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United Plankton Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

United Plankton Charitable Trust

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.

$3.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
17
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$1.0M
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, FY2018 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$5.9MHealth$1.2MEducation$873kPhilanthropy$276kReligion$40kYouth Development$21kPublic Safety & Disaster$5kRecreation & Sports$5kOther$0
02FY2024 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k3 grants · $12k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $95k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $720k
  • $250k+5 grants · $2.5M
$100,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$8.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS$1,000,000
HAMMER MUSEUM LOS ANGELES$615,000
CAL POLY HUMBOLDT FOUNDATION$345,000
THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART$315,000
INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART$250,000
PERFORMANCE ART MUSEUM$200,000
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION$150,000
PASADENA CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC$120,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC$100,000
HEART OF THE BRAIN$100,000
LACE$50,000
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART$45,000
LAXART$25,000
POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL$25,000
LCYC COMMUNITY SAILING FOUNDATION$5,000
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 (FY18–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CAL POLY HUMBOLDT FOUNDATION: $345k → 18%HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY: $45k → 18%PERFORMANCE ART MUSEUM: $200k → 14%PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $110k → 17%PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $105k → 17%PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $100k → 17%PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $100k → 17%HEART OF THE BRAIN: $100k → 14%PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $100k → 17%HEART OF THE BRAIN: $75k → 14%PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $100k → 17%HEART OF THE BRAIN: $65k → 14%PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $100k → 17%HEART OF THE BRAIN: $55k → 14%HEART OF THE BRAIN: $55k → 14%HEART OF THE BRAIN: $55k → 14%HEART OF THE BRAIN: $50k → 14%THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $315k → 14%LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION: $150k → 14%THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $100k → 14%THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $60k → 14%THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $50k → 14%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $1.0M → 14%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $385k → 14%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $268k → 14%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $178k → 14%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $100k → 14%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $100k → 14%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $100k → 14%PASADENA CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $220k → 14%PASADENA CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $120k → 14%POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL: $50k → 14%POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL: $50k → 14%HAMMER MUSEUM LOS ANGELES: $615k → 14%HAMMER MUSEUM LOS ANGELES: $157k → 14%UCLA FOUNDATION: $65k → 14%INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $250k → 14%HAMMER MUSEUM LOS ANGELES: $55k → 14%INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $150k → 14%HAMMER MUSEUM LOS ANGELES: $50k → 14%INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $50k → 14%HAMMER MUSEUM LOS ANGELES: $50k → 14%LIBERTY HILL FOUNDATION: $90k → 14%FUTURE ROOTS INC: $50k → 14%FUTURE ROOTS INC: $50k → 14%LACE: $50k → 14%LACE: $50k → 14%LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART: $53k → 14%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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.4M · 22 repeat orgs$721k to everyone else

22 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2024, 10 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
25

Total granted

$7.4M
$164k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+95%

Still filing today

68%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $557k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationYouth DevelopmentHealthAnimalsEnvironmentOther
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

  • CI
    CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS
    7× · 2018–2024 · $2.1M · revenue +20%
  • PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC
    7× · 2018–2024 · $715k · revenue +50%
  • TM
    THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES
    7× · 2018–2024 · $579k · revenue +74%

Funded once

  • LC
    LAISTSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO
    one grant, 2023 · $40k
  • AC
    ARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTSgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $25k · revenue +230%
  • PM
    PASADENA MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA ART
    one grant, 2018 · $25k
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
Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center Inc

The hammer museum at ucla believes in the promise of art and ideas to illuminate our lives and build a more just world.

Arts & Culture
3
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

See schedule osfmoma believes the art of our time is vital and shares it with passion and purpose, and that art and the creative process can open minds and help build a better world. for that reason, we assemble unparalleled collections,…

Arts & Culture
4
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

The museum of contemporary art san diego invites all audiences to experience our world, our region, and ourselves through the prism of contemporary art.

Arts & Culture
5
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
6
Ica La

Through its exhibitions and outreach programs, the institute of contemporary art, los angeles fosters diversity, innovation, and discovery in contemporary art - local, national, and international.

Arts & Culture
7
Asian Art Museum Foundation of San Francisco

The asian art museum celebrates, preserves, and promotes asian and asian american art and cultures for local and global audiences. we provide a dynamic forum for exchanging ideas, inviting collaboration, and fueling imagination to deepen…

Arts & Culture
8
Academy Museum Foundation

The academy museum of motion pictures advances the understanding, celebration, and preservation of cinema through inclusive and accessible exhibitions, screenings, programs, initiatives, and collections. welcoming visitors from los angeles…

Arts & Culture
9
Museum of Latin American Art

The specific purpose of this corporation is to: expand knowledge and appreciation of modern and contemporary latin american tine art that has been created since world war ii; to operate a museum; to collect and display latin american…

Arts & Culture
10
Norton Simon Museum of Art At Pasadena

Operation of a public art museum.

Arts & Culture
11
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
12
Monterey Museum of Art

The monterey museum of art cultivates curiosity in the visual arts and engages community with the diversity of california art - past, present, and future.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles; the most unlike its peers is Whitney Museum of American Art. 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

38 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. 38 of the 55 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/38
Grantees still filing
29/38
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $2,129,860 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTSTHE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $579,000 · Arts & CultureTHE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELESPasadena Conservatory of Music: $460,500 · Arts & CulturePasadena Conservatory of MusicLOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION: $250,500 · Arts & CultureLOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATIONTHE PERFORMANCE ART MUSEUM: $200,000 · Arts & CultureSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO: $185,000 · Arts & CultureMuseum of Modern Art: $160,750 · Arts & Culture+12 more: $257,607 · Arts & Culture+12 moreHAMMER MUSEUM LOS ANGELES: $947,200 · OtherHAMMER MUSEUM LOS ANGELESINSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $560,525 · OtherINSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTHEART OF THE BRAIN: $455,000 · OtherHEART OF THE BRAINHUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY: $135,000 · OtherHUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITYLACE: $130,000 · OtherKCRW FOUNDATION INC: $101,000 · Other+17 more: $130,600 · OtherCAL POLY HUMBOLDT FOUNDATION: $345,000 · EducationCAL POLY H…POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL: $305,000 · EducationPOLYTECHNI…UCLA FOUNDATION: $65,500 · EducationUCLA FOUND…+3 more: $22,045 · EducationPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $715,000 · HealthPLANNED P…LIBERTY HILL FOUNDATION: $140,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $1,052 · PhilanthropyBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF PASADENA: $20,000 · Youth DevelopmentPROJECT LIFT INC: $1,000 · Youth DevelopmentCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC: $1,000 · AnimalsTREEPEOPLE INC: $500 · Environment
Arts & Culture$4,223,217Other$2,459,325Education$737,545Health$715,000Philanthropy$141,052Youth Development$21,000Animals$1,000Environment$500

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 INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $2,129,860 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $715,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $579,000 over 7y, 1.3% of budgetPasadena Conservatory of Music: $460,500 over 7y, 2.8% of budgetCAL POLY HUMBOLDT FOUNDATION: $345,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetPOLYTECHNIC SCHOOL: $305,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetLOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION: $250,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE PERFORMANCE ART MUSEUM: $200,000 over 1y, 60% of budgetSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO: $185,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $160,750 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetLIBERTY HILL FOUNDATION: $140,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetKCRW FOUNDATION INC: $101,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetFUTURE ROOTS INC: $100,000 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetUCLA FOUNDATION: $65,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BRICK: $25,600 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $25,400 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetPASADENA MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA ART: $25,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF PASADENA: $20,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY DOMINGUEZ HILLS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPASADENA ART ALLIANCE: $13,084 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $12,400 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER THEATRE GROUP OF LOS ANGELES: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEQUITABLE VITRINES: $5,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetPUBLIC ART FUND INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW VILLAGE CHARTER SCHOOL INC: $2,045 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER: $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE NASHER SCULPTURE CENTER: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLA FAMILY HOUSING CORPORATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSacramento Region Community Foundation: $1,052 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT LIFT INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTREEPEOPLE INC: $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.

  • Who funds CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES ↗
  • Who funds Pasadena Conservatory of Music ↗
  • Who funds CAL POLY HUMBOLDT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds THE PERFORMANCE ART MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO ↗
  • Who funds Museum of Modern Art ↗
  • Who funds LIBERTY HILL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds KCRW FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds FUTURE ROOTS INC ↗
  • Who funds UCLA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM ASSOCIATES ↗
  • Who funds PASADENA PLAYHOUSE ALUMNI & ASSOCIATES ↗
  • Who funds THE BRICK ↗
  • Who funds ARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds PASADENA MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA ART ↗
  • Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF PASADENA ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY DOMINGUEZ HILLS PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PASADENA ART ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART ↗
  • Who funds CENTER THEATRE GROUP OF LOS ANGELES ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds EQUITABLE VITRINES ↗
  • Who funds THE WENDE MUSEUM OF THE COLD WAR INC ↗

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.

California Community …Pasadena Community Fo…The Ralph M Parsons F…The Wilhelm Family Fo…Perenchio FoundationThe Ahmanson Foundati…The J Paul Getty TrustThe Mike Kelley Found…Harvey and Ellen Knel…The Green FoundationThe Rose Hills Founda…The Fitzberg Foundati…
California Community FoundationCA29.6× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Community Foundation · Pasadena Community Foundation · The Ralph M Parsons Foundation · The Wilhelm Family Foundation Co Cascade Wilhelm · Perenchio Foundation · The Ahmanson Foundation · The J Paul Getty Trust · The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts · Harvey and Ellen Knell Foundation · The Green Foundation · The Rose Hills Foundation · The Fitzberg 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 United Plankton Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from United Plankton Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%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
    14report 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 United Plankton Charitable Trust?

    Find your warmest path to United Plankton Charitable Trust 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 55 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 United Plankton’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