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William H Kearns Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

William H Kearns 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.

$314k
Granted FY2024still arriving
16
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$75k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Health$540kEducation$503kArts & Culture$340kFood & Nutrition$93kHuman Services$55kInternational$38kHousing & Shelter$38kPhilanthropy$35kOther$0
02FY2024 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $34k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $50k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $230k
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$5.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SANSUM CLINIC$75,000
UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION$55,000
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART$50,000
COTTAGE HEALTH SYSTEM$50,000
SANTA BARBARA EDUCATION FOUNDATION$10,000
COTTAGE REHABILITATION HOSPITAL FUND$10,000
MUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST$10,000
FOODBANK OF SANTA BARBARA$10,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD CA CENTRAL COAST$10,000
CASA OF SANTA BARBARA$7,500
SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF SANTA BARBARA$7,000
VNA HEALTH$5,000
FOOD FOR NEEDY$5,000
CALM$4,000
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$2,500
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:

Its human-services grants (FY22–22, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SHELTER BOX: $3k → 10%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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.6M · 25 repeat orgs$113k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

25 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2024, 10 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
8

Total granted

$1.6M
$113k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
+8%

Still filing today

76%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
HealthArts & CultureEducationHousing & ShelterPhilanthropyInternationalOther
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

  • UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $355k · revenue +176%
  • MM
    METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
    5× · 2020–2024 · $225k · revenue +119%
  • SC
    SANSUM CLINIC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $168k · revenue +20%

Funded once

  • UR
    UC REGENTS
    one grant, 2020 · $50k
  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY INC
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue -74%
  • D
    DIGNITYMOVESgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue +91%
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
Santa Barbara Foundation

The mission of the santa barbara foundation (sbf) is to mobilize collective wisdom and philanthropic capital to build empathetic, inclusive and resilient communities.

Philanthropy
2
Sutter Bay Hospitals

MISSION STATEMENT: MISSION: CARING FOR OUR PATIENTS FIRST AND OUR PEOPLE ALWAYS. VISION: TO BE THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED AND CONNECTED HEALTH SYSTEM FOR GETTING AND STAYING WELL. VALUES: EXCELLENCE - We deliver high-quality,…

Health
3
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation

It is the mission of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation to solicit, receive, invest, maintain and distribute funds for the support of charitable, scientific, and educational activities of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

Health
4
California Pacific Medical Center Foundation

MISSION STATEMENT: MISSION: CARING FOR OUR PATIENTS FIRST AND OUR PEOPLE ALWAYS. VISION: TO BE THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED AND CONNECTED HEALTH SYSTEM FOR GETTING AND STAYING WELL. VALUES: EXCELLENCE - We deliver high-quality,…

Health
5
Sutter Health

MISSION STATEMENT: MISSION: CARING FOR OUR PATIENTS FIRST AND OUR PEOPLE ALWAYS. VISION: TO BE THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED AND CONNECTED HEALTH SYSTEM FOR GETTING AND STAYING WELL. VALUES: EXCELLENCE - We deliver high-quality,…

Health
6
Santa Barbara Museum of Art

To integrate art into the lives of people, fostering imagination, stimulating thought, and creating personally rewarding experiences.

Arts & Culture
7
Ucla Foundation

The ucla foundation is the giving, receiving, and investing arm of the ucla campus. the foundation enables private donors to help build, sustain and advance one of the world's finest academic and research institutions. private philanthropy…

Education
8
California Institute for BioMedical Research

Our mission is to build a unique institute that bridges basic research and drug discovery, and that attracts the best and brightest scientists, physicians and students to work together synergistically to find cures for neglected human…

—
9
Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Promotion and advancement of children's health through patient care, research, and education.

Health
10
Sutter Coast Hospital

MISSION STATEMENT: MISSION: CARING FOR OUR PATIENTS FIRST AND OUR PEOPLE ALWAYS. VISION: TO BE THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED AND CONNECTED HEALTH SYSTEM FOR GETTING AND STAYING WELL. VALUES: EXCELLENCE - We deliver high-quality,…

Health
11
Sutter Bay Medical Foundation

Mission statement: mission: caring for our patients first and our people always. vision: to be the most comprehensive, integrated and connected health system for getting and staying well. values: excellence - we deliver high-quality,…

Health
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Uc Santa Barbara Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Metropolitan Museum of 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

26 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. 26 of the 34 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/26
Grantees still filing
17/26
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SANSUM CLINIC: $167,500 · HealthSANSUM CLINICSanta Barbara Cottage Hospital: $150,000 · HealthSanta Barbara Cottage Hospi…VNA HEALTH: $45,000 · HealthVNA HEALTHFoundation for Cottage Rehab and Goleta Valley Cottage Hosp: $35,000 · HealthFoundation for Cottage Reha…+1 more: $7,500 · HealthUC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $355,000 · EducationUC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATIO…Santa Barbara Education Foundation: $30,000 · EducationSanta Barbara Education Fo…+1 more: $5,000 · EducationMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $225,000 · Arts & CultureMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF…MUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST: $55,000 · Arts & CultureMUSIC ACADEMY OF THE W…Museum of Modern Art: $50,000 · Arts & CultureMuseum of Modern Art+1 more: $10,000 · Arts & CultureCOTTAGE HEALTH SYSTEM: $100,000 · OtherCOTTAGE HEALTH SYSTEMUC REGENTS: $50,000 · OtherUC REGENTSSCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF SANTA BARBARA: $45,500 · OtherSCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF …CASA OF SANTA BARBARA: $23,500 · OtherCASA OF SANTA BARBARAPLANNED PARENTHOOD CA CENTRAL COAST: $20,000 · OtherSTORYTELLER CHILDRENS CENTER INC: $17,500 · OtherGIRLS INCORPORATED OF GREATER SANTA BARBARA: $17,500 · OtherFOOD FOR NEEDY: $15,000 · OtherVISITING NURSE OF SANTA BARBARA: $15,000 · OtherUNITED WAY INC: $20,000 · OtherUNITED WAY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY INC: $15,000 · OtherCALM INC: $29,000 · OtherCALM INC+5 more: $30,500 · Other+5 moreFoodbank of Santa Barbara County Inc: $77,500 · Food & NutritionDIRECT RELIEF: $37,500 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,000 · InternationalTRANSITION HOUSE: $22,500 · Housing & ShelterDIGNITYMOVES: $15,000 · Housing & Shelter
Health$405,000Education$390,000Arts & Culture$340,000Other$398,500Food & Nutrition$77,500International$42,500Housing & Shelter$37,500

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 budgetUC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $355,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $225,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSANSUM CLINIC: $167,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSanta Barbara Cottage Hospital: $150,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFoodbank of Santa Barbara County Inc: $77,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST: $55,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF SANTA BARBARA: $45,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetVNA HEALTH: $45,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $37,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFoundation for Cottage Rehab and Goleta Valley Cottage Hosp: $35,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetSanta Barbara Education Foundation: $30,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetCALM INC: $29,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTRANSITION HOUSE: $22,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED WAY INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSTORYTELLER CHILDRENS CENTER INC: $17,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetGIRLS INCORPORATED OF GREATER SANTA BARBARA: $17,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetUNITED WAY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDIGNITYMOVES: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMONTECITO FIREFIGHTERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetSHELTERBOX USA INC: $2,500 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.

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.

Santa Barbara Foundat…James S Bower Foundat…Manitou FundThe John C Mithun Fou…The Kirby-Jones Found…Towbes FoundationMosher FoundationAnn Jackson Family Fo…The Wood-Claeyssens F…Hutton Foundation Dba…The Turpin-Allebrand …Santa Barbara Cottage…
Santa Barbara FoundationCA23.8× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Santa Barbara Foundation · James S Bower Foundation · Manitou Fund · The John C Mithun Foundation · The Kirby-Jones Foundation · Towbes Foundation · Mosher Foundation · Ann Jackson Family Foundation · The Wood-Claeyssens Foundation · Hutton Foundation Dba Hutton Parker Foundation · The Turpin-Allebrand Family Charitable Foundation · Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital

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 William H Kearns Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from William H Kearns Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 William H Kearns Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to William H Kearns 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 34 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 William H Kearns’ 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