The Silver Lining Foundation
San Francisco, CA · EIN 94-3285094. Reported 210 grants totalling $14.8M to 96 recipients across tax years 2020-2024. 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". The Silver Lining Foundation 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
5 of the organizations The Silver Lining Foundation funded make grants themselves, and it reported 10 grants totalling $200,250 to them. That is 2% of the $13.1M 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? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hopewell Fund | grantmaking organization | District of Columbia | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 | Its form does not ask |
| California Community Foundation | community foundation | California | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 | Its form does not ask |
| California State University Foundation | grantmaking organization | California | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 | Its form does not ask |
| Northern California Grantmakers | federated giving programme | California | $22,250 | 4 | 4 | 2024 | Its form does not ask |
| Jewish Community Federation of San | federated giving programme | California | $3,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 | 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 $25,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $1,085,388.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California Education Partners | San Francisco, CA | $4,233,599 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Children Now | Oakland, CA | $875,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Occidental College | Los Angeles, CA | $840,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Borealis Philanthropy | Minneapolis, MN | $750,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Regents of the University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI | $550,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Edsource Inc | Oakland, CA | $500,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Sobrato Early Academic Language | Milpitas, CA | $500,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Parent Teacher Home Visits | Sacramento, CA | $475,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences | Arlington, VA | $450,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences | San Mateo, CA | $300,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Urban Ed Academy | San Francisco, CA | $300,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Learning Policy Institute | Palo Alto, CA | $250,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| San Francisco Department of Children Youth & Families | San Francisco, CA | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Power California | Oakland, CA | $225,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Educare California at Silicon Valley | San Jose, CA | $200,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Educare Silicon Valley | San Jose, CA | $200,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Sobrato Early Academic Language Program | Milpitas, CA | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Regents of University of California Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Brown University | Providence, RI | $177,500 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation | Redwood City, CA | $150,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Oakland Unified School District | Oakland, CA | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc | New York, NY | $150,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| University of Washington | Seattle, WA | $150,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Wested | San Francisco, CA | $142,500 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus | San Francisco, CA | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta Inc | Norcross, GA | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Catholic Legal Immigration Network | Silver Spring, MD | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Ecsv (educare California at Silicon Valley) | San Jose, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Planned Parenthood | New York, NY | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Reading Partners | Oakland, CA | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| San Francisco Education Fund | San Francisco, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Schwab Charitable | San Francisco, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Trellis | San Francisco, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| San Francisco Jazz Organization | San Francisco, CA | $95,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Giants Community Fund | San Francisco, CA | $80,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Accelerate Change Inc | Boston, MA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | $75,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Groundswell | Washington, DC | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Hopewell Fund | Washington, DC | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Tides Center | San Francisco, CA | $51,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence | Washington, DC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| California Community Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| California State University Foundation | Long Beach, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Eastside College Preparatory School Inc | East Palo Alto, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Make the Road Pennsylvania | Brooklyn, NY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Michigan Organizing Project | Dewitt, MI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pittsburgh United | Pittsburgh, PA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Teaching Lab | Washington, DC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Voces De La Frontera | Milwaukee, WI | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Spark Sf Public Schools | San Francisco, CA | $35,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| President and Fellows of Harvard College | Cambridge, MA | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| 1 Vote Counts | Harrisburg, PA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| 482 Forward | Detroit, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Asheville School Inc | Asheville, NC | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Asian Americans Adv Justice Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Catchlight | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Family Connections Center | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Groww Education | Baldwin, WI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hamilton Families | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| International Refugee Assistance Project Inc | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Leaders Igniting Transformation Education Fund Inc | Milwaukee, WI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund | Los Angeles, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Muckrock Foundation Inc | Boston, MA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Natural Resources Defense Council | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Stanford University | Redwood City, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Northern California Grantmakers | San Francisco, CA | $22,250 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Council of the Great City Schools | Washington, DC | $22,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Crohn's & Colitis Foundation Inc | New York, NY | $21,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Common Sense Media | San Francisco, CA | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Harvard Business School | Boston, MA | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| San Francisco SPCA | San Francisco, CA | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Giant Community Fund | San Francisco, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| San Francisco Museum of Modern Art | San Francisco, CA | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| The Madeira School Inc | Mclean, VA | $15,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| The Medical Foundation of North Carolina | Chapel Hill, NC | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| The Oakland Public Education Fund Inc | Oakland, CA | $10,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| California Calls Education Fund | Los Angeles, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Crohn's & Colitis Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Unc Health Foundation Inc | Chapel Hill, NC | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Kqed | San Francisco, CA | $7,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Christ Church East Bay | Berkeley, CA | $5,113 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Mount Tamalpais College | San Quentin, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Narrative Magazine | San Francisco, CA | $5,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| The Century Foundation Inc | New York, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals | San Francisco, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Los Amigos De Manzanita Seed | Oakland, CA | $4,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Jewish Community Center of San Francisco | San Francisco, CA | $4,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability | Fresno, CA | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Trinity Lutheran Church | Alameda, CA | $2,700 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Jewish Community Federation | San Francisco, CA | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonma C | San Francisco, CA | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Katherine Delmar Burke School | San Francisco, CA | $2,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| St Ignatius College Preparatory | San Francisco, CA | $1,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Greater Things | Edina, MN | $1,365 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma | San Francisco, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
51 of 96 (53%) 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 62%, 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, and this foundation told the IRS it does not.
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.
- California Education Partners
TO SUPPORT EDUCATION PROGRAMS - Sobrato Early Academic Language
TO PROVIDE HIGH-QUALITY EDUCATION TO ALL ENGLISH LEARNERS IN PRESCHOOL THROUGH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL - San Francisco Department of Children Youth & Families
TO SUPPORT INVESTMENTS IN CHILDREN, YOUTH, TRANSITIONOAL AGE YOUTH, AND THEIR FAMILIES. - Sobrato Early Academic Language Program
TO SUPPORT PROGRAMS PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, CURRICULUM SUPPORT, AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE - Children Now
TO SUPPORT COMMUNITY PROGRAMS - American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences
TO SUPPORT EDUCATION OUTCOME IMPROVEMENT
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 168 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 | 42 | $3,580,000 | $50,000 |
| 2021 | 40 | $3,004,000 | $25,000 |
| 2022 | 47 | $2,935,428 | $15,000 |
| 2023 | 37 | $2,506,638 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 44 | $2,806,461 | $25,000 |
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.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. The Silver Lining Foundation has 1 of them, worth $150,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Oakland Unified School District | Oakland, CA | $150,000 |
Where its money goes
77% of its giving went to organizations in California.
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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 The Silver Lining Foundation'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: One Lombard Street 305, San Francisco, CA, 94111. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS.
EIN 94-3285094 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.