· Private foundation
Ying Cai and Wann S Lee Foundation Inc
Its FY2025 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, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k26 grants · $49k
- $10k–50k7 grants · $146k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FOUNDATION | $40,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $26,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $25,000 |
| PBS SOCAL | $20,120 |
| MUSEIQUE | $15,000 |
| CITY OF HOPE | $10,000 |
| WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN | $10,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $6,000 |
| AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC | $5,000 |
| UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGE | $5,000 |
| SAN DIEGO KOREAN AMERICAN SENIOR CE | $5,000 |
| UNICEF | $3,000 |
| DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS | $3,000 |
| ALZHEIMERS ASSOCIATION | $2,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC DUGONI | $2,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY19–25, $37k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 97% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
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 100% of Ying Cai and Wann S Lee Foundation Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 87% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 0%.
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 +29% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.
41 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 29 since wound down; 21 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (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 FY2025, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $101k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO8× · 2017–2024 · $187k · revenue +20%
University of Illinois Foundation7× · 2019–2025 · $105k · revenue +39%- LGLINK GLOBAL3× · 2017–2019 · $50k · revenue +29%
Funded once
- C1CHP 11-99 FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $15k · revenue +36%
- SBST BALDRICK'S FOUNDATION INCone grant, 2020 · $11k · revenue -9%
- IVINLAND VALLEY COUNCIL OF CHURCHESone grant, 2020 · $5k
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.
The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.
Through management of oakland zoo, the conservation society of california deepens connection with animals, saves wildlife, and inspires champions for the natural world.
Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.
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…
American gas association's (the association) mission is to develop and advocate for informed, innovative, and durable policy that fulfills our nation's energy needs, environmental aspirations and economic potential. we are committed to…
Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…
California ocean science trust (ost) is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating progress towards a healthy and productive ocean future for california. created by state legislation, ost bridges the gap between cutting-edge…
Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.
To advocate for policy changes by governments and corporations in order to preserve ocean life and return the oceans to their former abundance.
To lead, serve and collaborate to mobilize enduring philanthropy for a better arizona.
Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…
The foundation's mission is to improve the oral health of all californians by supporting the dental profession and its efforts to meet community needs.
How this is measured
53 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. 53 of the 94 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 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ↗
- Who funds University of Illinois Foundation ↗
- Who funds LINK GLOBAL ↗
- Who funds MuseIque ↗
- Who funds University of the Pacific ↗
- Who funds THE SAN DIEGO KOREAN AMERICAN SENIOR CENTER ↗
- Who funds ALZHEIMERS GREATER LOS ANGELES ↗
- Who funds CHP 11-99 FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds ST BALDRICK'S FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION ↗
- Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OCEAN CLEANUP FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF ↗
- Who funds THE CORAL RESTORATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds DOWNTOWN WOMEN'S CENTER ↗
- Who funds AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds 4S Education Foundation ↗
- Who funds RAINFOREST TRUST ↗
- Who funds LOS ANGELES CLEANTECH INCUBATOR ↗
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: The Annenberg Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Ying Cai and Wann S Lee Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ying Cai and Wann S Lee Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
- National Park Trust Inc: 51% of income from government
- Xerces Society Inc: 22% of income from government
- The Coral Restoration Foundation Inc: 16% of income from government
- Florida Institute of Technology Inc: 5% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Ying Cai and Wann S Lee’s filings →