Funders › California

The Avalon Foundation

Templeton, CA · EIN 77-0518388. Reported 32 grants totalling $58,075 to 18 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,500median grant
$58,075granted, 2021-2024
18recipients, as named on its returns
62%of grantees funded again the next year
$293,614assets, 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. The Avalon 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 $1,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $2,000; the smallest was $250 and the largest $5,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
3 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
28 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
1 grant

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
Camp Ocean PinesCambria, CA$9,325332024
Paso Robles Youth Art CenterPaso Robles, CA$7,000222022
EchoAtascadero, CA$6,500332024
Ethiopia SkateTempleton, CA$6,500332024
Family Care NetworkSan Luis Obispo, CA$6,500332024
Studios on the ParkPaso Robles, CA$5,000442024
EducatioLivingston, MT$3,000222022
CASA of SloSan Luis Obispo, CA$2,000112024
Healing in the MarginsNashville, TN$2,000112023
LuminaSan Luis Obispo, CA$2,000112022
Lumina AlliancePaso Robles, CA$2,000112024
Santa Lucia SchoolTempleton, CA$1,500222022
Atascadero Printery FoundationAtascadero, CA$1,000112021
Diversity CoalitionArroyo Grande, CA$1,000112024
Morro Bay Art CenterMorro Bay, CA$1,000112024
Saint JamesPaso Robles, CA$1,000112021
Estero Bay Kindness CoalitionCayucos, CA$500112024
Tortoise and Animal RescueLos Angeles, CA$250112024

8 of 18 (44%) 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 62%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

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 activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 17 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.

Human Services
7 grants
Recreation & Sports
3 grants
Education
2 grants
Arts & Culture
2 grants
Mental Health
1 grant
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant
Community Improvement
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20218$15,575$1,750
20228$14,000$1,750
20235$14,000$2,000
202411$14,500$1,250

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

91% 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
$53K
Montana
$3K
Tennessee
$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 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 Inc7 shared recipientsMust5 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund5 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust4 shared recipientsThe Community Foundation San Luis Obispo4 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc4 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,500. 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 human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding arts & culture in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Avalon Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 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: 3775 Old Creek Road, Templeton, CA, 93465. 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 77-0518388 · 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.