GrantmakersCalifornia

Wescom Foundation

Pasadena, CA · EIN 31-1709115. Reported 109 grants totalling $3,498,003 to 58 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

58organizations funded
$22,000median reported grant
$3,498,003granted, 2021-2024
72%of grantees funded again the next year
19%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 Wescom Foundation, the IRS classifies it under philanthropy & grantmaking rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE T03) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 58 distinct organizations, with 19% 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. 72% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $22,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $35,806; the smallest was $5,655 and the largest $248,280. 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
17 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
47 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
26 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
13 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
6 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
Childrens Miracle NetworkSalt Lake Cty, UT$670,617442024
The UCLA FoundationLos Angeles, CA$238,180442024
Union Station Homeless ServicesPasadena, CA$180,500442024
Thomas House Temporary ShelterGarden Grove, CA$139,745442024
Los Angeles Regional Food BankVernon, CA$134,627442024
Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County IncIrvine, CA$132,387442024
Legacy ConnectionsPasadena, CA$126,000112021
Feeding America Riverside and San Bernardino CountiesRiverside, CA$117,212442024
Foodshare IncOxnard, CA$117,212442024
National Multiple Sclerosis SocietyNew York, NY$109,780442024
International Committee of the Red CrossSwitzerland, DC$99,564222023
International Rescue Committee IncNew York, NY$99,564222023
United States Association for UnhcrWashington, DC$99,564222023
Regents of the University of CaliforniaOakland, CA$93,605222024
Mend-Meet Each Need With DignityPacoima, CA$92,495442024
A Place Called HomeLos Angeles, CA$88,650442024
House of Ruth IncPomona, CA$85,995442024
Hawaii Community FoundationHonolulu, HI$76,961112023
Maui Food Bank IncWailuku, HI$76,961112023
National Credit Union Foundation IncMadison, WI$76,961112023
Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions IncMadison, WI$53,509112022
School on Wheels IncVentura, CA$45,352112023
The Arc Los Angeles and Orange CountiesDowney, CA$37,500442024
Black Women for WellnessLos Angeles, CA$28,000332024
Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable EconomyVentura, CA$28,000332024
Todec Legal Center PerrisMoreno Valley, CA$28,000332024
California Fire FoundationSacramento, CA$27,209112024
Flying Crown Land GroupSteamboat Spr, CO$25,000112023
American National Red CrossWashington, DC$22,209112024
Inland Southern California United WayRiverside, CA$22,209112024
Youth Action ProjectSn Bernrdno, CA$20,000112024
Equality California InstituteLos Angeles, CA$19,000222024
Korean Resource Center IncLos Angeles, CA$18,000222023
Community PartnersLos Angeles, CA$15,675112021
Food Bank for Monterey CountySalinas, CA$12,860112024
Agriculture and Land Based Training AssociationSalinas, CA$12,500112024
Cielo - Community for Innovation Entrepreneurship Leadershp & OpporHuntington Beach, CA$12,500112024
Dragg IncOxnard, CA$12,500112024
Fifty-Fifty Leadership IncLos Angeles, CA$12,500112021
International Trade Education Programs IncLong Beach, CA$12,500112024
Los Angeles Cleantech IncubatorLos Angeles, CA$12,500112024
Los Angeles Conservation CorpsLos Angeles, CA$12,500112024
Orange Country Conservation CorpsAnaheim, CA$12,500112024
Southern California Mountains FoundationSn Bernrdno, CA$12,500112024
Time for Change FoundationSn Bernrdno, CA$12,500112024
United Way of Monterey CountySalinas, CA$12,500112024
Rancho Cielo IncSalinas, CA$10,995112024
A World Fit for KidsLos Angeles, CA$10,000112022
Americares Foundation IncStamford, CT$10,000112024
Childrens Hospital Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$10,000112024
Choc FoundationOrange, CA$10,000112024
Tides CenterSan Francisco, CA$10,000112024
Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention & TreatmentLos Angeles, CA$9,000112022
L a Works IncLos Angeles, CA$8,000112023
East L a Community CorporationLos Angeles, CA$6,000112021
Wetlands and Wildlife Care CenterHuntingtn Bch, CA$6,000112021
West Side Food Bank a Non-Profit CorporationSanta Monica, CA$5,750112024
Avenues of LifeLos Angeles, CA$5,655112022

22 of 58 (38%) 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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 52 of 58 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.

Human Services
9 orgs
Food & Nutrition
6 orgs
Community Improvement
6 orgs
International Affairs
5 orgs
Education
4 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 orgs
Health Care
3 orgs

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202118$704,829$14,962
202224$715,193$23,905
202328$1,018,500$29,135
202439$1,059,481$12,500

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

59% 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
$2.1M
Utah
$671K
District of Columbia
$221K
New York
$209K
Hawaii
$154K
Wisconsin
$130K
Colorado
$25K
Connecticut
$10K

Down to the city

Salt Lake Cty, UT
$671K
Los Angeles, CA
$494K
Pasadena, CA
$306K
New York, NY
$209K
Garden Grove, CA
$140K
Riverside, CA
$139K

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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.

American Online Giving Foundation Inc28 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund28 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc28 shared recipientsCalifornia Community Foundation26 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc22 shared recipientsKaiser Foundation Hospitals20 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 $22,000 -- 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 human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Wescom Foundation'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 39 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 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: 123 South Marengo Avenue, Pasadena, CA, 91101.

EIN 31-1709115 · 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, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

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