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· Private foundation

Ronald M Simon Foundation

Its FY2022 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$3.0M
Granted FY2022
9
Grants FY2022
3
States reached
$1.9M
Largest
01What it funds
0186% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2022.

Philanthropy$7.9MEducation$2.2MArts & Culture$103kEmployment$20kHealth$11kYouth Development$3kHuman Services$250Other$0
02FY2022 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2022

  • Under $10k3 grants · $6k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $68k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
  • $250k+2 grants · $2.9M
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SIMON SCHOLARS FOUNDATION$1,902,337
SIMON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION$1,000,000
CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY$50,000
JEWISH GRADUATE STUDENT INITIATIVE$32,500
UCI FOUNDATION$25,000
TALLER SAN JOSE HOPE BUILDERS$10,000
THE WOODEN FLOOR$3,000
JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE$2,000
JIM SAUNDERS NANEA FUND$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:

Its human-services grants (FY21–21, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HOSPICE FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%HISPANIC 100 FOUNDATION: $250 → 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.

29%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 4 repeat orgs$7.3M to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2022, 0 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
9

Total granted

$2.9M
$5.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+19%
+67%

Still filing today

75%
89%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 36% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.9M went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthOther
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

  • SC
    SIMON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
    2× · 2021–2022 · $2.7M
  • CU
    CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2021–2022 · $195k · revenue +19%
  • JG
    JEWISH GRADUATE STUDENT INITIATIVE
    2× · 2021–2022 · $58k · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • SF
    SIMON FAMILY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $5.2M
  • PS
    Pacific Symphonygraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue +103%
  • HA
    HORATIO ALGER ASSN OF DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $20k · revenue +50%
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
United States Naval Institute

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.

—
2
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The mission of the institute has remained constant since its founding in 1953. as its restated articles of incorporation state the primary purpose and objective of the howard hughes medical institute shall be the promotion of human…

Health
3
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
4
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
5
Ucla Foundation

The ucla foundation is the giving, receiving, and investing arm of the ucla campus. the foundation enables private donors to help build, sustain and advance one of the world's finest academic and research institutions. private philanthropy…

Education
6
Hillsdale College

Hillsdale college is a private liberal arts college with approximately 1,500 students. founded in 1844, the college remains, in the words of its articles of association, "grateful to god for the inestimable blessings resulting from the…

Education
7
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
8
American Law Institute

The institute's mission, as set out in its certificate of incorporation, is to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to…

Crime & Legal
9
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
10
Phillips Exeter Academy

Unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives. [text in quotations is taken from the academy's deed of gift, drafted in 1781] knowledge and goodness "above all, it is expected that the attention…

Education
11
The University Foundation At Sacramento State

Raise private resources to advance the mission and priorities of the university and serve as ambassadors in the community. provide stewardship in the prudent investment of resources and ensure the integrity of the foundation through…

Education
12
Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation Inc

The sarnoff cardiovascular research foundation is dedicated to cultivating the next generation of physician-leaders in cardiovascular medicine by funding and supporting medical students and physicians engaged in transformative research.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Wooden Floor for Youth Movement; the most unlike its peers is Ronald M Simon Family Foundation. 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

15 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. 15 of the 18 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)
15/15
Grantees still filing
11/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SIMON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $5,222,452 · OtherSIMON FAMILY FOUNDATIONSIMON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $2,672,100 · OtherSIMON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION+2 more: $6,000 · OtherRONALD M SIMON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $1,902,337 · EducationRONALD M SIMON FAMILY FO…CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: $195,000 · EducationCHAPMAN UNIVERSITY+7 more: $128,000 · Education+7 morePacific Symphony: $100,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $3,000 · Arts & CultureSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HOSPICE FOUNDAT ATTN MICHELLE WULFESTIEG: $10,000 · Human Services+1 more: $250 · Human ServicesKATHI KOLL FOUNDATION: $1,000 · Health
Other$7,900,552Education$2,225,337Arts & Culture$103,000Human Services$10,250Health$1,000

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 budgetRONALD M SIMON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $1,902,337 over 1y, 37% of budgetCHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: $195,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPacific Symphony: $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetJEWISH GRADUATE STUDENT INITIATIVE: $57,500 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHORATIO ALGER ASSN OF DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTALLER SAN JOSE HOPE BUILDERS: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HOSPICE FOUNDAT ATTN MICHELLE WULFESTIEG: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetAssociation of Fundraising Professionals: $5,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetTHE WOODEN FLOOR FOR YOUTH MOVEMENT: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAMUELI ACADEMY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING: $2,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetKATHI KOLL FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEWPORT BEACH PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHISPANIC 100 FOUNDATION: $250 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Orange County Community FoundationCA19.3× affinity7 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Orange County Community Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment Foundation · 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 Ronald M Simon Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ronald M Simon Foundation. 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%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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 Ronald M Simon Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Ronald M Simon 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 18 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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