Funders › California

Leonard J & Ethel H Smith Charitable Foundation Inc

Playa Vista, CA · EIN 65-0743750. Reported 24 grants totalling $116,750 to 24 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,750median grant
$116,750granted, 2021-2024
24recipients, as named on its returns
$607,736assets, 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. Leonard J & Ethel H Smith Charitable Foundation Inc 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 $1,750. Half of everything it gave fell between $300 and $5,000; the smallest was $150 and the largest $28,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
9 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
9 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
3 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
3 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Various Charities Approved By the BoardPlaya Vista, CA$28,000112024
Parkinsons Community LaLos Angeles, CA$25,000112021
Tierra Del SolSunland, CA$25,000112021
Wildwood SchoolLos Angeles, CA$7,500112021
Country Music Hall of FameNashville, TN$5,000112021
Nashville SymphonyNashville, TN$5,000112021
Gordon JccNashville, TN$3,300112021
Stand Up 2 CancerNew York, NY$3,000112021
The TempleNashville, TN$2,500112021
Walk Bike NashvilleNashville, TN$2,500112021
Greenways for NashvilleNashville, TN$2,250112021
Nashville Public Library FoundationNashville, TN$2,000112021
Shadowland TheaterEllensville, NY$1,500112021
Community Foundation Middle TnNashville, TN$1,000112021
Jewsih Federation of NaNew York, NY$1,000112021
Ort AmericaNew York, NY$350112021
American Heart AssociationDallas, TX$300112021
Fisher House FoundationRockville, MD$300112021
Nashville Humane SocietyNashville, TN$250112021
Nashville Public RadioNashville, TN$250112021
Congregation Bikur CholimBridgeport, CT$200112021
Rutgers Prepatory SchoolSomerset, NJ$200112021
Smith CollegeNorthampton, MA$200112021
Breast Cancer Research FoundationNew York, NY$150112021

0 of 24 (0%) received money in more than one year over the 2 years we hold.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 9 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Arts & Culture
3 grants
Diseases & Disorders
1 grant
Recreation & Sports
1 grant
Education
1 grant
Employment
1 grant
Public Safety & Disaster Relief
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202123$88,750$1,500
20241$28,000$28,000

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

73% of its giving went to organizations in California. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

California
$86K
Tennessee
$24K
New York
$6K
Texas
$300
Maryland
$300
Connecticut
$200
New Jersey
$200
Massachusetts
$200

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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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc8 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund7 shared recipientsThe Community Foundation of Middle7 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc6 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust6 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation6 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,750. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  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

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Leonard J & Ethel H Smith Charitable Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 2 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 12490 W Fielding Cir Apt 304, Playa Vista, CA, 90094. 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 65-0743750 · 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.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.