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The Bruce and Carolyn Costin Martin Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Bruce and Carolyn Costin Martin Charitable 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.

$213k
Granted FY2024still arriving
15
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$39k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Animals$234kHealth$125kEnvironment$110kEducation$64kCrime & Legal$17kHuman Services$10kArts & Culture$10kPublic Benefit$10kOther$0
02FY2024 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k5 grants · $19k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $194k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WILDAID$39,250
SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA$35,000
CHICO UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$26,000
LEADING HARVEST$25,000
PROJECT HEAL$15,000
MARCH FOR OUR LIVES FOUNDATION$12,000
Individual grant recipient$12,000
WOMEN MAKE MOVIES$10,000
OAKLAND LITERACY COALITION$10,000
CIVIC NATION$10,000
CA HOSPITAL MEDICAL FDN (HOPE STREET)$7,500
FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS$5,000
CENTER FOR FARMWORKER FAMILIES$2,500
HIJAS DEL CAMPO$2,500
NATIONAL CENTER FOR FAMILY PHILANTHROPY$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%. 46% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%HIJAS DEL CAMPO: $3k → 9%SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA: $40k → 10%ROSE FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT: $5k → 10%WILDAID: $39k → 10%CENTER FOR FARMWORKER FAMILIES: $3k → 13%CARBON UNDERGROUND: $25k → 14%CHICO UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $26k → 18%WOMEN MAKE MOVIES: $10k → 17%PROJECT HEAL: $35k → 20%DALLAS ZOO: $1k → 14%CIVIC NATION: $10k → 14%LEADING HARVEST: $25k → 9%ANAD: $5k → 14%LEADING HARVEST: $10k → 7%SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA: $35k → 10%OAKLAND LITERACY COALITION: $10k → 10%WILDAID: $25k → 10%FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS: $5k → 14%CHICO UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $23k → 18%PROJECT HEAL: $25k → 20%NATIONAL CENTER FOR FAMILY PHILANTHROPY: $1k → 14%LEADING HARVEST: $25k → 9%NATIONAL ASSOC OF ANOREXIA NERVOSA & ASSOCIATED DISORDERS: $5k → 14%SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA: $25k → 10%OAKLAND LITERACY COALITION: $5k → 10%WILDAID: $25k → 10%THE CARBON UNDERGROUND: $15k → 14%PROJECT HEAL: $20k → 20%NATIONAL CENTER FOR FAMILY PHILANTHROPY: $1k → 14%WILDAID: $20k → 10%OFFICE OF: $12k → 14%PROJECT HEAL: $15k → 20%WILDAID: $14k → 10%CALIFORNIA HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $8k → 14%HOPE STEEET MARGOLIS FAMILY CENTER: $8k → 14%CA HOSPITAL MEDICAL FDN (HOPE STREET): $8k → 14%CALIFORNIA HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $5k → 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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$513k · 10 repeat orgs$83k to everyone else

10 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
6

Total granted

$513k
$34k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+99%

Still filing today

90%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $50k 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
EnvironmentAnimalsHealthEducationCrime & LegalPhilanthropyOther
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

  • WI
    WILDAID INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $123k · revenue +31%
  • TD
    THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $100k · revenue +30%
  • PH
    PROJECT HEAL HELP TO EAT ACCEPT & LIVE
    4× · 2021–2024 · $95k · revenue +31%

Funded once

  • SW
    SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST
    one grant, 2020 · $10k
  • HS
    HOPE STEEET MARGOLIS FAMILY CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $8k
  • TR
    THE ROSE FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITIES THE ENVIRONMENTgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +99%
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
Food & Water Watch

Food & water watch conducts extensive research and public education to ensure the food and water we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced. so we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of…

Food & Nutrition
2
Ccof Certification Services Llc

Ccof certification services, llc, a wholly owned subsidiary of california certified organic farmers inc., provides a wide array of cost-effective, organic certification programs. ccof certifies farm and livestock operations, processors,…

Food & Nutrition
3
Animal Agriculture Alliance

The animal agriculture alliance is a nonprofit organization that helps bridge the communication gap between farm and fork. we connect food industry stakeholders, engage food chain influencers and promote consumer choice by helping key…

Food & Nutrition
4
Climate Foundation

To research and develop healthy climate solutions comprising global food security, ecosystem regeneration and carbon balance in seas and soils.

Science & Tech
5
California Coastkeeper dba California Coastkeeper Alliance

California Coastkeeper Alliance unites Waterkeeper programs statewide to fight for swimmable, fishable, and drinkable waters for all Californians.

Environment
6
Wedontwaste Inc

We Dont Waste increases food access and protects the planet by rescuing and repurposing food, while educating and advocating to increase food security and decrease food waste.

Food & Nutrition
7
Wildlife Conservation Network Inc

Connect conservationists and supporters, deploy resources to the field, provide conservationists with tools and support they need to succeed.

Animals
8
California Farmland Trust

The mission of the California Farmland Trust is to help farmers protect the best farmland in the world.

Environment
9
Connecticut Farmland Trust Inc

Protect Connecticuts farmland for agricultural use by purchasing and accepting donations of agricultural conservation easements

Food & Nutrition
10
The Farm Collaborative

Growing a local food system where the health of people and planet come first

Education
11
Amazon Conservation Association

Amazon conservation unites science, people, and innovation to protect the amazon - the greatest wild forest on earth. as guardians of the most iconic forest on the planet, we bring together the power of the latest science and technology…

Environment
12
Global Forest Generation

Global Forest Generation restores and protects forest ecosystems in partnership with grassroots leaders and local communities across vast landscapes which play a critical role in preserving water, protecting biodiversity, storing carbon,…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Center for Family Philanthropy Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Carbon Underground. 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

16 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. 16 of the 23 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
10/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WILDAID INC: $123,250 · AnimalsWILDAID INCTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC: $100,000 · AnimalsTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INCPROJECT HEAL HELP TO EAT ACCEPT & LIVE: $95,000 · HealthPROJECT HEAL HELP TO…CALIFORNIA HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $12,500 · HealthCALIFORNIA HOSPITAL …LEADING HARVEST: $60,000 · EnvironmentLEADING HARVESTTHE CARBON UNDERGROUND: $40,000 · EnvironmentTHE CARBON UNDERGRO…THE ROSE FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITIES THE ENVIRONMENT: $5,000 · EnvironmentCHICO UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $48,600 · OtherCHICO UNIVERSITY FOU…Individual grant recipient: $12,000 · OtherIndividual grant rec…SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST: $10,000 · OtherSHELDRICK WILDLIFE T…HOPE STEEET MARGOLIS FAMILY CENTER: $7,500 · OtherHOPE STEEET MARGOLIS…CA HOSPITAL MEDICAL FDN (HOPE STREET): $7,500 · OtherCA HOSPITAL MEDICAL …FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS: $5,000 · OtherANAD: $5,000 · OtherNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ANOREXIA NERVOSA AND ASSOCIATED DISORDERS INC: $5,000 · Other+4 more: $8,200 · Other+4 moreOakland Literacy Coalition Inc: $15,000 · EducationCivic Nation: $10,000 · EducationMARCH FOR OUR LIVES FOUNDATION: $17,000 · Crime & LegalWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $10,000 · Arts & Culture
Animals$223,250Health$107,500Environment$105,000Other$108,800Education$25,000Crime & Legal$17,000Arts & Culture$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWILDAID INC: $123,250 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC: $100,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetPROJECT HEAL HELP TO EAT ACCEPT & LIVE: $95,000 over 4y, 3.6% of budgetLEADING HARVEST: $60,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetTHE CARBON UNDERGROUND: $40,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetMARCH FOR OUR LIVES FOUNDATION: $17,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetOakland Literacy Coalition Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetCALIFORNIA HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $12,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCivic Nation: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE ROSE FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITIES THE ENVIRONMENT: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ANOREXIA NERVOSA AND ASSOCIATED DISORDERS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetCENTER FOR FARMWORKER FAMILIES: $2,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetHIJAS DEL CAMPO: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNATIONAL CENTER FOR FAMILY PHILANTHROPY INC: $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.

Silicon Valley Commun…East Bay Community Fo…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Charities Aid Foundat…Network for GoodAmerican Online Givin…Morgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA13.2× affinity5 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Charities Aid Foundation America · Network for Good · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Bruce and Carolyn Costin Martin Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Bruce and Carolyn Costin Martin Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 Bruce and Carolyn Costin Martin Charitable Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Bruce and Carolyn Costin Martin Charitable 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 23 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 Bruce and Carolyn Costin Martin’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