Skip to content
The Markkula Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Markkula Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$485k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$275k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Education$963kRecreation & Sports$420kPublic Benefit$402kHealth$184kArts & Culture$106kEnvironment$100kCrime & Legal$95kHuman Services$80kOther$0
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $84k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $111k
  • $250k+1 grant · $275k
$10,250
Median grant
1
States reached
$7.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CRISTO REY SAN JOSE JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL$275,000
San Francisco 49er Foundation$111,200
Santa Clara University$43,500
INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE$20,000
RESURGE INTERNATIONAL$10,250
MONTALVO ASSOCIATION$10,000
MILLS-PENINSULA HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$5,000
JW HOUSE$5,000
Computer History Museum$4,096
CityTeam Ministries$1,200
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 (FY21–24, $53k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 58% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Child Bridge Inc: $500 → 18%Avenidas: $1k → 8%The Heritage Foundation: $25k → 12%Wounded Warrior Project: $5k → 14%Avenidas: $1k → 8%Avenidas: $1k → 8%Recovery Cafe San Jose: $10k → 8%Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence: $3k → 8%Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence: $3k → 8%Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence: $3k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
ID
MT
NY
NV
IN
CA
VA
MD
KS
TN
NC
DC
FL
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.1M · 35 repeat orgs$228k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

35 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 26 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

35
16

Total granted

$2.1M
$223k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
0%

Still filing today

80%
94%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesEducationInternationalPublic BenefitOther
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

  • CR
    CRISTO REY SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL
    5× · 2021–2025 · $601k · revenue +54%
  • JUDICIAL WATCH INC
    3× · 2021–2024 · $150k · revenue +3%
  • PO
    PRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE
    3× · 2023–2025 · $116k · revenue +17%

Funded once

  • PBS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $50k · revenue +159%
  • DE
    DON'T EVER GIVE UP INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +44%
  • TL
    THUNDERBIRD LODGE PRESERVATION SOCIETY
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue -9%
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
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
2
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
3
Golden Gate University

Golden gate university prepares individuals to lead and serve by providing high quality, practice-based educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions - as a nonprofit institution - in an innovative and challenging…

Education
4
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
5
Stony Brook Surgical Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
6
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
7
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
8
Stony Brook Urology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
9
Neurology Associates of Stony Brook University Faculty Practice Corp

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
10
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
11
Naval Postgraduate School Foundation Inc

Our mission is to support the naval postgraduate school by providing funding and programmatic support for education, research, technology development, institutional initiatives, and community programs that advance national security and…

Education
12
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Computer History Museum. 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

47 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. 47 of the 55 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
47/47
Grantees still filing
29/47
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CRISTO REY SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL: $601,000 · EducationCRISTO REY SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOLPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE: $115,500 · EducationPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CL…THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $70,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND …+3 more: $26,000 · EducationSan Francisco 49er Foundation: $394,700 · OtherSan Francisco 49er FoundationTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY OF CALIFORNIA: $100,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY OF CALIFORNIAEL CAMINO HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $64,000 · OtherEL CAMINO HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONTHE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE: $45,000 · OtherTHE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTENPOWER INC: $30,000 · OtherAmericans for Prosperity Foundation: $30,000 · Other+21 more: $177,475 · Other+21 moreJUDICIAL WATCH INC: $150,000 · Public BenefitJUDICIAL WATCH I…Leadership Institute: $100,000 · Public BenefitLeadership Insti…CATO INSTITUTE: $60,000 · Public BenefitCATO INSTITUTETHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Public BenefitTHE HERITAGE FOU…CERTELL INC: $150,000 · InternationalRESURGE INTERNATIONAL: $30,250 · InternationalTHE INSTITUTE OF WORLD POLITICS: $10,000 · InternationalCOMPUTER HISTORY MUSEUM: $54,096 · Arts & CulturePBS FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Arts & CultureTHUNDERBIRD LODGE PRESERVATION SOCIETY: $25,000 · Arts & CultureMONTALVO ASSOCIATION: $20,000 · Arts & CultureStanford Jazz Workshop: $10,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $1,100 · Arts & CulturePacific Legal Foundation: $75,000 · Crime & LegalNATIONAL RIGHT TO WORK LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · Crime & LegalNATIONAL LEGAL AND POLICY CENTER: $5,000 · Crime & LegalDON'T EVER GIVE UP INC: $50,000 · HealthJW HOUSE: $20,000 · HealthEPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $5,000 · HealthSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $5,000 · HealthST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $5,000 · HealthMILLS-PENINSULA HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Health
Education$812,500Other$841,175Public Benefit$360,000International$190,250Arts & Culture$160,196Crime & Legal$95,000Health$90,000

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 budgetCRISTO REY SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL: $601,000 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetCERTELL INC: $150,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetJUDICIAL WATCH INC: $150,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE: $115,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLeadership Institute: $100,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPacific Legal Foundation: $75,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $70,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE: $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCOMPUTER HISTORY MUSEUM: $54,096 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPBS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetDON'T EVER GIVE UP INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE: $45,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetRESURGE INTERNATIONAL: $30,250 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetNPOWER INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAmericans for Prosperity Foundation: $30,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHUNDERBIRD LODGE PRESERVATION SOCIETY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSUN VALLEY SKI EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMONTEREY COUNTY FAIR HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetJW HOUSE: $20,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetMONTALVO ASSOCIATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetEASTSIDE COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL INC: $19,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL RIGHT TO WORK LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPacific Research Institute For Public Policy: $12,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE INSTITUTE OF WORLD POLITICS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRecovery Cafe San Jose: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetRenown Health Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetStanford Jazz Workshop: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNEXT DOOR SOLUTIONS TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: $9,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetALASKA RAPTOR REHABILITATION CENTER: $8,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetLIFEMOVES: $6,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL LEGAL AND POLICY CENTER: $5,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCITYTEAM MINISTRIES: $4,200 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAVENIDAS: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWOODSIDE-PORTOLA VALLEY FIRE PROTECTION FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFILOLI CENTER: $1,100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHP 11-99 FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILD BRIDGE INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $75 over 2y, 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…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Marin Community Found…American Endowment Fo…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…Bny Mellon Charitable…Vanguard Charitable E…Sosj Knights Hospital…The Valley FoundationThe George and Judy M…Farrington Historical…
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA24.5× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Marin Community Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Bny Mellon Charitable Gift Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Sosj Knights Hospitaller Priory of the Western USA · The Valley Foundation · The George and Judy Marcus Family Foundation · Farrington Historical 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 Markkula Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Markkula Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Epilepsy Foundation of America: 22% of income from government
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Shriners Hospitals for Children: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
11report 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.

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 55 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 Markkula’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