· Private foundation
J & M Lam Family Foundation
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k2 grants · $1k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $43k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| SAN FRANCISCO CHINATOWN LION CLUB FOUNDATION | $33,000 |
| RIVER OF LIFE FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| CHINATOWN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $1,000 |
| SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO POLICE ASSOCIATION SURVIVOR BENEFIT FOUNDATION | $50 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–23, $18k) 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.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.
11 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- RORIVER OF LIFE FOUNDATION5× · 2021–2025 · $72k · revenue +55%
- CHCHINESE HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION3× · 2017–2020 · $12k · revenue +15%
- FBFAMILY BRIDGES INC3× · 2017–2020 · $5k · revenue +17%
Funded once
- VCVISION CARE FOUNDATIONone grant, 2020 · $5k
- RORIVER OF LIFE CHURCH INCone grant, 2019 · $5k
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATIONone grant, 2020 · $3k · revenue 0%
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.
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.
Serve the Chinese community in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond through providing TV and online programs that promote positive cultural and spiritual influences.
Kong Chow Benevolent Association is a mutual benefit organization established to serve both the physical and spiritual needs of the Chinese community in the Bay Area through the operation of the Kong Chow Temple, the Kong Chow cemetery and…
East Bay Chinese School's mission is to provide Chinese language and culture classes to educate our students in the appreciation of Chinese heritage, promote cross-cultural understanding and prepare them in becoming community leaders.
To promote vitality and growth to businesses and advocate for the Oakland Chinatown community
The mission of Asian American Community Center of Santa Clara County (AASC) is to provide health, human, and economic development services to low income families and individuals to enable them to become actively participating citizens in…
To elevate underserved communities and gives voice to equality through education and contemporary art.
Operate school to teach Chinese language to students from kindergarten to 12th grade.
Providing professional training of Chinese Medicine (TCM), including acupuncture, Chinese herbology, acupressure, Qigong and so on, granting the students Masters degree. Its a three to four years teaching program.
Evangelism to Chinese in the US and Asia including sponsoring seminars retreats as well as evangelists in Taiwan.
Our mission is to prepare children for Kindergarten and beyond by promoting educational achievement, ensuring household economic stability and strengthening cultural identity. We fulfill our mission by operating 2 core programs the child…
How this is measured
11 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. 11 of the 33 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 RIVER OF LIFE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Chinese Newcomers Service Center ↗
- Who funds CHINESE HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds FAMILY BRIDGES INC ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Womens Division Christian Service Gum Moon Residence Hall ↗
- Who funds MILLBRAE EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds LOVE AND CONFLICT PEACEMAKING MINISTRIES ↗
- Who funds MILLBRAE MEADOWS PTO ↗
- Who funds CHINATOWN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTER ↗
- Who funds CHINESE CHRISTIAN MISSION INC ↗
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.
Open a dossier: United Way of the Bay Area · The San Francisco Foundation · Pov & May Tov Family Foundation · Shp Christian Foundation · San Francisco Association of Realtors Foundation · Asian Pacific Fund · Cathay Bank Foundation · United Way Worldwide · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization J & M Lam Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from J & M Lam Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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