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Stephen M Silberstein Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Stephen M Silberstein Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$8.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
47
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$4.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$13MCivil Rights$10MPublic Benefit$8.4MEnvironment$6.2MCommunity Improvement$5.9MArts & Culture$4.7MInternational$3.1MSocial Science$1.2MOther$0
02FY2024 · 47 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k11 grants · $220k
  • $50k–250k31 grants · $3.2M
  • $250k+5 grants · $5.2M
$75,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$74M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MCF DONOR ADVISED FUND$4,000,000
MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA$350,000
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION$300,000
NATIONAL VOTE AT HOME INSTITUTE$250,000
PROPUBLICA$250,000
SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION$200,000
DEMOCRACY NOW$200,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD FOUNDATION$200,000
NATIONAL REDISTRICTING FOUNDATION$200,000
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS$150,000
ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE$150,000
COMMON CAUSE$150,000
INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES$150,000
INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON PRESIDENTAL ELECTIONS$140,000
AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION$100,000
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 (FY17–23, $183k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 41% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%HUMAN NEEDS PROJECT: $100k → 8%COURAGE CAMPAIGN INSTITUTE: $75k → 14%HUMAN NEEDS PROJECT: $3k → 8%HUMAN NEEDS PROJECT: $3k → 8%HUMAN NEEDS PROJECT: $3k → 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

AK
ME
NY
PA
CA
MO
NM
DC
GA
FL
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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$52M · 70 repeat orgs$3.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +48% since the first grant, against +28% for those funded once.

70 repeat relationships: 41 still active in FY2024, 29 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

70
35

Total granted

$52M
$2.9M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+48%
+28%

Still filing today

81%
69%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $545k 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 & CultureEnvironmentCivil RightsPublic BenefitInternationalOther
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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION
    3× · 2018–2023 · $8.0M · revenue +99%
  • AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $6.5M · revenue +102%
  • MM
    MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA
    8× · 2017–2024 · $3.0M · revenue +90%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $1.0M
  • AB
    AMERICAN BRIDGE ASSOCIATION AND CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $250k
  • OM
    Oakland Museum of California
    one grant, 2019 · $250k
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
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
2
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
3
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
4
Institute for Public Accuracy

To teach and disseminate educational materials to the public.

Arts & Culture
5
CarbonPlan

Improving the transparency and scientific integrity of climate solutions through open data and tools.

Environment
6
California Chamber of Commerce

Represent members and cal employers to members of cal legislature and other agencies of state government through in-house legislative analysts, lobbying staff, and contract lobbyists. cal chamber publishes books and software related to…

—
7
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
8
America's Newspapers

Providing research, education and practical information all aimed at optimizing newspapers' business operations, deepening their community engagement and enhancing the quality of their journalism.

Employment
9
Kqed Inc

See schedule okqed serves the people of northern california with a community-supported alternative to commercial media, providing the knowledge needed to make informed decisions; convening community dialogue; bringing the arts to everyone;…

Arts & Culture
10
Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology Inc

Using legal advocacy to make advances in science and technology safer for people and the planet.

Science & Tech
11
The Campaign Legal Center Inc

The nonpartisan campaign legal center advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every american's rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic…

Crime & Legal
12
American Civil Liberties Union Fund of the District of Columbia

Preservation of civil liberties through litigation and public education.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is As You Sow; the most unlike its peers is Stagebridge. 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

85 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. 85 of the 112 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
29
Early backer (in before they grew)
85/85
Grantees still filing
61/85
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MCF DONOR ADVISED FUND: $5,500,000 · OtherMCF DONOR ADVISED FUNDAS YOU SOW: $1,762,000 · OtherAS YOU SOWIndividual grant recipient: $1,000,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientPLANNED PARENTHOOD FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOOD FOUNDATIONECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: $1,200,000 · OtherECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTEWASHINGTON MONTHLY INSTITUTE: $595,000 · Other+41 more: $5,755,700 · Other+41 moreUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $8,000,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA …MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: $2,950,000 · EducationMEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA+14 more: $1,727,000 · Education+14 moreAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $6,550,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTI…CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: $2,150,000 · Civil RightsCENTER FOR AMERICAN PR…National Vote At Home Institute: $1,175,000 · Civil RightsNational Vote At Home …NATIONAL REDISTRICTING FOUNDATION: $750,000 · Civil RightsNATIONAL REDISTRICTING…+6 more: $575,000 · Civil RightsPRO PUBLICA INC: $1,800,000 · Arts & CulturePRO PUBLIC…DEMOCRACY NOW PRODUCTIONS INC: $1,600,000 · Arts & CultureDEMOCRACY …Foundation for the Future of Literature and Literacy dba Bay Area Book Festival: $875,000 · Arts & CultureFoundation…INEQUALITY MEDIA: $525,000 · Arts & CultureINEQUALITY…+10 more: $550,000 · Arts & Culture+10 moreSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $1,400,000 · EnvironmentSave The Bay: $475,000 · EnvironmentGREENBELT ALLIANCEPEOPLE FOR OPEN SPACE: $450,000 · EnvironmentOUTDOOR AFRO: $431,800 · EnvironmentGREEN SCIENCE POLICY INSTITUTE: $425,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $400,000 · EnvironmentECOAMERICA: $150,000 · EnvironmentBaykeeper: $145,000 · Environment+4 more: $229,200 · EnvironmentCenter for Political Accountability: $750,000 · Public BenefitCenter on Budget and Policy Priorities: $600,000 · Public BenefitPUBLIC CITIZEN FOUNDATION INC: $599,980 · Public BenefitINSTITUTE ON TAXATION AND ECONOMIC POLICY: $375,000 · Public BenefitCENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW: $350,000 · Public BenefitProgressive Change Institute: $250,000 · Public BenefitCONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS CENTER: $250,000 · Public Benefit+1 more: $25,000 · Public BenefitHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $1,830,000 · InternationalINSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES: $400,000 · InternationalTHE ASIA SOCIETY: $175,000 · InternationalPLOUGHSHARES FUND INC: $145,000 · International+1 more: $50,000 · International
Other$16,812,700Education$12,677,000Civil Rights$11,200,000Arts & Culture$5,350,000Environment$4,106,000Public Benefit$3,199,980International$2,600,000

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 CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $8,000,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $6,550,000 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetMEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: $2,950,000 over 8y, 2.8% of budgetCENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: $2,150,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $1,830,000 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetPRO PUBLICA INC: $1,800,000 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetAS YOU SOW: $1,762,000 over 6y, 9.0% of budgetDEMOCRACY NOW PRODUCTIONS INC: $1,600,000 over 8y, 2.3% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $1,400,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: $1,200,000 over 8y, 3.1% of budgetNational Vote At Home Institute: $1,175,000 over 5y, 100% of budgetFoundation for the Future of Literature and Literacy dba Bay Area Book Festival: $875,000 over 6y, 17% of budgetCenter for Political Accountability: $750,000 over 8y, 13% of budgetNATIONAL REDISTRICTING FOUNDATION: $750,000 over 5y, 3.0% of budgetCenter on Budget and Policy Priorities: $600,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetPUBLIC CITIZEN FOUNDATION INC: $599,980 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetWASHINGTON MONTHLY INSTITUTE: $595,000 over 5y, 16% of budgetINEQUALITY MEDIA: $525,000 over 6y, 8.3% of budgetSave The Bay: $475,000 over 8y, 2.6% of budgetGREENBELT ALLIANCEPEOPLE FOR OPEN SPACE: $450,000 over 8y, 3.5% of budgetOUTDOOR AFRO: $431,800 over 8y, 7.3% of budgetGREEN SCIENCE POLICY INSTITUTE: $425,000 over 8y, 5.0% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES: $400,000 over 4y, 3.4% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $400,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetINSTITUTE ON TAXATION AND ECONOMIC POLICY: $375,000 over 5y, 6.5% of budgetCENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW: $350,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetGOOD JOBS FIRST: $350,000 over 7y, 9.4% of budgetTHE ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE: $300,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetMILITARY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOUNDATION INC: $278,000 over 8y, 7.8% of budgetBerkeley Public Library Foundation: $259,200 over 5y, 20% of budgetProgressive Change Institute: $250,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetCONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS CENTER: $250,000 over 3y, 4.7% of budgetCORNERSTONES OF SCIENCE: $250,000 over 2y, 38% of budgetCOMMON CAUSE: $250,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetMARIN COUNTY BICYCLE COALITION: $225,000 over 8y, 3.6% of budgetCalMatters: $210,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetTHE ASIA SOCIETY: $175,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetECOAMERICA: $150,000 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE INC: $150,000 over 5y, 9.2% of budgetPLOUGHSHARES FUND INC: $145,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetBaykeeper: $145,000 over 6y, 2.2% of budgetJ STREET EDUCATION FUND INC: $120,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetRainforest Action Network: $119,200 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetCALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER: $115,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetSEACOLOGY: $115,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetHuman Needs Project Inc: $107,500 over 4y, 12% of budgetALAMEDA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% 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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS ↗
  • Who funds HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC ↗
  • Who funds PRO PUBLICA INC ↗
  • Who funds AS YOU SOW ↗
  • Who funds DEMOCRACY NOW PRODUCTIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds National Vote At Home Institute ↗
  • Who funds Foundation for the Future of Literature and Literacy dba Bay Area Book Festival ↗
  • Who funds Center for Political Accountability ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL REDISTRICTING FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ↗
  • Who funds PUBLIC CITIZEN FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON MONTHLY INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds INEQUALITY MEDIA ↗
  • Who funds Save The Bay ↗
  • Who funds GREENBELT ALLIANCEPEOPLE FOR OPEN SPACE ↗
  • Who funds OUTDOOR AFRO ↗
  • Who funds GREEN SCIENCE POLICY INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES ↗
  • Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds INSTITUTE ON TAXATION AND ECONOMIC POLICY ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR STUDY OF RESPONSIVE LAW ↗
  • Who funds GOOD JOBS FIRST ↗
  • Who funds THE ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds MILITARY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Berkeley Public Library Foundation ↗

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 San Francisco Fou…Marin Community Found…Hopewell FundTides FoundationAmalgamated Charitabl…The Leonard & Sophie …ImpactassetsincJewish Community Fede…The Ford FoundationSilicon Valley Commun…Lisa & Douglas Goldma…Leonard & Beryl Buck …
The San Francisco FoundationCA37.5× affinity22 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Hopewell Fund · Tides Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · The Leonard & Sophie Davis Fund · Impactassetsinc · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · The Ford Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Lisa & Douglas Goldman Fund · Leonard & Beryl Buck 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 Stephen M Silberstein Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Stephen M Silberstein Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%5%19%42%75%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
    12report 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.

    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 112 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 Stephen M Silberstein’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