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Idealab Charitable Foundation LLC at a glance

· Private foundation

Idealab Charitable Foundation LLC

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.

$10k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% 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$13kCrime & Legal$10kCommunity Improvement$10kInternational$9kEducation$5kScience & Tech$5kPhilanthropy$4kHousing & Shelter$4kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$5k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MILLION PEACEMAKERS INC$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, $4k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%UNION STATION FOUNDATION: $3k → 14%UNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $1k → 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.

47%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$31k · 8 repeat orgs$35k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +266% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
18

Total granted

$31k
$25k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+266%
+6%

Still filing today

63%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k 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
InternationalPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesHealthEducationOther
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

  • CP
    COMMUNITY PARTNERS
    4× · 2017–2022 · $10k · revenue +266%
  • RM
    RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
    4× · 2017–2020 · $4k · revenue +17%
  • US
    UNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES
    2× · 2017–2021 · $4k · revenue +379%

Funded once

  • H
    Human-I-Tgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $5k · revenue +112%
  • DIRECT RELIEF
    one grant, 2023 · $4k · revenue +6%
  • FI
    FRIENDS IN DEED
    one grant, 2021 · $4k
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
International Crisis Group

Crisis group works to prevent and resolve deadly conflict around the world by informing and influencing the perceptions and actions of policymakers and other key conflict actors. to this end, we endeavour to talk to all sides and provide…

International
2
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
3
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
4
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
5
The Population Council Inc

We generate ideas, produce evidence, and design solutions to improve the lives of underserved populations around the world. we take a multidisciplinary, intergenerational, life-cycle approach that contributes to (see schedule o)four global…

International
6
Global Poverty Project Inc

Our mission is to build a movement of global citizens whose actions will help achieve our vision of a world without extreme poverty.

Social Science
7
Project Hope - the People-to-People Health Foundation Inc

To conduct and support programs and activities aimed at solving some of the world's greatest public health challenges, with a specific focus on enabling health workers to have the greatest possible impact on the health of the people they…

International
8
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
9
Gavi Alliance

To save lives and protect people's health by increasing equitable and sustainable use of vaccines.

International
10
Management Sciences for Health Inc

(msh) saves lives and improves the health of the world's poorest (see schedule o) and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.

International
11
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
12
Public Health Institute

Public health institute generates and promotes research, leadership and partnerships to build capacity for strong public health policy, programs, systems and practices.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Partners; the most unlike its peers is Union Station Homeless Services. 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

21 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. 21 of the 28 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
21/21
Grantees still filing
15/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MILLION PEACEMAKERS INC: $10,000 · OtherMILLION PEACEMAKERS INCMV GATE INC FBO FAMILY CODE NIGHT: $7,500 · OtherMV GATE INC FBO FAMILY CODE NIGHTHuman-I-T: $5,000 · OtherHuman-I-TRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $4,000 · OtherRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAFRIENDS IN DEED: $3,500 · OtherFRIENDS IN DEEDLA CANADA FLINTRIDGE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $2,750 · OtherLA CANADA FLINTRIDGE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION+8 more: $6,050 · Other+8 moreCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: $9,800 · Community ImprovementCOMMUNITY PARTNE…DIRECT RELIEF: $3,676 · InternationalDIRECT RELIEFAMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $1,750 · InternationalAMERICARES FOUND…Save The Children Federation Inc: $1,664 · InternationalSave The Childre…WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $1,612 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KI…PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS INC: $500 · International+2 more: $300 · InternationalUNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $3,500 · Human ServicesPASADENA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $1,500 · PhilanthropyARMENIA FUND INC: $1,000 · PhilanthropyPasadena Community Foundation: $500 · PhilanthropyDIY GIRLS: $1,000 · Youth DevelopmentSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $1,000 · Environment
Other$38,800Community Improvement$9,800International$9,502Human Services$3,500Philanthropy$3,000Youth Development$1,000Environment$1,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: $9,800 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHuman-I-T: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $3,676 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLA CANADA FLINTRIDGE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $2,750 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $1,750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $1,664 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $1,612 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPASADENA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetARMENIA FUND INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDIY GIRLS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPasadena Community Foundation: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAIRBNBORG INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: $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.

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 …Morgan Stanley Global…The Blackbaud Giving …American Endowment Fo…American Online Givin…Paypal Charitable Giv…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
California Community FoundationCA12.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Community Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Endowment Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Idealab Charitable Foundation LLC funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Idealab Charitable Foundation LLC. 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%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 30%
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Americares Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 Idealab Charitable Foundation LLC?

Find your warmest path to Idealab Charitable Foundation LLC 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 28 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.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record but names no grant recipient in the published copy, so the figures above are from FY2024, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Idealab Charitable Foundation LLC’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