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Nova Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Nova Foundation Inc

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.

$3.8M
Granted FY2023
1
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$3.8M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2023.

Arts & Culture$4.2MPhilanthropy$425kCivil Rights$20kEnvironment$10kAnimals$10kInternational$10kEducation$10kOther$0
02FY2023 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$3,817,373
Median grant
1
States reached
$3.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Calvin Simmons Theatre$3,817,373
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 (FY18–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%THE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER: $5k → 8%EAST BAY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $25k → 9%Calvin Simmons Theatre: $3.8M → 10%WORLD ARTS WEST: $25k → 10%NATIONAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $10k → 17%SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW: $10k → 18%SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE: $10k → 9%OAKLAND SYMPHONY: $10k → 10%THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION - THE HIGH STREET FUND: $206k → 10%NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY: $5k → 17%AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: $10k → 10%THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION - THE HIGH STREET FUND: $153k → 10%NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND: $10k → 17%OAKLAND BALLET COMPANY: $3k → 10%THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION - THE HIGH STREET FUND: $39k → 10%CALVIN SIMMONS THEATRE: $287k → 10%THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION - THE HIGH STREET FUND: $27k → 10%BERKELEY SYMPHONY: $20k → 10%CAL PERFORMANCES: $25k → 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 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
Oakland Museum of California

The museum's mission is to inspire all californians to create a more vibrant future for themselves and their communities. through collections, exhibitions, education programs, and public dialogue, we inspire people of all ages and…

Arts & Culture
2
Sunset Cultural Center Inc

To advance the performing arts on the central coast by preserving and stewarding a historic venue for world-class performances and by expanding equitable access to diverse programming, arts education, and community engagement that enhance…

Arts & Culture
3
San Francisco Opera Association

We believe opera is a uniquely compelling, entertaining and emotionally thrilling art form. our mission is to bring together growing audiences to experience opera's transformative power.

Arts & Culture
4
Asian Art Museum Foundation of San Francisco

The asian art museum celebrates, preserves, and promotes asian and asian american art and cultures for local and global audiences. we provide a dynamic forum for exchanging ideas, inviting collaboration, and fueling imagination to deepen…

Arts & Culture
5
Socal Symphony Society

The Culver City Symphony Orchestra strives to enlighten and inspire the diverse citizenry of Culver City and the Los Angeles area through the presentation of orchestral music concerts, to present works of American composers, and to…

Arts & Culture
6
Occidental Center for the Arts

Occidental Center for the Arts exists to provide a welcoming and accessible venue for the performing and visual arts in Sonoma County California for local regional national and international artists. our mission is to enrich our community…

Arts & Culture
7
Latino Theater Company

The latino theater company operates the los angeles theatre center, whose mission is to provide a world class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; a…

Arts & Culture
8
California Institute of Contemporary Art
—
9
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Society Inc

The orchestra pursues its mission, "to enrich and connect our community through intimate and transformative musical experiences which exemplify and foster artistic excellence, education and innovation," through the blend of traditional…

Arts & Culture
10
San Francisco Performances Inc

SFP presents internationally acclaimed and emerging performing artists, introduces innovative programs, and builds new and diversified audiences for the arts through education and outreach activities.

Arts & Culture
11
Stages

Stages makes plays and tells stories that invite everyone to live more deeply and love more boldly.

Arts & Culture
12
San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company

Sfbatco unites artists and audiences through live theatre that is reflective of the authentic perspectives and history of the san francisco bay area.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is East Bay Performing Arts dba Oakland Symphony; the most unlike its peers is Natural Resources Defense Council Inc. 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

10 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. 10 of the 15 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
8/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Calvin Simmons Theatre: $4,104,848 · Arts & CultureCalvin Simmons Theatre+4 more: $62,500 · Arts & CultureTHE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION - THE HIGH STREET FUND: $424,707 · OtherTHE SAN FRA…Individual grant recipient: $25,000 · OtherBERKELEY SYMPHONY: $20,000 · Other+2 more: $15,000 · OtherSAINT MARY'S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA: $10,000 · EducationNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC: $10,000 · Civil RightsSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $10,000 · Crime & LegalNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $10,000 · EnvironmentTHE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER: $5,000 · Animals
Arts & Culture$4,167,348Other$484,707Education$10,000Civil Rights$10,000Crime & Legal$10,000Environment$10,000Animals$5,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCalvin Simmons Theatre: $4,104,848 over 2y, 40% of budgetEast Bay Center for the Performing Arts: $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetWorld Arts West: $25,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetSAINT MARY'S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEAST BAY PERFORMING ARTS dba OAKLAND SYMPHONY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOakland Ballet Company: $2,500 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

The San Francisco Fou…East Bay Community Fo…The Bank of America C…Amazonsmile Foundation
The San Francisco FoundationCA15.2× affinity5 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · 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 Nova Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Nova Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s 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 · 0–40%
    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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Nova Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Nova Foundation Inc 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 15 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Nova’s filings →

    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