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The Eames Institute at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Eames Institute

THE EAMES INSTITUTE is a 501(c)(3) public charity with a mission of cultivating curiosity to solve problems at any scale.

$294k
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$130k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$200kEnvironment$195kYouth Development$155kEducation$46kCommunity Improvement$30kAnimals$30kFood & Nutrition$25kHealth$18kOther$0
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 8 grants below total $283,900, the rows itemized in this filing. The $293,900 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $10,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $6k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $93k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $185k
$30,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$136M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GIRLS GARAGE$130,400
SONOMA MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE$55,000
UNITED STATES ARTISTS$32,500
MY GIANT SQUID FRIEND LLC$30,000
REUSE ALLIANCE INC$10,000
INTERSECTION FOR THE ART$10,000
SANTA FE ART INSTITUTE$10,000
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS$6,000
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 (FY23–23, $6k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%PETALUMA PEOPLE SERVICES CENTER: $6k → 8%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.

73%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$500k · 6 repeat orgs$189k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +41% since the first grant, against +18% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 1 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
14

Total granted

$500k
$149k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+18%

Still filing today

100%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $40k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationEnvironmentCommunity ImprovementInternationalYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • GG
    GIRLS GARAGE
    2× · 2023–2024 · $155k · revenue +12%
  • SM
    Sonoma Mountain Institute
    3× · 2022–2024 · $155k · revenue +146%
  • United States Artists Inc
    3× · 2022–2024 · $130k · revenue +41%

Funded once

  • OA
    Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
    one grant, 2023 · $20k · revenue +11%
  • SB
    Stone Barns Restoration Corp DBA Stone Barns Center for Food & Agri
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue +18%
  • CREATIVE REACTION LAB
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue -39%
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
California Institute of Contemporary Art
—
2
Sonoma Botanical Garden
—
3
Artopolis Development

ArtBuilt is a solutions-focused nonprofit that builds new systems of support for artists based on access to affordable real estate, asset building and deeply reciprocal relationships with local communities.

Arts & Culture
4
Oakland Digital Arts and Literacy Center Inc

BRIDGEGOOD increases opportunity and digital literacy for under-resourced students with a focus on Black Indigenous and Women People of Color. We prepare first-generation college students for careers in UX UI and Visual Design while…

Education
5
The Oakland Institute

The Oakland Institute, an independent policy think tank, works to support global struggles for Indigenous rights, human rights, and land rights and to promote public participation and fair debate on critical social, economic, and…

Food & Nutrition
6
Berggruen Institute
Education
7
Root Division

Root Divisions mission is to empower artists, foster community service, inspire youth, and enrich the Bay Area through engagement in the visual arts.

Arts & Culture
8
Design Museum Foundation Inc

To inspire social change through the transformative power of design through public programming, education initiatives,and publications.

Arts & Culture
9
Collective Remake Art Business Education Jobs News People and Rec

COLLECTIVE REMAKE: Art, Business, Education, Jobs, News, People, and Recycling for Sustainability is a unique social co-operative-in Los Angeles County-designed to support the creation of worker-owned businesses and other kinds of…

Education
10
Institute for Applied Tinkering

Institute for Applied Tinkering IAT develops, practices and shares educational methods that challenge and support all children to engage deeply in their learning via real interests and real tools.

Youth Development
11
Marin Open Studios

Marin open studios is a non-profit visual arts organization dedicated to engaging and supporting marin county artists and their audiences through events, programs and services. marin open studios champions a diverse and inclusive community…

Arts & Culture
12
Seattle Architectural Foundation

The Seattle Architecture Foundation connects people to the architecture, design, and history of Seattle. We believe the more you engage with design, the more you feel connected to your changing city. As a volunteer driven organization, we…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Creative Reaction Lab; the most unlike its peers is Sonoma Mountain Institute. 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

21 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. 21 of the 23 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/21
Grantees still filing
14/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

United States Artists Inc: $130,000 · Arts & CultureUnited States Artists IncTHE REBUILD FOUNDATION NFP: $20,000 · Arts & CultureTHE REBUILD FOUNDATION NFPStone Barns Restoration Corp DBA Stone Barns Center for Food & Agri: $15,000 · Arts & CultureStone Barns Restoration Corp DB…Richmond Art Center: $10,000 · Arts & CultureIntersection for the Arts: $10,000 · Arts & CulturePETALUMA BLACKS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: $10,000 · Arts & CultureSonoma Mountain Institute: $155,000 · EnvironmentSonoma Mountain InstituteOccidental Arts and Ecology Center: $20,000 · EnvironmentOccidental Arts and Ecology C…Urban Tilth: $10,000 · EnvironmentUrban TilthGIRLS GARAGE: $155,400 · InternationalGIRLS GARAGEREUSE ALLIANCE INC: $20,000 · EducationREUSE ALLIANC…SANTA FE ART INSTITUTE INC: $20,000 · EducationSANTA FE ART …Yale University: $16,000 · EducationYale Universi…BOTANICAL BUS: $10,000 · EducationBOTANICAL BUSSPAULDING HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION LTD: $10,000 · EducationSPAULDING HIG…Design Futures Forum Inc: $10,000 · EducationDesign Future…MY GIANT SQUID FRIEND LLC: $30,000 · OtherPETALUMA ART CENTER: $10,000 · OtherTHE AUDRE LORDE PROJECT INC: $7,800 · OtherPETALUMA PEOPLE SERVICES CENTER: $6,000 · OtherCREATIVE REACTION LAB: $10,000 · Community ImprovementIDEOORG: $10,000 · Community ImprovementInneract Project Inc: $10,000 · Youth Development
Arts & Culture$195,000Environment$185,000International$155,400Education$86,000Other$53,800Community Improvement$20,000Youth Development$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 budgetGIRLS GARAGE: $155,400 over 2y, 11% of budgetSonoma Mountain Institute: $155,000 over 3y, 4.9% of budgetUnited States Artists Inc: $130,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetOccidental Arts and Ecology Center: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetREUSE ALLIANCE INC: $20,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetSANTA FE ART INSTITUTE INC: $20,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetTHE REBUILD FOUNDATION NFP: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetYale University: $16,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetStone Barns Restoration Corp DBA Stone Barns Center for Food & Agri: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCREATIVE REACTION LAB: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetRichmond Art Center: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetBOTANICAL BUS: $10,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetUrban Tilth: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIDEOORG: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIntersection for the Arts: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPETALUMA BLACKS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: $10,000 over 1y, 7.4% of budgetDesign Futures Forum Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 9.7% of budgetInneract Project Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetTHE AUDRE LORDE PROJECT INC: $7,800 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetPETALUMA PEOPLE SERVICES CENTER: $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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 Yelp FoundationMarin Community Found…The San Francisco Fou…Silicon Valley Commun…Vanguard Charitable E…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…National Philanthropi…American Online Givin…Network for GoodDonor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Yelp FoundationCA12.8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Yelp Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Network for Good · 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 Eames Institute funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Eames Institute. 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%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Yale University: 12% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
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 Eames Institute?

Find your warmest path to The Eames Institute 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 23 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 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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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