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The Margaret Liu Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Margaret Liu 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.

$1.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.3M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Health$1.3MArts & Culture$263kEducation$53kReligion$35kCivil Rights$30kCrime & Legal$7kHuman Services$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $35k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.3M
$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$784k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UCSF FOUNDATION$1,333,333
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA$100,000
SAN FRANCISO SYMPHONY$25,000
U CHANNEL FOUNDATION$10,000
MERI CROULEY MINISTRY$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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%VICTORY INTERNATIONAL CHURCH: $10k → 7%RIVER OF LIFE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: $15k → 8%SONOMA VALLEY AUTHORS FESTIVAL: $6k → 9%MERI CROULEY MINISTRY: $5k → 10%SAFE SOUND: $5k → 10%U CHANNEL FOUNDATION: $10k → 8%ALEXANDER DINAPOLI: $26k → 10%RIVER OF LIFE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: $2k → 8%EPIC CHURCH: $2k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO OPERA: $100k → 10%SAN FRANCISO SYMPHONY: $62k → 10%SAN FRANCISO SYMPHONY: $35k → 10%ASIAN ART MUSEUM: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISO SYMPHONY: $25k → 10%SALVATION ARMY: $5k → 10%CHINESE HOSPITAL: $2k → 10%CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS: $2k → 10%FAITH INTL CHRISTIAN CENTER: $1k → 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.
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
San Francisco Guzheng Music Society
Arts & Culture
2
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

See schedule osfmoma believes the art of our time is vital and shares it with passion and purpose, and that art and the creative process can open minds and help build a better world. for that reason, we assemble unparalleled collections,…

Arts & Culture
3
San Francisco Challenge dba AmericaOne
Recreation & Sports
4
San Francisco Filipino Cultural Center
Arts & Culture
5
Uc Chinese Alumni Foundation
—
6
San Francisco Philharmonic Orchestra

Take world-class symphonic music off the pedestal and into the heart of our community. San Francisco Philharmonic is an orchestral group dedicated to cultural enrichment, music education and creating a performance platform for women and…

Arts & Culture
7
San Francisco Art Studio Foundation
—
8
San Francisco High School of the Arts

San Francisco Arts and Science Academy (ASA) provides TK5 grade students with a strong foundation in the arts, language, math, and science, fostering creativity, curiosity, and character development. Our bilingual, hands-on curriculum…

Education
9
Voices of Silicon Valley

Community Music / Arts Organization

Arts & Culture
10
San Francisco Family Foundation
—
11
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
12
Art Foundation
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 Sonoma Valley Authors Festival. 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

9 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. 9 of the 21 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
3/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $1,333,333 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATIONSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $122,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO SY…SAN FRANCISCO OPERA ASSOCIATION: $100,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO OP…ASIAN ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $25,000 · Arts & CultureASIAN ART MUSEUM…U Channel Foundation: $10,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $5,500 · Arts & CultureIndividual grant recipient: $25,930 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $25,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $20,000 · OtherRIVER OF LIFE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: $17,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $10,000 · OtherVICTORY INTERNATIONAL CHURCH: $10,000 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMY: $5,200 · OtherSAFE SOUND: $5,000 · OtherMERI CROULEY MINISTRY: $5,000 · Other+3 more: $4,300 · OtherTHE 1990 INSTITUTE: $30,000 · InternationalCHINESE HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: $2,000 · HealthSpecial Operations - Finding Kids: $2,000 · Crime & Legal
Education$1,333,333Arts & Culture$262,500Other$127,430International$30,000Health$2,000Crime & Legal$2,000

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 budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $1,333,333 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY: $122,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO OPERA ASSOCIATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetASIAN ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION OF SAN FRANCISCO: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetU Channel Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetCHINESE HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSpecial Operations - Finding Kids: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
National Philanthropic TrustPA8.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Margaret Liu Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Margaret Liu Foundation. 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%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Margaret Liu Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Margaret Liu 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 21 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 Margaret Liu’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