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The Martis Fund

THE MARTIS FUND supports programs to conserve open space; manage and restore habitat and forest lands; and promote opportunities for workforce housing and related community purposes in the martis valley region.

$1.3M
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$400k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172024.

Environment$6.1MHousing & Shelter$2.2MArts & Culture$1.4MEmployment$1.0MRecreation & Sports$427kHuman Services$300kEducation$91k
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $65k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $520k
  • $250k+2 grants · $750k
$100,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$18M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Sierra Community House$400,000
Tahoe Truckee Community Found$350,000
CONSERVATION SCIENCE PARTNERS$150,000
ADVOCATES FOR MENTALLY AMI$140,000
Tahoe Truckee Community Found$100,000
CONSERVATION SCIENCE PARTNERS$80,000
Tahoe Truckee Community Found$50,000
Sierra Business Council$33,000
CLEAN UP THE CAYES$31,500
02The need
03

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.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY24–24, $140k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%ADVOCATES FOR MENTALLY AMI: $140k → 6%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

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.

04

Where the work is directed

The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.

About 18% of The Martis Fund’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another. Read by recipient address, 90% of the giving stays in CA; read by stated purpose it is 84% — less of the work is directed home than the recipients' locations suggest.

The Martis Fundlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 5.8% directed abroad (not shown)

Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

03Your edge
repeat funding

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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$8.1M · 13 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +56% since the first grant, against +37% for the ones you funded once.

13 repeat relationships — 4 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
6

Total granted

$8.1M
$1.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+56%
+37%

Still filing today

85%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $172k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentHousing & ShelterEducationRecreation & SportsScience & TechHuman ServicesOther

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

  • TR
    Truckee River Watershed Council
    6× · 2017–2023 · $3.5M · revenue +212%
  • CI
    CRISIS INTERVENTION SERVICES DBA SIERRA COMMUNITY HOUSE
    5× · 2019–2024 · $1.5M · revenue +248%
  • MA
    Mountain Area Preservation Foundation
    7× · 2018–2024 · $923k · revenue +103% · 86% of their budget

Funded once

  • CR
    Community Resources Inc
    one grant, 2023 · $1.0M · revenue -16%
  • TD
    TRUCKEE DONNER LAND TRUST
    one grant, 2022 · $298k · revenue -50%
  • NF
    NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $108k · revenue +216%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

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.

1
The Sierra Fund

The Sierra Fund (TSF) is a non-profit organization with a mission to restore ecosystem and community resiliency in the Sierra Nevada.

Environment
2
Sierra Watch

Sierra watch secures conservation outcomes to protect the natural resources, mountain communities, and timeless values of the tahoe sierra.

Environment
3
Tahoe Community Foundation

The Foundation envisions a thriving community created through meaningful philanthropy, inclusive communication, and the willingness to explore possibilities together.

Education
4
Sierra State Parks Foundation

The Sierra State Parks Foundation provides critically needed financial and professional support to the Lake Tahoe-Donner Sierra State Parks for Education, Restoration, and Cultural and Environmental Preservation in partnership with…

Recreation & Sports
5
Tuolumne River Preservation Trust dba Yosemite Rivers Alliance

At Yosemite Rivers Alliance, we unite conservation and community to protect and restore the three rivers that ?ow through the Yosemite Regionthe Tuolumne, Stanislaus, and Merced.

6
Tahoe Institute for Natural Science

To advance the natural history, conservation and ecosystem knowledge of the Tahoe region through science, education and outreach.

Environment
7
Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce

A membership organization dedicated to developing, promoting, and serving your business and community. Our goal is to sustain a high quality of life by achieving economic vitality, with sensitivity and respect for the environment.

8
Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center Inc

CSERC protects water, wildlife, and wild places of the Northern Yosemite region.

Unclassified
9
Clean Tahoe Program

To improve the visual quality of the Tahoe Basin portion of El Dorado County through community education, citizen involvement and enforcecment of litter and nuisance ordinances.

Environment
10
Friends of the Inyo

The Friends of the Inyos mission is to protect, and care for, the lands and waters of Californias Eastern Sierra.

Environment
11
Sequoia Riverlands Trust

We conserve the lands and waters of California's heartland.

Environment
12
Bear Yuba Land Trust

Bear Yuba Land Trust exists to conserve and protect the natural, working, and cultural lands in the Bear and Yuba River watersheds and empower a healthy, resilient community through nature access and education.

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Community Resources Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

05the grantee network

20 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 20 of the 22 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/20
Grantees still filing
15/20
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Truckee River Watershed Council — $3,479,250 · EnvironmentTruckee River Watershed CouncilTRUCKEE DONNER LAND TRUST — $298,440 · EnvironmentTRUCKEE DONNER LAND TRUSTTruckee Trails Foundation Inc — $149,839 · Environment+2 more — $85,053 · EnvironmentCRISIS INTERVENTION SERVICES DBA SIERRA COMMUNITY HOUSE — $1,531,250 · OtherCRISIS INTERVENTION SERVICES DBA SIER…Mountain Area Preservation Foundation — $923,000 · OtherMountain Area Preservation FoundationSOUTH YUBA RIVER CITIZENS LEAGUE — $710,000 · OtherSOUTH YUBA RIVER CITIZENS LEAGUETRUCKEE METHODIST CHURCH — $220,000 · OtherTRUCKEE METHODIST CHURCHFAMILY RESOURCE CENTER OF TRUCKEE — $200,000 · Other+5 more — $222,940 · Other+5 moreTAHOE TRUCKEE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $1,696,193 · PhilanthropyTAHOE TRUCKEE CO…Community Resources Inc — $1,000,000 · Housing & ShelterCommunity …Pacific Housing Inc — $100,000 · Housing & ShelterPacific Ho…Stephen J Wampler Foundation Camp WAMP — $266,160 · Recreation & SportsNATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION — $108,000 · Recreation & SportsConservation Science Partners Inc — $363,000 · Science & TechAdvocates for the Mentally Ill Housing Inc — $140,000 · Human Services
Environment$4,012,582Other$3,807,190Philanthropy$1,696,193Housing & Shelter$1,100,000Recreation & Sports$374,160Science & Tech$363,000Human Services$140,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTruckee River Watershed Council — $3,479,250 over 6y, 23% of budgetTAHOE TRUCKEE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $1,696,193 over 5y, 37% of budgetCRISIS INTERVENTION SERVICES DBA SIERRA COMMUNITY HOUSE — $1,531,250 over 5y, 6.7% of budgetMountain Area Preservation Foundation — $923,000 over 7y, 86% of budgetSOUTH YUBA RIVER CITIZENS LEAGUE — $710,000 over 4y, 7.5% of budgetConservation Science Partners Inc — $363,000 over 3y, 8.7% of budgetTRUCKEE DONNER LAND TRUST — $298,440 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetStephen J Wampler Foundation Camp WAMP — $266,160 over 2y, 21% of budgetFAMILY RESOURCE CENTER OF TRUCKEE — $200,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetTruckee Trails Foundation Inc — $149,839 over 3y, 27% of budgetAdvocates for the Mentally Ill Housing Inc — $140,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetNATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION — $108,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPacific Housing Inc — $100,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetSierra Business Council — $81,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetCLEAN UP THE CAYES dba CLEAN UP THE LAKE — $70,053 over 2y, 7.7% of budgetLEAGUE TO SAVE LAKE TAHOE — $70,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSUGAR PINE FOUNDATION — $30,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetTAHOE FUND — $15,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTAHOE EXPEDITION ACADEMY INC — $10,440 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
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.

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.

Tahoe Truckee Community FoundationCA34.7× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation · Tahoe Community Foundation · Martis Camp Community Foundation Dba Martis Camp Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · The Corrigan-Walla Foundation · Community Foundation Santa Cruz County · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Truckee Donner Chamber of Commerce · Park L Loughlin Charitable Foundation · Rdh Foundation · Reissa 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 Martis Fund 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.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    8report 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, FY2025

    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.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Martis Fund?

    Find your warmest path to The Martis Fund 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 22 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph