· Private foundation
Michael J Kirsch 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Bethel Lutheran Church School | $2,000 |
| Pacifica Resource Center | $1,000 |
| Sacred Heart Community Service | $1,000 |
| Community Music Center | $1,000 |
| Second Harvest Food Bank | $1,000 |
| Esperanza Services | $1,000 |
| Real Options for City Kids | $1,000 |
| San Francisco Fire Fighters Toy Pro | $500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY21–25, $7k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.
18 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 13 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- ROREAL OPTIONS FOR CITY KIDS5× · 2021–2025 · $5k · revenue +36%
SACRED HEART COMMUNITY SERVICE5× · 2021–2025 · $4k · revenue +3%- CMCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER5× · 2021–2025 · $4k · revenue +35%
Funded once
- SAST ANTHONY FOUNDATIONone grant, 2018 · $1k
- TMTHE MARINE MAMMAL CENTERone grant, 2020 · $500 · revenue +5%
- SCSanta Clara City Library Fnd Friendone grant, 2017 · $500
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.
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.
Pacific science center (pacsci) ignites curiosity in every child and fuels a passion for discovery, experimentation, and critical thinking in all of us.
None
The monterey museum of art cultivates curiosity in the visual arts and engages community with the diversity of california art - past, present, and future.
The New Childrens Museum (the Museum) in San Diego is an arts-based childrens museum whose mission is to stimulate imagination, creativity, and critical thinking in children and families through inventive, engaging experiences with…
The aquarium of the pacific's mission is to instill a sense of wonder, respect, and stewardship for the pacific ocean, its inhabitants, and ecosystems.
The museum of sonoma county engages and inspires our diverse community with art and history exhibitions, collections, and public programs that are inclusive, educational, and relevant.
The museum of contemporary art san diego invites all audiences to experience our world, our region, and ourselves through the prism of contemporary art.
Conserving nature through science and discovery.
To connect all people with wildlife, inspire caring for nature, and advance conservation action.
A private school that cultivates and celebrates the intellectual, imaginative, and humanitarian promise of each student in a community that practices mutual respect, embraces diversity, and inspires passion for learning.
The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."
The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.
How this is measured
12 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. 12 of the 25 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds REAL OPTIONS FOR CITY KIDS ↗
- Who funds GIRL SCOUTS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ↗
- Who funds SACRED HEART COMMUNITY SERVICE ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER ↗
- Who funds JW HOUSE ↗
- Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
- Who funds THE EXPLORATORIUM ↗
- Who funds Pacifica Resource Center ↗
- Who funds CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ↗
- Who funds CORPORATION OF THE FINE ARTS MUSEUMS ↗
- Who funds SAN FRANCISCO FIRE FIGHTERS' TOY PROGRAM ↗
- Who funds THE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER ↗
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: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Michael J Kirsch Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Michael J Kirsch Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Michael J Kirsch’s filings →