FundersCalifornia

Leon S Peters Foundation

Westlake Village, CA · EIN 94-6064669. Reported 163 grants totalling $4,730,445 to 53 organizations across tax years 2020-2023. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$10,000median grant
$4,730,445granted, 2020-2023
53organizations funded
88%of grantees funded again the next year
$21.7Massets, latest filing

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. Leon S Peters Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $465 and the largest $230,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
3 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
9 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
41 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
62 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
23 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
14 grants
$100,000 and Up
11 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Community Medical FoundationFresno, CA$746,600442023
Valley Children's HospitalMadera, CA$605,000332022
California State University FresnoFresno, CA$470,000442023
Ucsf FoundationSan Francisco, CA$320,000442023
State Center Community College DistrictFresno, CA$220,000442023
Break the BarriersFresno, CA$200,000442023
Office of Advancement ServicesFresno, CA$200,000112022
Hinds HospiceFresno, CA$151,500442023
Forward Fresno FoundationFresno, CA$150,000112023
Marjorie Mason CenterFresno, CA$130,000442023
Children's Muscial TheaterworksFresno, CA$100,000442023
Fresno PhilharmonicFresno, CA$100,000442023
Poverello HouseFresno, CA$100,000442023
Parents & Addicts in NeedFresno, CA$80,000442023
San Joaquin River ParkwayFresno, CA$80,000442023
Youth for ChristFresno, CA$80,000442023
Boys & Girls Club of Fresno CountyFresno, CA$75,000442023
Friends of the Big Fresno FairFresno, CA$65,000332022
Fresno Rescue MissionFresno, CA$60,000442023
Girl Scouts of Central California SouthFresno, CA$60,000442023
Fresno Pacific UniversityFresno, CA$55,000112020
Friends of Historic KingsburgKingsburg, CA$49,000442023
Leukemia & Lymphoma SocietyFresno, CA$45,000332023
Armenian Missionary AssociationParamus, NJ$40,000442023
First Armenian Presbyterian ChurchFresno, CA$40,000442023
Holy Trinity Armenian ChurchFresno, CA$40,000442023
Rose of Sharon ChurchFresno, CA$40,000442023
St Gregory Armenian ChurchFowler, CA$40,000442023
St Paul Armenian ChurchFresno, CA$40,000442023
California State UniversityLong Beach, CA$30,000112021
Central California Blood CenterFresno, CA$30,000332022
Armenian General Benevolent UnionNew York, NY$28,000442023
Court Schools PTAFresno, CA$25,000442023
Central Ca Food BankFresno, CA$20,000442023
Fellowship of Christian AthletesClovis, CA$20,000442023
Fresno Historical SocietyFresno, CA$20,000442023
Fresno State Alumni AssociationFresno, CA$20,000112021
San Joaquin College of LawClovis, CA$20,000442023
Ararat Armenian CemetaryFresno, CA$16,500222023
Fresno Art MuseumFresno, CA$15,000332022
Fresno Scottish RiteFresno, CA$15,000332022
Rotary StorylandFresno, CA$15,000332023
Cbmc FresnoFresno, CA$13,500222022
Antioch NetworkAustin, TX$10,000112022
Charlie Keyan ArmenianClovis, CA$10,000222021
Pilgrim Armenian Congretional ChurchFresno, CA$10,000112020
President's Circle of ExcellenceFresno, CA$10,000222021
Charlie Keyan Armenian Community SchoolClovis, CA$5,000112023
Sierra Meadows FoundationFresno, CA$5,000112023
The Discovery CenterFresno, CA$4,000442023
Cbwc (christian Business Women's Connection)Fresno, CA$3,500112023
Fresno Chamber of CommerceFresno, CA$2,245332023
Armenian Studies ProgramFresno, CA$600112022

42 of 53 (79%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 88%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

Plus 1 grants to individuals totalling $1,750 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 65 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Arts & Culture
10 grants
Education
9 grants
Youth Development
8 grants
Human Services
8 grants
Health Care
8 grants
Housing & Shelter
8 grants
Food & Nutrition
4 grants
Mental Health
4 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202040$1,222,000$10,000
202143$1,263,565$10,000
202242$1,269,065$12,500
202338$975,815$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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 98% of this one's giving went to organizations in California. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

California
$4.7M
New Jersey
$40K
New York
$28K
Texas
$10K

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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 the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund15 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc13 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc10 shared recipientsEnterprise Holdings Foundation10 shared recipientsBertha and John Garabedian Charitable8 shared recipientsThe Blackbaud Giving Fund8 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in California.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

Foundations funding arts & culture in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding youth development in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Leon S Peters Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 4026 Mariner Circle, Westlake Village, CA, 91361. 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 94-6064669 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

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