Skip to content
The Robert & Joan Masterson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Robert & Joan Masterson 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.

$51k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Health$190kArts & Culture$27kEducation$24kPhilanthropy$11kRecreation & Sports$1kYouth Development$1kHuman Services$1k
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $1k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$137k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SCRIPPS HEALTH FOUNDATION$50,000
BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITY$1,000
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 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 76% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CLASSICS FOR KDS FOUNDATION: $5k → 8%RANCHO SANTA FE EDUCATION FOUN: $6k → 11%BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITY: $5k → 11%AURELIA FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING INC: $10k → 7%RD AND JOAN DALE HUBBARD FOUN: $1k → 17%PHI SIGMA KAPPA ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP: $1k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK: $1k → 11%FRIENDS OF SAN PASQUAL ACADEMY: $1k → 11%BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITY: $3k → 11%CREATIVE STEPSAURELIA FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING: $10k → 7%SCRIPPS HEALTH FOUNDATION: $30k → 11%BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITY: $2k → 11%AURELIA FOUNDATION: $6k → 14%ENCINITAS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $6k → 11%BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITY: $1k → 11%THE GOLDIE HAWN FOUNDATION: $10k → 14%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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$222k · 4 repeat orgs$33k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
10

Total granted

$222k
$33k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+242%

Still filing today

100%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
PhilanthropyEducationHealthArts & CultureOther
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

  • SH
    SCRIPPS HEALTH
    3× · 2021–2025 · $180k · revenue +37%
  • NM
    NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING INC
    2× · 2017–2022 · $20k · revenue +76%
  • BG
    BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITIES INC
    3× · 2021–2025 · $11k · revenue +31%

Funded once

  • TH
    THE HAWN FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +299%
  • EE
    ENCINITAS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $6k · revenue +260%
  • RS
    RANCHO SANTA FE EDUCATION FOUN
    one grant, 2020 · $6k
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
Scripps Ranch High School Foundation Inc

Our mission is to enhance the overall educational experience of each student at Scripps Ranch High School by raising, managing and disbursing funds to be used by our teachers and staff. Funding requests represent the programs and projects…

Education
2
The Scripps Howard Foundation
Philanthropy
3
Andalusia Foundation
—
4
San Gabriel Educational Foundation

Support programs at schools in SGVUSD

Education
5
Cal Med Foundation
Education
6
Center for Advanced Research & Technology Foundation

The Foundation supports CART's mission to provide motivation for students to be better learners by creating education relevant to the work force. In partnership with education, business, and community agencies CART provides the resources…

Education
7
The California Wellness Foundation
Philanthropy
8
National Science and Technology Medals Foundation Inc

The nstmf's mission is to build inclusive stem communities across the united states. fundamental to these communities are the significant, inspirational connections we foster between the individuals who have received national recognition…

—
9
Nicole Parker Foundation for Children

The Nicole Parker Foundation for Children is dedicated to helping Children. Funds raised are used to fund organizations who provide comprehensive, high-quality care programs designed for children.

Crime & Legal
10
Santa Barbara Athlete Fund

The primary function of the organization is to provide eligible low-income high school-aged student athletes in Santa Barbara County and Ventura County, California, with grants paid to local athletic facilities in order to provide them…

Recreation & Sports
11
Santa Fe Boys Educational Foundation
—
12
Encinal Sailing Foundation
Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Bighorn Golf Club Charities Inc; the most unlike its peers is Scripps Health. 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 14 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
7/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SCRIPPS HEALTH: $180,000 · HealthSCRIPPS HEALTHTHE AURELIA FOUNDATION: $11,000 · PhilanthropyTHE AURELIA FO…BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITIES INC: $10,500 · PhilanthropyBIGHORN GOLF C…THE HAWN FOUNDATION: $10,000 · PhilanthropyTHE HAWN FOUND…+1 more: $1,000 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING INC: $20,000 · Arts & CultureENCINITAS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $6,000 · OtherRANCHO SANTA FE EDUCATION FOUN: $6,000 · OtherPHI SIGMA KAPPA ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP: $1,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK: $1,000 · OtherRD AND JOAN DALE HUBBARD FOUN: $1,000 · OtherCREATIVE STEPSAURELIA FOUNDATION: $1,000 · OtherCLASSICS FOR KIDS FOUNDATION: $4,600 · EducationFRIENDS OF SAN PASQUAL ACADEMY INC: $1,000 · Education
Health$180,000Philanthropy$32,500Arts & Culture$20,000Other$16,000Education$5,600

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 budgetSCRIPPS HEALTH: $180,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL MUSEUM OF RACING INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTHE AURELIA FOUNDATION: $11,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITIES INC: $10,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE HAWN FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetCLASSICS FOR KIDS FOUNDATION: $4,600 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetBLUE ANGELS FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF SAN PASQUAL ACADEMY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% 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.

Morgan Stanley Global…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust IncIN10.6× affinity5 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Robert & Joan Masterson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Robert & Joan Masterson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%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
    1get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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.

    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 14 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 Robert & Joan Masterson’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