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The Elizabeth R & William J Patterson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Elizabeth R & William J Patterson 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.

$6.7M
Granted FY2024still arriving
26
Grants FY2024still arriving
8
States reached
$1.0M
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, FY2019 to 2024.

Environment$17MFood & Nutrition$6.4MCommunity Improvement$5.1MScience & Tech$3.7MEmployment$3.7MArts & Culture$2.3MHealth$1.8MPhilanthropy$1.5MOther$0
02FY2024 · 26 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $115
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $35k
  • $50k–250k11 grants · $1.6M
  • $250k+11 grants · $5.1M
$200,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$49M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PBS FOUNDATION$1,000,000
SUMMER SEARCH$1,000,000
THE DRAPER RICHARDS KAPLAN FOUNDATION$500,000
SUSTAINABLE CONSERVATION$500,000
POINT BLUE CONSERVATION SCIENCE$400,000
ADVENTURERS AND SCIENTISTS FOR CONSERVATION$300,000
CARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE$300,000
THE CLIMATE CENTER$300,000
CALIFORNIA ASSOC OF RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICT$300,000
KITCHEN TABLE ADVISORS$250,000
FOUNDATION FOR NATIONAL PROGRESS$250,000
MAD AGRICULTURE$200,000
DAILY ACTS ORGANIZATION$200,000
SUSTAINABLE ORGANIC INTEGRATED LIVELIHOODS$200,000
FIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE$175,206
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 (FY20–21, $2.0M) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%NPX CHARITABLE INC: $1.0M → 10%NPX CHARITABLE INC: $1.0M → 10%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.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
MT
NY
MA
OR
CA
CO
VA
DC
TX
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 9% of The Elizabeth R & William J Patterson Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 83% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 79%.

The Elizabeth R & William J Patterson Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 7.8% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$41M · 35 repeat orgs$2.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +45% since the first grant, against -17% for those funded once.

35 repeat relationships: 19 still active in FY2024, 16 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

35
6

Total granted

$41M
$945k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+45%
-17%

Still filing today

100%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.7M went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentFood & NutritionArts & CultureEmploymentPhilanthropyEducationOther
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

  • CA
    CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
    4× · 2019–2022 · $3.7M · revenue +20%
  • ST
    SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE
    4× · 2019–2022 · $3.0M · revenue +130%
  • CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION
    3× · 2019–2021 · $1.8M · revenue +120%

Funded once

  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY AT STRYBING ARBORETUM
    one grant, 2021 · $250k · revenue -69%
  • TC
    THE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING INC
    one grant, 2023 · $250k
  • OS
    Oceanic Society Expeditionsgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $250k · revenue +51%
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
CarbonPlan

Improving the transparency and scientific integrity of climate solutions through open data and tools.

Environment
2
Climate Foundation

To research and develop healthy climate solutions comprising global food security, ecosystem regeneration and carbon balance in seas and soils.

Science & Tech
3
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
4
Grist Magazine Inc

Grist is an independent, non profit media organization dedicated to reporting on climate change.

Environment
5
California Institute for Biodiversity

Create and publish educational materials, conduct professional development, promote awareness, and sponsor research on the spectacular biological diversity of the State of CA.

Education
6
California Farmland Trust

The mission of the California Farmland Trust is to help farmers protect the best farmland in the world.

Environment
7
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
8
Cascade Climate Inc

To accelerate progress in interventions that harness Earths natural systems to stabilize the climate.

Environment
9
Bay Nature Institute dba Bay Nature Bay Nature Magazine

Bay Nature connects the people of the San Francisco Bay Area to our natural world and motivates people to solve problems with nature in mind. Our vision is that all people have a close relationship with theirnatural world.

Environment
10
California Ocean Science Trust

California ocean science trust (ost) is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating progress towards a healthy and productive ocean future for california. created by state legislation, ost bridges the gap between cutting-edge…

Environment
11
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
12
Climate Action Reserve

The Climate Action Reserve develops and implements trusted market-based programs to advance climate action for people and planet. A pioneer in carbon accounting, the Reserve promotes and fosters the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG)…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Trust for Public Land; the most unlike its peers is San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

48 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. 48 of the 50 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)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
48/48
Grantees still filing
30/48
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $3,000,000 · EnvironmentSAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUECONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $1,812,680 · EnvironmentCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATIONUrban Tilth: $1,650,000 · EnvironmentUrban TilthTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $1,500,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LANDSustainable Conservation: $1,400,000 · EnvironmentSustainable ConservationDaily Acts Organization: $1,200,000 · EnvironmentDaily Acts OrganizationADVENTURERS AND SCIENTISTS FOR CONSERVATION: $1,200,000 · EnvironmentADVENTURERS AND SCIENTISTS FOR CONSERVAT…MULTIPLIER: $1,050,000 · EnvironmentMULTIPLIERCALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICTS: $900,000 · EnvironmentCALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF RESOURCE CONSE…Ten Strands: $750,000 · EnvironmentFIBERSHED: $540,000 · Environment+6 more: $810,100 · EnvironmentCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $3,731,637 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNIA ACAD…BAY AREA DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $1,200,000 · Arts & CultureBAY AREA DISCOV…PBS FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · Arts & CulturePBS FOUNDATION+3 more: $104,892 · Arts & CultureMARIN AGRICULTURAL LAND TRUST: $2,482,500 · Food & NutritionMARIN AGRICU…SUSTAINABLE ORGANIC INTEGRATED LIVELIHOODS C/O MELANIE STEVENSON: $1,050,000 · Food & NutritionSUSTAINABLE …Civil Eats: $400,000 · Food & NutritionCivil EatsMAD AGRICULTURE: $400,000 · Food & NutritionMAD AGRICULT…FOODCORPS INC: $300,000 · Food & NutritionFOODCORPS IN…KITCHEN TABLE ADVISORS: $250,000 · Food & Nutrition+1 more: $150,000 · Food & NutritionSUMMER SEARCH: $3,700,000 · EmploymentSUMMER SEAR…PIE RANCH: $750,000 · EmploymentPIE RANCHCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $1,400,000 · PhilanthropyDRAPER RICHARDS KAPLAN FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: $500,000 · PhilanthropyFIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: $1,409,042 · OtherFIRST NATIONS DEVELOP…The Center for Investigative Reporting Inc: $500,000 · OtherThe Center for Invest…The Climate Center: $900,000 · OtherThe Climate CenterCAREMESSAGE: $850,000 · OtherCAREMESSAGEPOINT REYES BIRD OBSERVATORY: $1,490,000 · OtherPOINT REYES BIRD OBSE…PEER HEALTH EXCHANGE INC: $950,001 · OtherPEER HEALTH EXCHANGE …CARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE: $900,000 · OtherCARBON CYCLE INSTITUT…+7 more: $1,340,000 · Other+7 moreNPX CHARITABLE INC: $2,000,000 · Human Services
Environment$15,812,780Arts & Culture$6,036,529Food & Nutrition$5,032,500Employment$4,450,000Philanthropy$2,900,000Other$8,339,043Human Services$2,000,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $3,731,637 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetSUMMER SEARCH: $3,700,000 over 5y, 4.3% of budgetSAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $3,000,000 over 4y, 4.8% of budgetMARIN AGRICULTURAL LAND TRUST: $2,482,500 over 4y, 17% of budgetNPX CHARITABLE INC: $2,000,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $1,812,680 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetUrban Tilth: $1,650,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $1,500,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetPOINT REYES BIRD OBSERVATORY: $1,490,000 over 4y, 3.1% of budgetFIRST NATIONS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: $1,409,042 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $1,400,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetSustainable Conservation: $1,400,000 over 6y, 5.7% of budgetBAY AREA DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $1,200,000 over 3y, 5.9% of budgetDaily Acts Organization: $1,200,000 over 5y, 21% of budgetADVENTURERS AND SCIENTISTS FOR CONSERVATION: $1,200,000 over 4y, 39% of budgetSUSTAINABLE ORGANIC INTEGRATED LIVELIHOODS C/O MELANIE STEVENSON: $1,050,000 over 5y, 18% of budgetMULTIPLIER: $1,050,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetPBS FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetDRAPER RICHARDS KAPLAN FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetPEER HEALTH EXCHANGE INC: $950,001 over 6y, 3.6% of budgetThe Climate Center: $900,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetCALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICTS: $900,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetCARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE: $900,000 over 3y, 34% of budgetCAREMESSAGE: $850,000 over 6y, 4.8% of budgetTen Strands: $750,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetPIE RANCH: $750,000 over 3y, 6.8% of budgetFIBERSHED: $540,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: $500,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetThe Center for Investigative Reporting Inc: $500,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetCivil Eats: $400,000 over 4y, 17% of budgetMAD AGRICULTURE: $400,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetFOODCORPS INC: $300,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetACCOUNTABILITY COUNSEL: $275,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY AT STRYBING ARBORETUM: $250,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetKITCHEN TABLE ADVISORS: $250,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetThe Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress: $250,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetOceanic Society Expeditions: $250,000 over 1y, 7.7% of budgetOccidental Arts and Ecology Center: $225,000 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetCENTER ON RURAL INNOVATION INC: $200,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetExtrafood: $150,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $90,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPROTECT OUR WINTERS: $50,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetWild Farm Alliance: $10,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetEconomic Development and Financing Corporation Inc: $4,877 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetReal Organic Project Inc: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFirst Look Institute Inc: $15 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.

Marin Community Found…The San Francisco Fou…Clif Family FoundationSilicon Valley Commun…The Schmidt Family Fo…PatagoniaorgImpactassetsincMcNabb FoundationClarence E Heller Cha…Tomkat Ranch Educatio…Community Foundation …Tides Foundation
Marin Community FoundationCA34.3× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Marin Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Clif Family Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Patagoniaorg · Impactassetsinc · McNabb Foundation · Clarence E Heller Charitable Foundation · Tomkat Ranch Educational Foundation · Community Foundation for San Benito County · Tides 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 Elizabeth R & William J Patterson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Elizabeth R & William J Patterson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 21%
  • Center On Rural Innovation Inc: 37% of income from government
  • Foodcorps Inc: 21% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Real Organic Project Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
15report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Elizabeth R & William J Patterson Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Elizabeth R & William J Patterson 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 50 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 Elizabeth R & William J Patterson’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