· Private foundation
The John C Mithun 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k5 grants · $16k
- $10k–50k22 grants · $556k
- $50k–250k22 grants · $2.3M
- $250k+1 grant · $505k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| LOBERO THEATRE | $505,000 |
| SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL | $225,000 |
| SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY | $200,000 |
| GIRLS INC - CARPINTERIA | $180,000 |
| CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS (CUAFG) | $160,000 |
| LOTUSLAND | $155,000 |
| VISITING NURSE AND HOSPICE CARE OF SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION | $150,000 |
| UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION | $150,000 |
| YMCA - SANTA BARBARA FAMILY (CHANNEL ISLANDS YMCA) | $120,000 |
| MISSION SCHOLARS | $115,000 |
| ENSEMBLE THEATER | $90,000 |
| SANTA BARBARA CHANNELKEEPERS | $80,000 |
| MUSIC ACADEMY | $75,000 |
| FOODBANK | $75,000 |
| GOLETA EDUCATION FOUNDATION | $70,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $566k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +52% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.
73 repeat relationships: 35 still active in FY2025, 38 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $458k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION9× · 2017–2025 · $1.3M · revenue +224%- OSOPERA SANTA BARBARA8× · 2017–2024 · $667k · revenue +16%
- MAMUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST6× · 2017–2022 · $635k · revenue +18%
Funded once
- HSHOPE SCHOOL DISTRICT EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONone grant, 2019 · $120k · revenue -91% · 37% of their budget
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2022 · $100k
- CFCENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENSgraduatedone grant, 2024 · $80k · revenue +59%
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.
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.
To operate a school for grades 6-9, delivering a holistic program of academics, arts & athletics, community service, and outdoor education that fosters passion for life and learning, self trust, strength and courage to succeed, and…
The sbcc foundation fuels the excellence of santa barbara city college by engaging the community, building relationships, and inviting the generosity of donors. the resources raised and managed by the foundation enrich college programs,…
The mission of st. francis foundation of santa barbara is to promote and support health care.
Provide cash grants and free consulting to grassroots organizations in santa barbara county.
The santa barbara zoo is dedicated to the preservation, conservation, and enhancement of the natural world and its living treasures through education, research, recreation and conservation.
Our mission is to protect public trail access build and maintain safe and sustainable trails and promote public engagement in land stewardship and trail use for all types of outdoor recreation.
To promote philanthropy to make santa cruz county a better place to live, now and in the future.we bring together people, ideas, and resources to inspire philanthropy and accomplish great things.
The mission of the santa barbara south coast chamber of commerce is to create a strong local economy, promote the community, provide business resources and networking opportunities and represent business to the government.
The san diego foundation inspires enduring philanthropy and enables community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region.
To serve the University, to involve UCSB alumni and students in its affairs and to enlist alumni talents in the preservation and promotion of UCSB's image, tradition, pride and status as a world class university.
It is the mission of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation to solicit, receive, invest, maintain and distribute funds for the support of charitable, scientific, and educational activities of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
To provide high-quality civil legal services to vulnerable santa barbara county residents.
How this is measured
54 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. 54 of the 99 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds OPERA SANTA BARBARA ↗
- Who funds MUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST ↗
- Who funds SANTA BARBARA NEIGHBORHOOD CLINICS ↗
- Who funds SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF SANTA BARBARA ↗
- Who funds SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL INC ↗
- Who funds THE LAND TRUST FOR SANTA BARBARA COUNTY ↗
- Who funds FOOD FROM THE HEART INC ↗
- Who funds Foodbank of Santa Barbara County Inc ↗
- Who funds GIRLS INCORPORATED OF CARPINTERIA ↗
- Who funds VNA HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds SANTA BARBARA CHANNELKEEPER INC ↗
- Who funds Channel Islands Young Men's Christian Association ↗
- Who funds SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ↗
- Who funds Mission Scholars ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL ↗
- Who funds SANTA BARBARA MARITIME MUSEUM ↗
- Who funds VNA HEALTH ↗
- Who funds Santa Barbara Education Foundation ↗
- Who funds UNITY SHOPPE INC ↗
- Who funds GIRLS INCORPORATED OF GREATER SANTA BARBARA ↗
- Who funds SANTA BARBARA BOTANIC GARDEN ↗
- Who funds CALM INC ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Hutton Foundation Dba Hutton Parker Foundation · Santa Barbara Foundation · Williams-Corbett Foundation · Ann Jackson Family Foundation · Mosher Foundation · Mithun Family Foundation · Towbes Foundation · June G Outhwaite Charitable Trust JS Poucher KL Englert & CM Cooney Co-Tr · La Centra-Sumerlin Foundation · Alice Tweed Tuohy Foundation · The Wood-Claeyssens Foundation · James S Bower Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The John C Mithun Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The John C Mithun Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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