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Told Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Told Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$3.6M
Granted FY2024still arriving
22
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$1.2M
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.

Education$5.0MArts & Culture$1.8MFood & Nutrition$181kPhilanthropy$153kHealth$91kYouth Development$86kReligion$80kHuman Services$25kOther$0
02FY2024 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $6k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $175k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $855k
  • $250k+4 grants · $2.5M
$50,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$66M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY$1,246,010
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER$575,000
CSUCI FOUNDATION$464,935
KIDSTREAM CHILDREN'S MUSEUM$250,000
TO ARTS$200,000
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE FOUNDATION$150,000
VENTURA CO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$150,000
MUSEUM OF VENTURA COUNTY$150,000
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA$80,000
THE MOORPARK COLLEGE FOUNDATION$75,000
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF CAMARILLO$50,000
AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION$35,000
CANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY$25,000
STUDIO CHANNEL ISLANDS ART CENTER$25,000
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF VENTURA COUNTY$25,000
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 (FY24–24, $25k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CASA PACIFICA CENTERS FOR CHILDREN & FAMILIES: $25k → 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 47% of Told Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 88% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 51%.

Told Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.0% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.5M · 17 repeat orgs$756k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +30% since the first grant, against -45% for those funded once.

17 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
3

Total granted

$6.5M
$6k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
-45%

Still filing today

82%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $750k 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
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesFood & NutritionPublic BenefitOther
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

  • CL
    CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY
    8× · 2017–2024 · $3.2M · revenue +18%
  • CS
    CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CHANNEL ISLANDS FOUNDATION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $835k · revenue +226%
  • K
    kidSTREAM
    6× · 2019–2024 · $543k · revenue ×13

Funded once

  • CO
    CALIFORNIA OIL MUSEUM
    one grant, 2018 · $3k
  • SV
    SOUTHEAST VENTURA COUNTY YMCA
    one grant, 2021 · $3k
  • FF
    FOOD FOR THOUGHT
    one grant, 2017 · $500 · revenue -45%
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
California Institute of Contemporary Art
—
2
California State University Los Angeles Foundation

To advance the educational, cultural, scholarly, and creative activities and the role of community service of csula by increasing private funding, responsibly managing donated resources and supporting the university and its diverse and…

Education
3
Ventura Land Trust

The mission of the ventura land trust is to permanently protect the land, water, wildlife and scenic beauty of the ventura region for current and future generations.

Environment
4
Ventura County Farm to School

We are dedicated to promoting environmental, agricultural, and nutrition education. we support school garden programs and connecting local farms to ventura county schools.

Food & Nutrition
5
University of La Verne

The university of la verne offers a distinctive and relevant educational experience to a diverse population of traditional-age, adult, and graduate learners, preparing them for successful careers and a commitment to lifelong learning…

Education
6
California College of the Arts

California college of the arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. benefitting from its san francisco bay area location, the college prepares…

Education
7
Foundation of California State University Monterey Bay

To further the scientific, literary, educational and charitable purposes of california state university, monterey bay, including fundraising, development, endowment management, financial assistance, public relations and other support.

Education
8
Vistamar School

Vistamar school empowers students, preparing them to contribute and excel in higher education and in life, and commits to: a broad and balanced program that challenges and engages students, building their individual skills and inspiring a…

Education
9
Ucla Foundation

The ucla foundation is the giving, receiving, and investing arm of the ucla campus. the foundation enables private donors to help build, sustain and advance one of the world's finest academic and research institutions. private philanthropy…

Education
10
California State University Los Angeles Alumni Association Inc

To foster relationships among alumni, students and community by providing services and activities that build loyalty, support and a lifelong connection to the university.

—
11
California Surf Museum

The California Surf Museum serves as an international repository and resource center on the lifestyle sport of surfing through capturing,preserving and chronicling its art, culture and heritage for the education and enjoyment of current…

Arts & Culture
12
Ventura County Community Development Corporation

To strengthen and sustain vibrant communities by empowering individuals and families to build wealth through education and homeownership with a primary focus on serving low-to-moderate income clients.

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ventura College Foundation; the most unlike its peers is American Heart Association Inc. 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

23 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. 23 of the 30 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/23
Grantees still filing
13/23
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY: $3,199,010 · EducationCALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITYCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CHANNEL ISLANDS FOUNDATION: $834,935 · EducationCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CHANNEL ISLANDS FOUNDATIONUNIVERSITY OF DENVER: $575,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF DENVERCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE FOUNDATION: $275,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE FOUNDATION+2 more: $10,500 · EducationTHOUSAND OAKS ALLIANCE FOR THE ARTS: $755,000 · Arts & CultureTHOUSAND OAKS ALLIANCE FOR …kidSTREAM: $542,500 · Arts & CulturekidSTREAMMUSEUM OF VENTURA COUNTY: $350,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF VENTURA COUNTYSTUDIO CHANNEL ISLANDS ART CENTER: $98,500 · Arts & CultureSTUDIO CHANNEL ISLANDS ART …+3 more: $36,000 · Arts & CultureEVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA: $250,000 · OtherTHE MOORPARK COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $125,000 · OtherBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF CAMARILLO: $50,000 · OtherCANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY: $25,000 · Other+7 more: $60,000 · OtherVENTURA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $150,000 · PhilanthropyAmerican Heart Association Inc: $35,000 · HealthLIVINGSTON MEMORIAL VISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION: $22,000 · HealthVENTURA COUNTY MEDICAL RESOURCE FOUNDATION: $8,500 · HealthBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF VENTURA COUNTY INCORPORATED: $26,000 · Youth DevelopmentCasa Pacifica Centers for Children & Families: $25,000 · Human Services
Education$4,894,445Arts & Culture$1,782,000Other$510,000Philanthropy$150,000Health$65,500Youth Development$26,000Human Services$25,000

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 budgetCALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY: $3,199,010 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CHANNEL ISLANDS FOUNDATION: $834,935 over 8y, 8.9% of budgetTHOUSAND OAKS ALLIANCE FOR THE ARTS: $755,000 over 4y, 65% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DENVER: $575,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetkidSTREAM: $542,500 over 6y, 18% of budgetMUSEUM OF VENTURA COUNTY: $350,000 over 3y, 4.5% of budgetCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE FOUNDATION: $275,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetVENTURA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $150,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE MOORPARK COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 2y, 8.5% of budgetSTUDIO CHANNEL ISLANDS ART CENTER: $98,500 over 7y, 4.3% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF CAMARILLO: $50,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $35,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF VENTURA COUNTY INCORPORATED: $26,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetCasa Pacifica Centers for Children & Families: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLIVINGSTON MEMORIAL VISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION: $22,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCHANNEL ISLANDS MARITIME MUSEUM INC: $19,500 over 8y, 1.5% of budgetJOEL & FRANCES MCCREA RANCH FOUNDATION INC: $13,500 over 7y, 4.5% of budgetFOOD SHARE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVENTURA COUNTY LEADERSHIP ACADEMY: $10,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetVENTURA COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetVENTURA COUNTY MEDICAL RESOURCE FOUNDATION: $8,500 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetCamarillo Ranch Foundation: $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFOOD FOR THOUGHT: $500 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.

Ventura County Commun…Conrad N Hilton Found…Sherwood Country Club…Mufg Union Bank Found…Santa Barbara Foundat…Martin V and Martha K…Meadowlark Service Le…Scott Family Foundati…Charities Aid Foundat…American Endowment Fo…Raymond James Charita…The Bank of America C…
Ventura County Community FoundationCA30.3× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ventura County Community Foundation · Conrad N Hilton Foundation · Sherwood Country Club Charitable Foundation · Mufg Union Bank Foundation Ag · Santa Barbara Foundation · Martin V and Martha K Smith Foundation · Meadowlark Service League · Scott Family Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Endowment Foundation · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 Told Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Told 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 30 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 Told’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