California · Nonprofit
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS (California) receives grants from 145 organizations whose IRS filings report $76,456,265 to it, the largest being CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION ($11,922,000). 103 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $27M
- Funders on record
- 145
- Grants received
- $76M
- Net assets
- $29M
What Southern California Grantmakers does
Mission
Southern California Grantmakers (scg) is the regional association for philanthropists and grantmakers working to make a difference in our communities and around the world. We are a leadership hub for our members to connect with each other, (continue on schedule o)improve their grantmaking and amplify their independent efforts through collaborative work. Our members include corporate giving programs, family foundations, individual philanthropists, and private, independent, operating community foundations as well as grantmaking 501(c)(3)'s.scg connects grantmakers across southern california through sector-wide conferences, trainings, networking opportunities, and funder convenings: providing space for collaboration and coordinated action on critical issues. We support and advance effective and responsible grantmaking for the public good in eight southern california counties: los angeles, orange, kern, riverside, san bernadino, san luis obispo, santa barbara, and ventura.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Education & partnerships: educational meetings, webinars and communications designed to increase the effectiveness of philanthropic organizations. Collaborations and partnerships between philanthropic organizations, between public and private organizations, and including the communities served.
$34,699,747 spentof which $5,528,625 as grants$1,000,070 earned by the program100% of program spendingConferences: comprehensive, focused convenings to increase the effectiveness of philanthropic organizations and provide specific issue area trends and best practices.
$118,250 earned by the program
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $34,699,747.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2022 to 2023, from $33M to $45M (+39%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 9% · 2021 14% · 2022 18% · 2023 13% · 2024 30%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Christine Essel
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 39 funders to 68 funders, grant income rose $3.2M → $16M.
14 of 145 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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: $13M from 9 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Silicon Valley Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS raised.
From the IRS filings of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 145 funders by total. 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
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
29% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 28% · 2019 13% · 2020 11% · 2021 22% · 2022 22% · 2023 28% — diversifying over time.
“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.
How long its funders stay
60% of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
85% of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 states 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
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS has grown faster than three-quarters of the 828 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 828 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS
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
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS: 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 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS?
- SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS (California) receives grants from 145 organizations whose IRS filings report $76,456,265 to it, the largest being CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION ($11,922,000). 103 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS have?
- IRS filings report 145 organizations giving $76,456,265 in grants to SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS, 103 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS?
- CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $11,922,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GRANTMAKERS 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 145 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing