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Jessie Cheng Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Jessie Cheng Charitable Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$244k
Granted FY2024still arriving
46
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$50k
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.

Arts & Culture$482kPublic Benefit$102kPhilanthropy$68kHuman Services$60kHealth$57kYouth Development$55kCommunity Improvement$48kHousing & Shelter$28kOther$0
02FY2024 · 46 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k39 grants · $94k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $101k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$2,500
Median grant
5
States reached
$2.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ASIAN ART MUSEUM$50,000
COMMONWEALTH CLUB$20,000
CELLO MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER$20,000
WILLIE BROWN INSTITUTE ON POLITICS AND PUBLIC SERVICE$20,000
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY$17,500
COMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER$12,000
CHINESE HOSPITAL$11,025
NORTH BEACH CITIZENS$5,250
BROOKER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER$5,000
ROSE PACK COMMUNITY FUND$5,000
SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER$5,000
CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICAN MEDIA$5,000
SPUR$5,000
SAN FRANCISCO HOST COMMITTEE$5,000
JOHN BURTON ADVOCATE FOR YOUTH$5,000
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, $50k) 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%JAPANESE COMMUNITY YOUTH COUNCIL: $5k → 10%SELF-HELP FOR THE ELDERLY: $1k → 10%SELF-HELP FOR THE ELDERLY: $1k → 10%SELF-HELP FOR THE ELDERLY: $1k → 10%SELF-HELP FOR THE ELDERLY: $1k → 10%NORTTH BEACH CITIZENS: $6k → 10%NORTTH BEACH CITIZENS: $6k → 10%NORTH BEACH CITIZENS: $5k → 10%NORTTH BEACH CITIZENS: $5k → 10%NORTTH BEACH CITIZENS: $5k → 10%CHARITY CULTURAL SERVICES CENTER: $3k → 10%CHARITY CULTURAL SERVICES CENTER: $3k → 10%GUM MOON WOMEN'S RESIDENCE: $2k → 10%GUM MOON RESIDENCE HALL: $2k → 10%GUM MOON WOMEN'S RESIDENCE: $1k → 10%ASIANWEEK FOUNDATION: $1k → 10%KIMOCHI INC: $3k → 10%YMCA OF SAN FRANCISCO: $250 → 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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$712k · 31 repeat orgs$240k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

31 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 24 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

31
54

Total granted

$712k
$134k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+13%

Still filing today

87%
52%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 57% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $106k 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
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY
    5× · 2020–2024 · $113k · revenue +4%
  • CF
    Center for Asian American Media
    5× · 2020–2024 · $34k · revenue +27%
  • NB
    NORTH BEACH CITIZENS
    5× · 2020–2024 · $27k · revenue +75%

Funded once

  • TC
    THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS OF CALIFORNIA
    one grant, 2022 · $20k · revenue -5%
  • SP
    SF PARK ALLIANCE
    one grant, 2022 · $10k
  • JC
    JAPANTOWN COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT INC
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +7%
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
San Francisco Filipino Cultural Center
Arts & Culture
2
Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco

To elevate underserved communities and gives voice to equality through education and contemporary art.

Arts & Culture
3
Japantown Cultural Society
Education
4
Chinatown Media and Arts Collaborative

Own and operate a collaborative platform anchored in san francisco chinatown that celebrates, explores, and supports leading and pioneering creative experessions at the intersection of community, culture, art and media.

Human Services
5
San Francisco Guzheng Music Society
Arts & Culture
6
Asian Law Caucus

The Asian Law Caucus's mission is to promote, advance, and represent the legal and civil rights of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, recognizing that social, economic, political and racial inequalities continue to exist…

Crime & Legal
7
National Japanese American Historical Society Inc

The National Japanese American Historical Society, Inc. (NJAHS) charitable nonprofit organization dedicated to the collection, preservation, authentic interpretation, and sharing of historical information of the Japanese American…

—
8
Asian Art Foundation

To introduce classic chinese culture to the residents of san francisco bay area; to promote ancient asian arts to san francisco bay area.

Arts & Culture
9
Unitedly

Unitedly is a nonprofit organization based in San Mateo County, California. Unitedly was established to ensure Asian families and communities have access to equitable opportunities and resources to thrive in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Human Services
10
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
11
Chinese New Year Festival Committee Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Sf

To educate the general public of chinese culture in order to promote and improve the business conditions within the chinese community in the san francisco bay area and worldwide.

—
12
U Channel Foundation

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.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The San Francisco Japantown Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Community Youth Center. 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

72 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. 72 of the 113 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)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
70/72
Grantees still filing
47/72
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ASIAN ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $270,420 · Arts & CultureASIAN ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION OF SAN FRANCISCOSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $112,500 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONYCenter for Asian American Media: $34,000 · Arts & CultureCenter for Asian American Media+14 more: $29,388 · Arts & Culture+14 moreSPUR - SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA PLANNING AND URBAN RESEARCH ASSOCIATION: $25,000 · OtherSPUR - SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA PLANNIN…CELLO MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER INC: $20,000 · OtherCELLO MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER INCTHE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS OF CALIFORNIA: $20,000 · OtherTHE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS…COMMONWEALTH CLUB: $20,000 · OtherCOMMONWEALTH CLUBWILLIE BROWN INSTITUTE ON POLITICS AND PUBLIC SERVICE: $20,000 · OtherWILLIE BROWN INSTITUTE ON POLITICS AN…SAN FRANCISCO HOST COMMITTEE: $16,500 · OtherANGEL ISLAND IMMIGRATION FOUNDATION: $12,500 · OtherCOMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO: $12,000 · OtherCHINATOWN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $24,000 · OtherCHINATOWN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTE…Chinese for Affirmative Action: $13,000 · Other+59 more: $131,216 · Other+59 moreNORTH BEACH CITIZENS: $26,750 · Human ServicesCharity Cultural Services Center: $6,000 · Human ServicesJAPANESE COMMUNITY YOUTH COUNCIL: $5,000 · Human ServicesWomens Division Christian Service Gum Moon Residence Hall: $4,500 · Human ServicesSELF-HELP FOR THE ELDERLY: $4,015 · Human ServicesKIMOCHI INC: $2,500 · Human Services+2 more: $1,250 · Human ServicesJohn Burton Advocates for Youth: $25,500 · Youth DevelopmentCOMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER: $12,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOOKER T WASHINGTON COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER: $5,000 · Youth Development+1 more: $500 · Youth DevelopmentCHINESE HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: $23,525 · HealthAsian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center Inc: $10,000 · Health+3 more: $1,633 · HealthTelegraph Hill Neighborhood Association: $18,000 · Community ImprovementJAPANTOWN COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT INC: $10,000 · Community ImprovementCOMMUNITY HEALTH & EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Community ImprovementROSE PAK COMMUNITY FUND: $20,000 · PhilanthropySAN FRANCISCO ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS FOUNDATION: $6,000 · PhilanthropyTHE SAN FRANCISCO JAPANTOWN FOUNDATION: $3,500 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $2,000 · Philanthropy+3 more: $1,286 · Philanthropy
Arts & Culture$446,308Other$314,216Human Services$50,015Youth Development$43,000Health$35,158Community Improvement$33,000Philanthropy$32,786

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 budgetASIAN ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $270,420 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $112,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCenter for Asian American Media: $34,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetNORTH BEACH CITIZENS: $26,750 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetJohn Burton Advocates for Youth: $25,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetSPUR - SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA PLANNING AND URBAN RESEARCH ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCHINATOWN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $24,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCHINESE HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: $23,525 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetROSE PAK COMMUNITY FUND: $20,000 over 4y, 3.9% of budgetTHE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS OF CALIFORNIA: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTelegraph Hill Neighborhood Association: $18,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO HOST COMMITTEE: $16,500 over 5y, 4.4% of budgetChinese for Affirmative Action: $13,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER: $12,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO: $12,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPACIFIC CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: $10,158 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetJAPANTOWN COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetAsian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAPA FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES: $7,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetCharity Cultural Services Center: $6,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetJAPANESE COMMUNITY YOUTH COUNCIL: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOOKER T WASHINGTON COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY HEALTH & EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWomens Division Christian Service Gum Moon Residence Hall: $4,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSELF-HELP FOR THE ELDERLY: $4,015 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SAN FRANCISCO JAPANTOWN FOUNDATION: $3,500 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetGREENBELT ALLIANCEPEOPLE FOR OPEN SPACE: $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMarin Museum of Contemporary Art: $2,850 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetAngel Island Immigration Station Foundation: $2,800 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCHINESE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA: $2,600 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJewish Film Institute: $2,512 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSan Francisco Film Society: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR ART RESEARCH INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGOLDEN GATE LABRADOR RETRIEVER RESCUE INC: $2,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetKIMOCHI INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHINESE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PROJECT: $2,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGLOBALSF: $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAsian Pacific Islander Cultural Center: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPUNAHOU SCHOOL: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of San Francisco: $1,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $1,026 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetASIANWEEK FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHAWAIIAN HUMANE SOCIETY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetASIAN AMERICA FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetFLORENCE FANG FAMILY FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetCatwalk for Charitable Causes: $1,000 over 1y, 0.9% 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.

McNabb FoundationSan Francisco Associa…The San Francisco Fou…Asian Pacific FundRobert J Louie Memori…United Way of the Bay…The William & Flora H…Bothin FoundationSilicon Valley Commun…Stupski FoundationThe PG&E Corporation …Marin Community Found…
McNabb FoundationDE44.4× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: McNabb Foundation · San Francisco Association of Realtors Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Asian Pacific Fund · Robert J Louie Memorial Fund · United Way of the Bay Area · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Bothin Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Stupski Foundation · The PG&E Corporation Foundation · Marin Community 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 Jessie Cheng Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Jessie Cheng Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%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
    21report 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 Jessie Cheng Charitable Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Jessie Cheng Charitable 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 113 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.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Jessie Cheng’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