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Leo and Sydelle Ward Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Leo and Sydelle Ward Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$260k
Granted FY2024still arriving
22
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$41k
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.

Health$366kEducation$220kHuman Services$71kCrime & Legal$60kAnimals$37kYouth Development$34kInternational$33kPublic Safety & Disaster$31kOther$0
02FY2024 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k9 grants · $36k
  • $10k–50k13 grants · $225k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$3.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WOODLAND HILLS ROTARY FOUNDATION$40,500
ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS$30,000
OVARIAN CANCER CIRCLE$25,000
THE HEART FOUNDATION$24,000
BREAKTHROUGH T1D$18,000
CITY OF HOPE$15,000
STILLPOINT FAMILY SERVICES$12,300
SHRINERS CHILDREN'S$10,000
DIRECT RELIEF$10,000
SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION$10,000
ST JUDES CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPIT$10,000
GUIDE DOGS OF AMERICA$10,000
HOPE THE MISSION$10,000
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE$7,500
MINI THERAPY HORSES$7,500
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, $48k) 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%HOPE THE MISSION: $5k → 14%DEBO INC: $5k → 14%GUIDE DOGS OF AMERICA: $10k → 14%GUIDE DOGS OF AMERICA: $8k → 14%CITY OF ANGELS BALLET: $5k → 14%GUIDE DOGS OF AMERICA: $5k → 14%CITY OF ANGELS BALLET: $5k → 14%GUIDE DOGS OF AMERICA: $5k → 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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$757k · 22 repeat orgs$149k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against +3% for those funded once.

22 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
18

Total granted

$757k
$99k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+3%

Still filing today

50%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $51k 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
HealthHuman ServicesInternationalPhilanthropyEnvironmentEducationOther
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

  • TH
    THE HEART FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $91k · revenue +26%
  • TO
    THE OVARIAN CANCER CIRCLE
    5× · 2020–2024 · $70k · revenue +161% · 29% of their budget
  • AF
    ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS
    4× · 2021–2024 · $60k · revenue +62%

Funded once

  • HO
    HOPE OF THE VALLEY
    one grant, 2022 · $25k
  • AF
    ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $10k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $8k
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
City of Hope

City of Hope's mission is to make hope a reality for all touched by cancer and diabetes. PLEASE SEE SCHEDULE O FOR A CONTINUATION OF OUR MISSION

Health
2
Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation

The samuel waxman cancer research foundation (the "foundation") funds innovative research to bring faster cures to patients. in addition to supporting ongoing collaborative research in specific cancers, our scientists are investigating the…

—
3
City of Hope National Medical Center

City of Hope National Medical Center's mission is to make hope a reality for all touched by cancer and diabetes. PLEASE SEE SCHEDULE O FOR A CONTINUATION OF OUR MISSION

Health
4
The California Medical Innovations Institute Inc

The Institute is a scientific research center dedicated to conducting basic and applied research to advance the understanding of human disease and the improvement of human health. The Institute fosters an innovative research environment…

Education
5
National Foundation for Cancer Research

To support cancer research and public education relating to prevention, earlier diagnosis, better treatments and ultimately, a cure for cancer.

Health
6
Arc Research Institute

Our mission is to accelerate scientific progress, understand the root causes of disease, and narrow the gap between discoveries and impact on patients.

Health
7
Cancer Research Institute Inc

See schedule ocri is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing cancer immunotherapy through scientific discovery and global collaboration. since 1953, cri has funded research that deepens understanding of the immune system and its…

Health
8
The Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Fdn Group

Susan g. komen 's mission is to save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities & investing in breakthrough research to prevent & cure breast cancer.

—
9
Curesearch for Children's Cancer

Curesearch's mission is to fund & support targeted & innovative cancer research with measurable results, & to be the authoritative source of information & resources for all those affected by children's cancer. see schedule o for…

Health
10
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc

The mission of dfci is to provide expert, compassionate, and equitable care to children, adults, and their families, while advancing the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of cancer and related diseases. we train new…

Health
11
The Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation

The jonsson cancer center foundation is the single most important vehicle for raising private funds for cancer research at ucla and plays a key role in advancing cancer treatments and care. please see schedule o for additional information.

—
12
Children's Hospital Los Angeles Medical Group

To be the preeminent pediatric, multispecialty medical group in the nation, dedicated to providing the highest quality medical care to infants, children and adolescents; and supporting the finest teaching and research endeavors of our…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Saint John's Health Center Foundation; the most unlike its peers is American Diabetes Association. 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

26 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. 26 of the 47 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/26
Grantees still filing
16/26
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WOODLAND HILLS ROTARY FOUNDATION: $119,745 · OtherWOODLAND HILLS ROTARY FOUNDATIONLA CITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $72,900 · OtherLA CITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIONALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $60,000 · OtherALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTSCITY OF HOPE: $47,500 · OtherCITY OF HOPEOPTIMIST YOUTH HOMES AND SERVICES: $30,000 · OtherOPTIMIST YOUTH HOMES AND SERVICESSTILLPOINT FAMILY SERVICES: $27,550 · OtherSTILLPOINT FAMILY SERVICESHOPE OF THE VALLEY: $25,000 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMY: $21,000 · OtherALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: $20,000 · Other+18 more: $86,900 · Other+18 moreTHE OVARIAN CANCER CIRCLE: $69,500 · HealthTHE OVARIAN CANCER CIRCLEChildren's Hospital Los Angeles: $37,500 · HealthChildren's Hospital Los A…BREAKTHROUGH T1D: $36,355 · HealthBREAKTHROUGH T1DNATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION: $25,500 · HealthNATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH …SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $10,000 · HealthMINI THERAPY HORSES: $7,500 · Health+4 more: $19,000 · Health+4 moreTHE HEART FOUNDATION: $91,000 · PhilanthropyTHE HEART F…International Guiding Eyes Inc DBA Guide Dogs of America: $27,500 · Human ServicesHOPE THE MISSION: $15,000 · Human ServicesCITY OF ANGELS BALLET: $10,000 · Human ServicesCANINE COMPANIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE INC: $9,000 · Human ServicesDEBO INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesTHE ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE PROTECTION: $15,000 · EnvironmentDIRECT RELIEF: $10,000 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,000 · InternationalCENTER FOR MATHEMATICS AND TEACHING INC: $2,500 · Education
Other$510,595Health$205,355Philanthropy$91,000Human Services$66,500Environment$15,000International$15,000Education$2,500

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 budgetTHE HEART FOUNDATION: $91,000 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetTHE OVARIAN CANCER CIRCLE: $69,500 over 5y, 29% of budgetALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $60,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetChildren's Hospital Los Angeles: $37,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $36,355 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Guiding Eyes Inc DBA Guide Dogs of America: $27,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION: $25,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE PROTECTION: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE THE MISSION: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCANINE COMPANIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE INC: $9,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMINI THERAPY HORSES: $7,500 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDEBO INC: $5,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetAMERICANA DANCE THEATER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Diabetes Association: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAINT JOHN'S HEALTH CENTER FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMending Kids International dba Mending Kids: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNATIONAL PEDIATRIC CANCER FOUNDATION INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetROTARY CLUB OF WOODLAND HILLS: $3,900 over 5y, 2.8% of budgetCENTER FOR MATHEMATICS AND TEACHING INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTeach Democracy: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

The Hainer FoundationCalifornia Community …Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Hainer FoundationCA13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Hainer Foundation · California Community Foundation · 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 Leo and Sydelle Ward Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Leo and Sydelle Ward Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Shriners Hospitals for Children: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get 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
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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 Leo and Sydelle Ward Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Leo and Sydelle Ward 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 47 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 Leo and Sydelle Ward’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