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The Thomas C Ackerman Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Thomas C Ackerman Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$230k
Granted FY2024still arriving
26
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$21k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$2.0MEducation$850kArts & Culture$603kYouth Development$142kFood & Nutrition$77kHealth$65kHousing & Shelter$45kCommunity Improvement$35kOther$0
02FY2024 · 26 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k12 grants · $51k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $179k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$4.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OCEAN DISCOVERY INSTITUTE$20,600
COASTAL ROOTS FARM$20,500
ABC-ANYBODYCAN FOUNDATION$18,000
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS$15,000
SAN DIEGO CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM$12,500
NORTH COUNTY EDUCATION FOUNDATION$12,000
TEENS RISE FOUNDATION$10,500
BOYS TO MEN MENTORING NETWORK INC$10,000
OUTSIDE THE LENS$10,000
VILLA MUSICA$10,000
SAN DIEGO AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM$10,000
TARIQ KHAMISA FOUNDATION$10,000
SOUTH COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT$10,000
CRISTO REY SAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL INC$10,000
NATURE COLLECTIVE$9,000
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 (FY18–23, $30k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%San Diego Center for Children: $15k → 11%NORTH COUNTY LIFELINE INC: $5k → 11%WOUNDED WARRIOR HOMES: $10k → 11%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.
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.

62%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 25 repeat orgs$755k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +95% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

25 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 17 since wound down; 18 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
65

Total granted

$1.2M
$621k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+95%
+16%

Still filing today

72%
66%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 42% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $134k 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 & CultureYouth DevelopmentHealthHuman ServicesPhilanthropyOther
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

  • NP
    NATIVITY PREP ACADEMY OF SAN DIEGO INC
    3× · 2017–2023 · $76k · revenue +98%
  • TY
    transcenDANCE Youth Arts Project
    3× · 2017–2020 · $64k · revenue +484%
  • SD
    SAN DIEGO CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM
    3× · 2021–2024 · $50k · revenue +105%

Funded once

  • MN
    MIRAMAR NATIONAL CEMETERY SUPPORT FDN
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue -84%
  • KS
    KID SPARK EDUCATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $43k · revenue +88%
  • SD
    San Diego Public Library
    one grant, 2017 · $38k
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
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
2
San Diego Junior Theatre

San Diego Junior Theatre (Junior Theatre) was incorporated in 1948 as a nonprofit corporation and is the oldest youth theatre in the nation, offering affordable camps, classes, and outreach programs for children ages 3-18; as well as six…

—
3
San Diego Youth Symphony & Conservatory

Since 1945, San Diego Youth Symphony (SDYS) has served as a catalyst for investing in the future of young people through joyful and transformative music-making experiences. We reach over 2,500 students and families annually throughout San…

—
4
The New Childrens Museum

The New Childrens Museum (the Museum) in San Diego is an arts-based childrens museum whose mission is to stimulate imagination, creativity, and critical thinking in children and families through inventive, engaging experiences with…

Arts & Culture
5
San Diego Coasters
Arts & Culture
6
Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego

to advance regional contemporary art and artists while fostering cultural equity through access to meaningful art experiences

Arts & Culture
7
Mindset Charter Schools Inc Dba School for Entrepreneurship and Technology

We prepare students to thrive in a complex, changing world.we combine strong academics with student agency, meaningful relationships, and real-world learning to develop curiosity, resilience, and responsibility. (continued on schedule…

Education
8
Stem Advantage

Talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. STEM Advantage mentors, prepares, and inspires first-generation, low-income, and underserved college students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). We level…

Youth Development
9
Arts Education Connection San Diego

Arts Education Connection San Diego engages professional teaching artists to provide high-quality arts education programs in all art forms for students, educators, families and communities, advocating for, leading and advancing education…

Arts & Culture
10
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
11
Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum

Smvdm is a california public benefit corporation whose mission is to foster family and youth inspired learining by creating experiences to explore ourselves, our valley, our world, and beyond. smvdm serves schools, families, and youth…

—
12
San Diego French-American School

San diego french-american school offers an exceptional bilingual education within a vibrant international community, preparing students to become confident, responsible and engaged global citizens.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is San Diego Children's Discovery Museum; the most unlike its peers is Kupanda. 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

80 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. 80 of the 110 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)
25
Early backer (in before they grew)
79/80
Grantees still filing
54/80
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

RANCHO SANTA FE FOUNDATION: $2,000,000 · PhilanthropyRANCHO SANTA FE FOUNDATION+2 more: $67,500 · PhilanthropyTIMKEN MUSEUM: $345,000 · OtherTIMKEN MUSEUMUCSD - Pathways to STEM: $250,000 · OtherUCSD - Pathways to STEMFEEDING AMERICA SAN DIEGO: $40,000 · Other+51 more: $506,010 · Other+51 moreNATIVITY PREP ACADEMY OF SAN DIEGO INC: $76,000 · EducationNATIVITY PR…transcenDANCE Youth Arts Project: $63,500 · EducationtranscenDAN…CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS CORPORATION: $50,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA …KID SPARK EDUCATION: $42,500 · EducationKID SPARK E…SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $37,500 · EducationSAN DIEGO P…OCEAN DISCOVERY INSTITUTE: $28,100 · EducationOCEAN DISCO…Diamond Educational Excellence Partnership: $25,000 · EducationDiamond Edu…Teach for America Inc: $15,000 · Education+13 more: $74,500 · Education+13 moreSAN DIEGO CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $50,000 · Arts & CultureSAN DIEGO SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY: $50,000 · Arts & CultureA Step Beyond: $17,500 · Arts & CultureSAN DIEGO AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM: $10,000 · Arts & CultureVILLA MUSICA: $10,000 · Arts & CultureSAMUEL LAWRENCE FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Arts & CultureARTSBUSXPRESS: $10,000 · Arts & CultureMEDIA ARTS CENTER SAN DIEGO: $7,500 · Arts & Culture+10 more: $43,000 · Arts & CultureACCESS YOUTH ACADEMY: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentOUTSIDE THE LENS: $15,000 · Youth DevelopmentANY BODY CAN YOUTH FOUNDATION: $12,500 · Youth DevelopmentJUST IN TIME FOR FOSTER YOUTH: $12,500 · Youth DevelopmentBoys to Men Mentoring Network Inc: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF EAST CO INC: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentCALIFORNIA MISSIONS FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentSAN DIEGO EDUCATION FUND: $20,000 · HealthGrossmont Hospital Foundation: $15,000 · HealthEmilio Nares Foundation: $7,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $5,000 · HealthNATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION: $5,000 · HealthJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY INC: $25,000 · InternationalTHE AJA PROJECT: $10,000 · International
Philanthropy$2,067,500Other$1,141,010Education$412,100Arts & Culture$208,000Youth Development$85,000Health$52,000International$35,000

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 budgetRANCHO SANTA FE FOUNDATION: $2,000,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetNATIVITY PREP ACADEMY OF SAN DIEGO INC: $76,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgettranscenDANCE Youth Arts Project: $63,500 over 3y, 5.1% of budgetSAN DIEGO CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $50,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetSAN DIEGO SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY: $50,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMIRAMAR NATIONAL CEMETERY SUPPORT FDN: $50,000 over 1y, 9.1% of budgetCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS CORPORATION: $50,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetKID SPARK EDUCATION: $42,500 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetSAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $37,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCOASTAL ROOTS FARM: $32,500 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetELEMENTARY INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE: $32,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetOCEAN DISCOVERY INSTITUTE: $28,100 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetDiamond Educational Excellence Partnership: $25,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetACCESS YOUTH ACADEMY: $25,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetSAN DIEGO RESCUE MISSION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAN DIEGO EDUCATION FUND: $20,000 over 2y, 5.5% of budgetTARIQ KHAMISA FOUNDATION INC TKF: $17,500 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetA Step Beyond: $17,500 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN DIEGO CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGrossmont Hospital Foundation: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOUTSIDE THE LENS: $15,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetANY BODY CAN YOUTH FOUNDATION: $12,500 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetJUST IN TIME FOR FOSTER YOUTH: $12,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNorth County Education Foundation Inc: $12,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetTEENS RISE FOUNDATION: $10,500 over 1y, 7.7% of budgetSAN DIEGO AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetVILLA MUSICA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBoys to Men Mentoring Network Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCRISTO REY SAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR HOMES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetSAMUEL LAWRENCE FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetARTSBUSXPRESS: $10,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetJUNIOR LEAGUE OF SAN DIEGO INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetWESLEY HOUSE STUDENT RESIDENCE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetTHE AJA PROJECT: $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetNATURE COLLECTIVE: $9,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO: $8,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSan Diego Children's Choir: $7,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetMEDIA ARTS CENTER SAN DIEGO: $7,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCOMMUNITY CAMPERSHIP COUNCIL INC: $7,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetEmilio Nares Foundation: $7,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBARRIO LOGAN COLLEGE INSTITUTE: $6,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF VISTA INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF EAST CO INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF LA JOLLA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetJULIAN PATHWAYS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

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 Conrad Prebys Fou…The San Diego Foundat…The Parker FoundationDavid C Copley Founda…Jewish Community Foun…Boys and Girls Aid So…Walter J & Betty C Za…Price Philanthropies …The Nordson Corporati…The Cushman FoundationSempra FoundationRancho Santa Fe Found…
The Conrad Prebys FoundationCA104.8× affinity50 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Conrad Prebys Foundation · The San Diego Foundation · The Parker Foundation · David C Copley Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · Boys and Girls Aid Society of San Diego Ltd · Walter J & Betty C Zable Foundation · Price Philanthropies Foundation · The Nordson Corporation Foundation · The Cushman Foundation · Sempra Foundation · Rancho Santa Fe Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%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
    35report 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 Thomas C Ackerman Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Thomas C Ackerman 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 110 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 Thomas C Ackerman’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