United Way of San Diego County
San Diego, CA · EIN 95-2213995. Reported 64 grants totalling $2,388,075 to 48 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, 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 United Way of San Diego County, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70).
- How spread out its giving is. 48 distinct organizations, with 26% 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 3 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 $22,474. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $40,000; the smallest was $5,114 and the largest $223,944. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
16 of those grants were non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $608,639 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dreams for Change Inc | San Diego, CA | $631,524 | 5 | 3 | 2022 |
| Hardercompany Community Research Inc | San Francisco, CA | $232,238 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| International Rescue Committee Inc | New York, NY | $225,267 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| San Diego Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Community Center | San Diego, CA | $223,944 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| YMCA of San Diego County | San Diego, CA | $138,942 | 4 | 3 | 2022 |
| Info Line of San Diego County | San Diego, CA | $70,379 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Sbcs Corporation | Chula Vista, CA | $68,132 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Paving Great Futures | San Diego, CA | $53,520 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Equality Alliance of San Diego County | San Diego, CA | $47,652 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Creating Coding Careers | Poway, CA | $41,346 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Api Initiative Inc | Chula Vista, CA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Campesinos Unidos | Brawley, CA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Junior Achievement of San Diego County | San Diego, CA | $34,025 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Cloudcast Media | San Diego, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Comite Civico Del Valle Inc | Brawley, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Employee Rights Center | San Diego, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Traveling Stories | San Diego, CA | $28,969 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Armed Services YMCA Camp Pendleton | Camp Pendleton, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Environmental Health Coalition | National City, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Mission Edge San Diego | San Diego, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans | San Diego, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Union of Pan Asian Communities | San Diego, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Voices for Children | San Diego, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Acce Institute | Los Angeles, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| California Rural Legal Assistance Inc | Modesto, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| CASA Familiar Inc | San Ysidro, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Vista Community Clinic | Vista, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Chicano Federation of San Diego County Inc | San Diego, CA | $15,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Think Dignity | San Diego, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Words Alive | San Diego, CA | $14,794 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Reuben H Fleet Science Center | San Diego, CA | $12,126 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Cloudcast | San Diego, CA | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Bayside Community Center | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| California State University San Marcos Corporation | San Marcos, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Chula Vista Elem School Dist | Chula Vista, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Imperial Valley Food Bank | Imperial, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Logan Heights Community Development Corporation | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| San Diego Organizing Project | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Viet Voices | San Diego, CA | $8,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Girls Incorporated of San Diego County | San Diego, CA | $8,481 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| San Diego Regional Economic Development Foundation | San Diego, CA | $8,346 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Metropolitan Area Advisory Com on Anti-Poverty of San Diego Cnty Inc | Chula Vista, CA | $7,830 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego | San Diego, CA | $7,600 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| License to Freedom | El Cajon, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| San Diego Korean American Coalition | San Diego, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Escondido Education Compact | Escondido, CA | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| We Support U | San Diego, CA | $5,846 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Ucsd Create | La Jolla, CA | $5,114 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
8 of 48 (17%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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.
- The San Diego Lgbt Community Center
Census 2020 Outreach/Education & COVID Financial Assistance (WAI) - Dreams for Change
EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT (EITC) - South Bay Community Services
COVID Financial Assistance (WAI) - Hardercompany Community Research
Building Resilience & Equity Unity - Alliance San Diego
Census 2020 Outreach/Education - 2-1-1 San Diego
Census 2020 Outreach/Education & Building Resilience
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 36 of 48 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 | 34 | $1,049,121 | $20,000 |
| 2021 | 13 | $705,315 | $30,000 |
| 2022 | 16 | $608,639 | $14,959 |
| 2023 | 1 | $25,000 | $25,000 |
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
91% 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
Foundations that fund only organizations they pick gave to this one
24 private foundations that told the IRS they contribute only to organizations they select themselves reported 52 grants totalling $1,738,813 to United Way of San Diego County. That is 45% of the 53 funders we can see giving to it. Those 24 foundations do not take unsolicited requests -- their own returns say so. The IRS classifies this organization as a federated giving programme.
10 of them gave in more than one tax year, which is the only durability signal the filings carry.
What that does not mean. It does not mean an application here reaches that money. A grant from a closed foundation is often a designated gift or a donor-advised fund earmarked by whoever gave it, and has nothing to do with any open programme this organization runs. Neither tax return says which, so neither do we. The list below is who put money in. It is not a route to it.
| Foundation | State | Reported | Grants | Years | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lawrence & Junko Cushman Foundation | California | $923,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Eli Lilly and Company Foundation | Indiana | $450,022 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Lonnie & Anna Mae Whitmore Charitable Trust | Illinois | $134,103 | 6 | 6 | 2025 |
| Mufg Union Bank Foundation Ag | Wisconsin | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| The Jem Project | California | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The California Endowment | California | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Nellie T Thatcher Perkins Foundation | Minnesota | $22,800 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Peggy and Robert Matthews Foundation | California | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Capdevilla Gillespie Foundation | Delaware | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| The Clare Rose Foundation Inc | Delaware | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
The 10 largest by reported dollars, of 24.
A linked name has a page of its own. We publish one for a foundation that takes no unsolicited requests only when a real share of its giving goes to organizations that make grants themselves, and that page opens by saying it does not take requests.
Both the count and the total are floors. A foundation appears here only where its return named this organization clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows. There are more; we cannot name them.
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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 $22,474 -- 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 United Way of San Diego County'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.
Address of record on the latest return: 4699 Murphy Canyon Road, San Diego, CA, 92123.
EIN 95-2213995 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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