· 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k25 grants · $25k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $21k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| 18TH STREET ARTS | $50,350 |
| SAN MATEO COUNTY OFFICE OF ARTS AND CULTURE | $10,500 |
| J PAUL GETTY TRUST | $10,000 |
| JAPANESE AMERICAN CULTURAL & COMMUNITY CENTER | $5,000 |
| THE MESA REFUGE | $3,500 |
| ARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTS | $3,500 |
| SFAI LEGACY FOUNDATION | $2,075 |
| Individual grant recipient | $1,531 |
| WARSAW BAUHAUS FOUNDATION - ARDEN 2 | $1,500 |
| JUNG INSTITUTE | $1,500 |
| CALPOLY POMONA | $1,500 |
| ASPEN INSTITUTE | $1,000 |
| WORLD ARTS FOUNDATION | $933 |
| BRAILLE INSTITUTE | $540 |
| PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY | $515 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY21–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 89% of its 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 0% since the first grant, against -6% for those funded once.
17 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 16 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, 63% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $35k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- 1S18TH STREET ARTS3× · 2023–2025 · $125k
- ADArt Division3× · 2021–2024 · $15k · revenue -17%
- CPCALPOLY POMONA4× · 2021–2025 · $11k
Funded once
- 1S18TH STREET ARTS COMPLEXone grant, 2021 · $59k · revenue -11%
- CSCA STATE UNIVERSITY LONG BEACHone grant, 2021 · $26k
- NANSU ART MUSEUMone grant, 2023 · $8k
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.
See schedule osfmoma believes the art of our time is vital and shares it with passion and purpose, and that art and the creative process can open minds and help build a better world. for that reason, we assemble unparalleled collections,…
Nurture empathy and connection by engaging communities with socially relevant contemporary art
To present the breadth of california art and design through exhibitions that explore the cultural dynamics and influence that are unique to california.
Engaging community at the intersection of art, history and education through innovative, locally connected and globally relevant exhibits, programs and experiences.
To serve the public through the collection, conservation, exhibition and interpretation of significant works of art from a broad range of cultures and historical periods, and through translation of these collections into meaningful…
Artpace san antonio is a nonprofit residency program which supports texas, national, and international artists in the creation of new art. see schedule o for continuation.
The museum of fine arts, houston serves as a welcoming and inclusive place for all people, connecting the communities of houston with diverse histories of art spanning 6,000 years and six continents. through our permanent collections,…
How this is measured
33 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. 33 of the 71 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 18TH STREET ARTS COMPLEX ↗
- Who funds Art Division ↗
- Who funds THE J PAUL GETTY TRUST ↗
- Who funds MESA REFUGE A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds JAPANESE AMERICAN CULTURAL AND COMMUNITY CENTER ↗
- Who funds THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION ↗
- Who funds ARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTS ↗
- Who funds INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART ↗
- Who funds TRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds HAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds SOUTHWEST FLORIDA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds THE PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds WORLD ARTS FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds APPRAISERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA INC ↗
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
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Sam Francis Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sam Francis Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Southwest Florida Community Foundation Inc: 69% of income from government
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.
Play a game based on Sam Francis’ filings →