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Helmstetter Family Foundation co Erik Helmstetter at a glance

· Private foundation

Helmstetter Family Foundation co Erik Helmstetter

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.

$3.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.7M
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Human Services$250kEducation$247kFood & Nutrition$106kHealth$77kArts & Culture$52kCrime & Legal$44kRecreation & Sports$42kYouth Development$29kOther$0
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $55k
  • $250k+2 grants · $3.4M
$1,700,773
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DAFgiving360 Erik Christi Helmstett$1,700,773
DAFgiving360 Deidre H Sandvick Dono$1,700,773
DAFgiving 360 Deidre H Sandvick Don$27,529
DAFgiving360 Erik Christi Helmstett$27,529
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, $224k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Elderhelp of San Diego: $4k → 11%Present Now: $2k → 14%YMCA of San Diego County: $10k → 11%Present Now: $1k → 14%Present Now: $1k → 14%Elder Help: $5k → 11%United in Harmony: $5k → 14%A Sense of Home: $2k → 14%Casa De Amparo: $25k → 11%A Sense of Home: $1k → 14%Alexandria House: $1k → 14%Casa De Amparo: $25k → 11%Casa De Amparo: $20k → 11%Peace4kids: $1k → 14%Casa De Amparo: $20k → 11%Casa De Amparo: $12k → 11%Casa De Amparo: $10k → 11%Casa De Amparo: $10k → 11%Casa De Amparo: $7k → 11%North County Community Services: $5k → 11%SOFESA: $1k → 14%Walk With Sally: $10k → 14%Walk With Sally: $10k → 14%Walk With Sally: $9k → 14%Walk With Sally: $9k → 14%Walk With Sally: $9k → 14%Walk With Sally: $6k → 14%Walk With Sally: $5k → 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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

18%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$759k · 26 repeat orgs$3.6M to everyone else

26 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 26 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
38

Total granted

$759k
$119k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+97%

Still filing today

73%
61%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.5M 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
Human ServicesEducationArts & CultureCivil RightsCrime & LegalFood & NutritionOther
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

  • CD
    Casa De Amparo
    8× · 2017–2024 · $128k · revenue +17%
  • FF
    FOOD FOR LANE COUNTY
    8× · 2017–2024 · $88k · revenue +49%
  • MS
    MONARCH SCHOOL PROJECT
    8× · 2017–2024 · $80k · revenue +89%

Funded once

  • RAZOM INC
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue -60%
  • MO
    MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue -46%
  • YO
    YMCA OF SAN DIEGO COUNTYgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue +89%
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
La Casa de las Madres

La Casa de las Madres' mission is to respond to calls for help from DV victims, of all ages, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We give survivors the tools to transform their lives. We seek to prevent future violence by educating the…

—
2
Interval House

The mission of the organization is to ensure safety and stability for people who are battered, abused, homeless or at risk; to create public awareness about the epidemic of violence; and to mobilize the community to prevent violence and…

Human Services
3
Casa de Esperanza

Casa is a refuge, providing protection and education for people caught in the cylces of domestic violence, sexual assault and child assault. Casa is a healing community where women and children can receive the nurturing and support…

Human Services
4
Allies for Every Child Inc

All children need a childhood. Allies for Every Child brings together and strengthens families, cultivating conditions for children to succeed in life. (Continues on Schedule O)

Human Services
5
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles

Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles seeks to achieve equal justice for people living in poverty across Greater Los Angeles. We change lives through direct representation, systems change, and community education.

Crime & Legal
6
Center for Community Solutions

The mission is to end relationship and sexual violence by being a catalyst for caring communities and social justice. the vision is for all people to live full, free, expressive, and empowered lives in a safe, healthy, vibrant, and…

Health
7
Casa of Los Angeles

Our mission is to mobilize community volunteers to advocate for children who have experienced abuse and neglect. our vision is a los angeles where every child in the welfare system has an advocate and the opportunity to thrive.

Civil Rights
8
Housing Works

Our mission is to create housing and service options that model, with respect and dignity, sustainable, environmentally sensitive, affordable communities for people of limited resources.

Housing & Shelter
9
California Court Appointed Special Advocate Association

California casa was founded in 1987. its mission is to ensure that children and youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems have both a voice and the services they need to thrive. we achieve this by strengthening and empowering…

Civil Rights
10
California Partnership to End Domestic Violence

The organization's mission is to promote the collective voice of a diverse coalition of organizations and individuals working to eliminate all forms of domestic violence. as an advocate for sociate change, we advance our mission by…

Civil Rights
11
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
12
Crisis House

The mission of crisis house is to respond immediately to stop the cycle of domestic violence and homelessness and to connect families and individuals to crucial resources that empower them to renew their lives.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Partners; the most unlike its peers is University of Notre Dame du Lac. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

46 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. 46 of the 70 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)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/46
Grantees still filing
34/46
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DAFgiving360 Erik Christi Helmstett: $1,728,302 · OtherDAFgiving360 Erik Christi HelmstettDAFgiving360 Deidre H Sandvick Dono: $1,700,773 · OtherDAFgiving360 Deidre H Sandvick Dono+42 more: $405,641 · Other+42 moreCasa De Amparo: $128,000 · Human ServicesWALK WITH SALLY: $57,750 · Human ServicesYMCA OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY: $10,000 · Human ServicesELDERHELP OF SAN DIEGO: $9,000 · Human Services+7 more: $19,000 · Human ServicesMONARCH SCHOOL PROJECT: $80,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOUNDATION: $46,225 · EducationUCLA FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EducationVISTAMAR SCHOOL: $20,000 · Education+3 more: $3,000 · EducationVOICES FOR CHILDREN: $42,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 · Civil RightsA WINDOW BETWEEN WORLDS: $35,500 · Arts & CultureCITY BALLET INC: $5,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $500 · Arts & CultureGIRLS INC OF GREATER LOS ANGELES: $14,000 · Youth DevelopmentJUST IN TIME FOR FOSTER YOUTH: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentRAZOM INC: $10,000 · International
Other$3,834,716Human Services$223,750Education$179,225Civil Rights$62,000Arts & Culture$41,000Youth Development$19,000International$10,000

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 budgetCasa De Amparo: $128,000 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetFOOD FOR LANE COUNTY: $88,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetMONARCH SCHOOL PROJECT: $80,000 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetWALK WITH SALLY: $57,750 over 7y, 2.8% of budgetRELIEF NURSERY INC: $57,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOUNDATION: $46,225 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetVOICES FOR CHILDREN: $42,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetA WINDOW BETWEEN WORLDS: $35,500 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetUCLA FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetVISTAMAR SCHOOL: $20,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPEACE OVER VIOLENCE: $16,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGIRLS INC OF GREATER LOS ANGELES: $14,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetRAZOM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetYMCA OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetELDERHELP OF SAN DIEGO: $9,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSQUAREONE VILLAGES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetALPHA PROJECT FOR THE HOMELESS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetI HAVE A DREAM FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMAMA'S KITCHEN: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED IN HARMONY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNorth County Community Services: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJUST IN TIME FOR FOSTER YOUTH: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAIRPORT MARINA COUNSELING SERVICE: $4,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $4,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFood Pantry LAX: $3,500 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetPRESENT NOW: $3,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCULVER PALMS MEALS ON WHEELS: $2,975 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetA SENSE OF HOME: $2,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNURTURING MINDS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA WOMEN'S LAW CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJACOBS & CUSHMAN SAN DIEGO FOOD BANK: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPEACE 4 KIDS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEMPOWHER INSTITUTE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCHIMAYO CULTURAL PRESERVATION: $500 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetBIENVENIDOS OUTREACH INC: $500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLOS ANGELES PET RESCUE: $500 over 1y, 0.2% 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 Casa De Amparo ↗
  • Who funds FOOD FOR LANE COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds MONARCH SCHOOL PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds WALK WITH SALLY ↗
  • Who funds RELIEF NURSERY INC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds VOICES FOR CHILDREN ↗
  • Who funds A WINDOW BETWEEN WORLDS ↗
  • Who funds UCLA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds VISTAMAR SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds PEACE OVER VIOLENCE ↗
  • Who funds GIRLS INC OF GREATER LOS ANGELES ↗
  • Who funds RAZOM INC ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS ↗
  • Who funds YMCA OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds ELDERHELP OF SAN DIEGO ↗
  • Who funds SQUAREONE VILLAGES ↗
  • Who funds ALPHA PROJECT FOR THE HOMELESS ↗
  • Who funds I HAVE A DREAM FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MAMA'S KITCHEN ↗
  • Who funds CITY BALLET INC ↗
  • Who funds UNITED IN HARMONY ↗
  • Who funds North County Community Services ↗
  • Who funds JUST IN TIME FOR FOSTER YOUTH ↗
  • Who funds AIRPORT MARINA COUNSELING SERVICE ↗
  • Who funds THE OREGON COMMUNITY 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.

California Community …The Ralph M Parsons F…Weingart FoundationSempra FoundationThe San Diego Foundat…Price Philanthropies …The Rose Hills Founda…The Ahmanson Foundati…Jewish Community Foun…The Annenberg Foundat…Conrad N Hilton Found…Kaiser Foundation Hos…
California Community FoundationCA18.8× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Community Foundation · The Ralph M Parsons Foundation · Weingart Foundation · Sempra Foundation · The San Diego Foundation · Price Philanthropies Foundation · The Rose Hills Foundation · The Ahmanson Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · The Annenberg Foundation · Conrad N Hilton Foundation · Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

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 Helmstetter Family Foundation co Erik Helmstetter funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Helmstetter Family Foundation co Erik Helmstetter. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Relief Nursery Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Food for Lane County: 5% of income from government
  • The Oregon Community Foundation: 2% of income from government
  • Squareone Villages: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
18report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Helmstetter Family Foundation co Erik Helmstetter?

Find your warmest path to Helmstetter Family Foundation co Erik Helmstetter 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 70 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 Helmstetter Family Foundation co Erik Helmstetter’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