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The Edward M Dowd Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Edward M Dowd 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.

$5.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
25
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$4.8M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through 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.

Education$3.1MHealth$125kFood & Nutrition$45kHousing & Shelter$12kCommunity Improvement$4kPhilanthropy$100
02FY2025 · 25 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k18 grants · $61k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $70k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $77k
  • $250k+1 grant · $4.8M
$5,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$163M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY$4,800,000
NATIVIDAD MEDICAL FOUNDATION$77,225
RAMPS$30,000
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$10,000
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER$10,000
RANCHO CIELO$10,000
HENRICO POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE$10,000
DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT$7,500
ROSEBURG RESCUE MISSION INC$7,500
OLDOWN SALINAS HOMETOWN HEROES$6,000
STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$5,000
FLOWER ARTS CENTER INC$5,000
MENLO SCHOOL FOUNDATION$5,000
COLLEGIATE SCHOOL FUND$5,000
HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE$5,000
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 (FY22–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 29% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%PHILLIPS BROOKS SCHOOL: $3k → 7%SUNBEAM FOUNDATION: $1k → 8%NORTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS: $100 → 10%FOOD BANK FOR MONTEREY COUNTY: $15k → 12%ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $10k → 14%HOSPICE OF ORANGE AND SULLIVAN COUN: $1k → 14%NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $125k → 17%GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT: $8k → 17%RAMPS: $30k → 6%HENRICO POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE: $10k → 9%HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE: $5k → 20%GLENBROOK UNDERGROUND INC: $5k → 13%JASPER RIDGE FARM: $1k → 7%SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY: $4.8M → 8%NORTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS: $100 → 10%RANCHO CIELO: $10k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $10k → 14%ROSEBURG RESCUE MISSION INC: $8k → 17%COLLEGIATE SCHOOL FUND: $5k → 9%MENLO SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $5k → 7%SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY: $1.0M → 8%NATIVIDAD MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $77k → 12%FLOWER ARTS CENTER INC: $5k → 14%STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5k → 8%BOYS GIRLS CLUB: $1k → 12%PALMA SCHOOL: $2.1M → 12%MEALS ON WHEELS OF THE SALINAS VALLEY: $15k → 12%GROWER SHIPPER ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION: $15k → 12%PALMA SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $10k → 12%OLDOWN SALINAS HOMETOWN HEROES: $6k → 12%OLDTOWN SALINAS HOMETOWN HERO BANNERS COMMITTEE: $4k → 12%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 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
Samuel Merritt University

Samuel merritt university educates students to become highly skilled and compassionate health care professionals who positively transform the experience of care in diverse communities.

Education
2
University of the Pacific

To provide a superior, student-centered learning experience integrating liberal arts and professional education and preparing individuals for lasting achievement and responsible leadership in their careers and communities.

Education
3
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
4
Marin Academy

Marin academy asks every individual to think, question, and create in an environment of encouragement and compassion, and challenges each person to accept the responsibilities posed by education in a democratic society.

Education
5
University of Redlands

We welcome, educate, and empower a diverse community of learners for lives of meaning, impact, and joy.

Education
6
The Scripps Research Institute

The scripps research institute ("tsri") performs high impact basic biomedical research, improves the human condition by fostering translation of its discoveries into useful products and engages in the highest quality graduate scientific…

Health
7
San Jose State University Research Foundation

As an integral member of the san jose state university community, the san jose state university research foundation provides an entrepreneurial framework through which local, state and federal agencies, businesses and private foundations…

Education
8
Dominican University of California

Our institutional mission is to educate and prepare students to be ethical leaders and socially responsible global citizens who incorporate the dominican values of study, reflection, community and service into their lives.

Education
9
Harvey Mudd College

HMC seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities, social sciences and the arts so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the…

Education
10
Pacific University

A diverse and sustainable learning community dedicated to discovery and excellence in teaching, scholarship and practice, pacific university inspires students to think, care, create and pursue justice in our world.

Education
11
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
12
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is President-Board of Trustees Santa Clara College; the most unlike its peers is Sunbeam Foundation. 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

20 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. 20 of the 33 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/20
Grantees still filing
11/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE: $5,800,000 · EducationPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE+5 more: $38,000 · EducationCHRISTIAN BROTHERS INSTITUTE OF CALIFORNIA: $2,100,000 · OtherCHRISTIAN BROTHERS INSTITUTE …+18 more: $94,200 · OtherNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $125,000 · HealthNATIVIDAD MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $77,225 · HealthMEALS ON WHEELS OF THE SALINAS VALLEY: $15,000 · Food & NutritionGROWER-SHIPPER ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Food & NutritionRANCHO CIELO INC: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentHENRICO POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentFranciscan Workers of Junipero Serra: $12,200 · Human ServicesROSEBURG RESCUE MISSION LIGHTHOUSE OF GOD MISSION INC: $7,500 · Housing & Shelter
Education$5,838,000Other$2,194,200Health$202,225Food & Nutrition$30,000Youth Development$20,000Human Services$12,200Housing & Shelter$7,500

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 budgetPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE: $5,800,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $125,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFOOD BANK FOR MONTEREY COUNTY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS OF THE SALINAS VALLEY: $15,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetGROWER-SHIPPER ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetFranciscan Workers of Junipero Serra: $12,200 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPALMA SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetRANCHO CIELO INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRochester Institute of Technology: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetROSEBURG RESCUE MISSION LIGHTHOUSE OF GOD MISSION INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetHAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PHILLIPS BROOKS SCHOOL: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJasper Ridge Farm: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSUNBEAM FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetNorthern California Grantmakers: $200 over 2y, 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

The James Irvine Foun…
The James Irvine FoundationCA13.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The James Irvine 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 Edward M Dowd Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Edward M Dowd Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Edward M Dowd Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Edward M Dowd 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 33 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 Edward M Dowd’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