FundersCalifornia

Pfaffinger Foundation

Los Angeles, CA · EIN 95-1661675. Reported 116 grants totalling $3,650,000 to 54 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$30,000median grant
$3,650,000granted, 2021-2024
54organizations funded
65%of grantees funded again the next year
$91.3Massets, 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. Pfaffinger 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 $30,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $25,000 and $40,000; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $50,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$5,000 - $10,000
2 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
18 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
93 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
3 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
Downtown Women's CenterLos Angeles, CA$140,000332023
Chrysalis CenterLos Angeles, CA$135,000442024
Helpline Youth Counseling IncWhittier, CA$135,000442024
Jvs SocalLos Angeles, CA$135,000442024
Los Angeles Regional Food BankLos Angeles, CA$135,000442024
OnegenerationVan Nuys, CA$135,000442024
One VoiceSanta Monica, CA$130,000442024
Upward Bound HouseSanta Monica, CA$125,000442024
Coalition for Responsible Community DevelopmentLos Angeles, CA$120,000332024
Jenesse Center IncLos Angeles, CA$120,000332023
Meet Each Need With DignityPacoima, CA$120,000332024
Maps CharitiesSherman Oaks, CA$110,000442024
Para Los NinosLos Angeles, CA$110,000332024
St Joseph CenterVenice, CA$105,000332024
Homeboy IndustriesLos Angeles, CA$95,000332024
Westside Food BankSanta Monica, CA$95,000332023
Epidaurus Dba Amity FoundationLos Angeles, CA$90,000332024
Meals on Wheels of Long BeachLong Beach, CA$90,000332024
Orange County Conservation CorpsAnaheim, CA$90,000332023
Safe Parking LaLos Angeles, CA$80,000332024
Conservation Corps of Long BeachLong Beach, CA$70,000222024
Families ForwardIrvine, CA$70,000332023
Ltsc Community Development CorporationLos Angeles, CA$70,000222024
Wise & Healthy AgingSanta Monica, CA$70,000222024
Door of HopePasadena, CA$65,000222022
Young & HealthyPasadena, CA$60,000222022
Women in Non Traditional Employment RolesRancho Palos Verdes, CA$55,000222023
Alliance for Children's RightsLos Angeles, CA$50,000222022
Imagine LaLos Angeles, CA$50,000222023
Union Station Homeless ServicesPasadena, CA$50,000222022
A Place Called HomeLos Angeles, CA$45,000222022
All Peoples Community CenterLos Angeles, CA$40,000112024
Downtown Womens CenterLos Angeles, CA$40,000112024
Little Tokyo Service CenterLos Angeles, CA$40,000112021
Mend - Meet Each Need With DignityPacoima, CA$40,000112022
Puente Learning CenterLos Angeles, CA$40,000222022
St Barnabas Senior ServicesLos Angeles, CA$40,000112021
St Vincent Meals on WheelsLos Angeles, CA$40,000112021
St Vincent Senior Citizen NLos Angeles, CA$40,000112024
Union Rescue Mission of Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$40,000112021
YMCA of Metropolitan LaLos Angeles, CA$40,000112021
Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation of Southern CaliforniaLong Beach, CA$30,000112021
Lyft-Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$30,000112023
Union Station Homeless ServicPasadena, CA$30,000112023
Imagine Los Angeles IncLos Angeles, CA$25,000112022
Ltsc Commuity Development CorporationLos Angeles, CA$25,000112022
St Barnabas Senior Center of Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$25,000112022
St Vincent Senior Citizen Nutrition Program IncLos Angeles, CA$25,000112022
Union Rescue MissionLos Angeles, CA$25,000112022
American Red Cross LaLos Angeles, CA$20,000112021
Hope BuildersSanta Ana, CA$20,000112022
Lift-Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$20,000112022
8 Ball Emergency Fund for JournalistsBurbank, CA$16,000222024
8BALL- 8 Ball Emergency Fund for JournalistsBurbank, CA$9,000112021

33 of 54 (61%) 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 65%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 42 grants to individuals totalling $8,692,620 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 77 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
30 grants
Employment
10 grants
Youth Development
8 grants
Food & Nutrition
6 grants
Housing & Shelter
5 grants
Crime & Legal
4 grants
Health Care
4 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202131$1,054,000$40,000
202235$866,000$25,000
202327$840,000$30,000
202423$890,000$40,000

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

Los Angeles, CA
$1.9M
Santa Monica, CA
$420K
Pasadena, CA
$205K
Long Beach, CA
$190K
Pacoima, CA
$160K
Whittier, CA
$135K
Van Nuys, CA
$135K
Sherman Oaks, CA
$110K

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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.

California Community Foundation33 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund28 shared recipientsThe Ralph M Parsons Foundation28 shared recipientsThe Rose Hills Foundation27 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc25 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc24 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $30,000. 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 human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding youth development in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Pfaffinger Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 420 East Third Street 1010, Los Angeles, CA, 90013. 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 95-1661675 · 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.