Catalyst California
Los Angeles, CA · EIN 95-4835230. Reported 53 grants totalling $4,678,974 to 40 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, 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 Catalyst California, the IRS classifies it under public & societal benefit rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE W20) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 40 distinct organizations, with 41% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
- How much its list changes. 18% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $20,900. Half of what it reported fell between $10,617 and $100,000; the smallest was $6,100 and the largest $1,329,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California Calls Education Fund | Los Angeles, CA | $1,923,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| California Budget & Policy Center | Sacramento, CA | $675,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Innercity Struggle | Los Angeles, CA | $249,666 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment | Los Angeles, CA | $215,016 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| FM3 Research | Oakland, CA | $164,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Californians for Justice Education Fund Inc | San Francisco, CA | $152,750 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Khmer Girls in Action | Long Beach, CA | $135,900 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Beyond Impact | W Hollywood, CA | $115,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy | Oakland, CA | $115,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Power California | Los Angeles, CA | $115,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| California Community Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tides Center | San Francisco, CA | $62,525 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Community Partners | Los Angeles, CA | $60,350 | 4 | 2 | 2022 |
| Fresno Building Healthy Communities | Fresno, CA | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy | Los Angeles, CA | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education | Los Angeles, CA | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Childrens Partnership | Los Angeles, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice | Commerce, CA | $45,900 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| California Child Care Resource & Referral Network | San Francisco, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Coleman Children and Youth Services | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Social Justice Learning Institute Inc | Inglewood, CA | $23,300 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Advancing Communities Together | Palmdale, CA | $20,900 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights | Los Angeles, CA | $20,900 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Legacy La Youth Development Corporation | Los Angeles, CA | $20,900 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Los Angeles Brotherhood Crusade - Black United Fund Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $20,900 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Pacoima Beautiful | Pacoima, CA | $20,900 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA | $18,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Translatin Coalition | Los Angeles, CA | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans | San Diego, CA | $11,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Partnership for Los Angeles Schools | Los Angeles, CA | $11,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Equality California Institute | Los Angeles, CA | $10,617 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mississippi Votes | Jackson, MS | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| One Voice | Jackson, MS | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Plaza Community Center | Los Angeles, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Inland Empire Midwifery and Lactation | Temecula, CA | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Trinity Christian Church of Merced | Merced, CA | $7,750 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Changing Worlds LLC | Long Beach, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Organizacion En California De Lideres Campesinas Inc | Oxnard, CA | $7,450 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Inland Empire Community Collaborative | Sn Bernrdno, CA | $7,150 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| First 5 Association of California Inc | Alameda, CA | $6,100 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
7 of 40 (18%) 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.
- California Calls Education Fund
BUDGET POWER PROJECT -MILLION VOTERS PROJECT - Innercity Struggle
SERVING ON THE BOLD VISION 2028 COMMUNITY COUNCIL & PARTICIPATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD ALLIANCE - FM3 Research
CALIFORNIA CHILD CARE RESEARCH - Californians for Justice
CALIFORNIA PARTNERSHIP FOR THE FUTURE OF LEARNING - Community Coalition
SERVING ON THE BOLD VISION 2028 COMMUNITY COUNCIL - Tides Center
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN CA'S RATE REFORM & QUALITY INITIATIVE
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 34 of 40 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | $702,832 | $20,900 |
| 2022 | 13 | $586,675 | $15,200 |
| 2023 | 6 | $2,117,367 | $126,375 |
| 2024 | 16 | $1,272,100 | $60,000 |
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
100% 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.
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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 the strongest signal available 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.
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 $20,900 -- 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 Catalyst California's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 12 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 4 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: 1910 West Sunset Blvd 500, Los Angeles, CA, 90026.
EIN 95-4835230 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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