Saw Island Foundation Inc
Woodside, CA · EIN 23-7454106. Reported 98 grants totalling $7,372,650 to 33 recipients across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. Saw Island Foundation Inc did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,500 and $20,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $1,367,540. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leland Stanford Junior University | Stanford, CA | $5,165,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Stanford University | Stanford, CA | $1,062,650 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The Sailing Museum | Newport, RI | $320,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Hoover Institution | North Canton, OH | $140,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Ragazzi Boys Chorus | Redwood City, CA | $125,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Dartmouth College | Hanover, NH | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Sports Challenge | Southlake, TX | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| American Theatre Wing | New York, NY | $50,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | New York, NY | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Sports Challenge | Palo Alto, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Stanford Law School | Stanford, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Vida Verde Nature Education | San Gregorio, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Calmatters | Sacramento, CA | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Palo Alto Medical Foundation | Palo Alto, CA | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| American Theater Wing | New York, NY | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Castilleja School | Palo Alto, CA | $12,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Hunger Coalition | Bellevue, ID | $12,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Menlo School | Atherton, CA | $12,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Phillips Brooks School | Menlo Park, CA | $12,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Playworks Silicon Valley | Oakland, CA | $12,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| The Wood River Community YMCA | Ketchum, ID | $12,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Mangawhai Education Trust | Mangawhai Kaiwaka | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Michael Harris Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| The Hospital for Special Surgery | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| San Francisco Opera | San Francisco, CA | $9,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| American Enterprise Institute | Washington, DC | $7,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Chapel & York US Foundation | New York, NY | $5,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Humbolt Area Foundation | Bayside, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Ncga Foundation (youth on Course) | Monterey, CA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Start Rescue | Valley Village, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Verbum Dei High School Lasater Scholarship Fu | Los Angeles, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Eat Learn Play | Oakland, CA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sustainable Living Foundation | Los Altos, CA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
22 of 33 (67%) 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 87%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. 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.
- Leland Stanford Junior University
TO ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE CONDITIONS FOR INTERACTIONS AMONG DEMOCRACY, BROAD-BASED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, HR, AND THE LAW. - Stanford University
TO ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE CONDITIONS FOR AND INTERACTIONS AMONG DEMOCRACY, BROAD-BASED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, HR, AND THE LAW. - The Sailing Museum
CENTRAL HUB FOR LEARNINGS, CULTURE AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND ENGAGEMENT. - Hoover Institution
SEEKING TO IMPROVE THE HUMAN CONDITION BY ADVANCING IDEAS THAT PROMOTE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND PROSPERITY WHILE SECURING AND SAFEGUARDING PEACE FOR AMERICA AND ALL MANKIND. - Dartmouth College
TO PROVIDE EDUCATIONAL FINANCIAL AID - Ragazzi Boys Chorus
TO PROMOTE EXCELLENCE IN MUSICAL PERFORMANCE AND EDUCATION.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 48 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 19 | $1,317,150 | $5,000 |
| 2021 | 16 | $1,490,000 | $5,000 |
| 2022 | 21 | $1,435,000 | $2,500 |
| 2023 | 20 | $1,530,540 | $5,000 |
| 2024 | 22 | $1,599,960 | $5,000 |
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
89% 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.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in California.
- 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.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Saw Island Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). 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: 524 Moore Road a, Woodside, CA, 94062. 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 23-7454106 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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