California · Private foundation
Sam Francis 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.
- $96k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 28
- Grants FY2025
- 25
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 64%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $540
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $50,350
- Organizations funded a year
- 12 to 25
- FY2021 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 4
- Total assets, FY2025
- $419k
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 64% of the organizations Sam Francis Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 28% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 72% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $24k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 28 | $96k | 57% |
| FY2024 | 25 | $84k | 64% |
| FY2023 | 20 | $57k | 55% |
| FY2022 | 17 | $12k | 76% |
| FY2021 | 12 | $104k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2021 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18th Street Arts Complex | $59,000 | 1 | 4% |
| Art Division | $15,000 | 3 | 1% |
| The J Paul Getty Trust | $10,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Mesa Refuge a Nonprofit Corporation | $8,500 | 2 | 1% |
| Japanese American Cultural and Community Center | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| The Phillips Collection | $3,500 | 1 | 0% |
| Armory Center for the Arts | $3,500 | 1 | 0% |
| International Documentary Foundation Inc | $3,500 | 1 | 0% |
| San Luis Obispo Museum of Art | $3,155 | 2 | 0% |
| Trustees of Phillips Academy | $3,000 | 1 | 0% |
Show all 31 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 37 recipients with no EIN on record ($226k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Sam Francis Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: Perenchio Foundation · The J Paul Getty Trust · California Community Foundation · California Humanities · The Ralph M Parsons Foundation · The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts · The Wilhelm Family Foundation Co Cascade Wilhelm · Terra Foundation for American Art · The Annenberg Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Endowment Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Sam Francis Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Sam Francis 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.
About Sam Francis Foundation
- How much does Sam Francis Foundation give?
- Sam Francis Foundation reported 28 grants totaling $95,876 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 12 and 25 organizations a year over FY2021 to FY2024.
- What does Sam Francis Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2021 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (77%), Education (9%), Social Science (4%).
- Who are Sam Francis Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2021 to FY2025: 18th Street Arts Complex ($59k), Art Division ($15k), The J Paul Getty Trust ($10k).
- Does Sam Francis Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 64% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Sam Francis 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 Sam Francis Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Perenchio Foundation, The J Paul Getty Trust, California Community Foundation.
- Where is Sam Francis Foundation based?
- Sam Francis Foundation is based in CA.
Play a game based on Sam Francis’ filings →