California · Private foundation
Swenson 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.
- $6.1M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 33
- Grants FY2025
- 26
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 19%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $50,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $1,600,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 13 to 26
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 9
- Total assets, FY2025
- $94M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 19% of the organizations Swenson Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 3% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $188k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 24 | $6.1M | 33% |
| FY2024 | 26 | $6.0M | 19% |
| FY2023 | 20 | $9.4M | 10% |
| FY2022 | 23 | $8.4M | 39% |
| FY2021 | 15 | $4.5M | 33% |
| FY2020 | 22 | $6.0M | 45% |
| FY2019 | 14 | $6.2M | 43% |
| FY2018 | 13 | $2.6M | 15% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Wisconsin-Superior Alumni and Friends Foundation Inc | $8,828,007 | 7 | 65% |
| California Lutheran University | $7,081,170 | 9 | 1% |
| Gloria Dei Lutheran Church | $5,291,100 | 8 | n/a |
| Big Sky Bible Church | $3,500,000 | 3 | n/a |
| Choc Foundation | $3,246,667 | 6 | 2% |
| Chapman University | $3,083,334 | 6 | 0% |
| Friends of Holy Innocents | $2,500,000 | 4 | 100% |
| Ocean Institute | $2,184,833 | 8 | 12% |
| Olive Crest | $850,000 | 5 | 0% |
| University of Wisconsin Foundation | $668,213 | 2 | 0% |
Show all 34 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 25 recipients with no EIN on record ($13M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Swenson Family Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 3 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 25 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: Orange County Community Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Swenson Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Swenson 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.
About Swenson Family Foundation
- How much does Swenson Family Foundation give?
- Swenson Family Foundation reported 33 grants totaling $6,148,203 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 13 and 26 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Swenson Family Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (45%), Religion (30%), Recreation & Sports (10%).
- Who are Swenson Family Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: University of Wisconsin-Superior Alumni and Friends Foundation Inc ($8.8M), California Lutheran University ($7.1M), Gloria Dei Lutheran Church ($5.3M).
- Does Swenson Family Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 19% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Swenson Family Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Swenson Family Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Orange County Community Foundation, AbbVie Foundation, The Blackbaud Giving Fund.
- Where is Swenson Family Foundation based?
- Swenson Family Foundation is based in CA.
Play a game based on Swenson Family’s filings →