Memorial Fund Inc
Palo Alto, CA · EIN 13-6185716. Reported 119 grants totalling $322,935 to 69 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation told the IRS it does not accept unsolicited requests: it contributes only to organizations it selects itself.
Does this foundation accept applications?
No -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation to check a box if it "only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds". Memorial Fund Inc checked it on its most recent filing, as 78% of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered did. An unsolicited request is unlikely to go anywhere.
Organizations it funds that make grants of their own
4 of the organizations Memorial Fund Inc funded make grants themselves, and it reported 7 grants totalling $59,500 to them. That is 38% of the $155,910 of its giving we could match to a registered organization. Each is classified by the IRS as a philanthropy or grantmaking organization, reported grants to at least 25 organizations of its own, and has at least 10 funders behind it.
All of them file Form 990, which never asks whether an organization funds only groups it picks, so there is no answer on record either way.
What that does not mean. It does not mean an application to any of them reaches this foundation's money. A private foundation's grant to a community foundation or a federated campaign is often a donor-advised fund or a gift designated for a purpose the foundation chose, and has nothing to do with any open programme the receiving organization runs. Its return's purpose text sometimes names a family fund or a designated purpose, which is the plainest case of money no applicant can reach; where it names none, neither return says which. The list is who this foundation paid that also makes grants. Whether any of them would fund you is a question for its own page.
| Grantmaker | Kind | State | Received | Grants | Years | Last | Only funds organizations it picks? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jewish Communal Fund | federated giving programme | New York | $36,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 | Its form does not ask |
| Jewish Community Federation of San | federated giving programme | California | $14,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 | Its form does not ask |
| The Palo Alto Community Fund | community foundation | California | $5,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 | Its form does not ask |
| Silicon Valley Community Foundation | community foundation | California | $4,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 | Its form does not ask |
A floor, not a full list. A grantmaker appears here only where this foundation's return named it clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows, and only where that grantmaker has a page on this site. There may be more. Dollars here are summed by EIN across every spelling on its returns, so a figure can differ from the matching row in the full list below, which groups names as written. And the IRS classification cannot tell a grantmaker from a funders' association or a donor-advised fund sponsor, so a payment to one of these may be dues or an account rather than support for a grants programme.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $200 and $2,500; the smallest was $100 and the largest $36,000.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fidelity Charitable Gifts | Boston, MA | $36,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Jewish Communal Fund | New York, NY | $36,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mark and Cynthia Ross Family Charitable Trust Co Tag Associates | New York, NY | $36,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Toni Ross Charitable Trust Co Tag Associates | New York, NY | $36,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Second Harvest Food Bank | San Carlos, CA | $18,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Compassion and Choices | Portland, OR | $17,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Stanford University | Stanford, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Jewish Community Federation | San Francisco, CA | $14,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| End of Life Choices | Solana Beach, CA | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Ecumenical Hunger Program | East Palo Alto, CA | $9,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Accelerate Change Inc | Boston, MA | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mission Hospice | San Mateo, CA | $7,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Anti-Defamation League | New York, NY | $6,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Kqed | San Francisco, CA | $5,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| American Red Cross | Washington, DC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Palo Alto Community Fund | Palo Alto, CA | $5,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Silicon Valley Community Foundation | Mountain View, CA | $4,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund | San Francisco, CA | $4,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund | Mountain View, CA | $4,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Washington Hebrew Congregation | Washington, DC | $3,350 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Berkeley High School Development Group | Berkeley, CA | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Ground Game Fund | Austin, TX | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Kara Fund | Cicero, NY | $2,750 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| All Americans Vote | Washington, DC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Amherst College Alumni Fund | Amherst, MA | $2,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Working America Education Fund | Washington, DC | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Foundation for Monterey | Monterey, CA | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Congregation Beth Am Adult Education Fund | Los Altos Hills, CA | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Avenidas | Palo Alto, CA | $1,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Tisch Ms Research Center of New York | New York, NY | $1,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Peninsula Open Space Trust | Palo Alto, CA | $1,400 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| American Civil Liberties Union | New York, NY | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| East Palo Alto Charter School | East Palo Alto, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Kaplen Jc Fund | Tenafly, NJ | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Peninsula School Annual Fund | Menlo Park, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Planned Parenthood Federation | Washington, DC | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Prospect Sierra Middle School | El Cerrito, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Woodside Priory School | Portola Valley, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Asian Art Museum | San Francisco, CA | $800 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Bay Area Cancer Connections | Palo Alto, CA | $750 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Alzheimer Association | Chicago, IL | $600 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Bootstrap Theatre Foundation | Palo Alto, CA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Camp Bob Waldorf | Glendale, CA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Children's National Hospital Foundation | Washington, DC | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Computer History Museum | Mountain View, CA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Downtown Streets Team | San Jose, CA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lighthouse for the Blind | San Francisco, CA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| MIT Alumni Fund - Biology Discretionary Fund | Boston, MA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Nclej | New York, NY | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Whc Foundation | Reno, NV | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Friends of Gamble Garden | Palo Alto, CA | $450 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Metropolitan Museum of Art | New York, NY | $330 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Cantor Arts Museum | Stanford, CA | $300 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Southwest Harbor Public Library | Southwest Harbor, ME | $300 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Whitney Museum of American Art | New York, NY | $280 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| California Academy of Sciences | San Francisco, CA | $200 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Friends of the Menlo Park Library | Menlo Park, CA | $200 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Hadassah | New York, NY | $200 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| New York Public Radio | New York, NY | $200 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| The Museum of Modern Art Ny - Nymoma | New York, NY | $200 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Wnyc - New York Public Radio | New York, NY | $200 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| American Museum of Natural History | New York, NY | $150 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Delaware Food Bank | Newark, DE | $150 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Doctors Without Borders | New York, NY | $150 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fine Arts Museum | San Francisco, CA | $150 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Elizabeth Gamble Garden | Palo Alto, CA | $125 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Caring Bridge | Albert Lea, MN | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Palo Alto Art Center Foundation | Palo Alto, CA | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
30 of 69 (43%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 46%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one, and this foundation told the IRS it does not.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 73 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | $52,665 | $500 |
| 2022 | 28 | $85,940 | $1,000 |
| 2023 | 39 | $135,770 | $1,000 |
| 2024 | 28 | $44,960 | $750 |
| 2025 | 3 | $3,600 | $500 |
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
38% of its giving went to organizations in New York.
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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. Unlike this foundation, none of them is on record as funding only organizations it picks, and each page says what its filings show.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Memorial Fund Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). 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: 620 Sand Hill Road Apt 420E, Palo Alto, CA, 94304. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS.
EIN 13-6185716 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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