Civic Space Foundation
San Francisco, CA · EIN 88-1045135. Reported 34 grants totalling $4,218,040 to 33 organizations across tax years 2023-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
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:
- What kind of organization it is. For Civic Space Foundation, the IRS classifies it under education rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE B99) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 33 distinct organizations, with 49% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
- How much its list changes. 25% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 1 year-to-year transition. 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 $38,561. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $50,000; the smallest was $5,150 and the largest $2,060,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Into the Streets | San Francisco, CA | $2,060,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Noise Pop Industries LLC | San Francisco, CA | $643,563 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Broke But Grand LLC | Bend, OR | $289,441 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Chris & Greg Events LLC | Palm Springs, CA | $126,340 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bechinatown | San Francisco, CA | $120,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Youth Center of San Francisco | San Francisco, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| North Beach Business Assoc | San Francisco, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Excelsior Action Group | San Francisco, CA | $75,174 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| American Journalism Project Inc | Washington, DC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Cole Valley Merchants Association | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hot and Cool Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| La-Mas Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Little Secret LLC | Los Angeles, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Noe Valley Merchants and Professional Association Inc | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sf Black Wall Street Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wah Mei School | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bas Holdings LLC | San Francisco, CA | $47,122 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fillmore Merchants & Improvement Association | San Francisco, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| San Francisco Parks Alliance | San Francisco, CA | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights | Los Angeles, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Great Highway Park | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Illuminate the Arts | San Rafael, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| L a Voice | Los Angeles, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Precita Eyes Muralists | San Francisco, CA | $16,750 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Niche Creative | San Francisco, CA | $11,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Initiatives | Oakland, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Cherins Appliance Inc | San Francisco, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Downtown Community Benefit District | San Francisco, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Instituto Familiar De La Raza | San Francisco, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tl Lower Polk Merchants Assoc | San Francisco, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Greening Projects | San Francisco, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Ocean Avenue Association | San Francisco, CA | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Oasis Arts Inc | San Francisco, CA | $5,150 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
1 of 33 (3%) received money in more than one year over the 2 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.
- Into the Streets
First Thursdays & Mini Grants
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 16 of 33 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 4 | $55,000 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 30 | $4,163,040 | $50,000 |
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
92% 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.
Down to the city
Find more funders like Civic Space Foundation
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.
How to approach this grantmaker
- 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.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $38,561 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in California.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Civic Space Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 2 returns (tax years 2023-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 15 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 15 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: 760 Fell Street, San Francisco, CA, 94117.
EIN 88-1045135 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.