Skip to content
Scholes Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Scholes Family 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.

$177k
Granted FY2021
20
Grants FY2021
8
States reached
$150k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

100% of Scholes Family Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Schwab Charitable Fund, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2021, the last year Scholes Family Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 16 organizations, $177k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

17
’17
12
’18
10
’19
17
’20
16
’21
18
’22
18
’23
1
’24
0
’25

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

01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$304kPhilanthropy$144kScience & Tech$35kFood & Nutrition$12kArts & Culture$6kReligion$6kEnvironment$6kHealth$5kOther$0
02FY2021 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k18 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $13k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $150k
$500
Median grant
8
States reached
$1.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
University of Chicago$150,000
Stanford University$12,500
Sequoia High School Education Foundation$3,750
New York University$2,500
EdChoice$1,000
Whitman College$1,000
Second Harvest Food Bank$1,000
San Carlos Educational Foundation$1,000
Washington University$500
Central Arroyo PTA$500
Parks and Recreation Foundation of San Carlos$500
Peninsula Temple Beth El$500
CATO Institute$500
San Carlos Children's Theater$500
Red Cross$500
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 (FY18–23, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 55% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%Star Vista: $750 → 7%Red Cross: $500 → 14%Star Vista: $500 → 7%RED CROSS: $500 → 14%RED CROSS: $500 → 14%STAR VISTA: $500 → 7%RED CROSS: $500 → 14%Red Cross: $500 → 14%Star Vista: $300 → 7%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
IL
NY
MA
IN
CA
UT
NE
MO
VA
DC
OK
TX
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.

45%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$140k · 29 repeat orgs$171k to everyone else

29 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2021, 11 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call). Read against FY2021, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

29
12

Total granted

$140k
$7k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+64%

Still filing today

79%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $500 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHealthFood & NutritionPhilanthropyHuman ServicesOther
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

  • SL
    SIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE
    4× · 2017–2020 · $30k · revenue +22%
  • SH
    Sequoia High School Education Foundation
    7× · 2017–2023 · $25k · revenue +53%
  • BO
    BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF WHITMAN COLLEGE
    7× · 2017–2023 · $9k · revenue +87%

Funded once

  • HR
    HIV Resource Consortium Inc dba Tulsa CARESgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $3k · revenue +147%
  • RI
    RESURGE INTERNATIONALgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $500 · revenue +64%
  • JF
    JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $500 · revenue +32%
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
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
2
Southern California University of Health Sciences

The mission of southern california university of health sciences (scu) is to educate students as competent, caring and successful practitioners of integrative healthcare. the university is committed to providing excellence in academics,…

Education
3
Sutter Bay Hospitals

MISSION STATEMENT: MISSION: CARING FOR OUR PATIENTS FIRST AND OUR PEOPLE ALWAYS. VISION: TO BE THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED AND CONNECTED HEALTH SYSTEM FOR GETTING AND STAYING WELL. VALUES: EXCELLENCE - We deliver high-quality,…

Health
4
Scripps Health

Founded in 1924 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, Scripps Health is a $4.9 billion, private not-for-profit integrated health system in San Diego, Ca. (see Sch O)

Health
5
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
6
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
7
University of California San Francisco Foundation

Organization's mission ====================== the university of california, san francisco(ucsf) is among the world's leading universities dedicated to advancing health worldwide through biomedical research, graduate-level education in the…

Education
8
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
9
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
10
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania

The trustees of the university of pennsylvania (the "university") sees itself as having a public service mission. in such regard, the university aims to provide a rich and diverse educational environment for its students; to pioneer…

Education
11
Silicon Valley Education Foundation

Who we are - silicon valley education foundation (svef) focuses on raising student performance in the critical areas of math and science across all 33 santa clara county school districts, and also adjoining san mateo and alameda counties.…

Community Improvement
12
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is March of Dimes Inc; the most unlike its peers is San Carlos Parks & Recreation 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

42 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. 42 of the 56 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
42/42
Grantees still filing
37/42
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

University of Chicago: $150,000 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $79,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVER…Sequoia High School Education Foundation: $24,750 · EducationSequoia High School Education Foundation+5 more: $21,500 · Education+5 moreDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $140,000 · PhilanthropyDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING…SAN CARLOS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $6,000 · Philanthropy+3 more: $3,500 · PhilanthropyStanford Parents Fund: $17,500 · OtherStanford Par…MSRI: $5,000 · OtherMSRIPENINSULA TEMPLE BETH EL: $5,000 · OtherPENINSULA TE…Second Harvest Food Bank: $4,500 · OtherSecond Harve…Gallatin Parents Fund NY University: $2,000 · OtherSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $2,000 · OtherCENTRAL ARROYO PTA: $2,000 · OtherAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $2,500 · OtherStarVista: $2,050 · OtherSECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY: $3,000 · OtherCATO INSTITUTE: $2,000 · Other+20 more: $12,326 · Other+20 moreSIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE: $30,120 · Science & TechSAN CARLOS CHILDRENS THEATER: $3,750 · Arts & CultureThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $1,000 · Arts & CultureMuseum of Modern Art: $600 · Arts & CultureSIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC: $500 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $150 · Arts & CulturePENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST: $5,500 · EnvironmentHIV Resource Consortium Inc dba Tulsa CARES: $3,000 · HealthSUTTER BAY MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $900 · HealthCHILDREN'S HEALTH COUNCIL INC: $800 · HealthPeople's Health Clicnic: $400 · Health+1 more: $100 · Health
Education$275,250Philanthropy$149,500Other$59,876Science & Tech$30,120Arts & Culture$6,000Environment$5,500Health$5,200

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 budgetUniversity of Chicago: $150,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $140,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $79,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSIMONS LAUFER MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE: $30,120 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetSequoia High School Education Foundation: $24,750 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetBOARD OF TRUSTEES OF WHITMAN COLLEGE: $9,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSAN CARLOS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST: $5,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAN CARLOS CHILDRENS THEATER: $3,750 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $3,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHIV Resource Consortium Inc dba Tulsa CARES: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEdChoice Inc: $3,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $2,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetStarVista: $2,050 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE: $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSan Carlos Parks & Recreation Foundation: $1,650 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCES: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCommunity Foundation of San Carlos: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAMARITAN HOUSE: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetECUMENICAL HUNGER PROGRAM: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSUTTER BAY MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $900 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S HEALTH COUNCIL INC: $800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSamaritan House Inc: $700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBABY2BABY: $600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRESURGE INTERNATIONAL: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKHAN ACADEMY INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPeople's Health Clicnic: $400 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRAINFOREST ALLIANCE INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKQED INC: $150 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMARCH OF DIMES INC: $100 over 2y, 0.0% 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.

Silicon Valley Commun…The David and Lucile …The William & Flora H…Jewish Community Fede…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…American Online Givin…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Vanguard Charitable E…Charities Aid Foundat…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA18× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The David and Lucile Packard Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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 Scholes Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Scholes Family 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%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 3% of income from government
  • Jewish Family & Children's Service Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
11report 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 Scholes Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Scholes Family 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 56 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Scholes Family’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