Thelma Doelger Charitable Trust
Daly City, CA · EIN 94-3318483. Reported 167 grants totalling $3,862,000 to 38 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. Thelma Doelger Charitable Trust 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 $7,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $30,000; the smallest was $3,750 and the largest $145,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Norman Shumway Endowed Family of Funds | San Mateo, CA | $665,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Marin Humane Society | Novato, CA | $375,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Peninsula Humane Society | San Mateo, CA | $375,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| San Francisco SPCA | San Francisco, CA | $375,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Supporters of the Doelger Senior Center | Daly City, CA | $325,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| San Francisco Zoological Society | San Francisco, CA | $220,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| St Anthony's Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $200,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Marine Mammal Center | Sausalito, CA | $170,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Samaritan House | San Mateo, CA | $150,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Curi Odyssey (formerly Coyote Point Museum) | San Mateo, CA | $125,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Meals on Wheels of San Francisco | San Francisco, CA | $125,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Daly City Youth Health Center | Daly City, CA | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust | Washington DC, DC | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Mid-Peninsula Boys & Girls Club Inc | San Mateo, CA | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| San Mateo County Health Foundation | San Mateo, CA | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Girl Scouts of Northern California | Santa Rosa, CA | $42,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Peninsula Volunteers Inc Meals on Wheels | Menlo Park, CA | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Police Athletic League of Daly City | Daly City, CA | $37,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Salvation Army | San Francisco, CA | $37,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| California Academy of Sciences | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Caminar | San Mateo, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Daly City Public Library | Daly City, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Landpaths | Santa Rosa, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Peninsula Association for Retarded Childrenadults | Burlingame, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Peninsula Family Service | San Mateo, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| San Francisco Suicide Prevention | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| San Mateo County Historical Association | Redwood City, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Star Vista - Youth & Family Enrichment Services | San Carlos, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| YMCA Camp Jones Gulch | La Honda, CA | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Operation Santa Claus | Daly City, CA | $22,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Pacific Skyline Council Boy Scouts of America | Foster City, CA | $21,250 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| San Francisco Bay Area Boy Scouts of America | San Francisco, CA | $21,250 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Alive & Free | San Francisco, CA | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco | San Francisco, CA | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Gatepath | Redwood City, CA | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| All May See Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Larkin Street Youth Services | San Francisco, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank | San Francisco, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
35 of 38 (92%) 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 98%, 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.
- Dr Norman Shumway Endowed Family of Funds
Charitable Contribution to support charity's mission to improve patient health through continual scientific innovation, revolutionary operative care, and exemplary surgical education - Supporters of the Doelger Senior Center
Charitable Contribution to support charity's mission to improve the quality of life for seniors and adults in Daly City and surrounding areas - Marin Humane Society
Charitable Contribution to support charity's mission to improve the lives of animals and people through advocacy, education, and support - Peninsula Humane Society
Charitable Contribution to support charity's mission to support humane service to needy animals - San Francisco SPCA
Charitable Contribution to support charity's mission to save and protect animals, and provide care and treatment - San Francisco Zoological Society
Charitable Contribution to support charity's mission to connect people with wildlife, inspire caring for nature and advance conservation action
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 70 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 | 33 | $784,000 | $7,500 |
| 2021 | 33 | $784,500 | $7,500 |
| 2022 | 32 | $784,500 | $7,500 |
| 2023 | 34 | $779,500 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 35 | $729,500 | $10,000 |
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
99% 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 $7,500. 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 Thelma Doelger Charitable Trust'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: 950 John Daly Boulevard Suite 300, Daly City, CA, 94015. 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 94-3318483 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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