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Plinth

· Private foundation

Vivien a Nelson Foundation

Its FY2023 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$226k
Granted FY2023
11
Grants FY2023
3
States reached
$47k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172023.

Youth Development$1.0MEducation$290kRecreation & Sports$216kHuman Services$165kReligion$140kFood & Nutrition$43kHealth$28kArts & Culture$23kOther$0
02FY2023 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k3 grants · $7k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $219k
$13,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$3.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FRESH START$46,645
THE SALVATION ARMY$45,000
ROTARY CLUB$43,755
COLLEGE OF IDAHO$30,000
CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH$20,000
Individual grant recipient$13,500
Individual grant recipient$10,000
THE JUNIOR PRICILLA CLUB$10,000
OPTIMIST CLUB OF CORONADO$3,196
CORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATION$3,000
THE YMCA$650
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%PROJECT BREAD: $25k → 16%COLLEGE OF IDAHO: $30k → 11%THE YMCA: $25k → 11%THE JUNIOR PRICILLA CLUB: $22k → 12%COLLEGE OF IDAHO: $30k → 11%THE YMCA: $20k → 11%THE JUNIOR PRICILLA CLUB: $10k → 12%COLLEGE OF IDAHO: $10k → 11%THE YMCA: $16k → 11%THE JUNIOR PRICILLA CLUB: $10k → 12%THE YMCA: $13k → 11%THE JUNIOR PRICILLA CLUB: $10k → 12%THE YMCA: $10k → 11%KIWANIS TIERRASANTA FOUNDATION: $10k → 11%SALK INSITUE: $11k → 11%FRESH START: $69k → 11%FRESH START: $47k → 11%FRESH START: $47k → 11%MAINLY MOZART: $18k → 11%FRESH START: $40k → 11%FRESH START: $22k → 11%FRESH START: $15k → 11%CORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $91k → 11%ST PAULS UNITED: $55k → 11%CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH: $50k → 11%CORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $45k → 11%CORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $40k → 11%ST PAULS UNITED: $37k → 11%CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH: $35k → 11%CORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $21k → 11%CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH: $20k → 11%CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH: $20k → 11%ST PAULS UNITED: $14k → 11%ST PAULS UNITED: $13k → 11%ST PAULS UNITED: $10k → 11%CORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $10k → 11%CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH: $10k → 11%ST PAULS UNITED: $10k → 11%HORSE OF THE SUN: $15k → 11%THE SALVATION ARMY: $45k → 11%THE SALVATION ARMY: $45k → 11%THE SALVATION ARMY: $25k → 11%THE SALVATION ARMY: $20k → 11%THE SALVATION ARMY: $20k → 11%CARNEY FOUNDATION: $16k → 11%MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO: $15k → 11%MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO: $13k → 11%CARNEY FOUNDATION: $11k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.9M · 22 repeat orgs$11k to everyone else

22 repeat relationships — 11 still active in FY2023, 11 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
1

Total granted

$1.9M
$11k

Still filing today

32%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’21’22’23
PhilanthropyFood & NutritionArts & CultureAnimalsEducationOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • CS
    CORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
    6× · 2017–2023 · $210k · revenue +37%
  • TI
    THE ISLANDER SPORTS FOUNDATION CORONADO HIGH SCHOOL ALL SPORTS BOOSTER
    5× · 2017–2022 · $118k · revenue +27%
  • TC
    The College of Idaho Inc
    3× · 2021–2023 · $70k · revenue +5%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $11k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
The San Diego Foundation

The san diego foundation inspires enduring philanthropy and enables community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region.

Philanthropy
2
Association of California School Administrators

The association serves its members by creating resources that enable california school administrators to develop and apply creative leadership and management skills and in turn, improve the educational process for all students.

3
Pitzer College

Pitzer College produces engaged socially responsible citizens of the world through an academically rigorous, interdisciplinary liberal arts education emphasizing social justice, intercultural understanding and environmental sensitivity.…

Education
4
San Diego State University Foundation Sdsu Research Foundation

To support and further the research, education and community service objectives of san diego state university.

Education
5
California Dental Association

The california dental association is committed to the success of our members in service to their patients and the public.

Community Improvement
6
Associated Students of San Diego State University

To support the social, recreational, cultural and education programs and facilities, both on campus and in the community, and to advocate for student interests, provide leadership opportunities and participate in shared governance.

7
Sacramento Zoological Society

The sacramento zoo inspires appreciation, respect and a connection with wildlife and nature through education, recreation and conservation.

Animals
8
Community Foundation Santa Cruz County

To promote philanthropy to make santa cruz county a better place to live, now and in the future.we bring together people, ideas, and resources to inspire philanthropy and accomplish great things.

Philanthropy
9
The International School of San Francisco

Guided by the principles of academic rigor and diversity, the international school of san francisco offers programs of study in french and english to prepare its graduates for a world in which the ability to think critically and to…

Education
10
Colorado State University Foundation

See schedule o colorado state university foundation assists in the promotion, development, and enhancement of facilities and educational programs and enhancements of faculty, students, and alumni of colorado state university (csu). this is…

Education
11
San Diego Opera Association

Mission: the mission of san diego opera is to deliver exceptional performances and exciting, accessible programs to diverse audiences, focusing on community partnerships, and the transformative and expressive power of the human voice. as…

Arts & Culture
12
The San Diego Symphony Orchestra Association

Changing lives through music

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of San Diego and the most unlike its peers is Optimist Club of Coronado Inc. 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

8 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 8 of the 23 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
7/8
Grantees still filing
7/8
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

ROTARY CLUB — $369,766 · OtherROTARY CLUBFRESH START — $238,745 · OtherFRESH STARTCORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATION — $209,500 · OtherCORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATIONTHE SALVATION ARMY — $165,000 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMYCHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH — $140,000 · OtherCHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHIndividual grant recipient — $137,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientTHE YMCA — $84,150 · OtherOPTIMIST CLUB OF CORONADO INC — $66,186 · Other+10 more — $268,020 · Other+10 moreTHE ISLANDER SPORTS FOUNDATION CORONADO HIGH SCHOOL ALL SPORTS BOOSTER — $117,554 · PhilanthropyThe College of Idaho Inc — $70,000 · EducationPROJECT BREAD-THE WALK FOR HUNGER INC — $43,165 · Food & NutritionMainly Mozart Inc — $23,000 · Arts & CultureZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO — $15,000 · Animals
Other$1,678,867Philanthropy$117,554Education$70,000Food & Nutrition$43,165Arts & Culture$23,000Animals$15,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetCORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATION — $209,500 over 6y, 4.0% of budgetTHE ISLANDER SPORTS FOUNDATION CORONADO HIGH SCHOOL ALL SPORTS BOOSTER — $117,554 over 5y, 7.3% of budgetThe College of Idaho Inc — $70,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOPTIMIST CLUB OF CORONADO INC — $66,186 over 6y, 96% of budgetPROJECT BREAD-THE WALK FOR HUNGER INC — $43,165 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO — $27,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetMainly Mozart Inc — $23,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO — $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds CORONADO SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
  • Who funds THE ISLANDER SPORTS FOUNDATION CORONADO HIGH SCHOOL ALL SPORTS BOOSTER
  • Who funds The College of Idaho Inc
  • Who funds OPTIMIST CLUB OF CORONADO INC
  • Who funds PROJECT BREAD-THE WALK FOR HUNGER INC
  • Who funds MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO
  • Who funds Mainly Mozart Inc
  • Who funds ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation IncNC8.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Vivien a Nelson Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%your share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get 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 · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 23 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph