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· Private foundation

Macdonald 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.

$2.4M
Granted FY2020
31
Grants FY2020
8
States reached
$1.5M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

75% of Macdonald Family Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Santa Barbara Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 45 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2020, the last year Macdonald Family Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 25 organizations, $2M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

25
’20
45
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2025.

Philanthropy$5.1MEducation$2.1MAnimals$474kHealth$388kEnvironment$184kRecreation & Sports$145kArts & Culture$142kCrime & Legal$110kOther$0
02FY2020 · 31 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2020

  • Under $10k4 grants · $26k
  • $10k–50k22 grants · $554k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $270k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.5M
$28,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$38M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WINE EDUCATION COUNCIL$1,500,000
HARBOR DAY SCHOOL$100,000
COUNCIL ON ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG ABUSE$70,000
RIVERSIDE SCHOOL$50,000
WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL$50,000
LAGUNA BLANCE SCHOOL$45,000
CAL POLY FOUNDATION CENTER$40,000
DREAM FOUNDATION$35,000
RM PYLES BOYS CAMP$35,000
WESTMINSTER SCHOOLS$35,000
GLOBAL LYME ALLIANCE$35,000
BREAST CANCER RESOURCE CENTER OF SANTA BARBARA$35,000
YOSEMITE CONSERVANCY$35,000
SANTA BARBARA REGION OF CATHOLIC$28,000
LOBERO THEATRE FOUNDATION$28,000
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 (FY20–25, $140k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 64% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%FAMILY SUPPORT NETWORK OF CENTRAL CAROLINA: $10k → 16%CHARITY WATER: $50k → 4%THE DREAM FOUNDATION: $45k → 14%DREAM FOUNDATION: $35k → 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

WA
NY
MA
IA
CT
CA
VA
TN
NC
DC
GA
TX
FL

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.

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.

22%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$893k · 16 repeat orgs$3.1M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +42% since the first grant, against +36% for the ones you funded once.

16 repeat relationships — 16 still active in FY2020, 0 since wound down; 49 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call). Read against FY2020, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
49

Total granted

$893k
$3.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+36%

Still filing today

94%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 28% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.2M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’25
AnimalsHealthEducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesEnvironmentOther

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

  • CO
    Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse
    2× · 2020–2025 · $114k · revenue +69%
  • LB
    LAGUNA BLANCA SCHOOL
    2× · 2020–2025 · $90k · revenue +33%
  • WF
    WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL
    2× · 2020–2025 · $87k · revenue +49%

Funded once

  • WE
    WINE EDUCATION COUNCIL INC
    one grant, 2020 · $1.5M · revenue +6%
  • HD
    Harbor Day Schoolgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +78%
  • Rape Abuse & Incest National Network
    one grant, 2025 · $100k · revenue 0%

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
Santa Barbara Zoological Foundation

The santa barbara zoo is dedicated to the preservation, conservation, and enhancement of the natural world and its living treasures through education, research, recreation and conservation.

Animals
2
Santa Barbara Humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Santa barbara humane operates two campuses located in santa barbara and santa maria providing care for community-owned and homeless animals. both campuses offer affordable high quality veterinary care, compassionate behavior training…

Animals
3
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Inc

The organization was established to protect and restore the santa barbara channel and its watersheds through science-based advocacy, education, field work, community engagement, and citizen enforcement of environmental laws.

Environment
4
Santa Barbara Education Foundation

Santa Barbara Education Foundation (SBEF) provides and supports programs that enrich the academic, artistic, and personal development of all students in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.

Education
5
Santa Barbara Middle School

To operate a school for grades 6-9, delivering a holistic program of academics, arts & athletics, community service, and outdoor education that fosters passion for life and learning, self trust, strength and courage to succeed, and…

Education
6
Uc Santa Barbara Foundation

The uc santa barbara foundation actively works to further the goals of the university of california, santa barbara. the foundation seeks to maintain and nurture the university's quality and distinction. on behalf of the campus, the…

Education
7
Marin Humane Society

Marin humane transforms lives through exceptional animal care, humane education, and advocacy. every day, marin humane inspires compassion and positive relationships between people and animals.

Animals
8
Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network

Santa barbara wildlife care network (sbwcn) serves to rescue, rehabilitate and return to the wild sick, injured, orphaned, or oil-impaired wild birds, reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals in santa barbara and ventura counties and to…

Animals
9
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory

The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory is dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats through science and outreach.

Environment
10
The California Wildlife Center

The california wildlife center (cwc) takes responsibility for the protection of all native wildlife through rehabilitiation, education and conservation. as the los angeles area's premier wildlife medical care and rehabilitation facility,…

Health
11
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
12
San Bruno Mountain Watch

The mission of San Bruno Mountain Watch is to care for San Bruno Mountain through conservation, ecological restoration, education,and advocacy in partnership with local communities.

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Santa Barbara Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc. 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 backsteadyWildlife Rehabilitation Cen…Animal Rescue and AdoptionDomestic Violence Crisis Se…Youth Sports Booster Organi…Fallen First Responder Supp…Community Health CentersUnited Way FederationsChild Abuse Advocacy Servic…Land Conservation Organizat…Early Childhood Education C…Community Arts OrganizationsUrban Agriculture & Food Ac…Christian Missionary Organi…Christian Youth CampsSubstance Abuse TreatmentCancer Support OrganizationsIndependent K-8 Schools
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 32 years old; the field is 14. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number24%2%<5yr15%4%5–10yr20%15%10–20yr17%37%20–35yr11%17%35–55yr13%25%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value24%1%<5yr15%1%5–10yr20%21%10–20yr17%9%20–35yr11%3%35–55yr13%65%55yr+

The field is 24% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/56
the rest of the field
14%
26,003/186,922

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.

04the grantee network

54 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. 54 of the 66 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
52/54
Grantees still filing
33/54
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION — $4,999,987 · PhilanthropySANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION+2 more — $60,000 · PhilanthropyWINE EDUCATION COUNCIL INC — $1,500,000 · EducationWINE EDUCATION COUNCIL…Harbor Day School — $100,000 · EducationHarbor Day SchoolLAGUNA BLANCA SCHOOL — $90,000 · Education+3 more — $107,500 · Education+3 morePEACHTREE PRESBYTERIAN PRE-SCHOOL INC — $67,000 · OtherPEACHTREE PR…RM PYLES BOYS CAMP — $65,000 · OtherRM PYLES BOY…CAL POLY FOUNDATION CENTER — $40,000 · OtherGATEWAY EDUCATION CENTER PTA — $35,000 · OtherWESTMINSTER SCHOOLS — $35,000 · OtherTHE COLONEL JF TONEY MEMORIAL LIBRARY — $35,000 · OtherLOBERO THEATRE FOUNDATION — $43,000 · OtherTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION — $50,000 · OtherTHE ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDEN INC — $35,000 · OtherWOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL — $87,000 · OtherWOMEN FOR WO…SANTA BARBARA SCHOOL OF SQUASH — $36,000 · OtherSANTA BARBARA POLICE FOUNDATION — $35,000 · Other+25 more — $459,000 · Other+25 moreANIMAL SERVICES OF RICHMOND INC — $80,000 · AnimalsSOUTH FLORIDA WILDLIFE CENTER INC — $73,500 · AnimalsWILDLIFE RESCUE AND REHABILITATION INC — $73,500 · AnimalsHAPPY DOGGO — $73,500 · AnimalsTHE GREY MUZZLE ORGANIZATION — $73,500 · AnimalsATLANTA FULTON COUNTY ZOO INC — $25,000 · AnimalsCHARLES RIVER ALLEYCATS INCORPORATED — $25,000 · AnimalsGEORGIA AQUARIUM INC & SUBSIDIARY — $25,000 · AnimalsCouncil on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse — $114,000 · HealthRape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) — $100,000 · HealthGLOBAL LYME ALLIANCE INC — $60,000 · HealthTHE BREAST CANCER RESOURCE CENTER OF SANTA BARBARA — $35,000 · HealthTEDDY BEAR CANCER FOUNDATION — $31,000 · HealthHOAG HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $25,000 · HealthDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc — $18,000 · HealthRIVER CITY INCLUSIVE GYMNASTICS INC — $80,000 · Recreation & SportsYOSEMITE FOUNDATION — $75,000 · Recreation & SportsDALMATIAN DREAMS DBA DREAM FOUNDATION — $80,000 · Human ServicesCHARITY GLOBAL INC — $50,000 · Human ServicesFAMILY SUPPORT NETWORK OF CENTRAL CAROLINA — $10,000 · Human Services
Philanthropy$5,059,987Education$1,797,500Other$1,022,000Animals$449,000Health$383,000Recreation & Sports$155,000Human Services$140,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetCouncil on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse — $114,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetHarbor Day School — $100,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetRape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) — $100,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLAGUNA BLANCA SCHOOL — $90,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL — $87,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetDALMATIAN DREAMS DBA DREAM FOUNDATION — $80,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetYOSEMITE FOUNDATION — $75,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetWILDLIFE RESCUE AND REHABILITATION INC — $73,500 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetHAPPY DOGGO — $73,500 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetTHE GREY MUZZLE ORGANIZATION — $73,500 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetPEACHTREE PRESBYTERIAN PRE-SCHOOL INC — $67,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetRM PYLES BOYS CAMP — $65,000 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetGLOBAL LYME ALLIANCE INC — $60,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetRIVERSIDE SCHOOL INC — $50,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetThe Westminster Schools Inc — $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOBERO THEATRE FOUNDATION — $43,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetSANTA BARBARA SCHOOL OF SQUASH — $36,000 over 2y, 6.4% of budgetTHE ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDEN INC — $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BREAST CANCER RESOURCE CENTER OF SANTA BARBARA — $35,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetSANTA BARBARA YOUTH PROJECT — $34,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetTEDDY BEAR CANCER FOUNDATION — $31,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetCHARLES RIVER ALLEYCATS INCORPORATED — $25,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetSANTA BARBARA REVELS INC — $23,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc — $18,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSANTA BARBARA POLICE ACTIVITIES LEAGUE INC — $17,500 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF — $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS — $14,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetUNITED WAY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFAMILY SUPPORT NETWORK OF CENTRAL CAROLINA — $10,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetNEWPORT HARBOR FOOTBALL BOOSTERS — $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetSTORYTELLER CHILDRENS CENTER INC — $8,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetELINGS PARK FOUNDATION — $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEWPORT HARBOR ATHLETIC FOUNDATION — $7,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCASA DEL HERRERO — $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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.

Santa Barbara Foundat…Hutton Foundation Dba…Ann Jackson Family Fo…The Wood-Claeyssens F…Alice Tweed Tuohy Fou…Mosher FoundationElizabeth and John Mo…Rudi Schulte Family F…Williams-Corbett Foun…Kim and Andrew D Busc…Www FoundationBrittingham Family Fo…
Santa Barbara FoundationCA38.4× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Santa Barbara Foundation · Hutton Foundation Dba Hutton Parker Foundation · Ann Jackson Family Foundation · The Wood-Claeyssens Foundation · Alice Tweed Tuohy Foundation · Mosher Foundation · Elizabeth and John Moller Foundation · Rudi Schulte Family Foundation · Williams-Corbett Foundation · Kim and Andrew D Busch Family Foundation · Www Foundation · Brittingham Family 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 Macdonald Family 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 · 40%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 16%
  • The Coral Restoration Foundation Inc — 16% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc — 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
10report 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 Macdonald Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Macdonald Family 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 66 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

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