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The Cushman Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Cushman Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$3.9M
Granted FY2025still arriving
88
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.0M
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Health$5.5MPhilanthropy$4.0MHuman Services$2.4MFood & Nutrition$1.7MArts & Culture$830kEducation$415kHousing & Shelter$389kYouth Development$383kOther$0
02FY2025 · 88 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k35 grants · $153k
  • $10k–50k38 grants · $734k
  • $50k–250k13 grants · $1.0M
  • $250k+2 grants · $2.0M
$10,500
Median grant
1
States reached
$38M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JACOBS & CUSHMAN SAN DIEGO FOOD BANK$1,000,000
SHARP HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION$1,000,000
PRODUCEGOOD$100,000
SAN DIEGO HISTORY CENTER$100,000
SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION$100,000
KINDNESS INITIATIVE$100,000
BILATERAL SAFETY CORRIDOR COALITION$100,000
SCRIPPS HEALTH FOUNDATION$100,000
SCRIPPS HEALTH FOUNDATION$100,000
BAYSIDE COMMUNITY CENTER$75,000
VETS - BEYOND THE UNIFORM$60,000
ELDERHELP OF SAN DIEGO$50,000
JUST IN TIME FOR FOSTER YOUTH$50,000
CRISIS HOUSE$50,000
JACOBS AND CUSHMAN SAN DIEGO FOOD BANK$50,000
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 (FY21–25, $1.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF SAN DIEGO: $10k → 11%CHICANO FEDERATION OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY INC: $15k → 11%CHICANO FEDERATION OF SD COUNTY INC: $10k → 11%THE ROSIE NETWORK INC: $10k → 11%BAYSIDE COMMUNITY CENTER: $75k → 11%BAYSIDE COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 11%BAYSIDE COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 11%CRISIS HOUSE: $50k → 11%SOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE INC: $14k → 11%ICF CENTER FOR CROSS-BORDER PHILANTHROPY: $10k → 11%SOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE INC: $14k → 11%SOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE INC: $10k → 11%NORTH COUNTY LIFELINE INC: $15k → 11%BRAILLE INSTITUTE OF AMERICA INC: $10k → 11%SAN DIEGO CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $10k → 11%SOUTH BAY COMMUNITY SERVICES (YDA): $25k → 11%CASA DE AMPARO: $50k → 11%CRISIS HOUSE: $50k → 11%CASA DE AMPARO: $50k → 11%CRISIS HOUSE: $50k → 11%CRISIS HOUSE: $50k → 11%CASA DE AMPARO: $30k → 11%RISE UP INDUSTRIES: $15k → 11%IT'S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS FOUNDATION: $50k → 11%IT'S ALL ABOUT THE KIDS FOUNDATION: $25k → 11%JOY CONNECTION LIVING YOUR JOY INC: $10k → 11%WOUNDED WARRIOR HOMES INC: $10k → 11%NORTH COUNTY LIFELINE INC: $10k → 11%WOUNDED WARRIOR HOMES INC: $10k → 11%SHORELINE COMMUNITY SERVICES: $30k → 11%TRANSFAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES: $15k → 11%SERVING SENIORS: $20k → 11%CHRISTIE'S PLACE: $10k → 11%CHRISTIE'S PLACE: $10k → 11%CHRISTIE'S PLACE: $10k → 11%ITS ALL ABOUT THE KIDS FOUNDATION: $50k → 11%CASA DE AMISTAD CENTRO DE ENSENANZA: $20k → 11%THE ANGELS FOSTER FAMILY AGENCY: $100k → 11%ELDERHELP OF SAN DIEGO: $50k → 11%ELDERHELP OF SAN DIEGO: $50k → 11%ELDERHELP OF SAN DIEGO: $50k → 11%ELDERHELP OF SAN DIEGO: $25k → 11%THE ANGELS FOSTER FAMILY AGENCY: $20k → 11%ANGELS FOSTER FAMILY NETWORK: $10k → 11%FIREFIGHTERAID: $36k → 11%KINDNESS INITIATIVE: $100k → 11%ZERO8HUNDRED INC: $10k → 11%KINDNESS INITIATIVE: $18k → 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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$11M · 103 repeat orgs$2.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

103 repeat relationships: 41 still active in FY2025, 62 since wound down; 34 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

103
135

Total granted

$11M
$1.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+14%

Still filing today

94%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $886k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesHealthEducationArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyOther
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

  • SH
    Sharp Healthcare Foundation
    7× · 2017–2025 · $3.2M · revenue +54%
  • JC
    JACOBS & CUSHMAN SAN DIEGO FOOD BANK
    7× · 2017–2025 · $1.2M · revenue +169%
  • GH
    Grossmont Hospital Foundation
    6× · 2017–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +124%

Funded once

  • BS
    Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition
    one grant, 2019 · $75k
  • SD
    SAN DIEGO COUNTY DENTAL FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $65k · revenue +55% · 28% of their budget
  • SD
    SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $58k · revenue +22%
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
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
2
Dreams for Change Inc

Dreams for Change's mission is to respond to the needs of San Diegans by creating innovative and cost-effective programs to empower and stabilize the lives of under-served families and individuals.

Human Services
3
San Diego Community Housing Corporation

To increase, preserve and improve quality affordable housing opportunities for working families.

Housing & Shelter
4
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
5
United Way of San Diego County

To spark breakthrough community action that elevates every child and family toward a brighter future.

Philanthropy
6
San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program Inc

The mission of san diego volunteer lawyer program, inc. is to provide equal access to the justice system by serving as a bridge between indigent and other disadvantaged people in san diego county and the volunteer lawyers who are willing…

Social Science
7
San Diego Housing Federation

The Federation brings together representatives of affordable housing community development corporations with others interested in the development and management of housing for low and moderate income persons in San Diego County to mutually…

Education
8
Sport Innovators

To establish San Diego and Southern California as the core of the healthy living, sports and active lifestyle community. Through supporting companies at all stages, we help create jobs, but not just any jobs, jobs that make our city and…

Philanthropy
9
San Diegans for Health Care Coverage

Promote Access to Health Care for all San Diegans

Health
10
University of San Diego

The university of san diego is a contemporary catholic university, grounded in the liberal arts and anchored along an international border, advancing academic excellence to create a more inclusive, sustainable and hopeful world.

—
11
San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council Afl-Cio

The Labor Council offers an avenue for local unions to come together as one group.

—
12
The Arc of San Diego

The arc of san diego supports and empowers persons with disabilities to achieve their life goals.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The San Diego Foundation; the most unlike its peers is San Diego County Philatelic Council. 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

229 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. 229 of the 277 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
67
Early backer (in before they grew)
224/229
Grantees still filing
148/229
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Sharp Healthcare Foundation: $3,240,580 · HealthSharp Healthcare FoundationGrossmont Hospital Foundation: $1,050,970 · HealthGrossmont Hospital FoundationSCRIPPS HEALTH: $200,000 · Health+19 more: $463,704 · Health+19 moreTHE JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,060,000 · OtherTHE JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONSAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $253,600 · OtherSAN DIEGO BLOOD BANK: $213,500 · Other+92 more: $2,896,775 · Other+92 moreTHE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION: $1,050,000 · PhilanthropyTHE SAN DIEGO …JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO: $691,800 · PhilanthropyJEWISH COMMUNI…SEACREST FOUNDATION: $329,800 · PhilanthropySEACREST FOUND…Burn Institute: $90,000 · Philanthropy+3 more: $72,355 · PhilanthropyCRISIS HOUSE: $250,750 · Human ServicesCRISIS HOUS…ELDERHELP OF SAN DIEGO: $180,000 · Human ServicesELDERHELP O…ANGELS FOSTER FAMILY AGENCY: $137,500 · Human ServicesANGELS FOST…Casa De Amparo: $130,500 · Human ServicesCasa De Amp…KINDNESS INITIATIVE: $130,500 · Human ServicesKINDNESS IN…ITS ALL ABOUT THE KIDS FOUNDATION: $125,000 · Human ServicesITS ALL ABO…BAYSIDE COMMUNITY CENTER: $100,000 · Human ServicesBAYSIDE COM…WOUNDED WARRIOR HOMES INC: $62,500 · Human Services+30 more: $562,500 · Human Services+30 moreJACOBS & CUSHMAN SAN DIEGO FOOD BANK: $1,157,245 · Food & NutritionJACOBS & …ProduceGood: $105,000 · Food & NutritionProduceGo…MAMA'S KITCHEN: $72,000 · Food & Nutrition+2 more: $65,000 · Food & NutritionDOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PARTNERSHIP FOUNDATION: $211,100 · Arts & CultureTHE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $205,000 · Arts & CultureVOICE OF SAN DIEGO: $121,000 · Arts & CultureLeap to Success: $120,000 · Arts & CultureTHE NEW CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $56,500 · Arts & CultureVOICES OF OUR CITY CHOIR INC: $40,000 · Arts & Culture+10 more: $107,100 · Arts & CultureHANNAHS FAMILY CENTER: $107,500 · EducationMUSICIANS FOR EDUCATION INC DBA STREET OF DREAMS: $75,000 · EducationWAVE ACADEMY: $65,000 · EducationSAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $58,117 · EducationSpecial Delivery San Diego: $52,500 · EducationPARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS: $45,760 · EducationOCEAN DISCOVERY INSTITUTE: $32,500 · EducationNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: $31,000 · EducationMIRACOSTA COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EducationJBS TRANSITION EXPERTS DBA VETCTAP: $25,000 · Education+7 more: $78,250 · Education
Health$4,955,254Other$5,423,875Philanthropy$2,233,955Human Services$1,679,250Food & Nutrition$1,399,245Arts & Culture$860,700Education$600,627

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetSharp Healthcare Foundation: $3,240,580 over 7y, 6.5% of budgetJACOBS & CUSHMAN SAN DIEGO FOOD BANK: $1,157,245 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetGrossmont Hospital Foundation: $1,050,970 over 6y, 11% of budgetTHE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION: $1,050,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO: $691,800 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSEACREST FOUNDATION: $329,800 over 7y, 2.5% of budgetSAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $253,600 over 7y, 4.1% of budgetCRISIS HOUSE: $250,750 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetSAN DIEGO BLOOD BANK: $213,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetDOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PARTNERSHIP FOUNDATION: $211,100 over 5y, 13% of budgetTHE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $205,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetSCRIPPS HEALTH: $200,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetELDERHELP OF SAN DIEGO: $180,000 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetJUST IN TIME FOR FOSTER YOUTH: $180,000 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetURBAN STREET ANGELS INC: $163,933 over 3y, 4.9% of budgetANGELS FOSTER FAMILY AGENCY: $137,500 over 5y, 3.0% of budgetCasa De Amparo: $130,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetKINDNESS INITIATIVE: $130,500 over 3y, 9.2% of budgetHOME START INC: $126,333 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetITS ALL ABOUT THE KIDS FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 3y, 5.7% of budgetVOICE OF SAN DIEGO: $121,000 over 7y, 1.3% of budgetLeap to Success: $120,000 over 3y, 14% of budgetCOMMUNITY HOUSING WORKS: $115,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetHANNAHS FAMILY CENTER: $107,500 over 3y, 17% of budgetProduceGood: $105,000 over 1y, 6.9% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY: $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBAYSIDE COMMUNITY CENTER: $100,000 over 3y, 8.2% of budgetLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO: $100,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE HONOR FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetVIP NEUROREHABILITATION CENTER: $99,033 over 3y, 20% of budgetSUPPORT THE ENLISTED PROJECT INC: $90,000 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetBurn Institute: $90,000 over 6y, 2.5% of budgetCHULA VISTA POLICE FOUNDATION: $80,000 over 2y, 8.5% of budgetMUSICIANS FOR EDUCATION INC DBA STREET OF DREAMS: $75,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetMAMA'S KITCHEN: $72,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetWAVE ACADEMY: $65,000 over 5y, 5.4% of budgetSAN DIEGO COUNTY DENTAL FOUNDATION: $64,500 over 1y, 28% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR HOMES INC: $62,500 over 4y, 7.3% of budgetSAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $58,117 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTHE NEW CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $56,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetERIC PAREDES SAVE A LIFE FOUNDATION A CALIFORNIA PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATION: $55,000 over 3y, 10% of budgetINTERFAITH SHELTER NETWORK OF SAN DIEGO: $55,000 over 2y, 6.1% of budgetSpecial Delivery San Diego: $52,500 over 4y, 4.8% of budgetInterfaith Community Services Inc: $52,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSAN DIEGO POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION: $51,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetTENDER LOVING CANINES ASSISTANCE DOGS: $50,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetDRUGS & DIAGNOSTICS FOR TROPICAL DISEASE: $50,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetKITCHENS FOR GOOD: $50,000 over 4y, 0.3% 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 Conrad Prebys Fou…David C Copley Founda…Price Philanthropies …Jewish Community Foun…Rancho Santa Fe Found…The Parker FoundationWalter J & Betty C Za…Pratt Memorial FundSamuel I & John Henry…The Nordson Corporati…French Fund Samuel Ka…
The San Diego FoundationCA168.4× affinity150 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Diego Foundation · The Conrad Prebys Foundation · David C Copley Foundation · Price Philanthropies Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · Rancho Santa Fe Foundation · The Parker Foundation · Walter J & Betty C Zable Foundation · Pratt Memorial Fund · Samuel I & John Henry Fox Foundation · The Nordson Corporation Foundation · French Fund Samuel Katherine Tua

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 Cushman Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Cushman 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%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    73report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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 Cushman Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Cushman 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 277 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Cushman’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