California · Nonprofit
DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION
DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $675,000 to it, the largest being THE CONRAD PREBYS FOUNDATION ($660,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $865k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $675k
- Net assets
- $245k
What Downtown San Diego Public Spaces Foundation does
Mission
To elevate the quality of life in our urban communities through improvements, services, and activations in downtown's parks and open spaces.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Through a partnership with the conrad prebys foundation and u3 advisors, the Downtown San Diego Public Spaces Foundation secured a grant to create a big-picture vision and blueprint for the six downtown blocks that make up the civic core of the city.
$593,297 spent$39,500 earned by the program87% of program spendingThe Downtown San Diego Public Spaces Foundation serves as a fiscal sponsor of the bay to park paseo, a 1.7-mile walking experience highlighting the connectivity from san diego bay to balboa park through design. Since the start of the program through june 2025, the foundation raised a total of $139,950 in support of the bay to park paseo.
$44,365 spent6% of program spendingGrow urban is a tree planting initiative to replace all of downtown's missing street trees and help our urban canopy thrive. In fy24-25, grow urban planted a total of 28 trees to enhance downtown's canopy.
$47,652 spent7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $685,314.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $276k to $255k (−8%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
109% of DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (18% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 2 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Elizabeth Brennan
President and CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $20k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The San Diego Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 98% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
100% of DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION's grant income comes from California funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $15k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
99% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 6 related entities
- Downtown San Diego Partnership Inc · exempt
- Downtown San Diego Partnership Foundation · exempt
- Downtown San Diego Clean and Safe Foundation · exempt
- Downtown San Diego Business Improvement District Inc · exempt
- Columbia Community Foundation Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION?
- DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $675,000 to it, the largest being THE CONRAD PREBYS FOUNDATION ($660,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $675,000 in grants to DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION.
- Who is the largest funder of DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION?
- THE CONRAD PREBYS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $660,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SPACES FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2024–2025), and the filings of 2 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing