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The Uplands Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Uplands 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.

$50k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$50k
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 2025.

Youth Development$209kCrime & Legal$180kArts & Culture$151kHuman Services$111kHealth$108kEmployment$51kInternational$51kHousing & Shelter$50kOther$0
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNCOMMON LAW$50,000
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 (FY17–18, $46k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, 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%FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: $3k → 10%J-SEI INC: $43k → 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.
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 5% of The Uplands Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 95% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 89%.

The Uplands 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.

23%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$217k · 4 repeat orgs$739k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
17

Total granted

$217k
$739k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+5%
+32%

Still filing today

100%
94%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’23’24’25
Crime & LegalCivil RightsHealthHuman ServicesArts & CultureHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • UL
    UNCOMMON LAW
    2× · 2024–2025 · $65k · revenue 0%
  • RO
    RESTAURANT OPPORTUNITIES CENTERS UNITED INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $51k · revenue -57%
  • DA
    Destiny Arts Center
    2× · 2017–2018 · $51k · revenue +114%

Funded once

  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO GAY MENS CHORUS
    one grant, 2023 · $65k
  • JA
    JUSTICE AT LAST INC
    one grant, 2024 · $65k · revenue 0%
  • CY
    COMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO
    one grant, 2023 · $65k · revenue -4%
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
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
2
San Francisco Casa

San Francisco CASA transforms the lives of children and youth traumatized and displaced in the foster care and related systems by providing one consistent, caring volunteer advocate, trained to address each childs needs in the court and…

Civil Rights
3
Legal Link

Legal Link removes legal barriers that prolong poverty by adding critically needed capacity to the legal ecosystem.

Crime & Legal
4
Centro Legal De La Raza

Centro Legal De La Raza is a comprehensive legal services agency protecting and advancing the rights of low-income immigrant communities throguh culturally competent bilingual legal representation, education, and advocacy.

Crime & Legal
5
Enterprise for Youth

Enterprise for youth empowers under-resourced san francisco youths to reach their potential through transformative paid internship experiences supported by a community of employers, caring adults, and peers.

Youth Development
6
East Bay Agency for Children

For more than 70 years, East Bay Agency for Children continues to improve the well-being of children, youth and families by reducing the impact of trauma and social inequalities.

Health
7
Unitedly

Unitedly is a nonprofit organization based in San Mateo County, California. Unitedly was established to ensure Asian families and communities have access to equitable opportunities and resources to thrive in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Human Services
8
California Center for Movement Legal Services

The California Center for Movement Legal Services (Movement Legal) provides legal services in the pursuit of improving the lives of California's traditionally underserved residents, carrying out legal work that fosters community led policy…

Crime & Legal
9
Oakland Kids First

The mission of Oakland Kids First is to increase youth voice, leadership and power to create engaging and equitable public schools where all students learn and lead.

Youth Development
10
La Raza Centro Legal - San Francisco

La Raza Centro Legal San Francisco provides high quality, highly trusted, free legal services to low-income or immigrant clients in the San Francisco Bay Area.

—
11
Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto Inc

To provide transformative legal services that enable diverse communities in East Palo Alto and beyond to achieve a secure and thriving future.

Crime & Legal
12
Family Violence Law Center

FVLC helps diverse communities in Alameda County heal from domestic violence and sexual assault, advocating for justice and healthy relationships. We provide survivor-centered legal and crisis intervention services, offer prevention for…

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Contra Costa Family Justice Alliance; the most unlike its peers is Shotgun Players. 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

20 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. 20 of the 21 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/20
Grantees still filing
14/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SAN FRANCISCO GAY MENS CHORUS: $65,000 · OtherSAN FRANCISCO GAY MENS CHORUSCOMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO: $65,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCOGood Samaritan Family Resource Center of San Francisco: $65,000 · OtherGood Samaritan Family Resource Center of San Franci…RESTAURANT OPPORTUNITIES CENTERS UNITED INC: $50,550 · OtherRESTAURANT OPPORTUNITIES CENTERS UNITED INCMyPath: $43,000 · OtherMyPathMISSION ACTION INC: $50,000 · OtherMISSION ACTION INCRYSE INC: $48,000 · OtherRYSE INCJ-SEI INC: $43,000 · OtherJ-SEI INC+3 more: $7,500 · OtherUNCOMMON LAW: $65,000 · Crime & LegalUNCOMMON LAWCONTRA COSTA FAMILY JUSTICE ALLIANCE: $50,000 · Crime & LegalCONTRA COSTA …JUSTICE AT LAST INC: $65,000 · Civil RightsJUSTICE AT L…GIFFORDS LAW CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE: $43,000 · Civil RightsGIFFORDS LAW…CHOICE IN AGING: $65,000 · HealthCHOICE IN AG…Westside Community Mental Health Center Westside Community Services Inc: $43,000 · HealthWestside Com…The Z Space Studio: $43,000 · Arts & CultureThe Z Spac…Shotgun Players: $43,000 · Arts & CultureShotgun Pl…Destiny Arts Center: $50,500 · Recreation & SportsASYLUM ACCESS: $50,500 · International
Other$437,050Crime & Legal$115,000Civil Rights$108,000Health$108,000Arts & Culture$86,000Recreation & Sports$50,500International$50,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetJUSTICE AT LAST INC: $65,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetCOMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO: $65,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGood Samaritan Family Resource Center of San Francisco: $65,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCHOICE IN AGING: $65,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetUNCOMMON LAW: $65,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetRESTAURANT OPPORTUNITIES CENTERS UNITED INC: $50,550 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetDestiny Arts Center: $50,500 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetASYLUM ACCESS: $50,500 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetCONTRA COSTA FAMILY JUSTICE ALLIANCE: $50,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetMISSION ACTION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetRYSE INC: $48,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetJ-SEI INC: $43,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetThe Z Space Studio: $43,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetShotgun Players: $43,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetGIFFORDS LAW CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE: $43,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetMyPath: $43,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetWestside Community Mental Health Center Westside Community Services Inc: $43,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetALTERNATIVES IN ACTION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOAKLAND PROMISE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: $2,500 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.

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 San Francisco Fou…Silicon Valley Commun…Marin Community Found…Kaiser Foundation Hos…Crankstart FoundationThe William & Flora H…East Bay Community Fo…Walter and Elise Haas…McNabb FoundationThe Zellerbach Family…Kenneth Rainin Founda…Stupski Foundation
The San Francisco FoundationCA33× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · Crankstart Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · Walter and Elise Haas Fund · McNabb Foundation · The Zellerbach Family Foundation · Kenneth Rainin Foundation · Stupski 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 Uplands Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Uplands Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Uplands Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Uplands 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 21 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Uplands’ 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