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Universal Sunlight Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Universal Sunlight Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
7
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0189% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$5.0MReligion$1.7MArts & Culture$1.2MEducation$948kYouth Development$258kScience & Tech$215kPhilanthropy$117kInternational$15kOther$0
02FY2024 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k3 grants · $16k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $45k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $80k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.0M
$15,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$32M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER$1,000,000
Individual grant recipient$80,000
NAMO AMITABHA SOCIETY$30,000
UNITED CHARITY FOUNDATION$15,000
CENTER FOR COASTAL STUDIES$6,020
BUDDHAS LIGHT INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIA$5,000
Individual grant recipient$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.

US giving: 88% of grant dollars ($9.0M). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 12% that went abroad ($1.3M) is mapped below.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY18–18, $30k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%ASIA YOUTH CENTER: $30k → 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.

Beyond the US: 12% of all-years giving ($1.3M)

3 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore
Taiwan$550k · 16 grants
India$376k · 4 grants
Germany$349k · 4 grants
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. International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same 990 filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$8.3M · 20 repeat orgs$1.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +72% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 15 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
20

Total granted

$8.3M
$1.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+72%
+26%

Still filing today

40%
45%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k 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
HealthEducationArts & CultureReligionHuman ServicesPublic Safety & DisasterOther
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

  • CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER
    3× · 2022–2024 · $4.0M · revenue +25%
  • CC
    CHINESE CLUB OF SAN MARINO
    4× · 2019–2023 · $816k · revenue +152% · 46% of their budget
  • HE
    HENRY E HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY
    3× · 2018–2020 · $340k · revenue +112%

Funded once

  • EV
    EAST VALLEY HUNTINGTON HOSPITAL
    one grant, 2022 · $1.0M
  • FW
    FORSHANG WORLD FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $300k · revenue -88% · 91% of their budget
  • TN
    The NCTU Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $102k · revenue +220% · 28% of their budget
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
Yunguang Chan Center

Religious culture and education, meditation and religions comparative study

Education
2
California University - Silicon Valley

Providing professional training of Chinese Medicine (TCM), including acupuncture, Chinese herbology, acupressure, Qigong and so on, granting the students Masters degree. Its a three to four years teaching program.

Education
3
Center for Advanced China Research
—
4
Chan Lu Lan Ruo Buddist Temple

Study and advancement of Buddhism religion

Religion
5
The Institute of Buddha Dhamma Studies a Non Profit Corporation
Philanthropy
6
Tu an Meditation Center
Religion
7
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Foundation of America (Sjtufa)
Education
8
Foundation for Chinese Cultural Heritage
Philanthropy
9
International Buddhist Education Foundation
Education
10
Science for Monks
Science & Tech
11
Uc Chinese Alumni Foundation
—
12
Khyentse Foundation

Khyentse foundation is a nonprofit organization incorporated in the state of washington, usa, in november, 2001. founded by dzongsar khyentse rinpoche, the foundation aims to preserve and share the buddha's wisdom with everyone. primarily…

Religion
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chinese Club of San Marino; the most unlike its peers is Longchen Nyingtik Institute. 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

19 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. 19 of the 43 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
14/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER: $4,000,000 · HealthCEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER+3 more: $62,550 · HealthEAST VALLEY HUNTINGTON HOSPITAL: $1,000,000 · OtherEAST VALLEY HUNTINGTON HOSPITALDHARMA REALM BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION INC: $925,000 · OtherDHARMA REALM BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION INCIndividual grant recipient: $376,350 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $349,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientNAMO AMITABHA SOCIETY: $215,000 · OtherNAMO AMITABHA SOCIETYCHINESE DIGITAL CONTENT DEVELOPMENT: $215,000 · OtherCHINESE DIGITAL CONTENT DEVELOPMENTBOYS GIRLS CLUB OF WEST SAN GABRIEL: $210,000 · OtherBOYS GIRLS CLUB OF WEST SAN GABRIELCHINESE FUHUI LIFE EDUCATION ASSOCI: $196,000 · Other+19 more: $296,788 · Other+19 moreCHINESE CLUB OF SAN MARINO: $816,000 · Arts & CultureCHINESE CLUB…HENRY E HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY: $340,000 · Arts & CultureHENRY E HUNT…THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $300,000 · EducationPOLYTECHNIC SCHOOL: $250,000 · EducationThe NCTU Foundation: $102,000 · EducationTAIWANESE AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $100,000 · Education+1 more: $2,076 · EducationFORSHANG WORLD FOUNDATION: $300,000 · ReligionLongchen Nyingtik Institute: $164,000 · ReligionASIAN YOUTH CENTER: $30,000 · Human ServicesCENTER FOR COASTAL STUDIES INC: $12,520 · EnvironmentARCADIA POLICE FOUNDATION: $3,380 · Public Safety & Disaster
Health$4,062,550Other$3,783,138Arts & Culture$1,156,000Education$754,076Religion$464,000Human Services$30,000Environment$12,520Public Safety & Disaster$3,380

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 budgetCEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER: $4,000,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHINESE CLUB OF SAN MARINO: $816,000 over 4y, 46% of budgetHENRY E HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY: $340,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $300,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFORSHANG WORLD FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 1y, 91% of budgetPOLYTECHNIC SCHOOL: $250,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetLongchen Nyingtik Institute: $164,000 over 3y, 61% of budgetThe NCTU Foundation: $102,000 over 1y, 28% of budgetTAIWANESE AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $100,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetUNITED CHARITY FOUNDATION: $52,500 over 4y, 56% of budgetASIAN YOUTH CENTER: $30,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetCENTER FOR COASTAL STUDIES INC: $12,520 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAmitabha Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBuddhas Light Intl Association: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetARCADIA POLICE FOUNDATION: $3,380 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetISHA FOUNDATION INC: $2,076 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $50 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 CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER ↗
  • Who funds CHINESE CLUB OF SAN MARINO ↗
  • Who funds HENRY E HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds FORSHANG WORLD FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds Longchen Nyingtik Institute ↗
  • Who funds The NCTU Foundation ↗
  • Who funds TAIWANESE AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND ↗
  • Who funds UNITED CHARITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ASIAN YOUTH CENTER ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR COASTAL STUDIES INC ↗
  • Who funds ORANGE COUNTY ASSOCIATION FOR BUDDHIST PRACTICES INC ↗
  • Who funds Amitabha Foundation ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds Buddhas Light Intl Association ↗
  • Who funds ARCADIA POLICE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ISHA FOUNDATION 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.

Asian Pacific Communi…Morgan Stanley Global…American Online Givin…The Bank of America C…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Asian Pacific Community Fund of Southern CaliforniaCA13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Asian Pacific Community Fund of Southern California · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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 Universal Sunlight Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Universal Sunlight Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 26%
  • Center for Coastal Studies Inc: 26% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
1report 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 Universal Sunlight Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Universal Sunlight 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 43 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 Universal Sunlight’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