· Private foundation
The Lehrer Family Foundation
Its FY2019 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2019.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2019
- Under $10k27 grants · $85k
- $10k–50k9 grants · $158k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $210k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST | $210,000 |
| JEWISH FEDERATION OF SANTA BARBARA | $25,000 |
| SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION | $21,000 |
| SANTA BARBARA ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS | $20,000 |
| SANTA BARBARA HILLEL | $20,000 |
| CONGREGATION B'NAI B'RITH | $20,000 |
| DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL | $20,000 |
| CANCER CENTER OF SANTA BARBARA | $12,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $10,000 |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF AMERICASANTA BARBARA | $10,000 |
| SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY | $8,000 |
| NEW BEGINNINGS COUNSELING CENTER | $5,000 |
| TRANSITION HOME | $5,000 |
| SEE INTERNATIONAL | $5,000 |
| CAMA | $5,000 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Your human-services grants (FY18–19, $14k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 79% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
31 repeat relationships — 30 still active in FY2019, 1 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (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 FY2019, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $21k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
- MAMUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST3× · 2017–2019 · $315k · revenue +18%
DIRECT RELIEF3× · 2017–2019 · $60k · revenue +94%- SBSANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION3× · 2017–2019 · $23k · revenue +51%
Funded once
- SBSANTA BARBARA CHAMBER ORCHESTRAone grant, 2017 · $25k
- CECASA ESPERANZA HOMELESS CENTERone grant, 2017 · $8k
- PPATHgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $6k · revenue +267%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
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 build a unique institute that bridges basic research and drug discovery, and that attracts the best and brightest scientists, physicians and students to work together synergistically to find cures for neglected human…
The uc santa barbara foundation actively works to further the goals of the university of california, santa barbara. the foundation seeks to maintain and nurture the university's quality and distinction. on behalf of the campus, the…
Mission: the mission of san diego opera is to deliver exceptional performances and exciting, accessible programs to diverse audiences, focusing on community partnerships, and the transformative and expressive power of the human voice. as…
Santa Barbara Education Foundation (SBEF) provides and supports programs that enrich the academic, artistic, and personal development of all students in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.
The scholarship foundation of santa barbara inspires, encourages and supports santa barbara county students to and through college, graduate and vocational school by providing information, advising, and scholarships.
Santa barbara humane operates two campuses located in santa barbara and santa maria providing care for community-owned and homeless animals. both campuses offer affordable high quality veterinary care, compassionate behavior training…
To distribute public affairs and other educational information in order to create an electronic bridge between californians and their public officials, and, in the process educate a new generation of voting citizens and civic leaders who…
The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory is dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats through science and outreach.
The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.
The san diego foundation inspires enduring philanthropy and enables community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region.
A private institution of higher education, offering both undergraduate and graduate courses to students.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Santa Barbara Foundation and the most unlike its peers is World Wildlife Fund Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
24 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 24 of the 44 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds MUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST ↗
- Who funds DIRECT RELIEF ↗
- Who funds SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Santa Barbara Hillel ↗
- Who funds SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds OPERA SANTA BARBARA ↗
- Who funds TRANSITION HOUSE ↗
- Who funds SURGICAL EYE EXPEDITIONS INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
- Who funds STATE STREET BALLET ↗
- Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER ↗
- Who funds GIRLS INCORPORATED OF GREATER SANTA BARBARA ↗
- Who funds SEVA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds PATH ↗
- Who funds ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE ↗
- Who funds WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC ↗
- Who funds ESALEN INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds NBCC ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ↗
- Who funds SHELTERBOX USA INC ↗
- Who funds UNITED BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY ↗
- Who funds CENTRAL COAST JR GOLF INC ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN PRECISION MUSEUM INC ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Santa Barbara Foundation · Hutton Foundation Dba Hutton Parker Foundation · The Wood-Claeyssens Foundation · Mosher Foundation · Williams-Corbett Foundation · Ann Jackson Family Foundation · The Turpin-Allebrand Family Charitable Foundation · Walter J & Holly O Thomson Charitable · Schlinger Chrisman Foundation Northern Trust Company Trustee · Roy and Ida Eagle Foundation · June G Outhwaite Charitable Trust JS Poucher KL Englert & CM Cooney Co-Tr · Stone Family Foundation
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization The Lehrer Family Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Lehrer Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Lehrer Family 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.