California · Private foundation
The Burnham 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.
- $1.8M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 42
- Grants FY2025
- 21
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 14%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $10,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $700,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 21 to 44
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 1
- Total assets, FY2025
- $4.3M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 14% of the organizations The Burnham Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 2% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k 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 | 37 | $1.8M | 43% |
| FY2024 | 21 | $412k | 14% |
| FY2023 | 36 | $664k | 0% |
| FY2022 | 43 | $834k | 19% |
| FY2021 | 38 | $725k | 26% |
| FY2020 | 39 | $1.0M | 21% |
| FY2019 | 38 | $753k | 24% |
| FY2018 | 44 | $780k | 36% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Conflict Resolution Center | $977,000 | 9 | 2% |
| San Diego Historical Society | $746,000 | 4 | 8% |
| The San Diego Symphony Orchestra Association | $625,000 | 4 | 1% |
| University of San Diego | $521,055 | 8 | 0% |
| Institute of the Americas | $275,000 | 5 | 4% |
| Access Youth Academy | $250,000 | 5 | 8% |
| Teach for America Inc | $250,000 | 5 | 0% |
| J Craig Venter Institute | $210,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Maggie Kay Foundation | $161,697 | 5 | n/a |
| Forever Balboa Park | $108,500 | 2 | 2% |
Show all 74 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 44 recipients with no EIN on record ($2.2M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
The Burnham Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 61 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: Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · The Conrad Prebys Foundation · The San Diego Foundation · Price Philanthropies Foundation · Sempra Foundation · David C Copley Foundation · Rancho Santa Fe Foundation · Walter J & Betty C Zable Foundation · The Parker Foundation · The Cushman Foundation · Art Pratt Foundation of Old Mission Rc · Girard Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Burnham Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Burnham 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 The Burnham Foundation
- How much does The Burnham Foundation give?
- The Burnham Foundation reported 42 grants totaling $1,767,008 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 21 and 44 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does The Burnham Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (23%), Community Improvement (15%), Arts & Culture (15%).
- Who are The Burnham Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: National Conflict Resolution Center ($977k), San Diego Historical Society ($746k), The San Diego Symphony Orchestra Association ($625k).
- Does The Burnham Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 14% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Burnham 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 The Burnham Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, The Conrad Prebys Foundation, The San Diego Foundation.
- Where is The Burnham Foundation based?
- The Burnham Foundation is based in CA.
Play a game based on Burnham’s filings →