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Transparent Fish Fund Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Transparent Fish Fund Inc

Transparent fish fund is a 501(c)(3) us non-profit organization founded in 2011 in palo alto, california, established exclusively for charitable purposes to connect credible chinese and east asian grassroots ngos with individuals from the west.

$247k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$8k
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.

Food & Nutrition$75kReligion$56kCommunity Improvement$35kHealth$35kEducation$28kInternational$19kCivil Rights$10kYouth Development$10k
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 1 grants below total $8,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $247,000 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $239,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$8,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$355k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOPE HORIZON EAST PALO ALTO$8,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 60% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Design That Matters: $12k → 10%Children's HeartLink: $22k → 11%HOPE HORIZON EAST PALO ALTO (BAYSHORE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES): $10k → 8%SAN FRANCISCO CITY IMPACT: $20k → 10%Zoe International: $7k → 14%AALDEF: $10k → 17%INNOVATION WORKS: $15k → 19%BAYSHORE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES: $10k → 8%SAN FRANCISCO CITY IMPACT: $20k → 10%INNOVATION WORKS: $10k → 19%BAYSHORE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES: $10k → 8%SAN FRANCISCO CITY IMPACT: $15k → 10%INNOVATION WORKS: $10k → 19%HOPE HORIZON EAST PALO ALTO (BAYSHORE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES): $10k → 8%One Heart World-Wide: $13k → 10%HOPE HORIZON EAST PALO ALTO: $10k → 8%SAN FRANCISCO CITY IMPACT: $20k → 10%HOPE HORIZON EAST PALO ALTO: $8k → 8%Bayshore Christian Ministries: $8k → 8%Santa Clara University: $20k → 8%Santa Clara University: $8k → 8%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.

Grants abroad, by region: $235k on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 2 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

East Asia and the Pacific$202k · 86% · 11 grants

Stated purpose: PROVIDE YOUTH PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL ASSISTANCE TO UNDERPRIVILEGED TEENAGERS TO GROW DURING THIS DIFFICULT TIME. · TO PROVIDE COMPUTER, LIFE SKILLS, OR CAREER DEVELOPMENT LESSONS TO 1,500 MIGRANT AND DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN CHINA TO IMPROVE THEIR DIGITAL LITERACY AND LIFE SKILLS. · FUNDING FOR THE ENTIRE PHARMACY DEPARTMENT AT LAO FRIENDS HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN.

South Asia$33k · 14% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: SUPPORT THE OPERATION OF FIVE ANTI-TRAFFICKING TRANSIT MONITORING STATIONS IN IN NEPAL EXCLUSIVELY: BIRGUNJ, HETAUDA, BHADRAPUR/JOGBANI, BIRATNAGAR, AND CHANDRAUTA. GOAL IS 500 INTERCEPTS AND 20 ARRESTS OF TRAFFICKERS. · WOMEN'S HEALTH AND CHILD NUTRITION PROJECT IN NEPAL'S MOST MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES.

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
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 7% of Transparent Fish Fund Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 70% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 67%.

Transparent Fish Fund Inclessmore 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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$204k · 4 repeat orgs$64k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

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

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
5

Total granted

$204k
$64k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+30%

Still filing today

100%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

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

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
ReligionYouth DevelopmentCommunity ImprovementEducationInternationalOther
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

  • HH
    HOPE HORIZON EAST PALO ALTO
    7× · 2019–2025 · $66k · revenue +27%
  • IW
    INNOVATION WORKS INC
    3× · 2020–2022 · $35k · revenue +118%
  • PO
    PRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE
    2× · 2018–2019 · $28k · revenue +39%

Funded once

  • CH
    CHILDREN'S HEARTLINK
    one grant, 2019 · $22k · revenue +19%
  • OH
    One Heart World-Wide
    one grant, 2017 · $13k
  • DT
    DESIGN THAT MATTERS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $12k · revenue +31%
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
International Development Enterprises

See schedule o for a more detailed description of ide's mission statement and achievements.

International
2
Inclusive Development International

Inclusive Development International supports communities around the world to defend their rights and resources in the face of harmful corporate activities and internationally financed development projects, and we advocate for a more just…

International
3
International Aids Vaccine Initiative Inc

A nonprofit scientific research organization that develops vaccines and antibodies for hiv, tuberculosis, and emerging infectious diseases.

International
4
Handicap International

Handicap international dba humanity & inclusion (hi) works with people with disabilities and people living in situations of vulnerability, including poverty, exclusion, conflict, and disaster.

International
5
Devworks International

Devworks international is dedicated to a society where all people enjoy the freedom to pursue their own sustainable development. we contribute to this by strengthening the capacity of local organizations.

Human Services
6
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
7
Human Rights Watch Inc

Human rights watch ("hrw") defends the rights of people worldwide. we scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. human rights watch is an independent,…

International
8
IDENTITY2020 Systems Inc

Id2020 brings together diverse voices to set technical requirements, influence policy, and accelerate the implementation of digital id programs that benefit the most vulnerable.

—
9
Corus International Inc

TO MANAGE AN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH, AND RELIEF FOCUSED FAMILY OF ORGANIZATIONS HELPING PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES LIFT THEMSELVES OUT OF POVERTY, SUPPORT WELL-BEING OF INDIVIDUALS, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES, AND PROVIDE…

Human Services
10
International Leadership Institute

The international leadership institute (ili) changes history by accelerating the spread of the gospel through training and mobilizing leaders of leaders to reach their nations. ili accomplishes this purpose through cutting edge leadership…

Religion
11
Center for Global Development

Reduce global poverty and improve lives through innovative economic research that drives better policy and practice by the world's top decision makers. we focus on the intersection of developing countries and the governments, institutions…

Human Services
12
One Heart Worldwide

Our mission is to end all preventable deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth worldwide. our vision is to improve access to, and utilization of, quality healthcare services to reduce the risk of maternal and neonatal mortality in remote…

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Zoe International; the most unlike its peers is Design That Matters 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

9 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/9
Grantees still filing
8/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

San Francisco City Impact: $75,000 · Youth DevelopmentSan Francisco City ImpactHOPE HORIZON EAST PALO ALTO: $66,000 · ReligionHOPE HORIZON EAST PALO ALTOZOE INTERNATIONAL: $7,030 · ReligionZOE INTERNATIONALCHILDREN'S HEARTLINK: $22,000 · OtherCHILDREN'S HEARTLI…One Heart World-Wide: $12,505 · OtherOne Heart World-Wi…ASIAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND: $10,000 · OtherASIAN AMERICAN LEG…INNOVATION WORKS INC: $35,000 · Community ImprovementINNOVATION WOR…PRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE: $28,000 · EducationPRESIDENT-B…DESIGN THAT MATTERS INC: $12,000 · International
Youth Development$75,000Religion$73,030Other$44,505Community Improvement$35,000Education$28,000International$12,000

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 budgetSan Francisco City Impact: $75,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetHOPE HORIZON EAST PALO ALTO: $66,000 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetINNOVATION WORKS INC: $35,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE: $28,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S HEARTLINK: $22,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetOne Heart World-Wide: $12,505 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetDESIGN THAT MATTERS INC: $12,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetASIAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetZOE INTERNATIONAL: $7,030 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Ping and Amy Chao Fam…Charities Aid Foundat…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Ping and Amy Chao Family FoundationDE13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ping and Amy Chao Family Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Transparent Fish Fund Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Transparent Fish Fund Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 Transparent Fish Fund Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Transparent Fish Fund Inc 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 9 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 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 Transparent Fish’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