· Private foundation
Nicholas Endowment
Its FY2024 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 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k10 grants · $40k
- $50k–250k21 grants · $1.9M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| SOUTH COAST REPERTORY | $175,000 |
| PACIFIC SYMPHONY | $150,000 |
| OCEAN INSTITUTE | $150,000 |
| ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $122,400 |
| MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO | $115,000 |
| ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $115,000 |
| CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF ORANGE COUNTY | $115,000 |
| BOWERS MUSEUM | $115,000 |
| ST MARGARET'S OF SCOTLAND EPISCOPAL SCHOOL | $115,000 |
| UCLA - VETERANS INITIATIVES & PARTNERSHIPS | $75,000 |
| UCLA - SCHOOL OF LAW | $75,000 |
| UCI - GAVIN HERBERT EYE INSTITUTE | $75,000 |
| UCI - OC VETFAM COLLABORATIVE | $70,000 |
| UCLA - LETTERS AND SCIENCE | $65,000 |
| UCI - BASIC NEEDS CENTER | $60,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 21% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 9% of Nicholas Endowment’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 87%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
31 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2024, 11 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $75k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SCSOUTH COAST REPERTORY INC8× · 2017–2024 · $1.4M · revenue +1%
- PSPacific Symphony8× · 2017–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +87%
- CWCHARLES W BOWERS MUSEUM CORPORATION8× · 2017–2024 · $933k · revenue +26%
Funded once
- URUC REGENTSone grant, 2017 · $347k
- UIUCLA - INSTITUTE FOR CARBON MGMTone grant, 2022 · $100k
- UGUCLA - GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATIONone grant, 2018 · $100k
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.
The association serves its members by creating resources that enable california school administrators to develop and apply creative leadership and management skills and in turn, improve the educational process for all students.
Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.
A diverse and sustainable learning community dedicated to discovery and excellence in teaching, scholarship and practice, pacific university inspires students to think, care, create and pursue justice in our world.
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.
To support educational, research and public functions and programs of the riverside campus of the university of california.
The catalina island conservancy protects and stewards 88% of catalina island. more than 42,000 acres of wildlands, coves and coastal habitats. founded to preserve the island's natural resources, the conservancy advances a mission rooted in…
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…
Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…
To provide a superior, student-centered learning experience integrating liberal arts and professional education and preparing individuals for lasting achievement and responsible leadership in their careers and communities.
Scu is a catholic and jesuit institution that makes student learning its central focus, promotes faculty and staff learning in its various forms, and exhibits organizational learning.
The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.
The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.
How this is measured
11 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. 11 of the 57 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 ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds SOUTH COAST REPERTORY INC ↗
- Who funds Pacific Symphony ↗
- Who funds OCEAN INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds CHARLES W BOWERS MUSEUM CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF ORANGE COUNTY ↗
- Who funds ST MARGARET OF SCOTLAND EPISCOPAL SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE FOUNDATION ↗
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: Orange County Community Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Nicholas Endowment funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Nicholas Endowment. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Nicholas Endowment?
Find your warmest path to Nicholas Endowment 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.
Play a game based on Nicholas Endowment’s filings →