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The Cantus Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Cantus 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.

$91k
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Environment$527kHuman Services$247kArts & Culture$172kPhilanthropy$44kAnimals$39kHealth$6kEducation$5k
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $1k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $90k
$30,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE$30,000
CASPAR COMMUNITY CENTER$30,000
MENDOCINO LAND TRUST$30,000
EILEEN HAWTHORNE FUND$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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 77% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SOCIAL GOOD FUND: $10k → 9%SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $50k → 10%FRINGE BENEFITS THEATER: $5k → 14%MENDOCINO COUNTY PUBLIC BROADCASTING: $10k → 18%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $5k → 28%JPR FOUNDATION: $10k → 13%SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $40k → 10%JPR FOUNDATION: $5k → 13%SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $40k → 10%SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $30k → 10%SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $30k → 10%CASPAR COMMUNITY CENTER: $40k → 18%SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $30k → 10%CASPAR COMMUNITY CENTER: $40k → 18%KQED: $5k → 10%CASPAR COMMUNITY CENTER: $30k → 18%CASPAR COMMUNITY CENTER: $30k → 18%CASPAR COMMUNITY CENTER: $30k → 18%CASPAR COMMUNITY CENTER: $30k → 18%CASPAR COMMUNITY CENTER: $25k → 18%CASPAR COMMUNITY CENTER: $21k → 18%MENDOCINO THEATRE CO: $30k → 18%MENDOCINO THEATRE CO: $30k → 18%MENDOCINO THEATRE CO: $25k → 18%MENDOCINO THEATRE CO: $20k → 18%MENDOCINO THEATRE CO: $20k → 18%MEDONCINO COAST BOTANICAL GARDENS: $5k → 18%MEDONCINO COAST BOTANICAL GARDENS: $5k → 18%MEDONCINO COAST BOTANICAL GARDENS: $5k → 18%COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY: $21k → 18%COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY: $13k → 18%MENDOCINO LAND TRUST: $45k → 18%MENDOCINO LAND TRUST: $40k → 18%MENDOCINO LAND TRUST: $40k → 18%MENDOCINO LAND TRUST: $32k → 18%MENDOCINO LAND TRUST: $31k → 18%MENDOCINO LAND TRUST: $31k → 18%MENDOCINO LAND TRUST: $30k → 18%MENDOCINO LAND TRUST: $30k → 18%CANCER RESOURCE CENTER OF MENDOCINO COUNTY: $6k → 18%EILEEN HAWTHORNE FUND: $5k → 18%MENDOCINO COAST HUMANE SOCIEY: $5k → 18%NOYO CENTER FOR MARINE SCIENCE: $5k → 18%EILEEN HAWTHORNE FUND: $5k → 18%MENDOCINO COAST HUMANE SOCIEY: $5k → 18%NOYO CENTER FOR MARINE SCIENCE: $5k → 18%EILEEN HAWTHORNE FUND: $5k → 18%FRIENDS OF THE FORT BRAGG LIBRARY: $5k → 18%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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$969k · 11 repeat orgs$27k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +84% since the first grant, against +57% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
8

Total granted

$969k
$27k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+84%
+57%

Still filing today

73%
88%

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
Arts & CultureAnimalsEnvironmentEducationYouth DevelopmentHealthOther
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

  • ML
    Mendocino Land Trust
    8× · 2017–2024 · $278k · revenue +73%
  • ST
    SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE
    6× · 2017–2024 · $220k · revenue +267%
  • JF
    JPR FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2019–2023 · $18k · revenue +10%

Funded once

  • CR
    CANCER RESOURCE CENTERS OF MENDO CO
    one grant, 2023 · $6k · revenue +9%
  • KI
    KQED INC
    one grant, 2021 · $5k · revenue +4%
  • FO
    Friends of the Fort Bragg Librarygraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue ×17
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
Redwood Coast Land Conservancy

To conserve lands for recreational, educational, ecological, agricultural, scenic & open space opportunities. We develop & maintain public access ways & trails to the ocean, rivers & other natural or scenic features along coastal Mendocino…

Environment
2
Fort Ross Conservancy

Fort Ross Conservancy (FRC) is the not-for-profit partner of the Russian River Sector, Sonoma/Mendocino District of California State Parks. FRC works to preserve the nature and culture of the Sonoma Coast for the benefit of the public.

Arts & Culture
3
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
4
Sonoma Botanical Garden
—
5
Northern California Regional Land Trust

The purpose of the organization is to monitor, manage, and preserve conservation easements it stewards in northern california. the organization acquires conservation easements in land exhibiting important natural features to protect and…

Environment
6
Sequoia Riverlands Trust

We conserve the lands and waters of California's heartland.

Environment
7
Sustainable Conservation

Sustainable Conservation advances the collaborative stewardship of Californias land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people. For over three decades, Sustainable Conservation has built coalitions of people with different…

Environment
8
Sequoia Parks Conservancy

The sequoia parks conservancy funds and enables projects and programs that protect, preserve, and provide access to the natural and cultural resources of sequoia and kings canyon national parks.

Environment
9
Coastside Land Trust

The Coastside Land Trust is dedicated to the preservation, protection and enhancement of the open space environment including the natural, scenic, recreational, cultural, historical, and agricultural resources of Half Moon Bay and the San…

Environment
10
Point Lobos Foundation

To protect and nurture point lobos state natural reserve, to educate and inspire visitors to preserve its unique natural and cultural resources, and to strengthen the network of Carmel area state parks.

—
11
Northcoast Environmental Center

To promote understanding of the relations between people and the biosphere and to conserve, protect, and celebrate terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems of northern California and southern Oregon.

Environment
12
Channel Islands Restoration

Channel Islands Restoration protects rare and endangered plants and animals by restoring habitat in sensitive and unique natural areas on the California Channel Islands and adjacent mainland. We educate a variety of groups about the value…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Foundation of Mendocino County; the most unlike its peers is Wildlife Conservation Society. 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

17 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 21 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
15/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Mendocino Land Trust: $278,160 · EnvironmentMendocino Land TrustSAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $220,000 · EnvironmentSAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUECASPAR COMMUNITY CENTER: $246,530 · OtherCASPAR COMMUNITY CENTERMENDOCINO THEATRE CO: $125,450 · OtherMENDOCINO THEATRE COEILEEN HAWTHORNE FUND INC: $19,000 · OtherMEDONCINO COAST BOTANICAL GARDENS: $17,000 · Other+3 more: $16,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY: $34,000 · PhilanthropyMendocino Coast Humane Society: $15,000 · AnimalsNoyo Center For Marine Science: $12,200 · AnimalsWildlife Conservation Society: $5,000 · AnimalsJPR FOUNDATION INC: $17,500 · EducationSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $10,000 · EducationSYMPHONY OF THE REDWOODS: $7,300 · Arts & CultureKQED INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureGloriana Opera Company: $1,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $100 · Arts & CultureCANCER RESOURCE CENTERS OF MENDO CO: $5,700 · HealthFriends of the Fort Bragg Library: $5,000 · Youth Development
Environment$498,160Other$423,980Philanthropy$34,000Animals$32,200Education$27,500Arts & Culture$13,400Health$5,700Youth Development$5,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMendocino Land Trust: $278,160 over 8y, 3.9% of budgetSAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $220,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY: $34,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetEILEEN HAWTHORNE FUND INC: $19,000 over 6y, 13% of budgetJPR FOUNDATION INC: $17,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetMendocino Coast Humane Society: $15,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetNoyo Center For Marine Science: $12,200 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetMENDOCINO COUNTY PUBLIC BROADCASTING: $10,900 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSYMPHONY OF THE REDWOODS: $7,300 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetCANCER RESOURCE CENTERS OF MENDO CO: $5,700 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetKQED INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of the Fort Bragg Library: $5,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGloriana Opera Company: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPoint Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association: $100 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWILDCARE: $100 over 1y, 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.

Community Foundation …Tarbell Family Founda…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Community Foundation of Mendocino CountyCA22× affinity8 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Mendocino County · Tarbell Family Foundation · 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 Cantus Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Cantus Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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.

    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 21 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 Cantus’ 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