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Saratoga-Monte Sereno Community Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Community foundation

Saratoga-Monte Sereno Community Foundation

To improve the life quality in Saratoga Monte Sereno area

$243k
Granted FY2017
10
Grants FY2017
2
States reached
$118k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

94% of Saratoga-Monte Sereno Community Foundation’s FY2018 grant dollars went to Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2018 names 6 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2017, the last year Saratoga-Monte Sereno Community Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 9 organizations, $223k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

9
’17
6
’18

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2018.

Philanthropy$1.4MEducation$120kArts & Culture$84kEnvironment$21kOther$0
02FY2017 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 10 grants below total $222,500, the rows itemized in this filing. The $242,966 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $20,466 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2017

  • Under $10k5 grants · $34k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $71k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $118k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$138k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UC REGENTS$117,500
SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION$21,000
SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART$20,000
MONTALVO ARTS CENTER$20,000
CREATIVE CAPITAL FOUNDATION$10,000
THE WOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF CALIFORNIA$9,000
DI ROSA PRESERVE$7,500
SOCIAL GOOD FUND$7,500
SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART$5,000
FOR-SITE FOUNDATION$5,000
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 (FY17–17, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%CREATIVE CAPITAL FOUNDATION: $10k → 17%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 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
Art Foundation
Arts & Culture
2
San Francisco Art Studio Foundation
—
3
Site Santa Fe

Guided by artists, rooted in new mexico, site santa fe celebrates contemporary creative expression.

Arts & Culture
4
San Francisco Camerawork Inc

SF Camerawork provokes discovery, experimentation, and exchange through exhibitions and experiences for all who value new ideas in photography.

Arts & Culture
5
Sausalito Art Festival Foundation

The mission of the sausalito art festival foundation is to encourage, promote and support the arts for the community.

—
6
Asian Art Museum Foundation of San Francisco

The asian art museum celebrates, preserves, and promotes asian and asian american art and cultures for local and global audiences. we provide a dynamic forum for exchanging ideas, inviting collaboration, and fueling imagination to deepen…

Arts & Culture
7
Fisher Art Foundation
Philanthropy
8
California Institute of Contemporary Art
—
9
Santa Paula Art Museum

The organization's mission is to preserve and share santa paula's artistic heritage, including the famous santa paula collection; and to educate and engage the community through collection, exhibition, interpretation, programming, and…

Arts & Culture
10
San Francisco Performances Inc

SFP presents internationally acclaimed and emerging performing artists, introduces innovative programs, and builds new and diversified audiences for the arts through education and outreach activities.

Arts & Culture
11
California College of the Arts

California college of the arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. benefitting from its san francisco bay area location, the college prepares…

Education
12
San Francisco Film Society

SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM connects and inspires audiences, students and teachers, and filmmakers through our film…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is For-Site Foundation; the most unlike its peers is San Jose Museum of Art Association. 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

14 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. 14 of the 16 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
11/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $1,400,235 · PhilanthropyDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INCREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $127,500 · OtherREGENTS OF T…Individual grant recipient: $54,572 · OtherIndividual g…WOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF CALIFORNIA: $9,000 · Other+2 more: $3,500 · OtherSAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART ASSOCIATION: $30,000 · Arts & CultureMONTALVO ASSOCIATION: $20,000 · Arts & Culturedi Rosa Preserve: $7,500 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $5,000 · Arts & CultureFOR-SITE Foundation: $5,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $2,500 · Arts & CultureSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $21,000 · EnvironmentCREATIVE CAPITAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Human ServicesSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $7,500 · EducationSARATOGA HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $2,000 · Education
Philanthropy$1,400,235Other$194,572Arts & Culture$70,000Environment$21,000Human Services$10,000Education$9,500

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 budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $1,400,235 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART ASSOCIATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $21,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMONTALVO ASSOCIATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCREATIVE CAPITAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF CALIFORNIA: $9,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetdi Rosa Preserve: $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOR-SITE Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSaratoga Historical Foundation: $2,500 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSARATOGA HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.7% 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.

The Andy Warhol Found…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts IncNY13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation 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 Saratoga-Monte Sereno Community Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Saratoga-Monte Sereno Community Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%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
    5report 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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Saratoga-Monte Sereno Community Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Saratoga-Monte Sereno Community 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 16 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2017, released 2017. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2020) is on record and reports $7k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2017, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Saratoga-Monte Sereno’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