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The Lorraine & Gerard Seelig Founda at a glance

· Private foundation

The Lorraine & Gerard Seelig Founda

Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$436k
Granted FY2023
4
Grants FY2023
3
States reached
$401k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2023.

Philanthropy$401kHousing & Shelter$108kArts & Culture$86kCrime & Legal$30kReligion$8kEducation$7kInternational$6kYouth Development$6kOther$0
02FY2023 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
  • $250k+1 grant · $401k
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FIDELITY INV CHARITABLE GIFT FUND$400,689
FRIENDSHIP SHELTER INC$25,000
KING BAUDOUIN FOUNDATION$5,000
OPERA SAN JOSE INC$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:

Its human-services grants (FY18–21, $850) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Mission Hospice and Home Care: $600 → 7%BAY AREA FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE: $200 → 8%Avenidas: $50 → 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.

33%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$209k · 11 repeat orgs$432k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +70% since the first grant, against +27% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2023, 9 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
19

Total granted

$209k
$32k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+70%
+27%

Still filing today

73%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 7% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $401k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterCrime & LegalYouth DevelopmentReligionOther
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

  • FS
    FRIENDSHIP SHELTER INC
    6× · 2017–2023 · $108k · revenue +215%
  • OS
    OPERA SAN JOSE INCORPORATED
    6× · 2017–2023 · $50k · revenue +70%
  • T2
    TURN 2 U INC dba THE LAST MILE
    2× · 2020–2021 · $30k · revenue +72%

Funded once

  • CS
    COMMUNITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND ARTSgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +27%
  • AA
    ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
    one grant, 2022 · $1k
  • TM
    The MusicMenlo Program
    one grant, 2017 · $1k
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
San Francisco Opera Association

We believe opera is a uniquely compelling, entertaining and emotionally thrilling art form. our mission is to bring together growing audiences to experience opera's transformative power.

Arts & Culture
2
San Jose Chamber Music Society

To present chamber music concerts in San Jose performed by top ensembles from the Bay Area, across America, and around the world. To enrich our audience experience through post-concert Q&As, program notes, and meet-the-composer…

—
3
San Francisco Jazz Organization

The san francisco jazz organization (the organization) is a recognized international leader in jazz creation, presentation, and education. the organization explores the full spectrum of jazz, from the music's origins in the african…

Arts & Culture
4
San Francisco Performances Inc

SFP presents internationally acclaimed and emerging performing artists, introduces innovative programs, and builds new and diversified audiences for the arts through education and outreach activities.

Arts & Culture
5
The Contemporary Jewish Museum

The contemporary jewish museum (the cjm) makes the diversity of the jewish experience relevant for a twenty-first-century audience through innovative exhibitions and programs that educate, challenge, and inspire.

Arts & Culture
6
California Bach Society Inc

Choral Music Performances: California Bach Society is a 30-voice chamber choir known for finely wrought interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque music, often accompanied by leading period instrumentalists. Each season, the choir performs…

—
7
Midsummer Mozart Festival

The only music festival in North America dedicated to Mozart, our mission embraces both performance of highest artistic excellence and cultivation of new potential audience, including young people to assure the future appreciation of great…

Arts & Culture
8
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale

See mission statement starting on page 1 and continuing on schedule o

Arts & Culture
9
Symphony San Jose

To provide orchestral music performances, educational services, and arts advocacy programs to the greater silicon valley region.

Arts & Culture
10
San Diego Jewish Academy

San Diego Jewish Academy empowers each student to learn for life, guided by Jewish values and rooted in strength of community.

Education
11
San Jose Chamber Orchestra

The mission of the San Jose Chamber Orchestra (SJCO) is to share exciting, though-provoking, and vibrant Music by contemporary and time-honored composers reflecting the cultural diversity of our everchanging community, and to support and…

Unclassified
12
Ojai Festivals Ltd

The ojai music festival serves as a creative music laboratory for pioneering new works,championing adventurous programming, and working with today's emerging artists with events during the year and the ojai music festival serves as a…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is San Francisco Symphony; the most unlike its peers is Turn 2 U Inc dba the Last Mile. 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

19 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. 19 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)
19/19
Grantees still filing
15/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIDELITY INV CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $400,689 · OtherFIDELITY INV CHARITABLE GIFT FUND+20 more: $13,256 · OtherFRIENDSHIP SHELTER INC: $107,500 · Housing & ShelterFRIENDSHIP SHELTER…OPERA SAN JOSE INCORPORATED: $49,718 · Arts & CultureOPERA SAN JOSE…COMMUNITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND ARTS: $25,000 · Arts & CultureCOMMUNITY SCHO…SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $5,616 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO …SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $3,300 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $1,080 · Arts & CultureTURN 2 U INC dba THE LAST MILE: $30,000 · Crime & LegalTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $6,500 · EducationYOUTH SPIRIT ARTWORKS: $5,500 · Youth DevelopmentMYRIAD USA INC: $5,500 · International
Other$413,945Housing & Shelter$107,500Arts & Culture$84,714Crime & Legal$30,000Education$6,500Youth Development$5,500International$5,500

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 budgetFRIENDSHIP SHELTER INC: $107,500 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetOPERA SAN JOSE INCORPORATED: $49,718 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetTURN 2 U INC dba THE LAST MILE: $30,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND ARTS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $6,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $5,616 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMYRIAD USA INC: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $3,300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMISSION HOSPICE & HOME CARE INC: $600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJ STREET EDUCATION FUND INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBAY AREA FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMERICAN BEETHOVEN SOCIETY CO SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY: $200 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH PLAYS PROJECT: $180 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $150 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL OF SAN FRANCISCO MARIN & PENINSULA: $150 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAVENIDAS: $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAARP FOUNDATION: $25 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.

Silicon Valley Commun…Jewish Community Fede…Marin Community Found…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The William & Flora H…The San Francisco Fou…Ibm International Fou…American Endowment Fo…The Ayco Charitable F…Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA18.9× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · Marin Community Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Ibm International Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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 Lorraine & Gerard Seelig Founda funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Lorraine & Gerard Seelig Founda. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s 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 · 0–40%
    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 Lorraine & Gerard Seelig Founda?

    Find your warmest path to The Lorraine & Gerard Seelig Founda 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Lorraine & Gerard Seelig Founda’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
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