Funders › California

Shaotran Family Foundation

Mountain View, CA · EIN 87-4111703. Reported 70 grants totalling $442,952 to 40 recipients across tax years 2022-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$822median grant
$442,952granted, 2022-2025
40recipients, as named on its returns
61%of grantees funded again the next year
$4,377,389assets, 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. Shaotran 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 $822. Half of everything it gave fell between $500 and $1,000; the smallest was $250 and the largest $177,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
38 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
18 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
11 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
1 grant
$100,000 and Up
2 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
DAFGIVING360San Francisco, CA$332,000222025
Harvard UniversityBoston, MA$22,000332024
University of California - BerkeleyBerkeley, CA$16,860442025
New Energy NexusOakland, CA$11,000332024
The Pacific American FoundationKailua, HI$10,000222025
Blind Vietnamese Children FoundationSan Francisco, CA$5,000112022
Center for Excellence in EducationMclean, VA$5,000442025
Good Shepherd ParishSan Diego, CA$5,000112022
Filoli CenterWoodside, CA$3,110112025
Pets in NeedRedwood City, CA$2,500442025
Yosemite ConservancySan Francisco, CA$2,500112025
Monterey Bay AquariumMonterey, CA$2,092332024
Canary MediaNew Yoek, NY$2,000222024
Friends of Palo Alto ParksPalo Alto, CA$2,000332025
Hawaiian Humane SocietyHonolulu, HI$1,500332025
Palo Alto Humane SocietyPalo Alto, CA$1,500332025
Ronald Mcdonald House Charities - Bay AreaPalo Alto, CA$1,500332025
Second Harvest of Silicon ValleySan Jose, CA$1,500332025
Ability PathRedwood City, CA$1,000112023
American National Red CrossWashington, DC$1,000112023
Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's HealthPalo Alto, CA$1,000112025
Natural Resources Defense CouncilSanta Monica, CA$1,000112023
Nature ConservancySan Francisco, CA$1,000112023
Oahu SPCAWahiawa, HI$1,000222025
ProdCambridge, MA$1,000112022
Symphony San JoseSan Jose, CA$1,000112025
United States Fund for Unicef USANew Yoek, NY$1,000222024
Filoli GardensWoodside, CA$970112024
The Beaverton Symphony OrchestraBeaverton, OR$800112023
World Wildlife FundWashington, DC$620112023
ActerraPalo Alto, CA$500112022
Friends of Hanauma BayHonolulu, HI$500112023
Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum & ZooPalo Alto, CA$500112025
Hui O Ko'olaupokoKailua, HI$500112023
Jane Goodall InstituteWashington, DC$500112024
Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife ResearchWashington, DC$500112022
Pearl Harbor Aviation MuseumHonolulu, HI$500112025
Unicef USANew York, NY$500112025
Friends of the Berkeley Public LibraryBerkeley, CA$250112025
Stanford UniversityPalo Alto, CA$250112025

16 of 40 (40%) 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 61%, 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 46 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.

Animal Welfare
16 grants
Environment
4 grants
Science & Technology
4 grants
International Affairs
4 grants
Education
4 grants
Recreation & Sports
3 grants
Food & Nutrition
3 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202211$28,904$1,000
202321$34,764$1,000
202418$176,814$500
202520$202,470$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

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.

California
$394K
Massachusetts
$23K
Hawaii
$14K
Virginia
$5K
New York
$4K
District of Columbia
$3K
Oregon
$800

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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 Inc15 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund14 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc13 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program11 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust10 shared recipientsSilicon Valley Community Foundation9 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $822. 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

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Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Shaotran Family Foundation'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: 211 Hope Street Suite 266, Mountain View, CA, 94041. 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 87-4111703 · 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.