Funders › California

Helmut Kiffmann Family Foundation

San Diego, CA · EIN 56-2628169. Reported 44 grants totalling $3,233,436 to 22 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$10,000median grant
$3,233,436granted, 2021-2024
22recipients, as named on its returns
69%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,846,893assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Helmut Kiffmann Family Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $21,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $1,010,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
8 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
11 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
15 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
5 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
1 grant
$100,000 and Up
4 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Community Resource CenterEncinitas, CA$2,520,936442024
YMCASan Diego, CA$318,000442024
Center for Community SolutionsSan Diego, CA$85,000332024
Doors of ChangeCardiff, CA$78,000442024
St Pauls Senior ServicesSan Diego, CA$65,000442024
Seeds of HopeLos Angeles, CA$38,000442024
Coastal Community FoundationEncinitas, CA$30,000222022
Computers for KidsWest Sacramento, CA$20,000222024
Girls on the RunEncinitas, CA$18,000222022
American Moldovan Jewish FederationEncinitas, CA$10,000112024
St Andrews ChurchEncinitas, CA$7,500222022
San Dieguito Methodist ChurchEncinitas, CA$6,000222022
End of Life ChoicesNew York, NY$5,000112024
Equation Collaborative CorpCarlsbad, CA$5,000112024
Holly HouseLynnwood, WA$5,000112022
Saint Andrews Lutheran ChurchSan Diego, CA$5,000112024
Urban Restoration Counseling CenterSan Diego, CA$5,000112024
North Coast SingersEncinitas, CA$3,000112021
San Dieguito United Methodist ChurcEncinitas, CA$3,000112024
Alpha Project for the HomelessSan Diego, CA$2,500112024
Healthy Day PartnersEncinitas, CA$2,500112021
Bicyclce Coalition Educational FundSacramento, CA$1,000112021

11 of 22 (50%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 69%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 20 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Human Services
7 grants
Housing & Shelter
4 grants
Mental Health
4 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 grants
International Affairs
1 grant
Food & Nutrition
1 grant
Environment
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202113$589,000$8,000
202210$1,122,000$12,500
20237$91,936$10,000
202414$1,430,500$10,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

100% of its giving went to organizations in California. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

California
$3.2M
New York
$5K
Washington
$5K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc9 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund8 shared recipientsThe San Diego Foundation8 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc6 shared recipientsJewish Community Foundation of San Diego6 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust6 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in California.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Helmut Kiffmann Family Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 8380 Miramar Mall 233, San Diego, CA, 92121. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 56-2628169 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.