· Private foundation
Watson Family Foundation
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k3 grants · $15k
- $10k–50k1 grant · $16k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| JSerra Catholic High School | $15,500 |
| National Philanthropic Trust | $9,896 |
| Orange County School of the Arts | $2,600 |
| B Foundation - NYDM | $2,500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY19–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 89% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-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 19% of Watson Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 81% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 62%.
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 +60% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.
5 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
JUNIPERO SERRA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL2× · 2023–2024 · $23k · revenue +16%- SHSAGE HILL SCHOOL5× · 2019–2023 · $21k · revenue +60%
- TATHE ANDREW MCDONOUGH B FOUNDATION2× · 2021–2022 · $3k · revenue +94%
Funded once
- TPTHE PEGASUS SCHOOLone grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +11%
- SCSADDLEBACK COLLEGE FOUNDATIONone grant, 2022 · $4k · revenue +19%
- NBNEWPORT BEACH JUNIOR LIFEGUARD FOUNDATIONone grant, 2021 · $3k · revenue -98%
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.
A private school that cultivates and celebrates the intellectual, imaginative, and humanitarian promise of each student in a community that practices mutual respect, embraces diversity, and inspires passion for learning.
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.
Sonoma charter school seeks to achieve academic excellence through engaged learning in a setting that involves students, teachers, and parents.
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…
The institution provides educational instruction and activities to students ranging from preschool through 8th grade.
Saint andrew's school is an independent school founded in the episcopal tradition. our mission is to build a community of learners, provide excellence in education, and nurture each student in mind, body, and spirit.
At san franicisco university high school, we engage our community of diverse voices in a transformational experience that embraces the spirited pursuit of learning and empowers purpose larger than self.
The mission of polytechnic school is to develop the unique intellect, talents, and character of each student in a community dedicated to academic excellence, personal responsibility, and service to others. the school envisions a community…
Pacific collegiate school's mission is to provide exemplary, standards based college preparatory and fine arts education for public middle and high school students of santa cruz county and bordering areas.
Vistamar school empowers students, preparing them to contribute and excel in higher education and in life, and commits to: a broad and balanced program that challenges and engages students, building their individual skills and inspiring a…
Santa catalina school exists to develop in each student a striving for excellence, a maturing awareness of moral and spiritual values, a sense of responsible purpose, and a determination to serve the world with courage, grace, and…
To provide an academically exceptional education to students grade 9 through 12 in a warm, supportive, and nurturing environment.
How this is measured
8 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. 8 of the 11 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 JUNIPERO SERRA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds SAGE HILL SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ↗
- Who funds THE PEGASUS SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds SADDLEBACK COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds THE ANDREW MCDONOUGH B FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ORANGE COUNTY SCHOOL OF THE ARTS ↗
- Who funds NEWPORT BEACH JUNIOR LIFEGUARD FOUNDATION ↗
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: Orange County Community Foundation · California Community Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · 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 Watson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Watson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Watson Family Foundation?
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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.
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