Grantmakers › California

Jews of Color Initiative

Berkeley, CA · EIN 86-2742246. Reported 68 grants totalling $1,753,804 to 51 organizations across tax years 2022-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

51organizations funded
$15,000median reported grant
$1,753,804granted, 2022-2024
27%of grantees funded again the next year
18%of dollars to its largest recipient

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:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Jews of Color Initiative, the IRS classifies it under civil rights rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE R05) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 51 distinct organizations, with 18% 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.
  3. How much its list changes. 27% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 2 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 $15,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $30,000; the smallest was $6,146 and the largest $115,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
4 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
41 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
15 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
5 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
3 grants

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Social Good Fund IncRichmond, CA$311,400432024
Ammud the Joc Torah Academy IncNew York, NY$144,860222024
Aleph-Alliance for Jewish RenewalPhiladelphia, PA$125,000332024
Forward Assoc IncNew York, NY$75,000112022
Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore IncBaltimore, MD$65,000112022
Jewish Womens TheatreSanta Monica, CA$60,000332024
Tzedek America ProgramEncino, CA$55,000222024
Bd of Regents of Univ WiscMadison, WI$52,643222024
Kol TikvahWoodland Hls, CA$50,000112022
Jewish Learning VentureJenkintown, PA$45,000222024
Join for Justice IncQuincy, MA$42,000222023
Beloved Builders IncNorthampton, MA$40,230222024
Moving TraditionsElkins Park, PA$40,000222024
Institute for Jewish and Community ResearchSan Francisco, CA$37,550222023
Reboot IncLongmeadow, MA$36,600112022
Center for Community Stewardship IncMadison, WI$35,000222023
Bend the Arc-a Jewish Partnership for JusticeNew York, NY$33,000222023
Center for Jewish Culture and CreativityLos Angeles, CA$30,000112022
Union for Reform JudaismNew York, NY$30,000112024
Pluma Poetica Del Arte IncNew York, NY$24,850112023
Uri LtzedekScottsdale, AZ$23,000112022
Painted Bride Art Center IncPhiladelphia, PA$22,750112023
Crown Heights Jewish Community CouBrooklyn, NY$20,000112024
FjcNew York, NY$20,000112022
Hinenu the Baltimore Justice ShtieblBaltimore, MD$20,000112022
Jewish Womens Archive IncAuburndale, MA$20,000112023
Mosaic VisionsWashington, DC$20,000112022
Community InitiativesOakland, CA$15,000112023
Custom and Craft Jewish Rituals IncLos Angeles, CA$15,000112023
Embrace Community ProgramsNew York, NY$15,000112023
Jewish Food Society IncNew York, NY$15,000112023
SvaraChicago, IL$15,000112023
The Jewish Federations of North America IncNew York, NY$15,000112023
Atlanta Jews of Color CouncilAtlanta, GA$14,500112022
A Sisters Village IncNewark, DE$14,100112023
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish HistoryPhiladelphia, PA$13,750112023
Nefesh LaLos Angeles, CA$13,500112023
American Sephardi FederationNew York, NY$10,000112022
Congregation Mishkan IsraelCamden, CT$10,000112024
Jewish Community ActionSaint Paul, MN$10,000112023
Jewish Film InstituteSan Francisco, CA$10,000112023
Jews in All HuesPhiladelphia, PA$10,000112022
Jumpstart LabsSanta Monica, CA$10,000112022
Keshet IncNewton, MA$10,000112023
Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh and Educ Cent IncNewton, MA$10,000112022
New Synagogue ProjectWashington, DC$10,000112022
Women Make Movies IncNew York, NY$10,000112024
Judaism AliveBallwin, MO$8,425112024
Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus LifeLos Angeles, CA$8,000112023
Tawonga Jewish Community CorporationSan Francisco, CA$6,500112022
Shaarei Center for Jewish Learning & Life IncBaltimore, MD$6,146112024

13 of 51 (25%) received money in more than one year over the 3 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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 42 of 51 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.

Religion
14 orgs
Arts & Culture
12 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
4 orgs
Education
3 orgs
Civil Rights
3 orgs
Human Services
2 orgs
Social Science
1 org
Community Improvement
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202226$848,460$20,000
202327$447,900$15,000
202415$457,444$30,000

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

35% 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.

California
$622K
New York
$413K
Pennsylvania
$256K
Massachusetts
$159K
Maryland
$91K
Wisconsin
$88K
District of Columbia
$30K
Arizona
$23K

Down to the city

New York, NY
$393K
Richmond, CA
$311K
Philadelphia, PA
$172K
Baltimore, MD
$91K
Madison, WI
$88K
Santa Monica, CA
$70K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund38 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc33 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program23 shared recipientsJewish Communal Fund21 shared recipientsJewish Community Federation of San19 shared recipientsUnited Jewish Appeal-Federation of17 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. 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.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $15,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in California.
  4. 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

Foundations funding religion in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding arts & culture in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding religion in New YorkEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Jews of Color Initiative's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). 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 14 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 1 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: 1569 Solano Avenue 474, Berkeley, CA, 94707.

EIN 86-2742246 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.