Mark and Dorothy Smith Family Foundation
Santa Maria, CA · EIN 20-8775647. Reported 150 grants totalling $2,537,000 to 60 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. Mark and Dorothy Smith 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $7,500 and $25,000; the smallest was $2,500 and the largest $75,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marian Regional Med Ctr (csu) | Santa Maria, CA | $220,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Foodbank Sb County | Santa Barbara, CA | $205,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| CASA | Santa Maria, CA | $120,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Calm | Santa Maria, CA | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Central Coast Rescue Mission | Santa Maria, CA | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Salvation Army | Carson, CA | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| YMCA of Santa Maria Valley | Santa Maria, CA | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Healing Justice | Santa Barbara, CA | $87,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Boys & Girls Club | Santa Maria, CA | $85,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| New Beginnings Counseling Center Sb | Santa Barbara, CA | $85,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Angel's Foster Care | Santa Barbara, CA | $80,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition | Santa Maria, CA | $65,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Community Partners in Caring | Santa Maria, CA | $60,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation | Santa Barbara, CA | $55,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Community Action Commission | Goleta, CA | $50,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Family Service Agency | Santa Maria, CA | $50,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Oasis | Orcutt, CA | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Veggie Rescue | Santa Ynez, CA | $47,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| First Tee | Santa Barbara, CA | $45,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Santa Barbara Humane | Santa Barbara, CA | $45,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Domestic Violence Solutions | Santa Barbara, CA | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Partners in Housing Solutions | Santa Maria, CA | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Santa Maria Valley Humane Society | Santa Maria, CA | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Honor Flight Central Coast | Paso Robles, CA | $39,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hospice of Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, CA | $35,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Alzheimer's Association of the Central Coast | Santa Barbara, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Foodbank Slo County | San Luis Obispo, CA | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum | Santa Maria, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hillside House | Santa Barbara, CA | $29,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Care 4 Paws | Santa Barbara, CA | $25,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Gateway Education Service | Goleta, CA | $25,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Hearts Aligned | Goleta, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Naturetrak Foundation | Los Olivos, CA | $25,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| New House Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, CA | $25,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Wounded Warrior Project | Topaka, KS | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Dana Adobe & Cultural Center | Nipomo, CA | $21,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Santa Maria Philharmonic Society | Santa Maria, CA | $20,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse | Santa Barbara, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Feed the Valley | Santa Barbara, CA | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Make-a-Wish Central Coast | Camarillo, CA | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| United Boys & Girls Club Sb County | Santa Barbara, CA | $20,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Lompoc Teen Center | Lompoc, CA | $17,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| California Central Coast Cops N Kids | Paso Robles, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pacific Pride Foundation | Santa Barbara, CA | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Pathpoint | Santa Maria, CA | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| See International | Santa Barbara, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wilderness Youth Project | Santa Barbara, CA | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Alano Club of Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Allan Hancock College | Santa Maria, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Boy Scouts Rancho Alegre Campaign | Santa Barbara, CA | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Community a Community Action Agency | Santa Barbara, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Freedom 4 Youth | Santa Barbara, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Los Padres Council Boy Scouts of America | Santa Barbara, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sansum Diabetes Research | Goleta, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Santa Barbara Historical Museum | Santa Barbara, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Santa Ynez Therapeutic Riding Program | Solvang, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Old Spanish Days Fest | Santa Barbara, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Northern Santa Barbara County United Way | Santa Maria, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Lompoc Family YMCA | Lompoc, CA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Santa Maria Police Officer Association | Santa Maria, CA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
39 of 60 (65%) 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 77%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. 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 kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 56 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35 | $555,000 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 33 | $582,500 | $15,000 |
| 2023 | 34 | $535,000 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 48 | $864,500 | $15,000 |
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. 99% 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 $10,000. 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 Mark and Dorothy Smith Family 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: 2011-J S Broadway, Santa Maria, CA, 93454. 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 20-8775647 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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