Skip to content
Helzel Family Foundation at a glance

· Public charity

Helzel Family Foundation

The mission of the HELZEL FAMILY FOUNDATION is to improve the quality of life in the san francisco bay area and beyond through support of not-for-profit educational, arts, and cultural institutions.

$728k
Granted FY2021
16
Grants FY2021
1
States reached
$150k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2021.

Education$1.3MArts & Culture$645kEnvironment$220kYouth Development$205kPhilanthropy$170kPublic Benefit$145kHuman Services$50kScience & Tech$45kOther$0
02FY2021 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2021

  • $10k–50k10 grants · $200k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $528k
$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT$150,000
LIFE ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL$100,000
CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS$87,500
THE HEAD-ROYCE SCHOOL$87,500
UC BERKELEY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM FS UC BERKELEY FOUNDATION$52,500
GIRLS INCORPORATED OF ALAMEDA COUNTY$50,000
HEBREW FREE LOAN ASSOCIATION$40,000
NORTHERN LIGHT SCHOOL$25,000
GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY$25,000
BAY AREA CHILDREN'S THEATRE$25,000
PRESIDIO GRADUATE SCHOOL$20,000
BERKELEY ART MUSEUMPACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE FS REGENTS OF THE UC$15,000
OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA$15,000
LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE FS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION$15,000
PALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM$10,000
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 (FY17–21, $105k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, 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%GIRLS INCORPORATED OF ALAMEDA COUNTY: $50k → 10%GIRLS INCORPORATED OF ALAMEDA COUNTY: $25k → 10%Girls Inc of Alameda County: $10k → 10%GIRLS INCORPORATED OF ALAMEDA COUNTY: $10k → 10%GIRLS INCORPORATED OF ALAMEDA COUNTY: $10k → 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 6% of Helzel Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 99% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 86%.

Helzel Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 13% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.2M · 15 repeat orgs$480k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against -10% for those funded once.

15 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2021, 2 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
5

Total granted

$2.2M
$230k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
-10%

Still filing today

87%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 66% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $250k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesPublic BenefitScience & TechEnvironmentOther
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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION
    5× · 2017–2021 · $478k · revenue +189%
  • TH
    THE HEAD ROYCE SCHOOL
    5× · 2017–2021 · $330k · revenue +31%
  • CC
    CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS
    5× · 2017–2021 · $320k · revenue +33%

Funded once

  • GG
    GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue -10%
  • MM
    MAGNES MUSEUM FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $100k · revenue -88% · 35% of their budget
  • MC
    MILLS COLLEGE
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue -37%
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
The College Preparatory School

At college prep we believe in the foundational importance of scholarship, the value of dialogue, and the need for academically curious young people to belong to a kind, creative, diverse and joyful community. we challenge our students to…

Education
2
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
3
Occidental College

See schedule othe mission of occidental college is to provide a gifted and diverse group of students with a total educational experience of the highest quality - one that prepares them for leadership in an increasingly complex,…

Education
4
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
5
President-Board of Trustees Santa Clara College

Scu is a catholic and jesuit institution that makes student learning its central focus, promotes faculty and staff learning in its various forms, and exhibits organizational learning.

Education
6
The International School of San Francisco

Guided by the principles of academic rigor and diversity, the international school of san francisco offers programs of study in french and english to prepare its graduates for a world in which the ability to think critically and to…

Education
7
Pacific University

A diverse and sustainable learning community dedicated to discovery and excellence in teaching, scholarship and practice, pacific university inspires students to think, care, create and pursue justice in our world.

Education
8
University of the Pacific

To provide a superior, student-centered learning experience integrating liberal arts and professional education and preparing individuals for lasting achievement and responsible leadership in their careers and communities.

Education
9
California Academy of Sciences

The academy is a renowned scientific and educational institution with a mission to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration. based in san francisco's golden gate park, it is home to a world-class aquarium,…

Arts & Culture
10
Pacific Coast University School of Law

With its long history of education, affordable tuition, flexible schedule, and small class sizes, pacific coast university school of law is the perfect law school choice for working professionals who seek a law degree program.

Education
11
University of Redlands

We welcome, educate, and empower a diverse community of learners for lives of meaning, impact, and joy.

Education
12
California Institute of Integral Studies

Ciis is an institution of higher education that encourages an interdisciplinary approach to learning. over 1,700 students are enrolled in masters, doctoral, bachelor of arts completion programs, and certifications. ours is a mosaic of…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Oakland Public Education Fund; the most unlike its peers is Father Flanagan's Boys' Home. 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

23 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. 23 of the 24 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
21/23
Grantees still filing
14/23
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $477,500 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATIONCALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS: $320,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTSHIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT: $150,000 · EducationHIDDEN GENIUS PROJECTTHE OAKLAND PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND: $100,000 · EducationTHE OAKLAND PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDGOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY: $95,000 · EducationGOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITYNorthern Light School: $60,000 · Education+1 more: $20,000 · EducationTHE HEAD ROYCE SCHOOL: $330,000 · OtherTHE HEAD ROYCE SCHOOLREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $175,000 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CA…PRESIDIO GRADUATE SCHOOL: $100,000 · OtherPRESIDIO GRADUATE SCHOOLBAY AREA CHILDRENS THEATRE FKA ACTIVE ARTS THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIEN: $70,000 · OtherBAY AREA CHILDRENS THEATRE FKA …JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF THE GREATER EAST BAY: $45,000 · OtherJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF …REGIONAL PARKS FOUNDATION: $40,000 · Other+1 more: $10,000 · OtherOAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA: $145,000 · Arts & CultureOAKLAND MUSE…MAGNES MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $100,000 · Arts & CultureMAGNES MUSEU…PALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM: $65,000 · Arts & CulturePALM SPRINGS…+1 more: $10,000 · Arts & CultureHEBREW FREE LOAN ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $145,000 · Public BenefitEAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $125,000 · PhilanthropyGIRLS INCORPORATED OF ALAMEDA COUNTY: $95,000 · Human ServicesFather Flanagan's Boys' Home: $10,000 · Human ServicesGOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY: $100,000 · EnvironmentCHABOT SPACE & SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Science & Tech
Education$1,222,500Other$770,000Arts & Culture$320,000Public Benefit$145,000Philanthropy$125,000Human Services$105,000Environment$100,000Science & Tech$20,000

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 budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $477,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE HEAD ROYCE SCHOOL: $330,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS: $320,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetHIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT: $150,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetHEBREW FREE LOAN ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $145,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetOAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA: $145,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetEAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPRESIDIO GRADUATE SCHOOL: $100,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetTHE OAKLAND PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND: $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMAGNES MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 35% of budgetGOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY: $95,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGIRLS INCORPORATED OF ALAMEDA COUNTY: $95,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetBAY AREA CHILDRENS THEATRE FKA ACTIVE ARTS THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIEN: $70,000 over 4y, 3.3% of budgetPALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM: $65,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetNorthern Light School: $60,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF THE GREATER EAST BAY: $45,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetREGIONAL PARKS FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCHABOT SPACE & SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMILLS COLLEGE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFather Flanagan's Boys' Home: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUC PRESS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% 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.

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.

East Bay Community Fo…The James Irvine Foun…Jewish Community Fede…Marin Community Found…The San Francisco Fou…J B Arnovitz Foundati…Farallon FoundationT Gary and Kathleen R…Esb Charitable Founda…The Blackbaud Giving …Silicon Valley Commun…Vanguard Charitable E…
East Bay Community FoundationCA23.1× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: East Bay Community Foundation · The James Irvine Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · Marin Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · J B Arnovitz Foundation Inc · Farallon Foundation · T Gary and Kathleen Rogers Private Family Foundation · Esb Charitable Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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 Helzel Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Helzel Family 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%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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 24 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2022) is on record and reports $1k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2021, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Helzel Family’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