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The Parallax Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Parallax 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
14
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$750k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

52% of The Parallax Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Stanislaus Community Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 9 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

3
’21
4
’22
4
’23
6
’24
9
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$3.6MArts & Culture$530kEducation$380kCommunity Improvement$350kCivil Rights$200kSocial Science$150kHuman Services$135kHealth$100kOther$0
02FY2025 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $47k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $650k
  • $250k+1 grant · $750k
$50,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$2.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
STANISLAUS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$750,000
POLICYLINK$150,000
LIBERATION VENTURES INC$100,000
LIFT INC$100,000
GLOBAL FUND FOR A NEW ECONOMY INC$100,000
DE MARILLAC ACADEMY$50,000
LIBERATION IN A GENERATION INC$50,000
GLOBAL FUND FOR A NEW ECONOMY INC$50,000
FRIENDS OF THE MODESTO LIBRARY$50,000
LIFT INC$25,000
THE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC$12,000
PHILANTHROPIC VENTURES FOUNDATION$10,000
MCHENRY MUSEUM & HISTORICAL SOCIETY$5,000
CHILDRENS CRISIS CENTER OF STANISLAUS COUNTY$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 (FY21–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%GLOBAL FUND FOR A NEW ECONOMY INC: $100k → 10%RICHMOND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 9%EAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $251k → 10%GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%BIG VALLEY GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH & BIG VALLEY CHR: $3k → 15%WORLD LIBERTY CONGRESS INC: $50k → 17%LIFT INC: $100k → 14%LIBERATION IN A GENERATION INC: $50k → 6%GLOBAL FUND FOR A NEW ECONOMY INC: $50k → 10%POLICYLINK: $150k → 10%DE MARILLAC ACADEMY: $50k → 10%BIG VALLEY GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH & BIG VALLEY CHR: $3k → 15%THE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC: $12k → 17%LIFT INC: $25k → 14%LIBERATION VENTURES INC: $100k → 10%POLICYLINK: $150k → 10%DE MARILLAC ACADEMY: $50k → 10%BIG VALLEY GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH & BIG VALLEY CHR: $3k → 15%THE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC: $12k → 17%URBAN HABITAT PROGRAM: $75k → 10%DE MARILLAC ACADEMY: $50k → 10%STANISLAUS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1.0M → 15%THE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC: $12k → 17%EAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%DE MARILLAC ACADEMY: $25k → 10%STANISLAUS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $750k → 15%THE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC: $12k → 17%POLICYLINK: $50k → 10%DE MARILLAC ACADEMY: $25k → 10%STANISLAUS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500k → 15%THE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC: $5k → 17%OAKLAND PROMISE: $80k → 10%STANISLAUS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500k → 15%THE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC: $5k → 17%PHILANTHROPIC VENTURES FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%STANISLAUS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500k → 15%THE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC: $5k → 17%MODESTO CHILDRENS MUSEUM INC: $400k → 15%MODESTO CHILDRENS MUSEUM INC: $100k → 15%GALLO CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC: $25k → 15%MCHENRY MUSEUM & HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5k → 15%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.

35%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$731k · 6 repeat orgs$1.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +87% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
7

Total granted

$731k
$930k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+87%
0%

Still filing today

67%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 38% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $430k 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 & CultureCivil RightsCommunity ImprovementEducationPhilanthropyHealthOther
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

  • P
    POLICYLINK
    3× · 2021–2025 · $350k · revenue -42%
  • DM
    DE MARILLAC ACADEMY
    4× · 2021–2025 · $200k
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF THE MODESTO LIBRARY
    2× · 2024–2025 · $100k

Funded once

  • MC
    MODESTO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
    one grant, 2022 · $500k · revenue -43%
  • CP
    CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue +24%
  • SM
    SAVE MART CARES
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue -27%
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
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
2
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
3
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
4
League of California Community Foundations

The league of california community foundations promotes and strengthens community foundations in california. through collaboration and shared learning among member foundations and building partnerships with private and public entities, we…

Philanthropy
5
Community Foundation Santa Cruz County

To promote philanthropy to make santa cruz county a better place to live, now and in the future.we bring together people, ideas, and resources to inspire philanthropy and accomplish great things.

Philanthropy
6
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
7
Confluence Philanthropy Inc

Confluence philanthropy's mission is to transform the practice of investing by aligning capital with our community's values of sustainability, equity, and justice.

Philanthropy
8
Sf Partnership

SF Partnership is an organization comprised of SF's leading employers dedicated to supporting an equitable, resilient, and vibrant economy shared by all people working and living in San Francisco. Through education, advocacy, and research,…

—
9
Foundation for Financial Planning Inc

Our mission is to help people in need improve their financial lives by expanding access to pro bono financial planning.

Human Services
10
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
11
Community Credit Lab

To support equitable access to economic opportunities for immigrants, refugees, low-income, marginalized, and underserved communities in king county and the united states.

Human Services
12
Upturn Inc

Upturn advances equity and justice in the design, governance, and use of technology.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Policylink; the most unlike its peers is Childrens Crisis Center of Stanislaus County. 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

21 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. 21 of the 23 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
21/21
Grantees still filing
10/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Stanislaus Community Foundation: $3,250,000 · PhilanthropyStanislaus Community FoundationEAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $301,000 · PhilanthropyEAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION+3 more: $98,000 · PhilanthropyMODESTO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $500,000 · Arts & CultureMODESTO CH…GALLO CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $5,000 · Arts & CulturePOLICYLINK: $350,000 · Community ImprovementUrban Habitat Program: $75,000 · Community ImprovementDE MARILLAC ACADEMY: $200,000 · OtherDE MARILLAC …FRIENDS OF THE MODESTO LIBRARY: $100,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF T…SAVE MART CARES: $100,000 · OtherSAVE MART CA…GOLDEN STATE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25,000 · OtherCALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $100,000 · OtherCALIFORNIA P…OAKLAND PROMISE: $80,000 · OtherOAKLAND PROM…+2 more: $17,500 · OtherLIBERATION VENTURES INC: $100,000 · Civil RightsLIBERATION IN A GENERATION: $50,000 · Civil RightsWORLD LIBERTY CONGRESS INC: $50,000 · Civil RightsGLOBAL FUND FOR A NEW ECONOMY INC: $150,000 · Social ScienceLIFT INC: $125,000 · Employment
Philanthropy$3,649,000Arts & Culture$530,000Community Improvement$425,000Other$622,500Civil Rights$200,000Social Science$150,000Employment$125,000

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 budgetStanislaus Community Foundation: $3,250,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetMODESTO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $500,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetPOLICYLINK: $350,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetEAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $301,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLIFT INC: $125,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE MODESTO LIBRARY: $100,000 over 2y, 6.3% of budgetCALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSAVE MART CARES: $100,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetOAKLAND PROMISE: $80,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetUrban Habitat Program: $75,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetTHE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC DBA FORWARD GLOBAL: $63,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetWORLD LIBERTY CONGRESS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetRichmond Community Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGALLO CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGOLDEN STATE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCHILDRENS CRISIS CENTER OF STANISLAUS COUNTY: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMCHENRY MUSEUM & HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,000 over 1y, 7.7% 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.

The San Francisco Fou…Stanislaus Community …Mary Stuart Rogers Fo…Reed FoundationPolicylinkEast Bay Community Fo…Kaiser Foundation Hos…Silicon Valley Commun…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…Morgan Stanley Global…The Bank of America C…
The San Francisco FoundationCA16.1× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · Stanislaus Community Foundation · Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation · Reed Foundation · Policylink · East Bay Community Foundation · Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation 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 Parallax Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Parallax Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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 23 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 Parallax’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