· Private foundation
The Sam & Salwa Ellis Family 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k4 grants · $30k
- $10k–50k11 grants · $110k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Emilio Nares Foundation | $10,000 |
| VOICE INCORPORATED-KGBA 1001 | $10,000 |
| ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITA | $10,000 |
| VINCENT MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL | $10,000 |
| Lay Brothers of the Poor | $10,000 |
| Turning Point Ministries | $10,000 |
| CHRIST COMMUNITY CHURCH | $10,000 |
| CANCER RESOURCE CENTER OF THE | $10,000 |
| SAINT MARY'S CATHOLIC SCHOOL | $10,000 |
| GRACE AND TRUTH MINISTRIES | $10,000 |
| Imperial Valley New Creations | $10,000 |
| Imperial County Historical Society | $7,500 |
| Hermanas Del Corazon De Jesus Sacra | $7,500 |
| Calexico Baja Runners | $7,500 |
| YOUTH FOR CHRIST IMPERIAL VALLEY | $7,500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 19%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
17 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- ENEmilio Nares Foundation9× · 2017–2025 · $70k · revenue +65%
ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC9× · 2017–2025 · $70k · revenue +145%- ICIMPERIAL COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY9× · 2017–2025 · $55k · revenue +117%
Funded once
- OLOUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CHURCHone grant, 2017 · $2k
- VOVeterans of Foreign Warsone grant, 2017 · $2k
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.
4 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. 4 of the 19 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Sam & Salwa Ellis Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sam & Salwa Ellis Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Sam & Salwa Ellis Family’s filings →