GrantmakersCalifornia

Affirm Cares

San Francisco, CA · EIN 84-2053318. Reported 35 grants totalling $336,000 to 34 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

34organizations funded
$10,000median reported grant
$336,000granted, 2021-2024
0%of grantees funded again the next year
9%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Affirm Cares, the IRS classifies it under community improvement rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE S20) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 34 distinct organizations, with 9% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 0% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $9,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $20,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
9 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
26 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Council for Economic EducationNew York, NY$30,000222023
100 Black Men of Western Pa IncPittsburgh, PA$10,000112023
10000 DegreesSan Rafael, CA$10,000112024
Alzheimers Disease and Related Disorders Association IncChicago, IL$10,000112024
Apex for Youth IncNew York, NY$10,000112023
Center for the Future of ArizonaPhoenix, AZ$10,000112022
Christopher House IncWorcester, MA$10,000112024
East Bay Asian Local Development CorporationOakland, CA$10,000112023
Foster Love ProjectPittsburgh, PA$10,000112023
GirlstartAustin, TX$10,000112024
Glide FoundationSan Francisco, CA$10,000112022
Good Shepherd GracenterSan Francisco, CA$10,000112024
Hack the Hood IncOakland, CA$10,000112023
Jubilee Womens CenterSeattle, WA$10,000112024
Junior Achievement of SacramentoSacramento, CA$10,000112021
Junior Achievement USAColorado Spgs, CO$10,000112023
Junior Achievement USAWalnut Creek, CA$10,000112024
Last Mile IncCantonment, FL$10,000112024
Latino Education Advancement FoundationSan Jose, CA$10,000112022
Mission BitSan Francisco, CA$10,000112021
Rewriting the Code IncDurham, NC$10,000112024
Rrrcomputer IncOakland, CA$10,000112021
Tides CenterSan Francisco, CA$10,000112024
Tides FoundationSan Francisco, CA$10,000112022
University of San FranciscoSan Francisco, CA$10,000112022
Free Code Camp IncPlano, TX$9,000112023
Stonier Scholarship IncTowson, MD$9,000112021
Girls Who Code IncNew York, NY$8,000112022
Per Scholas IncBronx, NY$8,000112022
College TrackOakland, CA$7,000112022
Year Up IncBoston, MA$7,000112023
Close the Gap FoundationMountain View, CA$6,000112022
Minds Matter Bay Area IncSan Francisco, CA$6,000112021
San Francisco Education FundSan Francisco, CA$6,000112022

1 of 34 (3%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 31 of 34 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Education
7 orgs
Community Improvement
3 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 orgs
Recreation & Sports
2 orgs
Arts & Culture
2 orgs
International Affairs
2 orgs
Youth Development
2 orgs
Science & Technology
2 orgs

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
20216$55,000$10,000
202210$85,000$9,000
20239$96,000$10,000
202410$100,000$10,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

46% of its giving went to organizations in California. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

California
$155K
New York
$56K
Pennsylvania
$20K
Texas
$19K
Massachusetts
$17K
Illinois
$10K
Arizona
$10K
Washington
$10K

Down to the city

San Francisco, CA
$72K
New York, NY
$48K
Oakland, CA
$37K
Pittsburgh, PA
$20K
San Rafael, CA
$10K
Chicago, IL
$10K

Find more funders like Affirm Cares

We read newly filed IRS returns and email you the grantmakers whose giving matches your state and cause, as they are published. Free.

No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.

Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available 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.

American Online Giving Foundation Inc23 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund22 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc18 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc16 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust14 shared recipientsSilicon Valley Community Foundation13 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $10,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in California.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding recreation & sports in New YorkEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Affirm Cares's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 10 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 650 California Street 12TH Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94108.

EIN 84-2053318 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

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