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California · Private foundation

The Candy and Aaron Spelling 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.

$43k
Granted FY2024(still arriving)
4
Grants FY2024
5
Organizations funded FY2023
60%
First-time grantees FY2023
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2024
$8,700
Largest grant, FY2024
$25,636
Organizations funded a year
4 to 11
FY2017 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024
1
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 60% of the organizations The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 88% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 12% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $31k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationHealthAnimalsOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2024still arriving4$43k50%
FY20235$35k60%
FY20226$43k17%
FY20214$24k25%
FY20208$49k25%
FY20196$30k17%
FY20188$332k25%
FY201711$64kn/a
100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$470kAnimals$83kArts & Culture$67kInternational$58kRecreation & Sports$43kPhilanthropy$26kHealth$24kHuman Services$16kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Show all 14 grantees
All grantees of The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Trustees of Boston University$281,00010%
American Humane Association$72,36150%
Los Angeles World Affairs Council and Town Hall$47,97051%
Los Angeles Parks Foundation$42,50050%
Los Angeles Ballet Inc$30,00031%
Centro de Ninos Inc$15,50060%
Share Inc$12,50024%
La's Best$10,00010%
Museum Associates$7,5003n/a
Lewis & Clark College$4,00610%
Children's Diabetes Foundation$1,50010%
The Brent Shapiro Foundation for Drug Awareness$1,00010%
Wags and Walks$50010%
Leaders in Furthering Education Inc$30010%

Plus 9 recipients with no EIN on record ($91k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTrustees of Boston University: $281,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Humane Association: $72,361 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetLos Angeles World Affairs Council and Town Hall: $47,970 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetLos Angeles Parks Foundation: $42,500 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetLos Angeles Ballet Inc: $30,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetCentro de Ninos Inc: $15,500 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetShare Inc: $12,500 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetLa's Best: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLewis & Clark College: $4,006 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChildren's Diabetes Foundation: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Brent Shapiro Foundation for Drug Awareness: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWags and Walks: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLeaders in Furthering Education Inc: $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 13.

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.

California Community FoundationCA14.6× affinity5 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Community Foundation · The Annenberg Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · 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.

Compare The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation with peer funders

About The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation

How much does The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation give?
The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation reported 4 grants totaling $42,991 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 4 and 11 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
What does The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Education (59%), Animals (11%), Arts & Culture (8%).
Who are The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Trustees of Boston University ($281k), American Humane Association ($72k), Los Angeles World Affairs Council and Town Hall ($48k).
Does The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2023, 60% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does The Candy and Aaron Spelling 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 Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include California Community Foundation, The Annenberg Foundation, American Endowment Foundation.
Where is The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation based?
The Candy and Aaron Spelling Foundation is based in CA.

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 24 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

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