The Gordon and Ruth Dougherty Foundation
Long Beach, CA · EIN 95-4642848. Reported 86 grants totalling $265,984 to 36 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. 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. The Gordon and Ruth Dougherty 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $2,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,500 and $3,500; the smallest was $500 and the largest $25,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach | Long Beach, CA | $31,010 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| Long Beach Community Foundation | Long Beach, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| YMCA of Greater Long Beach | Long Beach, CA | $22,500 | 6 | 4 | 2025 |
| Grand Vision Foundation | San Pedro, CA | $20,500 | 8 | 5 | 2025 |
| Long Beach Rotary Charitable Foundation | Long Beach, CA | $14,750 | 6 | 5 | 2025 |
| Ronald Mcdonald House | Long Beach, CA | $14,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Peninsula Beach Perservation Group Dba Peninsula Neighborhood Association | Long Beach, CA | $12,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| St Joseph's High School | Santa Maria, CA | $12,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Long Beach Symphony Orchestra | Long Beach, CA | $10,374 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Tichenor Orthopedic Clinic for Children | Long Beach, CA | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Memorial Medical Center | Modesto, CA | $9,000 | 4 | 3 | 2025 |
| American Cancer Society | Hagerstown, MD | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Long Beach Library Foundation | Long Beach, CA | $7,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Fisher House Southern California | Long Beach, CA | $6,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Muscial Theatre West | Long Beach, CA | $6,500 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| Long Beach Camerata Singers | Long Beach, CA | $5,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach | Long Beach, CA | $5,000 | 2 | 1 | 2025 |
| California Conservation Corporation | Fair Oaks, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Long Beach Museum of Art Foundation | Long Beach, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| PBS Socal | Whittier, CA | $3,600 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Historical Society of Long Beach | Long Beach, CA | $3,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Musical Theatre West | Long Beach, CA | $3,250 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Children Today | Long Beach, CA | $3,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Long Beach Heritage | Long Beach, CA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Long Beach Medical Center Foundation | Long Beach, CA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| St Joseph High School | Santa Maria, CA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Uncle Kory Foundation | El Segundo, CA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Action Sports Kids Foundation | Long Beach, CA | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Long Beach Rotary Scholarship Foundation | Long Beach, CA | $2,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society | Washington, DC | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Eminent Giving Initiative | Long Beach, CA | $1,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Alamitos Bay Sailing Foundation | Long Beach, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Calvary Chapel of the Canyons | Silverado, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Catalina Chimes Foundation | Avalon, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Catalina Island Conservancy | Long Beach, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Long Beach City College Foundation | Long Beach, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
18 of 36 (50%) 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 56%, across 4 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.
- Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach
HERO SPONSOR - YOUTH OF THE YEAR DINNER - Tichenor Orthopedic Clinic for Children
GENERAL SUPPORT IN MEMORY OF RICHARD KEMPSTER - Fisher House Southern California
GENERAL SUPPORT AND GEILING REMEMBRANCE - Grand Vision Foundation
BRONZE SPONSOR - GATHERING FOR THE GRAND - Muscial Theatre West
EVENT SUPPORT IN HONOR OF MARLENE TEMPLE - Musical Theatre West
GENERAL SUPPORT AND BROADWAY IN THE PARK
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 49 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 | 9 | $26,250 | $1,750 |
| 2022 | 16 | $41,250 | $2,375 |
| 2023 | 18 | $85,610 | $2,505 |
| 2024 | 23 | $62,000 | $2,000 |
| 2025 | 20 | $50,874 | $2,500 |
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
96% 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 $2,500. 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 The Gordon and Ruth Dougherty 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: Po Box 7277, Long Beach, CA, 90807. 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 95-4642848 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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