California · Private foundation
McDonald 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.
- $843k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 35
- Grants FY2025
- 36
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 3%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $20,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $100,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 30 to 36
- FY2020 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 11
- Total assets, FY2025
- $11M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 3% of the organizations McDonald Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 2% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 35 | $843k | 0% |
| FY2024 | 36 | $816k | 3% |
| FY2023 | 35 | $739k | 6% |
| FY2022 | 34 | $719k | 15% |
| FY2021 | 34 | $859k | 12% |
| FY2020 | 30 | $683k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Aquinas College | $308,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Friends of the Orphans D/B/A Nph-Usa | $231,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Covenant House California | $168,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Bellarmine College Preparatory | $154,000 | 6 | n/a |
| Casa Teresa Inc | $154,000 | 6 | 1% |
| Catholic Relief Services | $154,000 | 6 | n/a |
| Salesian Missions Inc | $154,000 | 6 | n/a |
| The Bridge Trust | $154,000 | 6 | 85% |
| Mater Dei High School Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange | $120,000 | 6 | n/a |
| Junipero Serra Catholic High School | $120,000 | 6 | 0% |
Show all 26 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Aquinas College | $308,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Friends of the Orphans D/B/A Nph-Usa | $231,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Covenant House California | $168,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Bellarmine College Preparatory | $154,000 | 6 | n/a |
| Casa Teresa Inc | $154,000 | 6 | 1% |
| Catholic Relief Services | $154,000 | 6 | n/a |
| Salesian Missions Inc | $154,000 | 6 | n/a |
| The Bridge Trust | $154,000 | 6 | 85% |
| Mater Dei High School Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange | $120,000 | 6 | n/a |
| Junipero Serra Catholic High School | $120,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Hanna Boys Center | $91,000 | 6 | n/a |
| Xavier Society for the Blind | $77,000 | 6 | 1% |
| Missionhurst Inc | $77,000 | 6 | n/a |
| Guide Dogs for the Blind Inc | $77,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Laura's House | $65,000 | 5 | 0% |
| The Napa Institute | $65,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Rosary Academy | $60,000 | 3 | n/a |
| Little Sisters of the Poor Los Angeles | $52,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Spirit Filled Hearts Ministry Inc | $51,000 | 4 | 5% |
| St Anthony High School | $45,000 | 5 | n/a |
| Saint John Vianney Center | $39,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Spitzer-Magis Center FKA Magis Institute | $38,500 | 6 | 0% |
| Fisher House Southern California Inc | $38,500 | 6 | 2% |
| Fathers of St Edmund Southern Missions Inc | $38,500 | 6 | n/a |
| Obria Medical Clinics of Southern California Inc | $38,000 | 3 | 2% |
| Wells of Life Inc | $14,000 | 1 | 0% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 16 recipients with no EIN on record ($2.1M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
McDonald Family Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 17 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: The Ayco Charitable Foundation · Orange County Community Foundation · The Levecke Family Foundation · B & R Charitable Foundation Inc · Catholic Community Foundation of Los Angeles · Farmers & Merchants Bank Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to McDonald Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to McDonald 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.
About McDonald Family Foundation
- How much does McDonald Family Foundation give?
- McDonald Family Foundation reported 35 grants totaling $843,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 30 and 36 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
- What does McDonald Family Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Religion (31%), Education (25%), Health (16%).
- Who are McDonald Family Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Thomas Aquinas College ($308k), Friends of the Orphans D/B/A Nph-Usa ($231k), Covenant House California ($168k).
- Does McDonald Family Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 3% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does McDonald Family Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as McDonald Family Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Ayco Charitable Foundation, Orange County Community Foundation, The Levecke Family Foundation.
- Where is McDonald Family Foundation based?
- McDonald Family Foundation is based in CA.
Play a game based on McDonald Family’s filings →