· Private foundation
Gar and Esther Tootelian Charitable 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k4 grants · $10k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FOOD BANK | $100,000 |
| HABITAT FOR HUMANITY | $5,000 |
| CALIFORNIA SPECIALTY CROPS COUNCIL | $2,700 |
| CENTRAL VALLEY PBS | $1,000 |
| CSU FRESNO AG ONE FOUNDATION | $1,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 18%. 93% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
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 +72% since the first grant, against +52% for those funded once.
12 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 4% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $105k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- FCFresnos Chaffee Zoo Corporation4× · 2017–2020 · $200k · revenue +72%
- CFCenter for Land-Based Learning4× · 2017–2020 · $50k · revenue +238%
- CSCalifornia Specialty Crops Council3× · 2022–2024 · $7k · revenue +14%
Funded once
- VPValley Public Television Incone grant, 2017 · $75k · revenue +9%
- FGFRESNO GRIZZLIES COMMUNITY FUNDone grant, 2017 · $55k
- FAFAIRMONT AG FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $55k · revenue +101%
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.
The primary purpose of Friends of the Kern County fair is to raise money for the benefit of the 15th district agricultural association and showcasing agricultural industries to the community.
To provide support for the 23rd agriculture disctrict contra costa county fairgrounds.
The specific and primary purposes for which this corporation is organized is to create and publish high-quality policy-focused journalism to educate the public on issues affecting Central California, and to do all things appropriate to…
To increase awareness and understanding of agriculture among california educators and students.
The mission of the California Farmland Trust is to help farmers protect the best farmland in the world.
Support SFSU Sierra Nevada Field Campus
To educate and support the agricultural community.
Assist the california state fair and other agricultural ventures in the state of california in bettering the agricultural assets in the state.
The mission of the Friends of the Calaveras Sheriff's Office (FOCSO) is to support the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office by providing funds for programs, projects, and equipment through events, fundraising, networking, and donations from…
Protect, manage and preserve lands and wildlife having unique natural resources and cultural qualities within and near the foothills of the sierra nevada range.
To represent, protect and advance the social, economic and educational interest of the farmers in kern county, california.
Fair Trade Fresno promotes and sells fair trade goods that support low-income artisans around the world.
How this is measured
9 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. 9 of the 25 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 Fresnos Chaffee Zoo Corporation ↗
- Who funds CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FOOD BANK ↗
- Who funds Valley Public Television Inc ↗
- Who funds FAIRMONT AG FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Center for Land-Based Learning ↗
- Who funds FRESNO SHERIFFS MEMORIAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WEST HILLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds California Specialty Crops Council ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE FAIR 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.
Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Gar and Esther Tootelian Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gar and Esther Tootelian Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Gar and Esther Tootelian Charitable Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Gar and Esther Tootelian Charitable 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.
Play a game based on Gar and Esther Tootelian’s filings →