Skip to content
Irving J Symons Foundation at a glance

· Public charity

Irving J Symons Foundation

To carry out charitable and educational activities and to support, benefit, and carry out the purposes of the Sonora Area Foundation, whose charitable activities benefit Tuolumne County and its citizens.

$870k
Granted FY2024still arriving
18
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$245k
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, FY2020 to 2024.

Philanthropy$1.9MRecreation & Sports$1.8MFood & Nutrition$263kHousing & Shelter$234kHuman Services$164kArts & Culture$164kCommunity Improvement$156kPublic Safety & Disaster$145kOther$0
02FY2024 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k3 grants · $20k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $185k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $662k
$30,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$52M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Sonora Area Foundation$244,775
Friends of Tuolumne County Lodge B$100,000
Resiliency Village$100,000
Symons Family Fund$67,560
Tuolumne Park and Recreation$50,000
Youth Sports Foundation$50,000
Sierra Repertory Theatre$50,000
Interfaith$35,000
Sierra Foothills Residential Care$30,000
MiWuk Sugar Pine Fire Protection$25,145
Sierra Bible Church$25,000
Christian Heights Church$20,000
TuCare$20,000
Sonora Cat Rescue$20,000
The Jack and Buena Foundation$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 (FY20–24, $466k) 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%Southside Senior Services: $26k → 14%CAMP TUOLUMNE TRAILS: $12k → 14%SYMONS FAMILY FUND: $70k → 14%Symons Family Fund: $68k → 14%Symons Family Fund: $68k → 14%SYMONS FAMILY FUND: $42k → 14%WATCH RESOURCES INC: $40k → 14%SYMONS FAMILY FUND: $39k → 14%Sierra Foothills Residential Care: $30k → 14%SIERRA SENIOR PROVIDERS: $25k → 14%WATCH RESOURCES INC: $11k → 14%NANCYS HOPE: $25k → 14%Nancys Hope: $10k → 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.

80%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 19 repeat orgs$717k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +25% since the first grant, against +24% for those funded once.

19 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2024, 10 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
21

Total granted

$2.9M
$362k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+24%

Still filing today

74%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $355k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesCommunity ImprovementHealthPublic Safety & DisasterRecreation & SportsArts & CultureOther
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

  • YS
    YOUTH SPORTS FOUNDATION OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY
    3× · 2021–2024 · $1.6M · revenue +6% · 61% of their budget
  • SR
    SIERRA REPERTORY THEATRE INC
    3× · 2021–2024 · $125k · revenue +24%
  • HF
    HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY INC
    4× · 2020–2023 · $86k · revenue +128%

Funded once

  • FH
    FAITH HOME TEEN CHALLENGE
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue +3%
  • GS
    GIVE SOMEONE A CHANCEgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $40k · revenue +58% · 76% of their budget
  • SS
    SOUTHSIDE SENIOR SERVICES INC
    one grant, 2023 · $26k · revenue -9%
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
Southern Tuolumne County Historical Society

To operate a museum and library open to the public

—
2
Jobs Shelters of the Sierra

Provide relief for the unhoused residents of El Dorado County

—
3
Sierra County Fire Safe and Watershed Council Inc

Fire safety, fuels reduction, and watershed protection for the county of seirra.

Environment
4
Clean Tahoe Program

To improve the visual quality of the Tahoe Basin portion of El Dorado County through community education, citizen involvement and enforcecment of litter and nuisance ordinances.

Environment
5
Oak to Timberline Fire Safe Council

Promote fire safety by providing information, education, support incentives and projects that encourage fire safety in a service area in eastern Fresno and Tulare counties.

Public Safety & Disaster
6
Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center Inc

CSERC protects water, wildlife, and wild places of the Northern Yosemite region.

Unclassified
7
Timberview Area Firewise Improvement

To reduce the risk of loss of life and property in the Timberview and adjacent areas through promotion of fire safety, education, prevention and suppression as well as related emergency procedures.

Public Safety & Disaster
8
1pileatatime

Cleanup and garbage removal

—
9
Timber Cove Volunteer Fire Department dba Tcv Firefighters Association

Fire suppression, rescue and emergency medical first responders in this remote, rural coastal area. sonoma county service area #25.

—
10
Truckee Dirt Union

Creating positive outcomes for mountain biking

Environment
11
Modoc Fire Safe Council

To bring together the resources of public and private resource organizations in the interests of wildfire prevention loss and mitigation.

Public Safety & Disaster
12
Tehama County Neighborhood Watch Pr

Deter crime in Tehama County

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Faith Home Teen Challenge; the most unlike its peers is Tuolumne Safe. 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

37 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. 37 of the 49 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.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
35/37
Grantees still filing
24/37
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

YOUTH SPORTS FOUNDATION OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY: $1,565,000 · Recreation & SportsYOUTH SPORTS FOUNDATION OF TUOLUMNE …FRIENDS OFTUOLUMNE COUNTY LODGE BUILDING CORPORATION: $100,000 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OFTUOLUMNE COUNTY LODGE BUIL…Sonora Area Foundation: $1,607,815 · PhilanthropySonora Area Foundation+1 more: $20,000 · PhilanthropyINTERFAITH COMMUNITY SOCIAL SERVICES: $155,000 · OtherINTERFAITH COMMUNITY …HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY INC: $86,000 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITY …COUNTY OF TUOLUMNE: $82,845 · OtherCOUNTY OF TUOLUMNETUOLUMNE COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT INC: $67,000 · OtherTUOLUMNE COUNTY ALLIA…CHRISTIAN HEIGHTS ASSEMBLY OF GOD: $50,000 · OtherTUOLUMNE PARK & RECREATION DISTRICT ECONOMIC SERVICES: $50,000 · OtherNEW LIFE LIGHTHOUSE INC: $47,500 · OtherMOTHER LODE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $37,200 · OtherFAITH HOME TEEN CHALLENGE: $50,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE ANIMAL COMMUNITY: $40,000 · Other+20 more: $328,325 · Other+20 moreSymons Family Fund: $286,723 · Human ServicesSymons Fam…WATCH RESOURCES INC: $51,224 · Human ServicesWATCH RESO…Nancys Hope Community Closet: $35,000 · Human ServicesNancys Hop…SIERRA FOOTHILLS RESIDENTIAL CARE: $30,000 · Human ServicesSIERRA FOO…SOUTHSIDE SENIOR SERVICES INC: $26,000 · Human ServicesSOUTHSIDE …Sierra Senior Providers Inc: $25,000 · Human ServicesSierra Sen…+1 more: $11,831 · Human ServicesCenter for a Non Violent Community: $100,100 · Community ImprovementTUOLUMNE COUNTY SHERIFF'S POSSE: $45,585 · Community ImprovementTWAIN HARTE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: $10,000 · Community ImprovementHISTORIC SONORA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: $10,000 · Community ImprovementRESILIENCY VILLAGE: $100,000 · Housing & ShelterGIVE SOMEONE A CHANCE: $40,000 · Housing & ShelterSIERRA REPERTORY THEATRE INC: $125,000 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNIA STATE RAILROAD MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · Arts & Culture
Recreation & Sports$1,665,000Philanthropy$1,627,815Other$993,870Human Services$465,778Community Improvement$165,685Housing & Shelter$140,000Arts & Culture$135,000

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 budgetSonora Area Foundation: $1,607,815 over 5y, 15% of budgetYOUTH SPORTS FOUNDATION OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY: $1,565,000 over 3y, 61% of budgetSymons Family Fund: $286,723 over 5y, 42% of budgetINTERFAITH COMMUNITY SOCIAL SERVICES: $155,000 over 4y, 28% of budgetSIERRA REPERTORY THEATRE INC: $125,000 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetCenter for a Non Violent Community: $100,100 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetFRIENDS OFTUOLUMNE COUNTY LODGE BUILDING CORPORATION: $100,000 over 1y, 83% of budgetRESILIENCY VILLAGE: $100,000 over 1y, 53% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY INC: $86,000 over 4y, 6.0% of budgetTUOLUMNE COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT INC: $67,000 over 3y, 56% of budgetWATCH RESOURCES INC: $51,224 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetFAITH HOME TEEN CHALLENGE: $50,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetTUOLUMNE COUNTY SHERIFF'S POSSE: $45,585 over 2y, 18% of budgetGIVE SOMEONE A CHANCE: $40,000 over 1y, 76% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ANIMAL COMMUNITY: $40,000 over 2y, 7.3% of budgetMOTHER LODE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $37,200 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetNancys Hope Community Closet: $35,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetSIERRA FOOTHILLS RESIDENTIAL CARE: $30,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetSOUTHSIDE SENIOR SERVICES INC: $26,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetTUOLUMNE FIRE SAFE COUNCIL: $25,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetSierra Senior Providers Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetThe Jack and Buena Foundation: $20,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetSonora Cat Rescue: $20,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH NORTHEASTERN & CENTRAL CALIFORNIA: $14,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJERRY AND PAULA BAKER FOUNDATION INC: $11,831 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA STATE RAILROAD MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTWAIN HARTE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: $10,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetSonora Community Hospital dba Adventist Health Sonora: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTuolumne River Preservation Trust dba Yosemite Rivers Alliance: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetHISTORIC SONORA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: $10,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetMountain Youth and Community Theater: $9,616 over 1y, 12% of budgetOld Oak Ranch Recovery: $8,750 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetGIRL SCOUTS HEART OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA: $7,863 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSUMMERVILLE HIGH QUARTERBACK CLUB: $5,000 over 1y, 21% 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.

Sonora Area FoundationSonora Community Hosp…Symons Family FundStanislaus Community …California Fire Found…Edward Jones Foundati…Network for GoodMorgan Stanley Global…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…
Sonora Area FoundationCA63.9× affinity28 shared granteesties to 10 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sonora Area Foundation · Sonora Community Hospital dba Adventist Health Sonora · Symons Family Fund · Stanislaus Community Foundation · California Fire Foundation · Edward Jones Foundation · Network for Good · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation 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 Irving J Symons Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Irving J Symons Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2023
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%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
    6report 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 Irving J Symons Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Irving J Symons 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.

    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 49 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Irving J Symons’ 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