Gainey Foundation
Milwaukee, WI · EIN 20-5632706. Reported 103 grants totalling $7,887,000 to 53 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. Gainey 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $50,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $50,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $515,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation | Santa Barbara, CA | $600,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Santa Barbara Foundation | Santa Barbara, CA | $515,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Laguna Blanca School | Santa Barbara, CA | $500,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, CA | $400,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Santa Barbara Education Foundation | Santa Barbara, CA | $400,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics | Santa Barbara, CA | $400,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Braille Institute of America Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $350,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, CA | $327,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Santa Barbara Museum of Art | Santa Barbara, CA | $325,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Isd 761 Foundation | Owatonna, MN | $320,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Transition House | Santa Barbara, CA | $300,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Santa Ynez Valley - Cottage Hospital Fdn | Solvang, CA | $220,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Lobero Theatre Foundation | Santa Barbara, CA | $200,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Music Academy of the West | Santa Barbara, CA | $200,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Opera Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, CA | $200,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Hearts Therapeutic Equestrian Center | Santa Barbara, CA | $175,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Community Arts Music Association | Santa Barbara, CA | $170,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation | Santa Barbara, CA | $150,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra Associa | Santa Barbara, CA | $130,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Chc Central Coast | Santa Maria, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Health Centers | Burlington, IA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Girls Inc | Portland, OR | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital | Santa Barbara, CA | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinic | Santa Barbara, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Santa Ynez Valley People Helping People | Solvang, CA | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Solvang Theaterfest | Solvang, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of California Gevirtz Graduate School of Education | Santa Barbara, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| University of California Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of California Santa Barbara Foundation | Santa Barbara, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of Santa Barbara Foundation | Lamy, NM | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| YMCA | Washington, DC | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| CASA Pacifica | Camarillo, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| CASA Pacifica Centers | Camarillo, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| CASA Pacifica Centers for Children and F | Camarillo, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Channel Islands YMCA | Carpinteria, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital | Santa Barbara, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Notes for Notes Inc | Nashville, TN | $50,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Sant Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital Founda | Santa Barbara, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Santa Ynez People Helping People | Solvang, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Santa Ynez Pirate Foundation | Solvang, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital Inc | Santa Barbara, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Solvang Senior Center | Solvang, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| United Boys & Girls Club of Sb | Santa Barbara, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| United Boys and Girls Clubs | Santa Barbara, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra | Santa Barbara, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Turner Foudnation | Santa Barbara, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Turner Foundation | Santa Barbara, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sanctuary Centers | Santa Barbara, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Turner Homeless Shelter | Santa Barbara, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Notes for Notes | Santa Barbara, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Regents of the University of California | Santa Cruz, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Storyteller Children's Center | Santa Barbara, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Storyteller Childrens Center Inc | Santa Barbara, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
23 of 53 (43%) 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.
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.
- Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics
WESTSIDE CLINIC EQUIPMENT - Transition House
HOUSING CASE MGMT PROGRAM - Chc Central Coast
DENTAL WORKFORCE TRAINING - CASA Pacifica
TRANSITIONAL YOUTH SERVICES - Hearts Therapeutic Equestrian Center
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN & GENERAL - Sanctuary Centers
CHILD & ADOLESCENT PROGRAM
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 64 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 20 | $2,025,000 | $72,500 |
| 2022 | 26 | $2,000,000 | $50,000 |
| 2023 | 28 | $1,936,000 | $50,000 |
| 2024 | 29 | $1,926,000 | $50,000 |
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. 90% 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.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $50,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in California.
- 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.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Gainey 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: Po Box 0634, Milwaukee, WI, 53201. 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 20-5632706 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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