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S H Cowell Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

S H Cowell Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$5.2M
Granted FY2024still arriving
71
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$225k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Education$9.9MHuman Services$5.7MYouth Development$3.3MCommunity Improvement$3.2MPhilanthropy$2.2MArts & Culture$1.6MCrime & Legal$1.1MEnvironment$964kOther$0
02FY2024 · 71 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k9 grants · $35k
  • $10k–50k16 grants · $555k
  • $50k–250k46 grants · $4.6M
$55,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$120M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ON THE MOVE$225,000
NAPA VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT$225,000
BUTTE COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION$200,000
VARIOUS MATCHING GIFTS$172,714
TEN STRANDS$165,000
SOMOS MAYFAIR$150,000
COALINGA-HURON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT$150,000
NORTHERN HUMBOLDT UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT$150,000
ON THE MOVE$140,000
MCKINLEYVILLE FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER$140,000
OLINGA$140,000
REACH UNIVERSITY$125,000
DEL NORTE COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION$120,000
RYSE CENTER$115,000
EAST BAY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS$115,000
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 (FY19–24, $4.2M) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 2% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%UPVALLEY FAMILY CENTERS: $104k → 9%UPVALLEY FAMILY CENTERS: $100k → 9%UPVALLEY FAMILY CENTERS: $100k → 9%UPVALLEY FAMILY CENTERS: $100k → 9%UPVALLEY FAMILY CENTERS: $100k → 9%ON THE MOVE: $400k → 9%ON THE MOVE: $385k → 9%ON THE MOVE: $370k → 9%UPVALLEY FAMILY CENTERS: $85k → 9%HOMELESS GARDEN PROJECT: $25k → 13%ON THE MOVE: $250k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $90k → 10%ON THE MOVE: $250k → 9%FIERCE ADVOCATES: $100k → 9%LA LUZ CENTER: $150k → 9%ON THE MOVE: $225k → 9%FIERCE ADVOCATES: $90k → 9%LA LUZ CENTER: $115k → 9%ON THE MOVE: $140k → 9%ON THE MOVE: $140k → 9%LATINO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20k → 10%ON THE MOVE: $140k → 9%LA LUZ CENTER: $100k → 9%THE TIDES CENTER: $145k → 10%LA LUZ CENTER: $100k → 9%TWO FEATHERS NATIVE AMERICAN FAMILY SERVICES: $40k → 18%LA LUZ CENTER: $100k → 9%ON THE MOVE: $5k → 9%THE TIDES CENTER: $70k → 10%AMIGOS DE GUADALUPE: $50k → 8%LA LUZ CENTER: $50k → 9%AMIGOS DE GUADALUPE: $50k → 8%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.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
NY
MA
OR
NV
CA
VA
DC
GA
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 5% of S H Cowell Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

S H Cowell Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.1% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$28M · 81 repeat orgs$1.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +36% since the first grant, against +9% for those funded once.

81 repeat relationships: 54 still active in FY2024, 27 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

81
41

Total granted

$28M
$1.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+36%
+9%

Still filing today

74%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $242k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationEnvironmentHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyOther
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

  • OT
    ON THE MOVE
    6× · 2019–2024 · $2.3M · revenue +73%
  • MC
    MCKINLEYVILLE COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE
    6× · 2019–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +247% · 39% of their budget
  • SM
    SOMOS MAYFAIR INC
    6× · 2019–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +101%

Funded once

  • DN
    DEL NORTE COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATIONDEL NORTE COUNTY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRIC
    one grant, 2023 · $120k
  • MU
    MADERA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
    one grant, 2020 · $100k
  • MH
    MERCY HOUSING CALIFORNIA
    one grant, 2022 · $75k · revenue -51%
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
California Forward

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,…

Public Benefit
2
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
3
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
4
Unitedly

Unitedly is a nonprofit organization based in San Mateo County, California. Unitedly was established to ensure Asian families and communities have access to equitable opportunities and resources to thrive in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Human Services
5
Go Public Schools Advocates

Our mission is to activate the leadership of families, educators, and community allies to advocate on behalf of California children and youth to ensure that all students have access to excellent public schools in their neighborhoods and…

Education
6
California Donor Table

California Donor Table anchors a hub of donors, foundations, and community leaders. We pool together our resources to shape California into a truly democratic state that works for the people, not the powerful. Rooted in our commitment to…

Civil Rights
7
Statewide California Coalition

The New California Coalition (NCC) is a forward-thinking organization with a bold mission: to identify and implement solutions that will pave the way for enduring, generational change in Sacramento and across the entire state of California.

Public Benefit
8
California School-Age Consortium Inc

The California School-Age Consortium (CalSAC) builds professional networks that provide training, leadership development and advocacy to ensure that all young people have access to high quality out-of-school time programs and to create a…

—
9
Active San Gabriel Valley

Active San Gabriel Valley (ActiveSGV) is a community-based environmental advocacy and public health non-profit organization. Our mission is to promote a more sustainable, equitable, and livable San Gabriel Valley.

Community Improvement
10
Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy

CAUSE's mission is to build grassroots power to realize social, economic and environmental justice for the people of the Central Coast Region through policy research, leadership development, organizing and advocacy.

Community Improvement
11
California Coastkeeper dba California Coastkeeper Alliance

California Coastkeeper Alliance unites Waterkeeper programs statewide to fight for swimmable, fishable, and drinkable waters for all Californians.

Environment
12
Santa Cruz Local Inc

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.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Grantmakers for Education; the most unlike its peers is Aim High. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

98 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. 98 of the 137 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
27
Early backer (in before they grew)
97/98
Grantees still filing
66/98
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

VINTAGE HIGH SCHOOL: $1,380,000 · OtherVINTAGE HIGH SCHOOLNORTHERN HUMBOLDT UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT: $865,000 · OtherNORTHERN HUMBOLDT UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICTWEST CONTRA COSTA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: $772,000 · OtherOLINGA: $704,000 · OtherCOALINGA-HURON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: $605,000 · Other+75 more: $11,403,876 · Other+75 moreON THE MOVE: $2,305,000 · Human ServicesON THE MOVELA LUZ CENTER: $615,000 · Human ServicesLA LUZ CENTERUPVALLEY FAMILY CENTERS OF NAPA COUNTY: $588,500 · Human ServicesUPVALLEY FAMILY C…AIM HIGH: $560,000 · Human ServicesAIM HIGHTIDES CENTER: $215,000 · Human ServicesFIERCE Advocates Families & Individuals Equitably Rooted in Collective Empowerme: $190,000 · Human Services+4 more: $275,000 · Human Services+4 moreBUTTE COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION: $1,065,000 · EducationBUTTE COUN…10000 DEGREES: $540,000 · Education10000 DEGR…REACH UNIVERSITY: $305,000 · EducationREACH UNIV…GO Public Schools: $260,000 · EducationGO Public …EDSOURCE INC: $140,000 · EducationREADING PARTNERS: $135,000 · Education+9 more: $318,100 · Education+9 moreMCKINLEYVILLE COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE: $1,047,000 · Community ImprovementMCKINLEYV…SOMOS MAYFAIR INC: $1,020,000 · Community ImprovementSOMOS MAY…ICAFUND: $225,000 · Community ImprovementICAFUNDPOWER CALIFORNIA: $175,000 · Community ImprovementPOWER CAL…VEGGIELUTION: $153,500 · Community ImprovementVEGGIELUT…+1 more: $50,000 · Community ImprovementRYSE INC: $716,000 · Youth DevelopmentMindful Life Project: $295,500 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE NORTH VALLEY: $195,000 · Youth DevelopmentBUILDING BLOCKS FOR KIDS: $175,000 · Youth DevelopmentADVENTURE RISK CHALLENGE: $170,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SAN FRANCISCO: $150,000 · Youth DevelopmentLOTUS BLOOM: $125,000 · Youth DevelopmentRADICAL MONARCHS: $90,000 · Youth DevelopmentEast Bay Center for the Performing Arts: $832,000 · Arts & CultureSCHOOL OF ARTS AND CULTURE AT MHP: $653,500 · Arts & CultureVIVO YOUTH ORCHESTRAS: $260,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $42,500 · Arts & CultureNorthern California Grantmakers: $445,500 · PhilanthropyHUMBOLDT AREA FOUNDATION: $200,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: $195,000 · PhilanthropyAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $175,000 · PhilanthropyEAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $90,000 · Philanthropy+8 more: $153,190 · Philanthropy
Other$15,729,876Human Services$4,748,500Education$2,763,100Community Improvement$2,670,500Youth Development$1,916,500Arts & Culture$1,788,000Philanthropy$1,258,690

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 budgetON THE MOVE: $2,305,000 over 6y, 7.0% of budgetBUTTE COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION: $1,065,000 over 6y, 37% of budgetMCKINLEYVILLE COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE: $1,047,000 over 6y, 39% of budgetSOMOS MAYFAIR INC: $1,020,000 over 6y, 5.5% of budgetEast Bay Center for the Performing Arts: $832,000 over 6y, 3.8% of budgetRYSE INC: $716,000 over 6y, 2.4% of budgetSCHOOL OF ARTS AND CULTURE AT MHP: $653,500 over 6y, 4.2% of budgetLA LUZ CENTER: $615,000 over 6y, 5.5% of budgetUPVALLEY FAMILY CENTERS OF NAPA COUNTY: $588,500 over 6y, 3.1% of budgetAIM HIGH: $560,000 over 6y, 17% of budget10000 DEGREES: $540,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetNorthern California Grantmakers: $445,500 over 6y, 3.3% of budgetAMERICAN INSTITUTES FOR RESEARCH IN THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES: $410,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCOMPREHENSIVE YOUTH SERVICES OF FRESNO INC: $405,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetBoys and Girls Club of the Redwoods: $310,000 over 6y, 6.8% of budgetREACH UNIVERSITY: $305,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetPREVENT CHILD ABUSE CALIFORNIA: $300,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetMindful Life Project: $295,500 over 6y, 6.9% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF NORTH LAKE TAHOE: $295,000 over 4y, 4.1% of budgetBigfoot Trail Alliance: $267,000 over 4y, 89% of budgetVIVO YOUTH ORCHESTRAS: $260,000 over 4y, 33% of budgetGO Public Schools: $260,000 over 6y, 2.1% of budgetSAFE & SOUND: $260,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetCalifornians For Justice Education Fund: $245,500 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetTen Strands: $240,000 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetWest Contra Costa Public Education Fund: $230,300 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetICAFUND: $225,000 over 5y, 5.4% of budgetUnited Way of Fresno and Madera Counties: $225,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetEssie Justice Group: $220,000 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $215,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCommunity Financial Resources: $205,000 over 4y, 6.9% of budgetHUMBOLDT AREA FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetUNITED WAY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: $195,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE NORTH VALLEY: $195,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetABOLITIONIST TEACHING NETWORK: $190,000 over 3y, 27% of budgetFIERCE Advocates Families & Individuals Equitably Rooted in Collective Empowerme: $190,000 over 2y, 7.4% of budgetPOWER CALIFORNIA: $175,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $175,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetADVENTURE RISK CHALLENGE: $170,000 over 3y, 20% of budgetVEGGIELUTION: $153,500 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetNORTHERN CALIFORNIA INDIAN DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL INC: $150,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SAN FRANCISCO: $150,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPuertas Abiertas Community Resource Center: $140,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetEDSOURCE INC: $140,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetREADING PARTNERS: $135,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetYouth Leadership Institute: $130,500 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetUndauntedK12: $125,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetCONTRA COSTA FAMILY JUSTICE ALLIANCE: $125,000 over 3y, 1.1% 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.

  • Who funds ON THE MOVE ↗
  • Who funds BUTTE COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds MCKINLEYVILLE COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE ↗
  • Who funds SOMOS MAYFAIR INC ↗
  • Who funds East Bay Center for the Performing Arts ↗
  • Who funds RYSE INC ↗
  • Who funds SCHOOL OF ARTS AND CULTURE AT MHP ↗
  • Who funds LA LUZ CENTER ↗
  • Who funds UPVALLEY FAMILY CENTERS OF NAPA COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds AIM HIGH ↗
  • Who funds 10000 DEGREES ↗
  • Who funds Northern California Grantmakers ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN INSTITUTES FOR RESEARCH IN THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES ↗
  • Who funds COMPREHENSIVE YOUTH SERVICES OF FRESNO INC ↗
  • Who funds Boys and Girls Club of the Redwoods ↗
  • Who funds REACH UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds PREVENT CHILD ABUSE CALIFORNIA ↗
  • Who funds Mindful Life Project ↗
  • Who funds BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF NORTH LAKE TAHOE ↗
  • Who funds Bigfoot Trail Alliance ↗
  • Who funds VIVO YOUTH ORCHESTRAS ↗
  • Who funds GO Public Schools ↗
  • Who funds SAFE & SOUND ↗
  • Who funds Californians For Justice Education Fund ↗

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 California Endowm…The San Francisco Fou…The California Wellne…The James Irvine Foun…The David and Lucile …Kaiser Foundation Hos…Marin Community Found…East Bay Community Fo…Silicon Valley Commun…Tipping Point Communi…Sierra Health Foundat…The Sobrato Family Fo…
The California EndowmentCA55.7× affinity32 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The California Endowment · The San Francisco Foundation · The California Wellness Foundation · The James Irvine Foundation · The David and Lucile Packard Foundation · Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · Marin Community Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Tipping Point Community · Sierra Health Foundation Center for Health Program Management · The Sobrato Family 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 S H Cowell Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from S H Cowell Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    42report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 S H Cowell Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to S H Cowell 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 137 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on S H Cowell’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