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The Small Change Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Small Change Foundation

Its FY2023 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$12k
Granted FY2023
3
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$11k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2023.

Philanthropy$4.0MCivil Rights$1.1MEducation$375kArts & Culture$335kHealth$190kSocial Science$185kHuman Services$140kCommunity Improvement$105kOther$0
02FY2023 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k2 grants · $833
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $11k
$651
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION HALLELUJAH FUND$11,228
THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION HALLELUJAH FUND$651
THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION HALLELUJAH FUND$182
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 (FY17–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 20% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%JAY C HORMEL NATURE CENTER: $32k → 10%SWARTHMORE COLLEGE: $50k → 10%COMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $30k → 10%THE COUNCIL FOR GLOBAL EQUALITY FISCAL AGT FOR COMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $25k → 10%UCLA Law SchoolThe Williams Institu: $85k → 14%TECTONIC THEATRE COMPANY: $50k → 13%NEW YORK LIVE ARTS: $30k → 17%National Center for Transgender Equ: $70k → 14%COMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $30k → 10%The Council for Global Equality: $25k → 10%UCLA SCHOOL OF LAW THE WILLIAMS INSTITUTE: $60k → 14%TECTONIC THEATRE COMPANY: $25k → 13%NATIONAL CENTER FOR TRANSGENDER EQUALITY: $45k → 14%ALBANY PARK THEATER PROJECT: $25k → 14%NOT IN OUR TOWN (THE WORKING GROUP): $60k → 10%UCLA FOUNDATION THE WILLIAMS INSTITUTE: $50k → 14%Tectonic Theatre Project: $25k → 17%GLAD (GLBTI LEGAL ADVOCATES & DEFENDERS): $50k → 16%NOT IN OUR TOWN (THE WORKING GROUP): $60k → 10%UCLA FOUNDATION THE WILLIAMS INSTITUTE: $50k → 14%NOT IN OUR TOWN (THE WORKING GROUP): $40k → 10%THE TREVOR PROJECT: $40k → 14%OUTRIGHT ACTION INTERNATIONAL: $25k → 17%TRANSGENDER LAW CENTER: $30k → 10%THE TREVOR PROJECT: $40k → 14%OUTRIGHT ACTION INTERNATIONAL: $25k → 17%TRANSGENDER LAW CENTER: $30k → 10%NEW CONSERVATORY THEATRE: $25k → 10%THE TREVOR PROJECT: $35k → 14%OUTRIGHT ACTION INTERNATIONAL: $25k → 17%Transgender Law Center: $25k → 10%NEW CONSERVATORY THEATRE: $25k → 10%THE TREVOR PROJECT: $35k → 14%OUTRIGHT ACTION INTERNATIONAL: $25k → 17%NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS: $25k → 10%The Trevor Project: $30k → 14%GLIDE FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%SAGE: $60k → 17%SAGE ADVOCATING FOR LGBT SENIORS: $60k → 17%Palm Center: $80k → 10%PALM CENTER: $50k → 10%PALM CENTER: $50k → 10%PALM CENTER: $40k → 10%PALM CENTER: $40k → 10%The Advertising Council: $25k → 17%THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION HALLELUJAH FUND: $2.4M → 10%THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION HALLELUJAH FUND: $1.2M → 10%THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION HALLELUJAH FUND: $363k → 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

MN
IL
NY
MA
PA
CA
MD
AR
DC
TX
FL
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.
$5.9M · 29 repeat orgs$717k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +94% since the first grant, against +36% for those funded once.

29 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2023, 28 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

29
26

Total granted

$5.9M
$717k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+94%
+36%

Still filing today

59%
54%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
Civil RightsArts & CultureEducationCommunity ImprovementCrime & LegalPhilanthropyOther
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

  • TREVOR PROJECT INC
    5× · 2017–2021 · $180k · revenue +802%
  • EF
    EQUALITY FEDERATION INSTITUTE
    5× · 2017–2021 · $110k · revenue +164%
  • OI
    OUTRIGHT INTERNATIONAL
    4× · 2018–2021 · $100k · revenue +608%

Funded once

  • UL
    UCLA Law SchoolThe Williams Institu
    one grant, 2017 · $85k
  • NC
    National Center for Transgender Equ
    one grant, 2017 · $70k
  • SERVICES AND ADVOCACY FOR GAY LESBIAN BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ELDERS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $60k · revenue +138%
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
Out & Equal

To provide leadership and professional development, education and research to create workplaces free from discrimination.

Social Science
2
Global Philanthropy Project Inc

Global Philanthropy Project (GPP or the Organization) is a collaboration of funders and philanthropic advisors working to expand global philanthropic support to advance the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex…

Philanthropy
3
Advocates for Trans Equality

Advocates for trans equality fights for the legal and political rights of transgender people in america. leveraging decades of experience on the frontlines of power, we shift government and society towards a future where we are no less…

Civil Rights
4
Glaad Inc

Founded forty years ago, glaad is the world's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer ("lgbtq") media advocacy organization promoting and ensuring fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of people and issues across all…

—
5
National Lgbtq Task Force Action Fund Inc

National lgbtq task force action fund, founded in 1974 as the national gay and lesbian task force, inc., works to build the grassroots political power of the lgbt community to win complete equality. we do this through direct and grassroots…

—
6
Gender Justice League

Gender Justice League's mission is to empower all people to eliminate discrimination and prejudice based on sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation in Washington State, and to ensure that trans and gender diverse…

Civil Rights
7
San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center

Connecting people, resources, and opportunities, so together we can build a strong and healthy lgbt community, and a more welcoming and equitable world

Community Improvement
8
Equality California Institute

To create a world that is healthy, just and fully equal for all lgbtq+ people.

Public Benefit
9
Equality Utah

The organization pursues educational, lobbying, and poltical activities in order to further lesbain, gay, bisexual, and transgender (lgbt) interests within utah.

Civil Rights
10
Lgbtq Victory Institute Inc

LGBTQ Victory Institute works to achieve and sustain equality through leadership development, trainings, research and convenings. We work around the globe to increase the number, expand the diversity, and ensure the success of out LGBTQ+…

Civil Rights
11
Immigration Equality

Immigration equality promotes justice and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and hiv-positive immigrants through direct legal services, policy advocacy, and impact litigation.

Civil Rights
12
National Lesbian and Gay Law Association

Nlgbtq+ bar association's purpose is to promote justice in and through the legal profession for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community (referred to collectively as the community) and its allies, and to provide a means to…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Equality Federation Institute; the most unlike its peers is Golden Bridges School. 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

33 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. 33 of the 56 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)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
32/33
Grantees still filing
26/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION HALLELUJAH FUND: $4,003,453 · OtherTHE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION HALLELUJAH FUNDPalm Center: $260,000 · Other+33 more: $1,357,000 · Other+33 moreTREVOR PROJECT INC: $180,000 · Civil RightsTREVOR PR…EQUALITY FEDERATION INSTITUTE: $110,000 · Civil RightsEQUALITY …Transgender Law Center: $95,000 · Civil RightsTransgend…CENTERLINK INC: $55,000 · Civil RightsCENTERLIN…TRUE COLORS UNITED INC: $52,500 · Civil RightsTRUE COLO…ADVOCATES FOR TRANS EQUALITY EDUCATION FUND: $51,000 · Civil RightsADVOCATES…+2 more: $15,000 · Civil RightsCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $40,000 · Arts & CultureNEW YORK LIVE ARTS INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureTectonic Theater Project Inc: $25,000 · Arts & CultureNew Conservatory Theatre Center: $20,000 · Arts & CultureMaking Gay History Inc: $10,000 · Arts & CultureSWARTHMORE COLLEGE: $50,000 · EducationGOLDEN BRIDGES SCHOOL: $50,000 · EducationMattachine Society of Washington DC: $10,000 · EducationSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $5,000 · EducationSOULFORCE INC: $47,500 · Community ImprovementOUR FAMILY COALITION: $20,000 · Community ImprovementCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $60,000 · PhilanthropyLEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC: $45,000 · Crime & Legal
Other$5,620,453Civil Rights$558,500Arts & Culture$125,000Education$115,000Community Improvement$67,500Philanthropy$60,000Crime & Legal$45,000

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 budgetPalm Center: $260,000 over 5y, 8.6% of budgetTREVOR PROJECT INC: $180,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetEQUALITY FEDERATION INSTITUTE: $110,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetOUTRIGHT INTERNATIONAL: $100,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetTransgender Law Center: $95,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetSERVICES AND ADVOCACY FOR GAY LESBIAN BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ELDERS INC: $60,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $60,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetADVOCATES FOR YOUTH: $60,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCENTERLINK INC: $55,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetTRUE COLORS UNITED INC: $52,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetADVOCATES FOR TRANS EQUALITY EDUCATION FUND: $51,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetSWARTHMORE COLLEGE: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGOLDEN BRIDGES SCHOOL: $50,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetSOULFORCE INC: $47,500 over 4y, 4.4% of budgetLEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC: $45,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $40,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetNEW YORK LIVE ARTS INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL CENTER FOR LGBTQ RIGHTS FKA NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTectonic Theater Project Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetAlbany Park Theater Project: $25,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetThe Working Group: $20,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetOUR FAMILY COALITION: $20,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetGLSEN INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST JAMES INFIRMARY: $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMaking Gay History Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetLucies Place Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetTRANSGENDER LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFUNDERS FOR LESBIAN AND GAY ISSUES INC DBA FUNDERS FOR LGBTQ ISSUES: $5,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $5,000 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 Palm Center ↗
  • Who funds TREVOR PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds EQUALITY FEDERATION INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds OUTRIGHT INTERNATIONAL ↗
  • Who funds Transgender Law Center ↗
  • Who funds SERVICES AND ADVOCACY FOR GAY LESBIAN BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ELDERS INC ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY INITIATIVES ↗
  • Who funds ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH ↗
  • Who funds CENTERLINK INC ↗
  • Who funds TRUE COLORS UNITED INC ↗
  • Who funds ADVOCATES FOR TRANS EQUALITY EDUCATION FUND ↗
  • Who funds SWARTHMORE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds GOLDEN BRIDGES SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds SOULFORCE INC ↗
  • Who funds LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER ↗
  • Who funds NEW YORK LIVE ARTS INC ↗
  • Who funds GLIDE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL CENTER FOR LGBTQ RIGHTS FKA NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS ↗
  • Who funds Tectonic Theater Project Inc ↗
  • Who funds Albany Park Theater Project ↗
  • Who funds The Working Group ↗
  • Who funds OUR FAMILY COALITION ↗

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.

Wellspring Philanthro…The San Francisco Fou…The William & Flora H…Arcus FoundationRockefeller Philanthr…Jewish Community Fede…East Bay Community Fo…Tides FoundationThe Ford FoundationGill FoundationEvelyn and Walter Haa…Borealis Philanthropy
Wellspring Philanthropic Fund IncNY19.5× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Wellspring Philanthropic Fund Inc · The San Francisco Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Arcus Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · East Bay Community Foundation · Tides Foundation · The Ford Foundation · Gill Foundation · Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr Fund · Borealis Philanthropy

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Centerlink Inc: 12% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
11report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Small Change Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Small Change 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 56 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Small Change’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