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The Betterworld Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

The Betterworld Trust

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.

$129k
Granted FY2024still arriving
7
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Health$751kInternational$187kEducation$130kPhilanthropy$108kArts & Culture$68kFood & Nutrition$68kYouth Development$54kHuman Services$50kOther$0
02FY2024 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $3k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $76k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$15,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$36k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BOOKS FOR AFRICA$50,000
FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY$25,000
FALLBROOK FOOD PANTRY$15,550
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF NORTH COUNTY$15,000
FALLBROOK SENIOR CENTER$10,000
FALLBROOK ART CENTER$10,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
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 (FY18–24, $29k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 83% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CORAZON DE VIDA: $5k → 10%FALLBROOK SENIOR CENTER: $10k → 11%FALLBROOK SENIOR CENTER: $5k → 11%FALLBROOK SENIOR CENTER: $5k → 11%FALLBROOK SENIOR CENTER: $3k → 11%FALLBROOK CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $1k → 11%FALLBROOK CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $300 → 11%D'VINE PATH: $75 → 11%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 15% of The Betterworld Trust’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 39% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 36%.

The Betterworld Trustlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 40% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.4M · 25 repeat orgs$78k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +78% since the first grant, against +36% for those funded once.

25 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 18 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
22

Total granted

$1.4M
$78k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+78%
+36%

Still filing today

56%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
PhilanthropyInternationalHuman ServicesEducationArts & CultureHealthOther
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

  • LM
    LAST MILE HEALTH
    6× · 2017–2023 · $750k · revenue +85%
  • FP
    FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC
    3× · 2019–2024 · $100k · revenue +15%
  • FF
    FALLBROOK FOOD PANTRY
    7× · 2018–2024 · $63k · revenue ×11

Funded once

  • SD
    SAN DIEGO CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUMgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +36%
  • BF
    BOOKS FOR AFRICA
    one grant, 2018 · $10k
  • EE
    EDUCATIONAL ENRICHMENT SYSTEMS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +222%
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
Feeding San Diego

On a mission to connect every person facing hunger with nutritious meals by maximizing food rescue. through direct service and community partnerships, feeding san diego provides more than 26 million meals each year to children, families,…

Food & Nutrition
2
The San Diego Foundation

The san diego foundation inspires enduring philanthropy and enables community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region.

Philanthropy
3
Foodbank of Santa Barbara County Inc

To end hunger and transform the health of our community by providing nourishment to those in need by acquiring and distributing safe nutritious food via local agencies and by providing education to solve hunger and nutritional problems in…

Food & Nutrition
4
Balboa Park Conservancy

Balboa Park Conservancy (the Conservancy) was organized on November 3, 1923. The Conservancy is the City of San Diegos (the City) partner and advocated for the greater good of Balboa Park (the Park). The Conservancy collaborated with and…

—
5
Fallbrook Sports Association

The mission of this corporation is to operate, maintain, and improve recreational and sports facilities and fields owned by California public agencies and non-profit organizations and to support and develop amateur atheletic organizations…

Recreation & Sports
6
San Diego Food System Alliance

produce, distribute, prepare, serve, and eat nutritional and culturally appropriate food.

Food & Nutrition
7
Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank

The jacobs & cushman san diego food bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in san diego county. its mission is to provide nutritious food to people in need, advocate for the hungry, and educate the public about hunger-related…

Food & Nutrition
8
Food Forward Inc

Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.

Food & Nutrition
9
San Diego Jewish Academy

San Diego Jewish Academy empowers each student to learn for life, guided by Jewish values and rooted in strength of community.

Education
10
San Diego French-American School

San diego french-american school offers an exceptional bilingual education within a vibrant international community, preparing students to become confident, responsible and engaged global citizens.

—
11
Forever Balboa Park

To sustain, envision, and enhance Balboa Park for all in partnership with the City of San Diego and in collaboration with other organizations in the Park and the community. Our vision for the Park is to maintain and enhance its stature as…

Religion
12
Jewish Federation of San Diego County

Jewish federation of san diego county is dedicated to building a vibrant, caring, connected, and enduring jewish community.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fallbrook Food Pantry; the most unlike its peers is DVine Path Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

27 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 27 of the 47 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)
26/27
Grantees still filing
22/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LAST MILE HEALTH: $750,000 · HealthLAST MILE HEALTHBOOKS FOR AFRICA INC: $155,600 · InternationalBOOKS FOR AFRICA…Edify: $35,000 · InternationalEdifyFLORESTA USA INCORPORATED: $21,000 · InternationalFLORESTA USA INC…+1 more: $5,000 · InternationalFALLBROOK SCHOOL OF THE ARTS: $59,000 · OtherFALLBROOK SCHOOL OF …FALLBROOK ART CENTER: $38,600 · OtherFALLBROOK ART CENTERFOUNDATION FOR SENIOR CARE: $20,000 · OtherFOUNDATION FOR SENIO…BOOKS FOR AFRICA: $10,000 · OtherEDUCATIONAL ENRICHMENT SYSTEMS INC: $10,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $10,000 · OtherSEVA: $10,000 · OtherWords Alive: $17,500 · OtherWords AliveSAN DIEGO CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $10,000 · OtherFallbrook Senior Citizens Service Club: $22,500 · OtherFallbrook Senior Cit…VOICES FOR CHILDREN: $20,000 · OtherVOICES FOR CHILDREN+22 more: $46,330 · Other+22 moreFOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC: $100,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $5,000 · Philanthropy+2 more: $3,500 · PhilanthropyFALLBROOK FOOD PANTRY: $62,800 · ReligionBoys & Girls Club of North County: $45,300 · Youth DevelopmentUC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION: $29,037 · EducationBAJA EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: $10,000 · Education+1 more: $500 · Education
Health$750,000International$216,600Other$273,930Philanthropy$108,500Religion$62,800Youth Development$45,300Education$39,537

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 budgetLAST MILE HEALTH: $750,000 over 6y, 2.1% of budgetBOOKS FOR AFRICA INC: $155,600 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetFOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC: $100,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFALLBROOK FOOD PANTRY: $62,800 over 7y, 1.7% of budgetBoys & Girls Club of North County: $45,300 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetEdify: $35,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetUC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION: $29,037 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFallbrook Senior Citizens Service Club: $22,500 over 4y, 2.0% of budgetFLORESTA USA INCORPORATED: $21,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetVOICES FOR CHILDREN: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetWords Alive: $17,500 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetSAN DIEGO CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBAJA EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: $10,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetEDUCATIONAL ENRICHMENT SYSTEMS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOASTAL ROOTS FARM: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCORAZON DE VIDA FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCatalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFALLBROOK MUSIC SOCIETY: $2,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetFallbrook Child Development Center Inc: $1,600 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFALLBROOK VILLAGE ASSOCIATION: $1,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetBurn Institute: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF FALLBROOK LIBRARY: $500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetDVine Path Inc: $75 over 1y, 0.1% 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 San Diego Foundat…The Nordson Corporati…Walter J & Betty C Za…Sempra FoundationFrench Fund Samuel Ka…David C Copley Founda…Price Philanthropies …Rancho Santa Fe Found…Jewish Community Foun…Angel Society of Fall…Legacy Endowment the …Ellen G and Edward G …
The San Diego FoundationCA24.1× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Diego Foundation · The Nordson Corporation Foundation · Walter J & Betty C Zable Foundation · Sempra Foundation · French Fund Samuel Katherine Tua · David C Copley Foundation · Price Philanthropies Foundation · Rancho Santa Fe Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · Angel Society of Fallbrook · Legacy Endowment the Community Foundation · Ellen G and Edward G Wong Family 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 The Betterworld Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Betterworld Trust. 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
    12report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Betterworld Trust?

    Find your warmest path to The Betterworld Trust 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 47 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 Betterworld’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