· Private foundation
Tom & Nancy Elsaesser 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k8 grants · $18k
- $10k–50k4 grants · $70k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE | $25,000 |
| DIRECT RELIEF | $25,000 |
| PASADENA HUMANE SOCIETY | $10,000 |
| COTTAGE HOSPITAL OF STA YNEZ VALLEY | $10,000 |
| CANCER FOUNDATION OF SANTA BARBARA | $5,000 |
| STUART C GILDRED FAMILY YMCA | $5,000 |
| CARES 4PAWS | $2,000 |
| SURFRIDER FOUNDATION | $2,000 |
| ARTS OUTREACH | $1,000 |
| AMERICAN WOMEN FOR INTERNATIONAL UN | $1,000 |
| CALIFORNIA NATURE ART MUSEUM | $1,000 |
| ELVERHOJ MUSEUM | $1,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–21, $10k) 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.
How this is measured
How this is measured
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 Tom & Nancy Elsaesser Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 97% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 92%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +94% since the first grant, against +52% for those funded once.
19 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
DIRECT RELIEF9× · 2017–2025 · $250k · revenue +94%- TPTURNING POINT FOUNDATION5× · 2017–2021 · $60k · revenue +217%
- FSFOOD SHARE INC5× · 2017–2021 · $55k · revenue +94%
Funded once
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2018 · $50k
CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTERgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $50k · revenue +52%- CHCOTTAGE HOSPITAL OF SANTA YNEZ VALLone grant, 2021 · $10k
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.
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.
Marin humane transforms lives through exceptional animal care, humane education, and advocacy. every day, marin humane inspires compassion and positive relationships between people and animals.
Santa barbara humane operates two campuses located in santa barbara and santa maria providing care for community-owned and homeless animals. both campuses offer affordable high quality veterinary care, compassionate behavior training…
Animal care sanctuary's lifesaving mission as a no kill organization envisions a community that promotes turning compassion into action for companion animals by: 1.) adopting healthy pet companions into loving homes. 2.) promoting the…
The california wildlife center (cwc) takes responsibility for the protection of all native wildlife through rehabilitiation, education and conservation. as the los angeles area's premier wildlife medical care and rehabilitation facility,…
Cancer support community valley/ventura/santa barbaras mission is to uplift and strengthen people impacted by cancer by providing support, fostering compassionate communities, and breaking down barriers to care.
See schedule orancho coastal is dedicated to the rescue and shelter of abandoned companion animals. it encourages adoptions into loving homes and provides educational and community outreach programs designed to enhance the human-animal…
To distribute public affairs and other educational information in order to create an electronic bridge between californians and their public officials, and, in the process educate a new generation of voting citizens and civic leaders who…
Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…
Research, develop and promote waste reduction policies and programs
Accelerating life science success.
Help rescue, adopt, and provide medical care for abandoned animals in the coachella valley
Clsa advances californias world-leading life sciences innovation ecosystem by advocating for effective national, state and local public policies and supporting entrepreneurs and life sciences businesses.
How this is measured
12 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. 12 of the 28 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 DIRECT RELIEF ↗
- Who funds TURNING POINT FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds FOOD SHARE INC ↗
- Who funds CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER ↗
- Who funds THE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CANCER FOUNDATION OF SANTA BARBARA ↗
- Who funds CALIFORNIA NATURE ART MUSEUM ↗
- Who funds CARE4Paws Inc ↗
- Who funds PASADENA HUMANE ↗
- Who funds ANIMAL SERVICES FOUNDATION OF VENTURA COUNTY ↗
- Who funds ARTS OUTREACH ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN WOMEN FOR INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Ann Jackson Family Foundation · The Wood-Claeyssens Foundation · Hutton Foundation Dba Hutton Parker Foundation · Santa Barbara Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Tom & Nancy Elsaesser Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Tom & Nancy Elsaesser Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Tom & Nancy Elsaesser’s filings →