Skip to content
The Sam Mazza Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Sam Mazza Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$379k
Granted FY2024still arriving
31
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$35k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$3.2MYouth Development$277kEducation$256kHuman Services$171kReligion$110kFood & Nutrition$50kRecreation & Sports$29kEnvironment$24kOther$0
02FY2024 · 31 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k14 grants · $58k
  • $10k–50k17 grants · $321k
$12,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$22M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Dance Brigade$35,000
Golden Thread Productions$30,000
Look What SHE Did$25,000
Ars Minerva$20,000
Living Jazz$20,000
ABD Productions$20,000
Music at Kohl Mansion$20,000
Pacifica Education Foundation$20,000
West Edge Opera$18,000
Central Stage$18,000
3Girls Theatre Company$15,000
Opera Parallle$15,000
Near Arnold's School of Performing$15,000
Golden Thread Productions$15,000
Youth Musical Theater Company$12,500
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $249k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 53% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%Pacifica Resource Center: $38k → 7%Pacifica Resource Center: $35k → 7%Pacifica Resource Center: $35k → 7%Kitka Inc: $20k → 10%Kitka Inc: $20k → 10%Kitka Inc: $20k → 10%Episcopal Community Services: $9k → 10%Episcopal Community Services: $9k → 10%Pacifica Resource Center: $3k → 7%Episcopal Community Services: $9k → 10%Pacifica Resource Center: $3k → 7%Episcopal Community Services: $9k → 10%Pacifica Resource Center: $3k → 7%Pacifica Resource Center: $1k → 7%Episcopal Community Services: $8k → 10%Episcopal Community Services: $8k → 10%Central Works: $7k → 10%Central Works: $5k → 10%Central Works: $5k → 10%Central Works: $5k → 10%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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
NY
OR
CA
MD
AZ
KS
DC
LA
TX
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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.8M · 100 repeat orgs$451k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

100 repeat relationships: 25 still active in FY2024, 75 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

100
62

Total granted

$3.8M
$421k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
+14%

Still filing today

68%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $31k 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
Arts & CultureEducationYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesInternationalRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • DB
    Dance Brigade
    6× · 2017–2024 · $175k · revenue +57%
  • PR
    Pacifica Resource Center
    6× · 2017–2024 · $116k · revenue +90%
  • BS
    BRIGHT STARS OF BETHLEHEM NFP
    6× · 2019–2024 · $99k · revenue +138%

Funded once

  • DM
    DOOR-DOG MUSIC PRODUCTIONS INC
    one grant, 2018 · $30k
  • PF
    Playgrounds for Palestine
    one grant, 2023 · $21k
  • RM
    Robert Moses Kin
    one grant, 2018 · $20k · revenue +19%
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
Oakland Ballet Company

Oakland Ballet Company's mission is to inspire the community by keeping the tradition of ballet exciting, vibrant and accessible.

Arts & Culture
2
The Z Space Studio

Operating out of an old can factory in the Mission District of San Francisco, Z Space now activates two performance spaces, an 85-seat black box and a 244-seat main stage, with a warehouse aesthetic and an adventurous edge.

Arts & Culture
3
The California Theatre of Santa Rosa

To champion the performing arts in Santa Rosa for all. To connect people with one another and with art that can enrich their lives. To embrace people from all backgrounds. To provide exceptional service to our resident companies and to…

Arts & Culture
4
San Francisco Basque Folkloric Groups
Arts & Culture
5
California Bach Society Inc

Choral Music Performances: California Bach Society is a 30-voice chamber choir known for finely wrought interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque music, often accompanied by leading period instrumentalists. Each season, the choir performs…

—
6
Ballet Afsaneh Art & Culture Society

Promote the expressive arts of the historic silk road region of Eurasia

Arts & Culture
7
Artronika

ARTRONIKA is a collective of Los Angeles based artists that produce immersive arts programming showcasing an array of South Asian talent and culture. Through innovative and inclusive events, we reimagine traditional music, art, and…

—
8
Voices of Silicon Valley

Community Music / Arts Organization

Arts & Culture
9
The Marsh a Breeding Ground for New Perf

The Marsh develops new performance. It encourages and supports all stages of this development by providing artists of all ages with a performance venue, education and a supportive environment.

Arts & Culture
10
Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre

To preserve, promote, and present the art of ballet and dance through performances, education, and community outreach, making high-quality cultural experiences accessible to diverse audiences.

Arts & Culture
11
Occidental Center for the Arts

Occidental Center for the Arts exists to provide a welcoming and accessible venue for the performing and visual arts in Sonoma County California for local regional national and international artists. our mission is to enrich our community…

Arts & Culture
12
On the Boards

On the Boards' mission is to invest in leading contemporary performing artists near and far and connect them to a diverse range of communities interested in forward-thinking art and ideas.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is San Francisco Performances Inc; the most unlike its peers is Faith Hope and Love Foundation. 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

118 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 118 of the 169 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
35
Early backer (in before they grew)
113/118
Grantees still filing
73/118
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

World Arts West: $127,510 · Arts & CultureWorld Arts WestGolden Thread Productions: $125,000 · Arts & CultureGolden Thread ProductionsOpera Parallle: $85,000 · Arts & CultureSan Francisco Girls Chorus Inc: $83,600 · Arts & CultureMUSIC AT KOHL MANSION INC: $70,000 · Arts & CultureLiving Jazz: $70,000 · Arts & Culture+61 more: $1,244,250 · Arts & Culture+61 moreDance Brigade: $175,000 · OtherDance BrigadeABD Productions: $116,000 · OtherABD ProductionsZ Space - Word for Word: $113,500 · OtherZ Space - Word for WordARS MINERVA: $97,500 · OtherARS MINERVAKansas University Endowment: $96,710 · OtherKansas University EndowmentTHE UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $72,500 · OtherPACIFICA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $63,250 · OtherNear Arnold's School of Performing: $60,000 · Other+68 more: $961,941 · Other+68 morePacifica Resource Center: $116,000 · Human ServicesKITKA INC: $60,000 · Human ServicesEpiscopal Community Services: $51,000 · Human ServicesCENTRAL WORKS: $22,000 · Human ServicesBRIGHT STARS OF BETHLEHEM NFP: $98,500 · Youth DevelopmentYOUTH SPEAKS INC: $16,000 · Youth DevelopmentBAY AREA GIRLS ROCK CAMP: $14,500 · Youth DevelopmentDrawBridge: $14,450 · Youth DevelopmentEACH ONE REACH ONE: $13,500 · Youth DevelopmentYES Nature to Neighborhoods: $10,000 · Youth Development+3 more: $12,500 · Youth DevelopmentPACIFICA EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $40,000 · Education826 Valencia: $21,500 · EducationCREDO HIGH SCHOOL: $20,000 · EducationGOLDEN BRIDGES SCHOOL: $20,000 · EducationSAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $19,500 · EducationOAKLAND SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS: $17,500 · EducationTHE OAKLAND PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND: $17,500 · Education+3 more: $9,275 · EducationDestiny Arts Center: $87,500 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $1,000 · Recreation & SportsWomens Audio Mission: $24,000 · Employment
Arts & Culture$1,805,360Other$1,756,401Human Services$249,000Youth Development$179,450Education$165,275Recreation & Sports$88,500Employment$24,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDance Brigade: $175,000 over 6y, 2.5% of budgetWorld Arts West: $127,510 over 4y, 7.1% of budgetGolden Thread Productions: $125,000 over 5y, 12% of budgetPacifica Resource Center: $116,000 over 6y, 3.0% of budgetBRIGHT STARS OF BETHLEHEM NFP: $98,500 over 6y, 2.5% of budgetARS MINERVA: $97,500 over 7y, 22% of budgetDestiny Arts Center: $87,500 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetOpera Parallle: $85,000 over 6y, 1.4% of budgetSan Francisco Girls Chorus Inc: $83,600 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $72,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetMUSIC AT KOHL MANSION INC: $70,000 over 4y, 7.2% of budgetLiving Jazz: $70,000 over 5y, 2.1% of budgetPACIFICA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $63,250 over 8y, 32% of budgetWEST EDGE OPERA: $59,500 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetIntersection for the Arts: $56,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetCutting Ball Theater: $52,500 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetEpiscopal Community Services: $51,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCrowded Fire Theater Company: $43,000 over 4y, 3.1% of budgetTheatre Bay Area: $42,500 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetKORSA MUSICAL THEATER: $42,500 over 5y, 2.4% of budgetPACIFICA EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetThe Aurora Theatre Company: $40,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetComedy Celebration Day Inc: $38,500 over 7y, 29% of budgetALONZO KING LINES BALLET: $37,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetShotgun Players: $34,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetPLAYWRIGHTS FOUNDATION INC: $32,500 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetDANCERS GROUP: $30,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $30,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetJoe Goode Performance Group: $30,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetLATINO MUSIC EDUCATION NETWORK: $30,000 over 3y, 6.2% of budgetRagged Wing Ensemble: $28,500 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO JAZZ ORGANIZATION: $27,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetZAWAYA: $26,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetLOOK WHAT SHE DID: $26,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetBrava for Women in the Arts dba Brava Theater Center: $25,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetWomens Audio Mission: $24,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetGritty City Repertory Youth Theatre: $23,500 over 3y, 4.5% of budgetSTAGEBRIDGE: $22,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetCENTRAL WORKS: $22,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budget826 Valencia: $21,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetSPINDRIFT SCHOOL OF PERFORMING ARTS: $21,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetCALIFORNIA MUSIC CENTER: $21,000 over 4y, 4.8% of budgetLITTLE OPERA: $21,000 over 3y, 7.7% of budgetPACIFICA SPINDRIFT PLAYERS: $20,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetCALIFORNIA SHAKESPEARE THEATER: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCREDO HIGH SCHOOL: $20,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHEATRE OF YUGEN: $20,000 over 2y, 7.5% of budgetGOLDEN BRIDGES SCHOOL: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% 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.

  • Who funds Dance Brigade ↗
  • Who funds World Arts West ↗
  • Who funds Golden Thread Productions ↗
  • Who funds Pacifica Resource Center ↗
  • Who funds BRIGHT STARS OF BETHLEHEM NFP ↗
  • Who funds ARS MINERVA ↗
  • Who funds Destiny Arts Center ↗
  • Who funds Opera Parallle ↗
  • Who funds San Francisco Girls Chorus Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE UNIVERSITY CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds MUSIC AT KOHL MANSION INC ↗
  • Who funds Living Jazz ↗
  • Who funds PACIFICA HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds KITKA INC ↗
  • Who funds WEST EDGE OPERA ↗
  • Who funds Intersection for the Arts ↗
  • Who funds Cutting Ball Theater ↗
  • Who funds Episcopal Community Services ↗
  • Who funds Crowded Fire Theater Company ↗
  • Who funds DIMENSIONS DANCE THEATER INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds Theatre Bay Area ↗
  • Who funds KORSA MUSICAL THEATER ↗
  • Who funds PACIFICA EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds The Aurora Theatre Company ↗
  • Who funds Comedy Celebration Day Inc ↗
  • Who funds ALONZO KING LINES BALLET ↗
  • Who funds Shotgun Players ↗
  • Who funds PLAYWRIGHTS FOUNDATION INC ↗

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 Zellerbach Family…Phyllis C Wattis Foun…The William & Flora H…Kenneth Rainin Founda…Fleishhacker Foundati…The Bernard Osher Fou…East Bay Community Fo…The San Francisco Fou…Walter and Elise Haas…The Morris Stulsaft F…Jewish Community Fede…Center for Cultural I…
The Zellerbach Family FoundationCA84.5× affinity40 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Zellerbach Family Foundation · Phyllis C Wattis Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Kenneth Rainin Foundation · Fleishhacker Foundation · The Bernard Osher Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Walter and Elise Haas Fund · The Morris Stulsaft Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · Center for Cultural Innovation

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 Sam Mazza Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sam Mazza Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's 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
    41report 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, 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Sam Mazza Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Sam Mazza Foundation 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 169 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Sam Mazza’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