Center for Asian American Media
San Francisco, CA · EIN 94-2801493. Reported 84 grants totalling $3,171,114 to 77 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Center for Asian American Media, the IRS classifies it under arts & culture rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE A30Z) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 77 distinct organizations, with 6% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 15% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $25,000. Half of what it reported fell between $15,000 and $50,000; the smallest was $7,000 and the largest $175,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WGBH Educational Foundation | Brighton, MA | $197,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| African Cowboy Dba Dream Seek | Pasadena, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Capital K Pictures | Milford, CT | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Cloud Machine LLC | Los Angeles, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Film Exchange | Los Angeles, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Rose Pak Community Fund | San Francisco, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Sublime Madness | Annandale, VA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Thank You for Thinking of Me | Buffalo, NY | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Usmp LLC | Brooklyn, NY | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Chol Soo Lee Documentary LLC | Torrance, CA | $83,376 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Inc | Washington, DC | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Flash Cuts | Los Angeles, CA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| From Kudzu Collective LLC | Oxford, MS | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Third Cousin Pictures Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| WNET | New York, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Yoube Productions LLC | Houston, TX | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| American Documentary Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $60,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Axs Lab Inc | Long Island City, NY | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| This Is How It Ends LLC | Baltimore, MD | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Center for Independent Documentary Inc | Cambridge, MA | $57,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Windy Films | El Cerrito, CA | $55,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Firelight Media Inc | New York, NY | $52,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Bayani Workshop | Brooklyn, NY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| International Documentary Association Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Latino Public Broadcasting | Studio City, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Oyster Films LLC | Brooklyn, NY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Public Media Group of Southern California | Burbank, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Talkstory LLC | Forest Hills, NY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Golden Screen Series LLC | Los Angeles, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Asian Ballers LLC | Cerritos, CA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Detroit Public Media | Wixom, MI | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Diaspora Arts Connection | Pleasant Hill, CA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Fanp LLC | Decatur, GA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Japanese American National Museum | Los Angeles, CA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Shj Productions LLC | Watertown, MA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Mirafilms LLC | Swarthmore, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| After Spring LLC | New York, NY | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Anchor Pictures Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Spirited Films LLC | North Mn, MN | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Anchor Pictures Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $27,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Good Medicine Picture Collc | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Guul Films LLC | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Kartemquin Educational Films | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Meerkat Media LLC | Brooklyn, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| People First Productions LLC | Hamtramck, MI | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Taxi Driver Doc LLC | Albany, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Uniondocs Inc | Ridgewood, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bay Area Video Coalition | San Francisco, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Farallon Documentary Films Inc | Berkeley, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Flash Cuts | Los Angeles, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Home Is a Hotel LLC | Oakland, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Intersection Films LLC | Los Angeles, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Making Waves Films LLC | Honolulu, HI | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Real Talkies LLC | New York, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc | Washington, DC | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| North Dakota Native Vote | Bismarck, ND | $16,238 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Asian Ballers LLC | Cerritos, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Nuoc Pictures LLC | Los Angeles, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Walking Iris Media | San Francisco, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Misc Small Grants | San Francisco, CA | $14,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Western Native Voice Inc | Billings, MT | $11,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| American Documentary Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Bitanga Productions LLC | Philadelphia, PA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Common Counsel Foundation | Oakland, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Kenneth Eng Films LLC | Los Angeles, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Khanal Productions LLC | Oakland, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| PBS-Nc | Research Triang, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Bahm Hanul LLC | Lawrenceville, GA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Fire Work Media LLC | Philadelphia, PA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Patrick G Lee LLC | New York, NY | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Unc-Tv | Research Triang, NC | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Unseen Documentary LLC | Panorama City, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Alabama Educational Televisio | Birmingham, AL | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Arkansas Educational Televisi | Conway, AR | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Foundation for Excellence | Baton Rouge, LA | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| South Florida PBS Inc | Boynton Beach, FL | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Unc-Tv | Research Triang, NC | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
5 of 77 (6%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Latnio Public Broadcasting
partially fund film for public tv - Farallon Documentary Films
Film Production & Develop Grant - Ctr for Indep Documentary Inc
Film Production & Develop
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 19 of 77 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 29 | $652,376 | $15,000 |
| 2021 | 11 | $509,500 | $25,000 |
| 2022 | 6 | $162,000 | $23,500 |
| 2023 | 8 | $365,000 | $50,000 |
| 2024 | 30 | $1,482,238 | $37,500 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
38% of its giving went to organizations in California. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. 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 grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $25,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in California.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Center for Asian American Media's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 9 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 21 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 145 9TH Street Suite 350, San Francisco, CA, 94103.
EIN 94-2801493 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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