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Susan & Bruce Worster Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Susan & Bruce Worster 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.

$304k
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$106k
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, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$1.2MArts & Culture$430kPhilanthropy$2k
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k6 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $35k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $257k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$4.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CA$106,000
HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE$88,300
SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART$62,500
UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION$25,000
SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY$10,000
SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY$5,000
J PAUL GETTY TRUST$2,500
ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY OF SANTA BARBARA INC$2,000
SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION$1,000
WELLESLEY COLLEGE$1,000
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE$1,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 68% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%WELLESLEY COLLEGE: $1k → 7%REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CA: $106k → 10%J PAUL GETTY TRUST: $3k → 14%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $15k → 14%WELLESLEY COLLEGE: $1k → 7%REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CA: $105k → 10%J PAUL GETTY TRUST: $3k → 14%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $15k → 14%WELLESLEY COLLEGE: $1k → 7%REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CA: $105k → 10%J PAUL GETTY TRUST: $3k → 14%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $10k → 14%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIV OF CA: $100k → 10%OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: $1k → 14%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $10k → 14%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIV OF CA: $100k → 10%OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: $1k → 14%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $10k → 14%OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: $1k → 14%UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE: $127k → 14%UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE: $124k → 14%UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE: $108k → 14%UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE: $88k → 14%UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE: $80k → 14%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART: $70k → 14%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART: $69k → 14%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART: $69k → 14%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART: $69k → 14%SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART: $63k → 14%SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY: $10k → 14%SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY: $5k → 14%SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY: $5k → 14%SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%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 grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.6M · 10 repeat orgs$0 to everyone else

10 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
0

Total granted

$1.6M
$0

Still filing today

80%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CulturePhilanthropyOther
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

  • HM
    Harvey Mudd College
    5× · 2020–2024 · $527k · revenue +41%
  • UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $125k · revenue +157%
  • SB
    SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
    5× · 2020–2024 · $60k · revenue +52%

Funded once

    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
    Pitzer College

    Pitzer College produces engaged socially responsible citizens of the world through an academically rigorous, interdisciplinary liberal arts education emphasizing social justice, intercultural understanding and environmental sensitivity.…

    Education
    2
    Scripps College

    To educate women to develop their intellect and talents through active participation in a community of scholars, so that as graduates they may contribute to society through public and private lives of leadership, service, integrity and…

    Education
    3
    President and Trustees of Bates College

    Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

    Education
    4
    Boston Architectural College

    The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

    —
    5
    Santa Barbara Museum of Art

    To integrate art into the lives of people, fostering imagination, stimulating thought, and creating personally rewarding experiences.

    Arts & Culture
    6
    President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

    Education
    7
    President-Board of Trustees Santa Clara College

    Scu is a catholic and jesuit institution that makes student learning its central focus, promotes faculty and staff learning in its various forms, and exhibits organizational learning.

    Education
    8
    The Foundation for Santa Barbara City College

    The sbcc foundation fuels the excellence of santa barbara city college by engaging the community, building relationships, and inviting the generosity of donors. the resources raised and managed by the foundation enrich college programs,…

    Education
    9
    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
    10
    Saint Mary's College of California

    Saint mary's college of california invites you to passionately embrace knowledge, the challenges of scholarship, and the capacity to make lasting change in the world. the foundation for this is our mission. to probe deeply the mystery of…

    Education
    11
    Opera Santa Barbara

    See schedule 0founded in 1994, opera santa barbara is the signature provider of professional opera on the california central coast. we aspire to be a cultural leader in the santa barbara region, voicing and advancing our community's spirit…

    Arts & Culture
    12
    Ucla Foundation

    The ucla foundation is the giving, receiving, and investing arm of the ucla campus. the foundation enables private donors to help build, sustain and advance one of the world's finest academic and research institutions. private philanthropy…

    Education
    How this is measured
    The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Uc Santa Barbara Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The J Paul Getty Trust. 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

    9 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. 9 of the 11 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)
    9/9
    Grantees still filing
    8/9
    Grew since first funded

    Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

    REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CA: $516,000 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CASANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART: $339,500 · OtherSANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ARTHarvey Mudd College: $527,216 · EducationHarvey Mudd CollegeUC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $125,000 · EducationUC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION+2 more: $6,000 · EducationSANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $60,000 · Arts & CultureSANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $20,000 · Arts & CultureENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY OF SANTA BARBARA INC: $3,000 · Arts & CultureTHE J PAUL GETTY TRUST: $7,500 · PhilanthropySANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $2,000 · Philanthropy
    Other$855,500Education$658,216Arts & Culture$83,000Philanthropy$9,500

    Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

    25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetHarvey Mudd College: $527,216 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetUC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $60,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetSANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $20,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE J PAUL GETTY TRUST: $7,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY OF SANTA BARBARA INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWellesley College: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $2,000 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.

    American Endowment Fo…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
    American Endowment FoundationOH11.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

    Open a dossier: American Endowment Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

    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 Susan & Bruce Worster Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Susan & Bruce Worster 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 →median 1%
    • Wellesley College: 1% of income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report 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.

    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 11 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 Susan & Bruce Worster’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