Skip to content
Hillsborough Garden Club Trust at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Hillsborough Garden Club Trust

Its FY2026 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$55k
Granted FY2026still arriving
13
Grants FY2026still arriving
2
States reached
$28k
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 2025.

Environment$171kFood & Nutrition$21kEducation$6kHealth$6kScience & Tech$5kRecreation & Sports$4kAnimals$2kArts & Culture$900
02FY2026 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2026

  • Under $10k11 grants · $11k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $44k
$500
Median grant
2
States reached
$404k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HILLSBOROUGH GARDEN CLUB$27,500
PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST$16,000
Individual grant recipient$5,500
POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIP$1,500
SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE$1,100
MOUNT VERNON LADIES ASSOCIATAION$1,000
CALIFORNAI NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY$500
GARDENS OF GOLDEN GATE PARK$500
SAN MATEO COUNTY PARKS FOUNDATION$200
CURIODESSY$200
SAVE THE BAY$200
HILLSBOROUGH BEAUTIFICATION FOUNDATION$200
GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATORY$100
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 (FY17–26) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 34% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%CALL PRIMROSE: $5k → 7%PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST: $50k → 8%BOYS GIRLS CLUB OF SAN LEANDRO: $500 → 10%CALIFORNAI NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY: $500 → 12%BIG BASIN: $6k → 13%THE GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA: $10k → 17%RANDOM ACTS OF FLOWERS: $5k → 12%MOUNT VERNON LADIES ASSOCIATAION: $1k → 6%HILLSBOROUGH BEAUTIFICATION FOUNDATION: $3k → 7%PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST: $16k → 8%SAVE THE BAY: $5k → 10%THE GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA: $4k → 17%LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FOUNDATION: $500 → 14%BURLINGAME INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL: $2k → 7%PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST: $5k → 8%SAVE THE BAY: $500 → 10%ELKHORN SLOUGH: $5k → 13%THE GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA: $999 → 17%HILLSBOROUGH BEAUTIFICATION FOUNDATION: $1k → 7%HARVEST GARDEN: $550 → 7%HARVEST GARDEN: $510 → 7%SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $1k → 10%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: $500 → 8%SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $900 → 10%SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $550 → 10%HIGHLANDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PTAGARD: $3k → 7%CURIODYSSEY: $3k → 7%CURIODYSSEY: $1k → 7%SAN MATEO ARBORETOREUM: $800 → 7%GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL CONSERVANCY: $600 → 10%POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIP: $6k → 10%POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIP: $2k → 10%POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIP: $600 → 10%PIE RANCH: $3k → 7%SAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCI: $5k → 10%THE HEAL PROJECT: $3k → 7%SAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCI: $5k → 10%UCCE MASTER GARDENERS SAN MATEO: $1k → 7%SAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY: $1k → 10%HEAL: $1k → 7%GARDENS OF GOLDEN GATE PARK: $800 → 10%FILOLI: $7k → 7%FILOLI: $6k → 7%FRIENDS OF FILOLI: $6k → 7%FILOLI: $6k → 7%FILOLI: $5k → 7%FILOLI: $4k → 7%VIDA VERDE NATURE EDUCATION: $3k → 7%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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$230k · 27 repeat orgs$39k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +59% since the first grant, against +45% for those funded once.

27 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2026, 15 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2026 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
23

Total granted

$230k
$38k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+59%
+45%

Still filing today

52%
61%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2026, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26
EnvironmentAnimalsFood & NutritionArts & CultureHealthRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • PO
    PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST
    8× · 2017–2026 · $72k · revenue +164%
  • HG
    HILLSBOROUGH GARDEN CLUB
    6× · 2017–2026 · $52k · revenue +99%
  • TG
    THE GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA
    3× · 2017–2019 · $15k · revenue +49%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $6k
  • RA
    Random Acts of Flowers
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue -87%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2025 · $5k
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
Sonoma Botanical Garden
—
2
Sempervirens Fund

To ensure coast redwood forests in the santa cruz mountains thrive for generations to come. since 1900, sempervirens has protected more than 36,000 acres. learn more about our mission, vision, and strategic plan through 2030 at:…

Environment
3
Nature Collective

Nature collective's mission is to drive a passion for nature for all. we think inclusively and diversely when serving those devoid of nature those who remember nature and want to connect back to it and those who have an affinity with…

Environment
4
California Institute for Biodiversity

Create and publish educational materials, conduct professional development, promote awareness, and sponsor research on the spectacular biological diversity of the State of CA.

Education
5
South Bay Parkland Conservancy

Since 2004, the South Bay Parkland Conservancy (SBPC) has been committed to preserving open space and creating more parks in the coastal cities of the South Bay in Los Angeles, CA. We are dedicated to helping make the community a better…

Environment
6
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
7
Sierra Foothill Conservancy

Protect, manage and preserve lands and wildlife having unique natural resources and cultural qualities within and near the foothills of the sierra nevada range.

Environment
8
Save Mount Diablo

Save mount diablo's mission is to preserve mount diablo's peaks, surrounding foothills, and watersheds; and its sustaining diablo range, through land acquisition and preservation strategies designed to protect the mountain's natural…

Recreation & Sports
9
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
10
Chile-California Council

The Chile-California Council is a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to developing and promoting joint endeavors and cooperative relations between Chile and California, as well as individuals, legal entities and other institutions in…

International
11
Quail Botanical Gardens Foundation

The mission of san diego botanic garden: we garden to create, share, and apply plant wisdom in our world. the organization's diverse topography and wide variety of microclimates provides visitors with the varied sensations of strolling…

Environment
12
New Jersey Conservation Foundation

Recognizing that a healthy environment is critical to the well-being and survival of all living things, new jersey conservation foundation is devoted to preserving land and protecting natural resources throughout new jersey's (continued on…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is California State Parks Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Climate Rights International. 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

29 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. 29 of the 51 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/29
Grantees still filing
24/29
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST: $71,600 · EnvironmentPENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUSTHILLSBOROUGH GARDEN CLUB: $51,990 · EnvironmentHILLSBOROUGH GARDEN CLUBTHE GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA: $14,999 · EnvironmentTHE GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICAPollinator Partnership: $9,200 · EnvironmentSave The Bay: $5,900 · Environment+10 more: $22,400 · Environment+10 moreFILOLI: $26,825 · OtherFILOLISAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCI: $10,000 · OtherSAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDEN …Individual grant recipient: $6,250 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $5,700 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $4,850 · OtherIndividual grant recipientSANTA ROSA PARKS FOUNDATION: $3,350 · OtherHIGHLANDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PTAGARD: $2,565 · Other+21 more: $14,851 · Other+21 moreCALL PRIMROSE: $4,500 · Food & NutritionVILLAGE HARVEST CORPORATION: $800 · Food & NutritionCURIODYSSEY: $5,150 · Arts & CultureRandom Acts of Flowers: $5,000 · HealthPIE RANCH: $2,500 · EmploymentCALIFORNIA WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: $500 · AnimalsMUTTVILLE: $500 · AnimalsTHE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER: $100 · Animals
Environment$176,089Other$74,391Food & Nutrition$5,300Arts & Culture$5,150Health$5,000Employment$2,500Animals$1,100

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 budgetPENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST: $71,600 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetHILLSBOROUGH GARDEN CLUB: $51,990 over 6y, 24% of budgetTHE GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA: $14,999 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPollinator Partnership: $9,200 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetSave The Bay: $5,900 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCURIODYSSEY: $5,150 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetRandom Acts of Flowers: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCALL PRIMROSE: $4,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $4,450 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetHILLSBOROUGH BEAUTIFICATION FOUNDATION: $4,350 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetSANTA ROSA PARKS FOUNDATION: $3,350 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY AT STRYBING ARBORETUM: $3,200 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HEAL PROJECT: $3,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetVIDA VERDE NATURE EDUCATION: $3,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPIE RANCH: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSan Mateo Arboretum Society Inc: $2,100 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetCalifornia Native Plant Society: $1,950 over 10y, 0.0% of budgetBURLINGAME INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL PTA CALIFORNIA CONGRESS OF PARENTS: $1,500 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetVILLAGE HARVEST CORPORATION: $800 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCALIFORNIA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION: $600 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: $500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMUTTVILLE: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWADDELL CREEK ASSOCIATION: $100 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAmerican Forests: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER: $100 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 PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST ↗
  • Who funds HILLSBOROUGH GARDEN CLUB ↗
  • Who funds THE GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds Pollinator Partnership ↗
  • Who funds Save The Bay ↗
  • Who funds CURIODYSSEY ↗
  • Who funds Random Acts of Flowers ↗
  • Who funds CALL PRIMROSE ↗
  • Who funds SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds HILLSBOROUGH BEAUTIFICATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SANTA ROSA PARKS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY AT STRYBING ARBORETUM ↗
  • Who funds THE HEAL PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds VIDA VERDE NATURE EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds PIE RANCH ↗
  • Who funds San Mateo Arboretum Society Inc ↗
  • Who funds California Native Plant Society ↗
  • Who funds BURLINGAME INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL PTA CALIFORNIA CONGRESS OF PARENTS ↗
  • Who funds VILLAGE HARVEST CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 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.

Gordon E and Betty I …Silicon Valley Commun…Marin Community Found…Atkinson FoundationBothin FoundationThe David and Lucile …Jewish Community Fede…The San Francisco Fou…Tomkat Ranch Educatio…Sand Hill FoundationClif Family FoundationMorgan Stanley Global…
Gordon E and Betty I Moore FoundationCA21.2× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Atkinson Foundation · Bothin Foundation · The David and Lucile Packard Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · The San Francisco Foundation · Tomkat Ranch Educational Foundation · Sand Hill Foundation · Clif Family Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc

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 Hillsborough Garden Club Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Hillsborough Garden Club Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%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
    4report 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 Hillsborough Garden Club Trust?

    Find your warmest path to Hillsborough Garden Club Trust 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 51 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 2026, released 2026. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Hillsborough Garden Club’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