Funders › California

The Jess and Palma Morgan Foundation

Los Angeles, CA · EIN 95-4279684. Reported 76 grants totalling $1,342,500 to 25 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$17,500median grant
$1,342,500granted, 2021-2024
25recipients, as named on its returns
89%of grantees funded again the next year
$6,876,197assets, 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 Jess and Palma Morgan 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 $17,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $22,500; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $50,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$5,000 - $10,000
10 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
48 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
17 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
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
Children's Hospital Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$145,000442024
Fisher House FoundationRockville, MD$115,000442024
Cedars-Sinai Medical CenterLos Angeles, CA$100,000442024
Griffith Observatory FoundationLos Angeles, CA$90,000442024
Friendly HouseLos Angeles, CA$77,500442024
Catholic Charities of Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$75,000442024
Safe Place for YouthVenice, CA$72,500442024
Downtown Women's CenterLos Angeles, CA$70,000442024
Los Angeles Regional Food BankLos Angeles, CA$65,000442024
The Pasadena Playhouse State Theatre of CaliforniaPasadena, CA$60,000442024
Tunnel to Towers FoundationStaten Island, NY$60,000222022
The Promises FoundationLos Angeles, CA$55,000332023
Standford Graduate School of BusinessPalo Alto, CA$50,000112021
The Giving SpiritLos Angeles, CA$50,000332023
Have a SoleLong Beach, CA$40,000332024
Hope of the Valley Rescue MissionMission Hills, CA$35,000222022
Mount Wilson ObservatoryPasadena, CA$32,500442024
CASA of Los AngelesMonterey Park, CA$30,000332024
Shomrei Torah SynagogueWest Hills, CA$30,000442024
Jack & Jill Late Stage Cancer FoundationChicago, IL$25,000222024
Jewish Family Service LaLos Angeles, CA$25,000332024
The Midnight MissionLos Angeles, CA$25,000332024
Los Angeles MissionLos Angeles, CA$5,000112022
San Fernando Valley Rescue MissionNorthridge, CA$5,000112022
Union Rescue MissionLos Angeles, CA$5,000112022

21 of 25 (84%) 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 89%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 53 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
24 grants
Health Care
4 grants
Mental Health
4 grants
Science & Technology
4 grants
Arts & Culture
4 grants
Civil Rights
3 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202117$305,000$15,000
202223$375,000$20,000
202319$345,000$20,000
202417$317,500$20,000

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

85% 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
$1.1M
Maryland
$115K
New York
$60K
Illinois
$25K

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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.

American Online Giving Foundation Inc16 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund16 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust14 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc13 shared recipientsCalifornia Community Foundation12 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation12 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $17,500. 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 health care in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Jess and Palma Morgan 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: 2049 Century Park East 1400, Los Angeles, CA, 90064. 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 95-4279684 · 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.