California · Nonprofit
THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION
THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 217 organizations whose IRS filings report $118,479,710 to it, the largest being MORGAN STANLEY GLOBAL IMPACT FUNDING TRUST INC ($21,394,475). 86 of them have funded it in more than one year. THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION administers funds for other donors, so those contributions arrive into funds it holds rather than supporting a program it runs itself.
Hosts funds for others
THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION administers funds on behalf of other donors. The grants recorded as coming in are contributions into those funds, so they count custody rather than support for a programTHE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION runs itself. This page therefore states the flows and does not draw the comparisons it would draw for an operating charity: concentration, funder retention, grant dependency and the peer field are all left out, because each of them would read a vehicle as if it were a program.
Paid out
$784M
Recipients
2,640
Contributions on record
$144M
Donors on record
234
Payments out run 5.4x the contributions on record, which says the incoming side is incomplete rather than that the vehicle is unusually busy: most donors to a fund like this are individuals, who file no return for us to read.
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Walter J & Betty C Zable Foundationshared funders
- Sharp Healthcareportfolio match
- Karney Flaster Family Foundationportfolio match
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.
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: 2017 1% · 2018 0% · 2019 1% · 2020 9% · 2021 22% · 2022 10% · 2023 7% · 2024 6% · 2025 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 37 funders to 59 funders, grant income fell $23M → $13M.
26 of 217 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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: $25M from 15 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest San Diego Charitable Real Estate Foundation); $396k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest The San Diego Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 217 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.
Where its funders are
85% of THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $52M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 217 funders put you typical among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Walter J & Betty C Zable Foundationshared fundersCA · backs 89 organizations that share your funders
- Sharp Healthcareportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Karney Flaster Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Cfleadsportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Maria Mandico and Benet Marquet Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Jp Martin Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Irving & Francine Suknow Foundation Co-Trustees Henry Fader & Lynda Gordonportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Dennis and Pamela Mudd Charitable Foundation C/O Baker Tilly US LLPportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Albatross Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- French Fund Samuel Katherine Tuashared fundersMO · backs 59 organizations that share your funders
- The Parker Foundationshared funderslocalCA · backs 90 organizations that share your funders · funds 195 organizations near you
- The Nordson Corporation Foundationshared fundersOH · backs 86 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $22.3M on record.
- Environmental Protection Agency$20.0M
- Department of Defense$2.3M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
65%
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 17 related entities
- Building 907 LLC · disregarded
- San Diego Housing Fund Gp LLC · disregarded
- San Diego Housing Holdco LLC · disregarded
- Sdf Investment Management LLC · disregarded
- Sdhf Bridge Deck LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE SAN DIEGO 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION?
- THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 217 organizations whose IRS filings report $118,479,710 to it, the largest being MORGAN STANLEY GLOBAL IMPACT FUNDING TRUST INC ($21,394,475). 86 of them have funded it in more than one year. THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION administers funds for other donors, so those contributions arrive into funds it holds rather than supporting a program it runs itself.
- How many funders does THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 217 organizations giving $118,479,710 in grants to THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION, 86 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION?
- MORGAN STANLEY GLOBAL IMPACT FUNDING TRUST INC is the largest funder on record, with $21,394,475 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE SAN DIEGO 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 217funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing