How much does Plum Foundation give?

Plum Foundation reported 27 itemized grants totaling $611,000, out of $731,000 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2022 IRS filing. It funded between 12 and 25 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2022.

What does Plum Foundation fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2022, its largest causes are Health (6%), Arts & Culture (4%), Education (3%).

Who are Plum Foundation's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2022: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center ($130k), Doheny Eye Institute ($85k), Food Forward Inc ($80k).

Does Plum Foundation fund new organizations?

In FY2022, 48% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Does Plum 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 Plum Foundation?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Betty Stieren Kelso Foundation, Nancy Smith Hurd Foundation, Barrett Family Foundation.

Where is Plum Foundation based?

Plum Foundation is based in CA.

Foundation Dossiers

California · Private foundation

Plum 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.

$731k
Granted FY2022: 27
Itemized grants FY2022: 25
Organizations funded FY2022: 48%
First-time grantees FY2022

Read the full brief

Itemized, FY2022: $611k; The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2022: $12,500
Largest grant, FY2022: $84,500
Organizations funded a year: 12 to 25; FY2017 to FY2022
States reached, FY2022: 7
Total assets, FY2022: $1.7M
Applications: Preselected organizations only; Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2022, 48% of the organizations Plum Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 36% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $202k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

HealthArts & CultureHuman ServicesPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsEducationOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2022	25	$556k	48%
FY2020	25	$460k	60%
FY2017	12	$180k	n/a

87% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Health$368kArts & Culture$270kEducation$220kEnvironment$109kFood & Nutrition$95kCivil Rights$45kHousing & Shelter$35kPhilanthropy$30kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2022, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center	$130,000	2	0%
Doheny Eye Institute	$84,500	2	0%
Food Forward Inc	$80,000	3	0%
The Blank Theatre Company	$45,000	3	10%
Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project	$30,000	1	0%
Phil Hardberger Park Conservancy	$25,000	2	8%
The Center for the Arts	$20,000	1	1%
Santa Monica Arts Foundation Inc	$20,000	2	46%
San Antonio Food Bank	$15,000	1	0%
Lange Foundation	$15,000	2	0%

Show all 21 grantees

All grantees of Plum Foundation by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center	$130,000	2	0%
Doheny Eye Institute	$84,500	2	0%
Food Forward Inc	$80,000	3	0%
The Blank Theatre Company	$45,000	3	10%
Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project	$30,000	1	0%
Phil Hardberger Park Conservancy	$25,000	2	8%
The Center for the Arts	$20,000	1	1%
Santa Monica Arts Foundation Inc	$20,000	2	46%
San Antonio Food Bank	$15,000	1	0%
Lange Foundation	$15,000	2	0%
Skirball Cultural Center	$15,000	3	0%
Bexar County Performing Arts Center Fdn Tobin Center for the Performing Art	$15,000	2	0%
Friends of Israels Environment	$12,500	1	10%
Alamo Public Telecommunications Council Doing Business as Klrn	$10,000	1	0%
The Hide and Seek Foundation	$10,000	2	2%
Christus Children's Foundation	$10,000	1	0%
Morgan's Inclusion Initiative FKA Morgan's Wonderland Inclusion Foundation	$10,000	1	0%
Pico Union Project	$5,000	1	1%
NAACP Legal Defense & Educ Fund Inc	$5,000	1	0%
San Antonio Foundation for Excellence in Education Inc	$5,000	1	0%
Lhasa Happy Homes Rescue Inc	$5,000	1	3%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 18 recipients with no EIN on record ($629k), not named here.

Plum Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 21 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 21.

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.

Betty Stieren Kelso FoundationTX15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Betty Stieren Kelso Foundation · Nancy Smith Hurd Foundation · Barrett Family Foundation · Faye L & William L Cowden Charitable Foundation · Harvey E Najim Charitable Foundation · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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.

Compare Plum Foundation with peer funders

About Plum Foundation

How much does Plum Foundation give?: Plum Foundation reported 27 itemized grants totaling $611,000, out of $731,000 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2022 IRS filing. It funded between 12 and 25 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2022.
What does Plum Foundation fund?: By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2022, its largest causes are Health (6%), Arts & Culture (4%), Education (3%).
Who are Plum Foundation's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2017 to FY2022: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center ($130k), Doheny Eye Institute ($85k), Food Forward Inc ($80k).
Does Plum Foundation fund new organizations?: In FY2022, 48% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Plum 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 Plum Foundation?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Betty Stieren Kelso Foundation, Nancy Smith Hurd Foundation, Barrett Family Foundation.
Where is Plum Foundation based?: Plum Foundation is based in CA.