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Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation

The LEONARDO DICAPRIO FOUNDATION is dedicated to the long-term health and wellbeing of all earth's inhabitants.

$25M
Granted FY2019
40
Grants FY2019
10
States reached
$14M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2018–2019.

Environment$31MAnimals$2.9MPhilanthropy$2.6MScience & Tech$648kPublic Safety & Disaster$539kCivil Rights$210kFood & Nutrition$130kHuman Services$110kOther$0
02FY2019 · 40 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 40 grants below total $22,231,817 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $24,527,306 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $2,295,489 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2019

  • Under $10k1 grant · $9k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $466k
  • $50k–250k16 grants · $2.0M
  • $250k+5 grants · $20M
$60,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GLOBAL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION$13,625,120
WISHTOYO FOUNDATION (UTOM RIVER FUND)$4,650,406
ONE EARTH VIA ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS$1,000,000
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$256,300
THE ELLEN DEGENERES WILDLIFE FUND$250,000
DISCOVERY LAND COMPANY FOUNDATION$200,000
JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE$200,000
JPHRO$185,000
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY$173,500
ENVIRONMENT NOW$163,375
SUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION$150,010
OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST$150,000
EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE$140,000
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION$100,000
TOMPKINS CONSERVATION$100,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY18–19, $150k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 77% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%TIDES CENTER: $40k → 10%SOUTHEAST VENTURA COUNTY YMCA: $35k → 10%EDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%SOS CHILDRENS VILLAGES CLAIFORNIA INC: $25k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

AK
NH
WA
ID
MT
IL
NY
MA
OR
SD
OH
CA
UT
CO
VA
AZ
NM
KS
AR
DC
TX

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

04

Where the work is directed

The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.

About 9% of Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another. Read by recipient address, 43% of the giving stays in CA; read by stated purpose it is 39% — less of the work is directed home than the recipients' locations suggest.

Leonardo Dicaprio Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 5.0% directed abroad (not shown)

Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

27%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$9.7M · 15 repeat orgs$26M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +125% since the first grant, against +84% for the ones you funded once.

15 repeat relationships — 15 still active in FY2019, 0 since wound down; 22 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
81

Total granted

$9.7M
$11M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+125%
+84%

Still filing today

100%
90%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2019, 28% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15M went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19
EnvironmentAnimalsArts & CultureInternationalCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • SM
    SUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION
    2× · 2018–2019 · $2.3M · revenue +242%
  • CC
    CORE COMMUNITY ORGANIZED RELIEF EFFORT
    2× · 2018–2019 · $439k · revenue +381%
  • JG
    JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION
    2× · 2018–2019 · $435k · revenue +93%

Funded once

  • AF
    AMAZON FRONTLINESgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $1.2M · revenue ×33
  • WC
    WILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $1.1M · revenue +296%
  • TS
    Ten Strandsgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $1.1M · revenue +94% · 47% of their budget

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Sustainable Conservation

Sustainable Conservation advances the collaborative stewardship of Californias land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people. For over three decades, Sustainable Conservation has built coalitions of people with different…

Environment
2
CalWild

The California Wilderness Coalition protects the natural landscapes that make California unique, providing clean air and water, a home to wildlife, and a place for recreation and spiritual renewal.

—
3
Conservation International Foundation

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

Environment
4
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
5
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
6
California Wildlife Foundation

The foundation works with diverse groups representing many interests to acquire and restore critical wildlife habitat and protecting species

Animals
7
Amazon Watch Inc

To protect the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with Indigenous communities in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, and the preservation of the Amazon Basin's…

Environment
8
Wildcoast

The mission of wildcoast is to conserve coastal and marine ecosystems and address climate change through natural solutions. our staff is dedicated to conserving threatened and endangered coastlines and wildlife in california and mexico.…

Environment
9
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
10
Global Forest Generation

Global Forest Generation restores and protects forest ecosystems in partnership with grassroots leaders and local communities across vast landscapes which play a critical role in preserving water, protecting biodiversity, storing carbon,…

Environment
11
California Environmental Justice Alliance

Our mission is to fight against fossil fuel executives and industries that have turned our communities into dumping grounds for toxic waste, poisoning our air, water, lan, and bodies. We organize to oppose giant oil refineries, dirty…

Environment
12
Environmental Defense Center

The organization protects and enhances the local environment through education, advocacy and legal action.

Crime & Legal

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wildlife Conservation Network Inc and the most unlike its peers is California Sportfishing Protection Allia. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyLand Conservation Organizat…Public University Foundatio…Ymca Community CentersCommunity FoundationsIndependent K-8 SchoolsGovernment Accountability R…Domestic Violence Crisis Se…Native Hawaiian Community D…Urban Agriculture & Food Ac…Community Arts OrganizationsWildlife Rehabilitation Cen…Environmental Advocacy Orga…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 31 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%0%<5yr14%2%5–10yr19%27%10–20yr16%32%20–35yr13%27%35–55yr16%12%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%1%5–10yr19%21%10–20yr16%24%20–35yr13%49%35–55yr16%6%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 3% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
3%4/125
the rest of the field
13%
240,392/1,819,440

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

05the grantee network

118 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 118 of the 124 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
43
Early backer (in before they grew)
115/118
Grantees still filing
89/118
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

REWILD — $13,625,120 · AnimalsREWILDWILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INC — $1,147,741 · AnimalsWILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INC+12 more — $1,885,842 · Animals+12 moreSUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION — $2,262,150 · EnvironmentSUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUND…AMAZON FRONTLINES — $1,158,005 · EnvironmentAMAZON FRONTLINESTen Strands — $1,080,350 · EnvironmentTen StrandsRainforest Action Network — $865,190 · EnvironmentRainforest Action NetworkSEQUOIA FORESTKEEPER — $332,500 · EnvironmentEarth Island Institute Inc — $295,000 · Environment+42 more — $2,623,520 · Environment+42 moreWISHTOYO FOUNDATION DBA WISHTOYO CHUMASH FOUNDATION — $5,040,406 · Arts & CultureWISHTOYO FOUNDAT…MUSEUM ASSOCIATES — $363,185 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM ASSOCIATE…+2 more — $115,000 · Arts & CultureROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC — $2,000,000 · PhilanthropySALAL FOUNDATION — $300,000 · PhilanthropyTHE DISCOVERY LAND COMPANY FOUNDATION — $200,000 · PhilanthropyINTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $135,000 · PhilanthropyRICKY MARTIN FOUNDATION CORP — $100,000 · Philanthropy+2 more — $60,000 · PhilanthropyRESOLVE — $392,000 · OtherRESOLVEARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION — $256,300 · OtherARIZONA ST…THE ELLEN FUND — $250,000 · OtherTHE ELLEN …REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA — $246,500 · OtherREGENTS OF…ENVIRONMENT NOW — $163,375 · OtherVIRUNGA FUND INC — $150,000 · OtherLIBERTY HILL — $130,000 · OtherBILL HILLARY & CHELSEA CLINTON FOUNDATION — $253,825 · OtherBILL HILLA…+39 more — $1,811,586 · Other+39 moreCORE COMMUNITY ORGANIZED RELIEF EFFORT — $438,825 · Public Safety & DisasterFIREFIGHTERS UNITED FOR SAFETY ETHICS AND ECOLOGY — $35,000 · Public Safety & DisasterCOLLECTIVE HERITAGE INSTITUTE — $333,333 · Social ScienceEARTH LAW CENTER — $55,000 · Social Science
Animals$16,658,703Environment$8,616,715Arts & Culture$5,518,591Philanthropy$2,795,000Other$3,653,586Public Safety & Disaster$473,825Social Science$388,333

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetREWILD — $13,625,120 over 1y, 62% of budgetWISHTOYO FOUNDATION DBA WISHTOYO CHUMASH FOUNDATION — $5,040,406 over 2y, 26% of budgetSUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION — $2,262,150 over 2y, 15% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC — $2,000,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetWILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INC — $1,147,741 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetTen Strands — $1,080,350 over 1y, 47% of budgetRainforest Action Network — $865,190 over 1y, 11% of budgetTONY FITZJOHNG ADAMSON AFRICAN WILDLIFE AKA WILDLIFE NOW — $552,750 over 1y, 56% of budgetCORE COMMUNITY ORGANIZED RELIEF EFFORT — $438,825 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetJANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION — $434,631 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC — $395,500 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetCOLLECTIVE HERITAGE INSTITUTE — $333,333 over 1y, 11% of budgetEarth Island Institute Inc — $295,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION — $256,300 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetBILL HILLARY & CHELSEA CLINTON FOUNDATION — $253,825 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSolutions Project Inc — $250,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetTHE ELLEN FUND — $250,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetTHE DISCOVERY LAND COMPANY FOUNDATION — $200,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetGRID ALTERNATIVES — $185,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetENVIRONMENT NOW — $163,375 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetRE-VOLV — $160,000 over 1y, 34% of budgetTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION — $155,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetOUR CHILDREN'S TRUST — $150,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetVIRUNGA FUND INC — $150,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetORANGUTAN OUTREACH INC ATTN RICHARD ZIMMERMAN — $136,728 over 2y, 18% of budgetINTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $135,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetCenter for Food Safety — $105,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetOrange County Coastkeeper — $102,500 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetDTWO LTD DBA Awana Digital — $100,000 over 1y, 42% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC — $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTREEPEOPLE INC — $100,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetSEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY — $100,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetWoodwell Climate Research Center Inc — $100,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetRICKY MARTIN FOUNDATION CORP — $100,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetCONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION INC — $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCalifornia Native Plant Society — $97,904 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetBaykeeper — $87,000 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetGEOS INSTITUTE — $85,000 over 2y, 9.2% of budgetPEOPLE'S ACTION INSTITUTE — $85,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC — $80,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC — $80,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPolaris Institute USA — $75,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetCHUMASH MUSEUM AND CULTURAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $75,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetCENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INC — $75,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetNDN COLLECTIVE INC — $75,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetLand is Life Inc — $60,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetKLAMATH RIVERKEEPER — $60,000 over 1y, 84% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

PatagoniaorgEnvironment NowResources Legacy FundCalifornia Community …The Rose Foundation f…RewildThe Marisla FoundationClif Family FoundationThe Schmidt Family Fo…Rsf Social Finance IncRockefeller Philanthr…Marin Community Found…
PatagoniaorgCA61.8× affinity35 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Patagoniaorg · Environment Now · Resources Legacy Fund · California Community Foundation · The Rose Foundation for Communities the Environment · Rewild · The Marisla Foundation · Clif Family Foundation · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Rsf Social Finance Inc · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Marin Community Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 80%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • Woodwell Climate Research Center Inc — 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
8get no government money at all
22report 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

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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Leonardo Dicaprio 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 124 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2019, released 2019. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2020) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2019, the most recent year this funder made grants.

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines