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The Scott Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Scott Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.7M
Granted FY2024still arriving
21
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$864k
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 2024.

Education$6.7MArts & Culture$1.2MCivil Rights$681kInternational$536kFood & Nutrition$405kHealth$401kPublic Benefit$326kEnvironment$159kOther$0
02FY2024 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k3 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $235k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $611k
  • $250k+1 grant · $864k
$35,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$6.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HILLBROOK SCHOOL$863,880
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH$161,000
ACE CHARTER SCHOOLS$150,000
MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA$100,000
SHARE OUR STRENGTH$50,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD MAR MONTE$50,000
THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION$50,000
THE TECH INTERACTIVE$50,000
PENINSULA BRIDGE$35,000
WHITMAN WALKER FOUNDATION$35,000
SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY$35,000
CREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION$25,000
VOTO LATINO$25,000
GROUNDSWELL NETWORK$25,000
THE 19TH$25,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY19–20, $50k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY: $25k → 8%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY: $25k → 8%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

WA
IL
NY
MA
OR
IA
CA
VA
NC
DC
HI
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 100% of The Scott Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 84% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 0%.

The Scott Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$10M · 37 repeat orgs$524k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +46% since the first grant, against +36% for those funded once.

37 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

37
17

Total granted

$10M
$377k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+36%

Still filing today

81%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $148k 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
EducationArts & CultureHealthCivil RightsCommunity ImprovementInternationalOther
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

  • HS
    HILLBROOK SCHOOL
    8× · 2017–2024 · $4.1M · revenue +87%
  • AC
    ACE CHARTER SCHOOL
    5× · 2020–2024 · $995k · revenue +34%
  • RF
    REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL FOUNDATION
    5× · 2019–2023 · $450k · revenue +82%

Funded once

  • TT
    THE TECH MUSEUM OF SILICON VALLEY
    one grant, 2018 · $61k
  • DC
    Dev Colorgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +354%
  • MC
    Mercy Corps
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · 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
Silicon Schools Fund Inc

The mission of the silicon schools fund is to improve education through supporting the launch of excellent new schools, improving academic instruction in existing schools, and by funding some of the boldest innovations in education…

Education
2
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

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
South Shore Charter School

The mission of south shore charter school is to cultivate students the tenacity, integrity, and curiosity needed to become innovative and socially responsible leaders, ready to face and solve the ever-changing challenges facing our…

Education
5
Internet Society Foundation

At the internet society foundation, we focus on funding initiatives that strengthen the internet in function and reach so that it can effectively serve all people. our work advances the vision of the internet society (isoc): the internet…

International
6
Association of California School Administrators

The association serves its members by creating resources that enable california school administrators to develop and apply creative leadership and management skills and in turn, improve the educational process for all students.

—
7
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
8
Innovate Public Schools

Build the parent and community demand for world-class public schools, and to accelerate the growth of these schools, particularly for low-income students, students of colors, and students with special needs.

Philanthropy
9
The San Francisco School

A private school that cultivates and celebrates the intellectual, imaginative, and humanitarian promise of each student in a community that practices mutual respect, embraces diversity, and inspires passion for learning.

—
10
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
11
Golden Gate University

Golden gate university prepares individuals to lead and serve by providing high quality, practice-based educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions - as a nonprofit institution - in an innovative and challenging…

Education
12
Presidio Hill School

Presidio hill school is a co-ed k-8 independent, progressive school. learning is collaborative and an active experience with an emphasis on inquiry. students are engaged in their own learning and guided by an expert faculty through a…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Voter Registration Project; the most unlike its peers is Breakthrough T1D. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

46 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. 46 of the 63 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
46/46
Grantees still filing
30/46
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HILLBROOK SCHOOL: $4,061,705 · EducationHILLBROOK SCHOOLACE CHARTER SCHOOL: $995,000 · EducationACE CHARTER SCHOOLAMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION: $375,000 · EducationAMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION+6 more: $406,500 · Education+6 moreMEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: $695,000 · OtherMEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICAREPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL FOUNDATION: $450,000 · OtherREPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL FO…SHARE OUR STRENGTH: $340,000 · OtherSHARE OUR STRENGTHTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $200,000 · OtherTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDA…THE PENINSULA BRIDGE PROGRAM: $195,000 · OtherTHE PENINSULA BRIDGE PROGRAMVOTO LATINO INC: $150,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $105,000 · Other+30 more: $878,738 · Other+30 moreTHE TECH INTERACTIVE: $486,000 · Arts & CultureSCHOOL OF ARTS AND CULTURE AT MHP: $187,500 · Arts & CultureFACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureCREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $13,945 · Arts & CultureHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $461,000 · InternationalMercy Corps: $50,000 · InternationalPLANNED PARENTHOOD MAR MONTE INC: $300,000 · HealthHEALTHIER KIDS FOUNDATION: $25,000 · HealthBILL HILLARY & CHELSEA CLINTON FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Health+1 more: $11,050 · HealthTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $85,000 · Civil RightsTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $66,000 · Civil RightsCampaign For Southern Equality: $10,000 · Civil Rights+1 more: $5,000 · Civil RightsVIDA VERDE NATURE EDUCATION: $156,400 · Environment
Education$5,838,205Other$3,013,738Arts & Culture$742,445International$511,000Health$361,050Civil Rights$166,000Environment$156,400

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 budgetHILLBROOK SCHOOL: $4,061,705 over 8y, 4.4% of budgetACE CHARTER SCHOOL: $995,000 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetTHE TECH INTERACTIVE: $486,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $461,000 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetREPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL FOUNDATION: $450,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetAMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION: $375,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $340,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD MAR MONTE INC: $300,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetTHE PENINSULA BRIDGE PROGRAM: $195,000 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetSCHOOL OF ARTS AND CULTURE AT MHP: $187,500 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetVIDA VERDE NATURE EDUCATION: $156,400 over 5y, 2.9% of budgetSCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC: $155,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetVOTO LATINO INC: $150,000 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH SILICON VALLEY: $109,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetBUSINESSES UNITED IN INVESTING LENDING & DEVELOPMENT: $100,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $85,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF EDUCARE CALIFORNIA AT SILICON VALLEY: $82,500 over 3y, 5.3% of budgetTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $66,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCODE FOR AMERICA LABS INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetDev Color: $50,000 over 1y, 8.3% of budgetMercy Corps: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY: $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLIFEMOVES: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHEALTHIER KIDS FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGROUNDSWELL NETWORK INC: $25,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetIOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetCREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBILL HILLARY & CHELSEA CLINTON FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVOTER REGISTRATION PROJECT: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNETWORK FOR TEACHING ENTREPRENEURSHIP: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMAUI FOOD BANK INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSILICON VALLEY EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSOMOS MAYFAIR INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $11,050 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMAUI RESCUE MISSION INC: $11,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetCampaign For Southern Equality: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMAUI PREPARATORY ACADEMY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFEMINIST MAJORITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKQED INC: $2,945 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWEHOPE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF KING COUNTY: $538 over 1y, 0.0% 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 HILLBROOK SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds ACE CHARTER SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds THE TECH INTERACTIVE ↗
  • Who funds HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC ↗
  • Who funds REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds SHARE OUR STRENGTH ↗
  • Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD MAR MONTE INC ↗
  • Who funds THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE PENINSULA BRIDGE PROGRAM ↗
  • Who funds SCHOOL OF ARTS AND CULTURE AT MHP ↗
  • Who funds VIDA VERDE NATURE EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds SCIENCE IS ELEMENTARY INC ↗
  • Who funds VOTO LATINO INC ↗
  • Who funds BREAKTHROUGH SILICON VALLEY ↗
  • Who funds BUSINESSES UNITED IN INVESTING LENDING & DEVELOPMENT ↗
  • Who funds THE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF EDUCARE CALIFORNIA AT SILICON VALLEY ↗
  • Who funds THE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER ↗
  • Who funds CODE FOR AMERICA LABS INC ↗
  • Who funds Dev Color ↗
  • Who funds Mercy Corps ↗
  • Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds LIFEMOVES ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds FACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC ↗
  • Who funds HEALTHIER KIDS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GROUNDSWELL NETWORK INC ↗
  • Who funds IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION ↗

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.

Silicon Valley Commun…The David and Lucile …Tides FoundationThe Sobrato Family Fo…Leo M Shortino Family…San Jose Mercury News…The Applied Materials…Gates FoundationKaiser Foundation Hos…Marin Community Found…Excite Credit Union (…Valley Health Foundat…
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA28.5× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The David and Lucile Packard Foundation · Tides Foundation · The Sobrato Family Foundation · Leo M Shortino Family Foundation · San Jose Mercury News Wish Book Fund Inc · The Applied Materials Foundation · Gates Foundation · Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · Marin Community Foundation · Excite Credit Union (Fka Alliance Credit Union) · Valley Health Foundation (Vhf)

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 47%
  • Mercy Corps: 47% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 63 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 Scott’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