000 · Food & NutritionTHE CORNU…Rodale Institute: $153,500 · Food & NutritionRodale In…ZERO FOODPRINT: $145,000 · Food & NutritionZERO FOOD…NATIONAL YOUNG FARMERS COALITION INC: $110,000 · Food & NutritionNATIONAL …+9 more: $171,000 · Food & Nutrition+9 moreJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SAN FRANCISCO THE PENINSULA MARIN & SONOMA: $405,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDATION: $330,000 · PhilanthropySONOMA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $145,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: $50,000 · PhilanthropyNORTH VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $50,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $48,000 · Philanthropy+4 more: $41,950 · PhilanthropyFREE SPEECH FOR PEOPLE INC: $350,000 · Civil RightsVOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC: $250,000 · Civil RightsNATIONAL REDISTRICTING FOUNDATION: $200,000 · Civil RightsACCELERATE CHANGE INC: $100,000 · Civil RightsNonprofit VOTE Inc: $50,000 · Civil Rights+4 more: $73,000 · Civil Rights
Other$7,450,500Environment$2,026,700Arts & Culture$1,628,400Public Benefit$1,319,000Food & Nutrition$1,282,500Philanthropy$1,069,950Civil Rights$1,023,000

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 budgetAMERICAN PROMISE EDUCATION FUND INC: $1,500,000 over 7y, 32% of budgetTHE CONTEMPORARY JEWISH MUSEUM: $1,066,000 over 6y, 3.4% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $601,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $441,500 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SAN FRANCISCO THE PENINSULA MARIN & SONOMA: $405,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetFREE SPEECH FOR PEOPLE INC: $350,000 over 5y, 6.5% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $342,400 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $330,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBIONUTRIENT FOOD ASSOCIATION INC: $303,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetUrban Adamah: $260,000 over 5y, 5.7% of budgetReal Organic Project Inc: $255,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetVOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC: $250,000 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetMapLight: $250,000 over 5y, 2.8% of budgetCOMMON CAUSE EDUCATION FUND: $235,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetEarth Island Institute Inc: $223,500 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetMULTIPLIER: $210,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCenter for Food Safety: $210,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetORGANIC FARMING RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $205,000 over 7y, 5.3% of budgetISSUE ONE: $200,000 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetNEW ISRAEL FUND: $200,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL REDISTRICTING FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetTHE CORNUCOPIA INSTITUTE INC: $190,000 over 6y, 7.1% of budgetRodale Institute: $153,500 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetFRESNO FOOD COMMONS TRUST: $150,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetZERO FOODPRINT: $145,000 over 3y, 38% of budgetSONOMA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $145,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetREBOOT INC: $125,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetWilderness Torah: $115,000 over 4y, 6.7% of budgetNATIONAL YOUNG FARMERS COALITION INC: $110,000 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetThe University Foundation California State University Chico: $100,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetAlliance for Global Justice Corp: $100,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetPROTEUS FUND INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOPENSECRETS: $100,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetUC SANTA CRUZ FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetWORKING AMERICA EDUCATION FUND: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWORKMONEY FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH LEARNINGWORKS: $100,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetDEMOCRACY INITIATIVE EDUCATION FUND: $100,000 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetACCELERATE CHANGE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLATINO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $95,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $80,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR JEWISH SPIRITUALITY INC: $75,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetCALIFORNIA FARMLINK: $75,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetSPUR - SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA PLANNING AND URBAN RESEARCH ASSOCIATION: $62,500 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetJewish Film Institute: $55,000 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetSONOMA VALLEY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $52,500 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetNorth Bay Organizing Project: $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNonprofit VOTE Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 4.0% 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 AMERICAN PROMISE EDUCATION FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds THE CONTEMPORARY JEWISH MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds NEW VENTURE FUND ↗
  • Who funds NEO Philanthropy Inc ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SAN FRANCISCO THE PENINSULA MARIN & SONOMA ↗
  • Who funds FREE SPEECH FOR PEOPLE INC ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds TIDES FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BIONUTRIENT FOOD ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Urban Adamah ↗
  • Who funds Real Organic Project Inc ↗
  • Who funds VOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MapLight ↗
  • Who funds COMMON CAUSE EDUCATION FUND ↗
  • Who funds Earth Island Institute Inc ↗
  • Who funds MULTIPLIER ↗
  • Who funds Center for Food Safety ↗
  • Who funds ORGANIC FARMING RESEARCH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ISSUE ONE ↗
  • Who funds NEW ISRAEL FUND ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL REDISTRICTING FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE CORNUCOPIA INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds Rodale Institute ↗
  • Who funds FRESNO FOOD COMMONS TRUST ↗
  • Who funds ZERO FOODPRINT ↗
  • Who funds SONOMA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds REBOOT INC ↗
  • Who funds Wilderness Torah ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL YOUNG FARMERS COALITION INC ↗
  • Who funds The University Foundation California State University Chico ↗
  • Who funds Alliance for Global Justice Corp ↗
  • Who funds PROTEUS FUND INC ↗

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.

Marin Community Found…Sonoma County Communi…McNabb FoundationLisa & Douglas Goldma…Jewish Community Fede…The San Francisco Fou…ImpactassetsincClif Family FoundationSimon Blattner Family…Tides FoundationPatagoniaorgThe Vadasz Family Fou…
Marin Community FoundationCA50.9× affinity31 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Marin Community Foundation · Sonoma County Community Foundation · McNabb Foundation · Lisa & Douglas Goldman Fund · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · The San Francisco Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Clif Family Foundation · Simon Blattner Family Foundation · Tides Foundation · Patagoniaorg · The Vadasz Family 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 Gaia Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gaia Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 90%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Real Organic Project Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
9get no government money at all
31report 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 176 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 Gaia’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