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The Dominus Nihil Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Dominus Nihil 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.

$70k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Public Benefit$1.1MCivil Rights$810kHuman Services$500kEducation$270kInternational$236kCrime & Legal$200kArts & Culture$30kHealth$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $20k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$4.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
POLESTAR LIFETIME LEARNING FOUNDATION INC$50,000
CANYON CREST ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC$20,000
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 27% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE OPTIMUS FOUNDATION FUND - NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $500k → 7%VISTA HILL FOUNDATION: $10k → 11%HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: $25k → 14%SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: $450k → 18%PUBLIC WATCHDOGS: $500k → 11%SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: $210k → 18%PUBLIC WATCHDOGS: $333k → 11%SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: $150k → 18%PUBLIC WATCHDOGS: $150k → 11%PUBLIC WATCHDOGS: $37k → 11%PUBLIC WATCHDOGS: $33k → 11%CANYON CREST ACADEMY FOUNDATION INC: $20k → 11%THE GRAUER FOUNDATION: $250k → 11%THE GRAUER FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION: $200k → 11%POLESTAR LIFETIME LEARNING FOUNDATION INC: $50k → 11%LUX ART INSTITUTE: $20k → 11%CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW: $200k → 11%NORTH COAST REPERTORY THEATRE: $10k → 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.

62%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.1M · 3 repeat orgs$1.3M to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
7

Total granted

$2.1M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-66%
+3%

Still filing today

100%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $70k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’25
EducationArts & CulturePublic BenefitCrime & LegalInternationalHealthOther
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

  • PW
    Public Watchdogs
    5× · 2018–2022 · $1.1M · revenue -95% · 65% of their budget
  • SP
    SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $810k · revenue +10%
  • HR
    HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC
    2× · 2017–2022 · $236k · revenue -66%

Funded once

  • TO
    THE OPTIMUS FOUNDATION FUND - NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST
    one grant, 2018 · $500k
  • TG
    THE GRAUER FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $250k
  • CW
    CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW
    one grant, 2021 · $200k · revenue -12%
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
California College of the Arts

California college of the arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. benefitting from its san francisco bay area location, the college prepares…

Education
3
Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego

to advance regional contemporary art and artists while fostering cultural equity through access to meaningful art experiences

Arts & Culture
4
The International School of San Francisco

Guided by the principles of academic rigor and diversity, the international school of san francisco offers programs of study in french and english to prepare its graduates for a world in which the ability to think critically and to…

Education
5
Pacific Coast Academy

Provide a high standard of education to students through comprehensive curriculum supported by energetic, dynamic, and caring teachers.

Education
6
La Scuola International School

Inspire brave learners to shape the future.

Education
7
The Language Academy of Sacramento

The las mission is to create a learning community where students: utilize bilingualism and biliteracy (spanish and english) to achieve academic excellence and apply skills in real-world situations and diverse settings; develop and exhibit…

Education
8
Santa Clarita Valley International School

The mission of scvi is to provide a rigorous, relevant, inquiry-based, self-directed and collaborative learning environment for students in grades tk-12, inspiring them to become lifelong learners with the skills to lead in the 21st…

Education
9
California Institute of the Arts

Calarts is a multidisciplinary community of artists. our ongoing educational endeavor is grounded in openness, experimentation, critical engagement, and creative freedom. through artistic practice, we transform ourselves, each other, and…

Arts & Culture
10
Silicon Schools Fund Inc

The mission of the silicon schools fund is to improve education through supporting the launch of excellent new schools, improving academic instruction in existing schools, and by funding some of the boldest innovations in education…

Education
11
Stanbridge Academy

Private school for students with mild to moderate learning differences working with families to provide a safe educational environment.

—
12
San Luis Obispo Repertory Theatre

Slo rep strengthens theatre's cultural influence and enriches the central coast by producing professional theatre, nurturing artists and providing theatre education for children and adults.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is California Western School of Law; the most unlike its peers is Public Watchdogs. 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

10 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. 10 of the 12 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/10
Grantees still filing
4/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Public Watchdogs: $1,053,205 · Public BenefitPublic WatchdogsSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $810,000 · Crime & LegalSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER…THE OPTIMUS FOUNDATION FUND - NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $500,000 · OtherTHE OPTIMUS FOUNDATION FU…THE GRAUER FOUNDATION: $250,000 · OtherTHE GRAUER FOUNDATION+1 more: $20,000 · OtherCALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW: $200,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA WES…GRAUER FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION: $200,000 · EducationGRAUER FOUNDAT…Canyon Crest Academy Foundation Inc: $20,000 · EducationHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $236,000 · InternationalPOLESTAR LIFETIME LEARNING FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureNORTH COAST REPERTORY THEATRE: $10,000 · Arts & CultureVISTA HILL FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Health
Public Benefit$1,053,205Crime & Legal$810,000Other$770,000Education$420,000International$236,000Arts & Culture$60,000Health$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$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPublic Watchdogs: $1,053,205 over 5y, 65% of budgetSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $810,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $236,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW: $200,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGRAUER FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION: $200,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetPOLESTAR LIFETIME LEARNING FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 39% of budgetCanyon Crest Academy Foundation Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetLUX ART INSTITUTE: $20,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetVISTA HILL FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH COAST REPERTORY THEATRE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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…Rancho Santa Fe Found…Jewish Community Foun…Sempra FoundationNational Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The San Diego FoundationCA15.2× affinity5 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Diego Foundation · Rancho Santa Fe Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · Sempra Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation 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 Dominus Nihil Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Dominus Nihil Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2023
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Dominus Nihil Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Dominus Nihil 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 12 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 Dominus Nihil’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