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M & I Pfister Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

M & I Pfister Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$748k
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$225k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$2.4MAnimals$360kEducation$205kHealth$177kInternational$126kCommunity Improvement$80kRecreation & Sports$20kEmployment$13kOther$0
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k6 grants · $153k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $595k
$38,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$22M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE NEW CHILDREN'S MUSEUM$225,000
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO$170,250
LIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF LA JOLLA$100,000
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE$50,000
SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$50,000
Individual grant recipient$38,000
LA JOLLA HISTORICAL SOCIETY$35,000
SAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY$30,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD$30,000
SAN DIEGO ZOO WILDLIFE ALLIANCE$10,000
SAN DIEGO PARKS 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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $350k → 11%UC DAVIS FOUNDATION: $100k → 16%MILLENIUM RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES INC: $60k → 16%CHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL: $30k → 9%MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $243k → 11%CHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL: $24k → 9%MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO: $170k → 11%CHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL: $12k → 9%LIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF LA JOLLA: $100k → 11%MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $85k → 11%MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO: $80k → 11%MUSEUM CONTEMPORARY ART: $67k → 11%MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $63k → 11%LA JOLLA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $60k → 11%THE ATHENAEUM: $40k → 11%THE ATHENAEUM: $38k → 11%LA JOLLA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $35k → 11%LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE: $25k → 11%LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE: $25k → 11%LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE: $25k → 11%THE ATHENAEUM: $18k → 11%THE ATHENAEUM: $10k → 11%SAN DIEGO MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION INC: $13k → 11%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $30k → 11%THE ATHENAEUM: $8k → 11%VOICES FOR CHILDREN: $5k → 11%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $25k → 11%LA JOLLA AQUATIC COMPLEX FOUNDATION: $5k → 11%ETHOS DISCOVERY: $100k → 11%FACE FOUNDATION: $22k → 11%SAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY: $30k → 11%HUMANE SOCIETY OF SD: $10k → 11%SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY: $400k → 11%THE NEW CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $225k → 11%THE NEW CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $190k → 11%ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO: $150k → 11%SAN DIEGO ZOO GLOBAL: $150k → 11%SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY: $100k → 11%SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY: $60k → 11%SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $50k → 11%SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $30k → 11%THE OLD GLOBE: $26k → 11%NEW CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $25k → 11%SAN DIEGO ZOO WILDLIFE ALLIANCE: $10k → 11%RITZ San Diego Zoo: $10k → 11%THE LA JOLLA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20k → 11%SAN DIEGO PARKS FOUNDATION: $10k → 11%SAN DIEGO PARKS FOUNDATION: $10k → 11%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.
$2.9M · 13 repeat orgs$570k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
11

Total granted

$2.9M
$405k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+31%

Still filing today

69%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $165k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationAnimalsInternationalHealthCommunity 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

  • TM
    THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES
    4× · 2017–2021 · $740k · revenue +47%
  • TS
    THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION
    5× · 2018–2024 · $640k · revenue +97%
  • TN
    THE NEW CHILDRENS MUSEUM
    3× · 2021–2024 · $440k · revenue +20%

Funded once

  • TU
    THE UC DAVIS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue +44%
  • ED
    ETHOS DISCOVERY
    one grant, 2018 · $100k · revenue +10%
  • MC
    MUSEUM CONTEMPORARY ART
    one grant, 2022 · $67k
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 Diego Opera Association

Mission: the mission of san diego opera is to deliver exceptional performances and exciting, accessible programs to diverse audiences, focusing on community partnerships, and the transformative and expressive power of the human voice. as…

Arts & Culture
2
The San Diego Foundation

The san diego foundation inspires enduring philanthropy and enables community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region.

Philanthropy
3
San Diego Society of Natural History

Conserving nature through science and discovery.

Arts & Culture
4
San Diego Habitat Conservancy

Acquire, manage and protect land in perpetuity that supports sensitive habitats and species, and to educate and inspire people and communities as stewards and advocates of their natural environment.

Arts & Culture
5
Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego

to advance regional contemporary art and artists while fostering cultural equity through access to meaningful art experiences

Arts & Culture
6
San Diego County Bar Association

The mission of the san diego county bar association is to be the representative of the san diego county legal profession, serving the prblic and the profession by enhancing the legal system and promoting justice, professional excellence,…

—
7
La Jolla Symphony and Chorus Association

La Jolla Symphony Chorus Association was organized in 1957 under the nonprofit public benefit corporation laws for public and charitable purposes. The mission of the association is to inspire the San Diego community with the joy of music…

—
8
San Diego Jewish Academy

San Diego Jewish Academy empowers each student to learn for life, guided by Jewish values and rooted in strength of community.

Education
9
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
10
San Diego Diplomacy Council

Programmed and coordinated visits to san diego by international visitors and escorts, working in association with appropriate united states government agencies and the global ties u.s. network.

Community Improvement
11
Museo De Las Americas

The Museo De Las Americas is dedicated to educating our community through collecting preserving interpreting and exhibiting the diverse arts and cultures of the Americas from ancient to contemporary through innovative exhibitions and…

Arts & Culture
12
United Way of San Diego County

To spark breakthrough community action that elevates every child and family toward a brighter future.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; the most unlike its peers is Millennium Relief and Development Services Inc. 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

19 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. 19 of the 27 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
14/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $740,309 · Arts & CultureTHE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELESTHE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $640,000 · Arts & CultureTHE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATIONTHE NEW CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $440,000 · Arts & CultureTHE NEW CHILDRENS MUSEUMMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO: $250,250 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGOTHEATER & ARTS FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY DBA LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE: $155,000 · Arts & CultureTHEATER & ARTS FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY DBA LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSEIndividual grant recipient: $114,000 · OtherIndividual g…MUSEUM CONTEMPORARY ART: $66,835 · OtherMUSEUM CONTE…PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $55,000 · OtherPLANNED PARE…La Jolla Historical Society: $35,000 · OtherLa Jolla His…FACE FOUNDATION: $27,000 · OtherFACE FOUNDAT…THE OLD GLOBE: $25,500 · OtherTHE OLD GLOB…San Diego Parks Foundation: $20,000 · Other+6 more: $48,100 · Other+6 moreZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO: $310,000 · AnimalsZOOLOGICAL …SAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY AND SPCA: $30,000 · AnimalsSAN DIEGO H…LIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF LA JOLLA: $100,000 · EducationTHE UC DAVIS FOUNDATION: $100,000 · Education+1 more: $5,000 · EducationCHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL USA: $65,769 · InternationalMILLENNIUM RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES INC: $60,000 · InternationalETHOS DISCOVERY: $100,000 · HealthLA JOLLA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $80,000 · Community Improvement
Arts & Culture$2,225,559Other$391,435Animals$340,000Education$205,000International$125,769Health$100,000Community Improvement$80,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $740,309 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetTHE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $640,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetTHE NEW CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $440,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO: $310,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO: $250,250 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetTHEATER & ARTS FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY DBA LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE: $155,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetLIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF LA JOLLA: $100,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetTHE UC DAVIS FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetETHOS DISCOVERY: $100,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetLA JOLLA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $80,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetCHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL USA: $65,769 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMILLENNIUM RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES INC: $60,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetLa Jolla Historical Society: $35,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetSAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY AND SPCA: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSan Diego Parks Foundation: $20,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetSAN DIEGO MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES ASSN: $12,800 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHELPUSADOPTORG INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLA JOLLA AQUATIC COMPLEX FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetVOICES FOR CHILDREN: $5,000 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.

Jewish Community Foun…The San Diego Foundat…The Conrad Prebys Fou…Dr Seuss FoundationFrench Fund Samuel Ka…The Parker FoundationDavid C Copley Founda…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…
Jewish Community Foundation of San DiegoCA21.4× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · The San Diego Foundation · The Conrad Prebys Foundation · Dr Seuss Foundation · French Fund Samuel Katherine Tua · The Parker Foundation · David C Copley Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · 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 M & I Pfister Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from M & I Pfister Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%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
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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 M & I Pfister Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to M & I Pfister 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 27 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 M & I Pfister’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