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Plinth

· Private foundation

The Step 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.

$897k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$349k
Largest
01What you fund
0188% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172025.

Education$989kHealth$987kPhilanthropy$147kHuman Services$35kArts & Culture$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $222k
  • $250k+2 grants · $664k
$153,088
Median grant
2
States reached
$2.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE$349,482
TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DIABETES$314,565
UC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION$153,088
POWER FOR PARKINSON'S$68,995
SAN DIEGO AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM INC$10,486
02The need
03

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.

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%JEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY: $84k → 11%POWER FOR PARKINSON'S: $69k → 10%UNITED JEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN DIEGO: $64k → 11%POWER FOR PARKINSON'S: $5k → 10%THE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $349k → 11%POWER FOR PARKINSONS: $5k → 10%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: $239k → 11%TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DIABETES: $315k → 11%UC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION: $538k → 11%UCSD FOUNDATION: $298k → 11%UC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION: $153k → 11%SAN DIEGO AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM INC: $10k → 11%NORTH COAST REPERTORY: $100k → 11%NORTH COAST REP: $99k → 11%TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DIABETES: $5k → 11%USO COUNCIL OF SAN DIEGO: $35k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

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.

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.

03Your edge
repeat funding

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.

62%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.4M · 3 repeat orgs$833k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships — 3 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
4

Total granted

$1.4M
$473k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+78%
+180%

Still filing today

100%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 60% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $360k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’20’24’25
HealthEducationArts & CultureOther

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

  • US
    UC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION
    3× · 2017–2025 · $989k · revenue +78%
  • TC
    TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DIABETES DBA TCOYD
    2× · 2019–2025 · $320k · revenue -14%
  • PF
    POWER FOR PARKINSONS
    3× · 2019–2025 · $79k · revenue +237%

Funded once

  • CI
    California Institute for BioMedical Research
    one grant, 2017 · $239k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $100k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $99k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

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.

1
California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy

To harness the power of the human immune system and advanced computing technologies to create and translate scientific discoveries into next generation vaccines and therapies for prevention, control and cure of chronic diseases, enabling…

Health
2
La Jolla Institute for Immunology

At la jolla institute for immunology, our scientists focus on understanding how the immune system works in order to promote human health and prevent disease. our discoveries apply to many diseases, ranging from diabetes to heart disease,…

3
San Diego State University Foundation Sdsu Research Foundation

To support and further the research, education and community service objectives of san diego state university.

Education
4
The San Diego Foundation

The san diego foundation inspires enduring philanthropy and enables community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region.

Philanthropy
5
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
6
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.

7
The California Medical Innovations Institute Inc

The Institute is a scientific research center dedicated to conducting basic and applied research to advance the understanding of human disease and the improvement of human health. The Institute fosters an innovative research environment…

Education
8
Associated Students of San Diego State University

To support the social, recreational, cultural and education programs and facilities, both on campus and in the community, and to advocate for student interests, provide leadership opportunities and participate in shared governance.

9
San Diego Jewish Academy

San Diego Jewish Academy empowers each student to learn for life, guided by Jewish values and rooted in strength of community.

Education
10
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
11
Curebound

The organization's mission is to provide funding for the best cancer research ideas in san diego. all proceeds from curebound stay in san diego to fund innovative and collaborative cancer research.

Health
12
Uc Santa Barbara Foundation

The uc santa barbara foundation actively works to further the goals of the university of california, santa barbara. the foundation seeks to maintain and nurture the university's quality and distinction. on behalf of the campus, the…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Uc San Diego Foundation and the most unlike its peers is San Diego Automotive Museum. 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

8 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 8 of the 10 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
6/8
Grantees still filing
5/8
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

UC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION — $989,341 · EducationUC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATIONTHE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE — $349,482 · HealthTHE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTETAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DIABETES DBA TCOYD — $319,829 · HealthTAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DIABETES DBA…POWER FOR PARKINSONS — $79,450 · HealthPOWER FOR PARKINSONSCalifornia Institute for BioMedical Research — $238,735 · OtherCalifornia Institute for BioM…JEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY — $147,302 · OtherJEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN DIEG…Individual grant recipient — $100,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient — $99,337 · OtherIndividual grant recipientUNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATION USO COUNCIL OF SAN DIEGO — $35,260 · OtherUNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATION U…SAN DIEGO AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM — $10,486 · Arts & Culture
Education$989,341Health$748,761Other$620,634Arts & Culture$10,486

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetUC SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION — $989,341 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DIABETES DBA TCOYD — $319,829 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCalifornia Institute for BioMedical Research — $238,735 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY — $147,302 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetPOWER FOR PARKINSONS — $79,450 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetUNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATION USO COUNCIL OF SAN DIEGO — $35,260 over 1y, 13% of budgetSAN DIEGO AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM — $10,486 over 1y, 0.5% of budget
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.

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.

The San Diego FoundationCA13.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Diego Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Step Family 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 or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 10 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph