FundersCalifornia

Bonner Family Foundation

Fresno, CA · EIN 77-0046990. Reported 60 grants totalling $549,459 to 26 organizations across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$549,459granted, 2020-2024
26organizations funded
59%of grantees funded again the next year

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. Bonner Family 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 $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $42,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
12 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
22 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
24 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
2 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
Fresno Art MuseumFresno, CA$102,000552024
Fresno PhilharmonicFresno, CA$99,459552024
Civic Education CenterFresno, CA$62,000442024
Youth Orchestras for FresnoFresno, CA$45,000442023
Valley PBSFresno, CA$42,500552024
Fresno State Foundation - Keyboard ConcertsFresno, CA$27,500332023
Children's Musical TheaterworksFresno, CA$25,000552024
Valley Performing Arts CouncilFresno, CA$20,000332024
Foundation FcoeFresno, CA$15,000222021
Fresno State FoundationFresno, CA$15,000112020
Kvpr - Young Artist SpotlightClovis, CA$15,000332023
Arte AmericasFresno, CA$10,000222021
The FoundationFresno, CA$10,000112023
Valley PacFresno, CA$10,000112020
Marjaree Mason CenterFresno, CA$7,500112021
Fresno Arts CouncilFresno, CA$6,500332023
Fresno Historical SocietyFresno, CA$5,000112020
Sccc FoundationFresno, CA$5,000112021
The Kenneth L Maddy InstituteFresno, CA$5,000112020
The Maddy InstituteFresno, CA$5,000222024
Valley Public RadioFresno, CA$5,000112020
California Opera AssociationFresno, CA$3,500222023
California State University FoundationLong Beach, CA$2,500112022
Fresno County Historical SocietyFresno, CA$2,500112023
Spectrum Art GalleryFresno, CA$2,500112021
KsoehdFresno, CA$1,000112020

14 of 26 (54%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 59%, across 4 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.

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 35 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Arts & Culture
24 grants
Education
6 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
4 grants
Human Services
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202014$131,000$5,000
202115$109,500$5,000
202211$142,500$10,000
202313$98,500$5,000
20247$67,959$7,500

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

Fresno, CA
$532K
Clovis, CA
$15K
Long Beach, CA
$2K

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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 Fund5 shared recipientsEducational Employees Credit Union4 shared recipientsJames B Mcclatchy Foundation3 shared recipientsLeon S Peters Foundation3 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program3 shared recipientsThe Richard & Althea Johanson Family3 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. 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 human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Bonner Family Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 26327, Fresno, CA, 93729. 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 77-0046990 · 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 hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.