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Norman & Marcia Burnam Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Norman & Marcia Burnam 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.

$46k
Granted FY2020
9
Grants FY2020
3
States reached
$13k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

100% of Norman & Marcia Burnam Family Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Jewish Community Federation Of San Francisco The Peninsula Marin & Sonoma, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2020, the last year Norman & Marcia Burnam Family Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 8 organizations, $46k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

5
’17
7
’18
8
’19
8
’20
4
’21
4
’22
2
’23
1
’24
0
’25

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

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$439kEducation$122kReligion$105kHealth$17kPhilanthropy$11kRecreation & Sports$10kEnvironment$3kCivil Rights$500
02FY2020 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2020

  • Under $10k6 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $33k
$2,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$675k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PLANNED PARENTHOOD$12,500
TUFTS UNIVERSITY$10,000
CROWDEN MUSIC CENTER$10,000
SANTA CATALINA SCHOOL$5,000
NORTH BAY AQUATICS$2,500
TREE PEOPLE$2,500
GOLDEN GATE BOYS CHOIR$1,000
MITCHELL COLLEGE$1,000
WELLESLEY COLLEGE$1,000
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 29% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WELLESLEY COLLEGE: $5k → 7%LOWEN SOCCER CLUB: $5k → 7%GOLDEN GATE BOYS CHOIR: $1k → 10%UNIV SAN FRANCISCO INST FOR NONVIOLENCE: $500 → 10%SANTA CATALINA SCHOOL: $5k → 12%UCLA FOUNDATION: $100 → 14%MITCHELL COLLEGE: $25k → 9%WESTMINISTER FOUNDATION: $1k → 11%WELLESLEY COLLEGE: $1k → 7%GOLDEN GATE BOYS CHOIR: $1k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO FREE CLINIC: $3k → 10%SANTA CATALINA SCHOOL: $3k → 12%POMONA COLLEGE ANNUAL FUND: $250 → 14%MITCHELL COLLEGE: $10k → 9%WELLESLEY COLLEGE: $1k → 7%CROWDEN MUSIC CENTER: $100k → 10%JEWISH LEARNING WORKS: $55k → 10%SANTA CATALINA SCHOOL: $1k → 12%HEBREW UNION COLLEGE: $13k → 14%MITCHELL COLLEGE: $1k → 9%WELLESLEY COLLEGE: $1k → 7%CROWDEN MUSIC CENTER: $100k → 10%JEWISH LEARNING WORKS: $50k → 10%SANTA CATALINA SCHOOL: $250 → 12%HEBREW UNION COLLEGE: $1k → 14%MITCHELL COLLEGE: $1k → 9%CROWDEN MUSIC CENTER: $97k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $250 → 10%CROWDEN MUSIC CENTER: $75k → 10%ST STEPHENS CHURCH CATHOLIC CHURCH: $500 → 10%CROWDEN MUSIC CENTER: $40k → 10%FRIENDS OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY LIB: $30k → 10%CROWDEN MUSIC CENTER: $10k → 10%STERNE SCHOOL: $2k → 10%CROWDEN MUSIC CENTER: $10k → 10%STERNE SCHOOL: $1k → 10%UNITED WAY: $1k → 10%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $13k → 10%COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $5k → 10%JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SF: $10k → 10%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $2k → 10%JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SF: $360 → 10%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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$648k · 11 repeat orgs$49k to everyone else

11 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2020, 3 since wound down; 6 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

11
5

Total granted

$648k
$8k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+140%

Still filing today

82%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
EducationArts & CultureRecreation & SportsReligionPhilanthropyEnvironmentOther
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

  • TC
    The Crowden Music Center
    7× · 2018–2024 · $432k · revenue +6%
  • JL
    JEWISH LEARNINGWORKS
    2× · 2021–2022 · $105k · revenue +0%
  • Trustees of Tufts College
    4× · 2017–2020 · $20k · revenue +50%

Funded once

  • TL
    THE LOWEN SOCCER CLUBgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +140%
  • UW
    UNITED WAY INC
    one grant, 2019 · $1k · revenue -16%
  • WF
    WESTMINISTER FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $1k
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
President-Board of Trustees Santa Clara College

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.

Education
2
The San Francisco School

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.

—
3
San Francisco Friends School

At san francisco friends school, students learn in a community grounded in the quaker values of reflection, integrity, peaceful problem-solving and stewardship. our teachers challenge students with a dynamic curriculum that inspires…

Education
4
California College of the Arts

California college of the arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. benefitting from its san francisco bay area location, the college prepares…

Education
5
San Francisco University High School

At san franicisco university high school, we engage our community of diverse voices in a transformational experience that embraces the spirited pursuit of learning and empowers purpose larger than self.

Education
6
The International School of San Francisco

Guided by the principles of academic rigor and diversity, the international school of san francisco offers programs of study in french and english to prepare its graduates for a world in which the ability to think critically and to…

Education
7
Menlo School

Menlo school's mission is to empower students to explore and expand their interests, reach their fullest potential, develop the skills necessary for success in college, and become ethical, responsible, and engaged members of ever wider…

—
8
The Buckley School

The buckley school is a dynamic, nurturing learning community committed to equity and inclusion. our innovative teachers and challenging programs inspire creativity, courage, and collaboration. by promoting a balanced development of mind,…

—
9
Golden Gate University

Golden gate university prepares individuals to lead and serve by providing high quality, practice-based educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions - as a nonprofit institution - in an innovative and challenging…

Education
10
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
11
Westside Neighborhood School

Wns is committed to creating a deeply caring community of lifelong learners that nurtures students from diverse backgrounds to reach their full potential, develop cultural competency, and inspire the world with their curiosity, innovation,…

Education
12
Marin Academy

Marin academy asks every individual to think, question, and create in an environment of encouragement and compassion, and challenges each person to accept the responsibilities posed by education in a democratic society.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Santa Catalina School; the most unlike its peers is The Lowen Soccer Club. 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

17 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. 17 of the 24 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)
17/17
Grantees still filing
13/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

The Crowden Music Center: $432,132 · OtherThe Crowden Music CenterFRIENDS OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY LIB: $30,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY LIB+7 more: $32,250 · Other+7 moreJEWISH LEARNINGWORKS: $105,000 · ReligionJEWISH LEARNINGW…MITCHELL COLLEGE: $37,000 · EducationMITCHELL COL…Trustees of Tufts College: $20,000 · EducationTrustees of …SANTA CATALINA SCHOOL: $8,750 · EducationSANTA CATALI…Wellesley College: $8,000 · EducationWellesley Co…+2 more: $2,600 · EducationJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SAN FRANCISCO THE PENINSULA MARIN & SONOMA: $10,360 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY INC: $1,000 · PhilanthropyNORTH BAY AQUATICS: $5,000 · Recreation & SportsTHE LOWEN SOCCER CLUB: $5,000 · Recreation & SportsCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $5,000 · Arts & CultureGOLDEN GATE BOYS CHOIR: $2,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $250 · Arts & CultureTREEPEOPLE INC: $2,500 · Environment
Other$494,382Religion$105,000Education$76,350Philanthropy$11,360Recreation & Sports$10,000Arts & Culture$7,250Environment$2,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe Crowden Music Center: $432,132 over 7y, 3.4% of budgetJEWISH LEARNINGWORKS: $105,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetMITCHELL COLLEGE: $37,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTrustees of Tufts College: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SAN FRANCISCO THE PENINSULA MARIN & SONOMA: $10,360 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSANTA CATALINA SCHOOL: $8,750 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWellesley College: $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNORTH BAY AQUATICS: $5,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTHE LOWEN SOCCER CLUB: $5,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO FREE CLINIC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTREEPEOPLE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTERNE SCHOOL: $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUCLA FOUNDATION: $100 over 1y, 0.0% 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 Fede…The San Francisco Fou…Morgan Stanley Global…American Endowment Fo…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & SonomaCA15.2× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · The San Francisco Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Endowment Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Norman & Marcia Burnam Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Norman & Marcia Burnam Family 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%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Trustees of Tufts College: 13% of income from government
  • Mitchell College: 2% of income from government
  • Wellesley College: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 Norman & Marcia Burnam Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Norman & Marcia Burnam 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 24 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 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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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