California · Nonprofit
UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION
UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,850 to it, the largest being SOMA WEST COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT ($30,850). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $36k
- Net assets
- $883k
What Union Square Foundation does
Mission
The Union Square Foundation exists to establish a renewed 'sense of place' for the union square area by supporting diverse artistic, cultural, and culinary programs and projects - and by cultivating a welcoming caring community for all humankind.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Public realm and activations - public realm programs help fund projects to beautify public spaces within the union square area. Projects include activating public spaces with events, music, and art, as well as seasonal and decorative lighting and landscaping. Activating public spaces with positive activities helps drive out negative behaviors and curates a more welcoming environment for all to enjoy.
$1,937,190 spent94% of program spendingSafety programs - through grants from the chris larsen fund of the silicon valley community foundation, the Union Square Foundation funded continued expansion of the union square security camera program. The funds contributed to additional camera installations. The security camera system is to help create a safer union square for visitors, residents and employees.
$114,641 spent6% of program spendingUnion square cares - a community building program that supports organizations that work with youth in economically disadvantaged communities making positive changes. This includes the salvation army's adopt an angel program (holiday program) in the tenderloin and the street violence intervention program's suit up event providing business clothes from a stylist to help build self esteem and confidence to disadvantaged youth from the bay view/hunters point area of san francisco.
$11,179 spent1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,063,010.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2021 to 2022, from $545k to $1.2M (+123%).
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: 2023 81% · 2024 88% · 2025 83%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 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
Marisa Rodriguez
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2022: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $31k → $0.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2.0M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Silicon Valley Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of UNION SQUARE 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
UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 86% 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
86% 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 UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% — broadly stable.
“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 UNION SQUARE 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. 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
UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like UNION SQUARE 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
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 1 related entity
- Union Square Busn Improvement District · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNION SQUARE 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 UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION?
- UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,850 to it, the largest being SOMA WEST COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT ($30,850). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $35,850 in grants to UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNION SQUARE FOUNDATION?
- SOMA WEST COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT is the largest funder on record, with $30,850 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNION SQUARE 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 2020–2025), 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