· Private foundation
The Shea Foundation
Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Read this first · the figures below need context
100% of The Shea Foundation’s FY2023 grant dollars went to Catholic Community Foundation Of Los Angeles, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2023 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2020, the last year The Shea Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 28 organizations, $125k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2023.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2020
- Under $10k52 grants · $87k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $38k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| ALAGILLE SYNDROME ALLIANCE | $15,028 |
| TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION | $11,834 |
| PRAGER UNIVERSITY | $10,834 |
| CORPUS CHRISTI CATHOLIC CHURCH | $6,100 |
| SANTIAM CANYON WILDFIRE RELIEF FUND | $4,873 |
| WELCOME HOME VETS | $4,291 |
| SUN VALLEY COMMUNITY SCHOOL | $4,291 |
| WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT | $4,291 |
| ALL HALLOWS INSTITUTE | $4,281 |
| PASADENA HUMANE SOCIETY | $3,425 |
| CATHOLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION | $3,300 |
| JUDICIAL WATCH | $3,000 |
| HILLSDALE COLLEGE | $2,934 |
| BOULDER SCHOOL FOR THE STUDY OF URANTIA BOOK | $2,565 |
| SISTERS OF ST LOUIS | $2,500 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Your human-services grants (FY17–20, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
Which US states your grants reach
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
57 repeat relationships — 47 still active in FY2020, 10 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call). Read against FY2020, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2020, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $25k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
- PUPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION4× · 2017–2020 · $39k · revenue +637%
NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC3× · 2017–2019 · $32k · revenue +17%- PHPASADENA HUMANE4× · 2017–2020 · $14k · revenue +25%
Funded once
CASCADE AIDS PROJECTgraduatedone grant, 2019 · $4k · revenue +243%- SMST MATTHEWS CHURCHone grant, 2018 · $2k
- SBST BRENDAN SCHOOL BUILDING FUNDone grant, 2017 · $2k
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
Saint xavier university, a catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the sisters of mercy, educates persons to search for truth, think critically, communicate effectively and serve wisely and compassionately in support of human…
We, at ch, humbly join together to bring christ's healing mission and the mission of mercy of the catholic church expressed in catholic health care to our communities.
See schedule o.education of the heart: cabrini university was a catholic institution of higher education. the cabrini legacy corporation exists to protect the legacy of the former university.cabrini university was a catholic institution of…
At san francisco friends school, students learn in a community grounded in the quaker values of reflection, integrity, peaceful problem-solving and stewardship. our teachers challenge students with a dynamic curriculum that inspires…
We, st. peter's health partners and trinity health, serve together in the spirit of the gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities. villa mary immaculate is a member of st. peter's health partners…
Through christian love and excellence, we are dedicated to providing a fulfilling lifestyle and promoting independence to those we serve.
Saint anselm is a catholic, benedictine college providing all of its students a distinctive liberal arts education that incorporates opportunities for professional and career preparation. it does so in a learning community that encourages…
To serve as the sole member of the various health care and supporting organizations that comprise st. mary's healthcare system for children
Promotion and advancement of children's health through patient care, research, and education.
Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.
We, mercy community health and trinity health, serve together in the spirit of the gospel as a compassionate and transforming presence within our communities. saint mary home is a member of mercy community health and trinity health.
At sacred heart university, we not only prepare students for the future, but also give them a deeper appreciation of who they are and all they can be. through our distinctive mission and commitment to leadership in catholic higher…
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hospice of the Valley and the most unlike its peers is Warrenton- Hammond Healthy Kids Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.
Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.
Your grantees are a median of 45 years old; the field is 14. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.
The field is 24% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.
The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.
Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.
37 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 37 of the 80 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds CATHOLIC COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES ↗
- Who funds PRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds Welcome Home Vets ↗
- Who funds HILLSDALE COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds PASADENA HUMANE ↗
- Who funds WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds JUDICIAL WATCH INC ↗
- Who funds Young America's Foundation ↗
- Who funds STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds FISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds PRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds CARDINAL MINDSZENTY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WARRENTON- HAMMOND HEALTHY KIDS INC ↗
- Who funds EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE ↗
- Who funds SEASIDE KIDS INC ↗
- Who funds NEW DIRECTIONS FOR WOMEN INC ↗
- Who funds CASCADE AIDS PROJECT ↗
- Who funds Sun Valley Community School Inc ↗
- Who funds ASSISTANCE LEAGUE COLUMBIA PACIFIC ↗
- Who funds SANTA TERESITA INC ↗
- Who funds ST JOHN OF GOD RETIREMENT AND CARE CENTER ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Orange County Community Foundation · Catholic Community Foundation of Los Angeles · Juan Young Trust · Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Trust · The Oregon Community Foundation · California Community Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization The Shea Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.
- Cascade Aids Project — 13% of income from government
- Liberty Restoration Inc — 4% of income from government
- Wounded Warrior Project Inc — 0% of income from government
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Shea Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Shea 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.