· Private foundation
Robert & Margaret McNamara 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, FY2018 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k54 grants · $31k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $62k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE PHOGONOT TRUST | $34,292 |
| CENTER FOR LAND BASED LEARNING | $27,350 |
| UNIVERSITY MASS AMHERST | $5,000 |
| YOLO COUNTY CASA | $4,016 |
| THE EDIBLE SCHOOLYARD PROJECT | $3,525 |
| GLOBAL VILLAGE FOUNDATION | $2,800 |
| WINTERS FARM TO SCHOOL | $1,500 |
| WAGING PEACE IN VIETNAM EDUCATION | $1,500 |
| FEAST | $1,080 |
| YOLO FOOD BANK | $750 |
| LA PENA | $600 |
| Individual grant recipient | $519 |
| CORO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA | $500 |
| NATIONAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL | $500 |
| PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE OF CALIF | $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 (FY18–22, $2k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 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
Which US states its grants reach
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 +44% since the first grant, against +35% for those funded once.
58 repeat relationships: 34 still active in FY2025, 24 since wound down; 21 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, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CFCenter for Land-Based Learning6× · 2018–2025 · $159k · revenue +169%
- MSMCE SOCIAL CAPITAL2× · 2018–2019 · $22k · revenue +35%
- TEThe Edible Schoolyard Project dba The Alice Waters Institute7× · 2019–2025 · $20k · revenue +273%
Funded once
- FOFRIENDS OF PROJECT RENEWone grant, 2022 · $11k · revenue +17%
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2019 · $6k
- WOWork on Climateone grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue -21%
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 union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.
The mission of the California Farmland Trust is to help farmers protect the best farmland in the world.
The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.
Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…
To enhance the long-term viability of california agriculture through leadership development, which in turn benefits the people and communities that agriculture serves. we grow leaders who make a difference.
Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…
Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.
The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory is dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats through science and outreach.
Improving the transparency and scientific integrity of climate solutions through open data and tools.
Independent nonpartisan newsroom serving Santa Cruz County, California we are all watching and engaged in our local government, our needs are addressed, democracy works better and our community is stronger.
Our mission is to protect local nature and farmland to ensure a healthy environment for everyone.
The Sierra Fund (TSF) is a non-profit organization with a mission to restore ecosystem and community resiliency in the Sierra Nevada.
How this is measured
89 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. 89 of the 182 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 Center for Land-Based Learning ↗
- Who funds MCE SOCIAL CAPITAL ↗
- Who funds The Edible Schoolyard Project dba The Alice Waters Institute ↗
- Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
- Who funds WINTERS FARM TO SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds Rios to Rivers ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF PROJECT RENEW ↗
- Who funds UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds DEMOCRACY NOW PRODUCTIONS INC ↗
- Who funds KITCHEN TABLE ADVISORS ↗
- Who funds Ecological Farming Association ↗
- Who funds Work on Climate ↗
- Who funds YOLO LAND TRUST ↗
- Who funds Real Organic Project Inc ↗
- Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds Sustainable Conservation ↗
- Who funds SOLANO LAND TRUST ↗
- Who funds THE SAND COUNTY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds MARTHA'S VINEYARD MUSEUM INC ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST ↗
- Who funds THE UC DAVIS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN LEADERSHIP FORUM MOUNTAIN VALLEY CHAPTER ↗
- Who funds PUTAH CREEK COUNCIL ↗
- Who funds YOLO FOOD BANK ↗
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: The San Francisco Foundation · Sacramento Region Community Foundation · Mariani Nut Company Foundation Inc · Marin Community Foundation · Clif Family Foundation · Teichert Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Western Health Advantage · The James Irvine Foundation · The California Wellness Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · The Elizabeth R & William J Patterson Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Robert & Margaret McNamara Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Robert & Margaret McNamara Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Mercy Corps: 47% of income from government
- President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
- Real Organic Project Inc: 1% of income from government
- Bread & Puppet Theatre Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
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Find your warmest path to Robert & Margaret McNamara Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
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