California · Private foundation
The Monica Lester Charitable Trust
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.
- $600k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 16
- Grants FY2025
- 10
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 40%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $10,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $150,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 5 to 10
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 4
- Total assets, FY2025
- $9.9M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 40% of the organizations The Monica Lester Charitable Trust funded were first-time grantees, receiving 12% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $45k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 15 | $590k | 33% |
| FY2024 | 10 | $390k | 40% |
| FY2023 | 7 | $555k | 0% |
| FY2022 | 7 | $425k | 0% |
| FY2021 | 7 | $450k | 14% |
| FY2020 | 7 | $710k | 14% |
| FY2019 | 5 | $800k | 40% |
| FY2018 | 6 | $640k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2018 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loyola Marymount University | $1,070,000 | 8 | 0% |
| Cedars-Sinai Medical Center | $665,000 | 8 | 0% |
| Prostate Cancer Foundation | $340,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Mahler Foundation | $165,000 | 7 | 27% |
| Sepulveda Research Corporation | $100,000 | 1 | 4% |
| Greater Los Angeles Veterans Research and Education Foundation | $75,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Chabad Terror Victims Project Inc | $30,000 | 2 | 2% |
| Friends of United Hatzalah Inc | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| International Fellowship of Christians & Jews Inc | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation | $20,000 | 1 | n/a |
Show all 13 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loyola Marymount University | $1,070,000 | 8 | 0% |
| Cedars-Sinai Medical Center | $665,000 | 8 | 0% |
| Prostate Cancer Foundation | $340,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Mahler Foundation | $165,000 | 7 | 27% |
| Sepulveda Research Corporation | $100,000 | 1 | 4% |
| Greater Los Angeles Veterans Research and Education Foundation | $75,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Chabad Terror Victims Project Inc | $30,000 | 2 | 2% |
| Friends of United Hatzalah Inc | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| International Fellowship of Christians & Jews Inc | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation | $20,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Colel Chabad | $10,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Los Angeles Regional Food Bank | $10,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Selfhelp Community Services Foundation Inc | $10,000 | 1 | 0% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 6 recipients with no EIN on record ($2.0M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
The Monica Lester Charitable Trust supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 11 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.
Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
How this is measured
Compare The Monica Lester Charitable Trust with peer funders
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Monica Lester Charitable Trust?
Find your warmest path to The Monica Lester Charitable Trust 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.
About The Monica Lester Charitable Trust
- How much does The Monica Lester Charitable Trust give?
- The Monica Lester Charitable Trust reported 16 grants totaling $600,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 5 and 10 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does The Monica Lester Charitable Trust fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2025, its largest causes are Health (62%), Education (28%), Arts & Culture (4%).
- Who are The Monica Lester Charitable Trust's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2018 to FY2025: Loyola Marymount University ($1.1M), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center ($665k), Prostate Cancer Foundation ($340k).
- Does The Monica Lester Charitable Trust fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 40% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Monica Lester Charitable Trust accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Monica Lester Charitable Trust?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund.
- Where is The Monica Lester Charitable Trust based?
- The Monica Lester Charitable Trust is based in CA.
Play a game based on Monica Lester’s filings →