GrantmakersCalifornia

Groundswell Action Fund

San Francisco, CA · EIN 82-1172119. Reported 172 grants totalling $12.2M to 67 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

67organizations funded
$62,500median reported grant
$12.2Mgranted, 2021-2024
75%of grantees funded again the next year
11%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. The IRS has no activity classification on file for this one, so we cannot tell you whether it is a community foundation or a single-institution support fund. The recipient list below is the better guide.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 67 distinct organizations, with 11% 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. 75% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $62,500. Half of what it reported fell between $50,000 and $75,000; the smallest was $30,000 and the largest $410,000. 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.
$25,000 - $50,000
16 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
137 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
15 grants
$250,000 Or More
4 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
Beyond ImpactW Hollywood, CA$1,347,500442024
Care in Action IncNew York, NY$370,000442024
Working Families Organization IncBrooklyn, NY$360,000442024
Alliance for Youth ActionWashington, DC$345,000442024
Florida Rising IncMiami, FL$325,000442024
Black Voters Matter FundAtlanta, GA$305,000332024
Living United for Change in ArizonaPhoenix, AZ$302,500542024
Asian American Advocacy Fund IncNorcross, GA$292,500442024
Neo Philanthropy Action Fund IncNew York, NY$275,000442024
The Center for Empowered PoliticsOakland, CA$260,000332024
Black Progressive Action CoalNew York, NY$250,000332024
Asian Pacific Enviornmental Network ActionOakland, CA$242,500442024
Equality NcDurham, NC$242,500442024
Mothering Justice Action FundDetroit, MI$242,500442024
Our Voice Our Vote ArizonaPhoenix, AZ$242,500442024
One Fair Wage IncCambridge, MA$240,000332023
Asian Pacific Islander Political Al LiancePhiladelphia, PA$232,500442024
Nm Native VoteAlbuquerque, NM$232,500442024
Organizers in the Land of EnchantmentAlbuquerque, NM$232,500442024
Voces De La Frontera Action IncMilwaukee, WI$232,500442024
Washington Community Action NetworkSeattle, WA$232,500442024
Californians for Human Immigrant Rights Leadership Action FundLos Angeles, CA$215,000332024
Equity Alliance FundNashville, TN$215,000332024
Virginia New Majority Education FundAlexandria, VA$215,000332023
Cultural Engagement LaboratoryOakland, CA$212,500442024
New American Leaders Action Fund IncNew York, NY$212,500442024
Sisters Lead Sisters Vote IncWashington, DC$212,500442024
MijentePhoenix, AZ$210,000332024
New Georgia Project IncorporatedAtlanta, GA$200,000222022
Freedom Action Now IncMadison, WI$192,500442024
Black Women for Wellness Action ProjectLos Angeles, CA$182,500332024
Color Action FundDenver, CO$182,500332024
Sixteen Thirty FundWashington, DC$180,000222022
Texas Organizing Project Education FundSan Antonio, TX$180,000222022
Re Power FundSt Paul, MN$150,000222024
Texas Organizing ProjectSan Antonio, TX$150,000222024
Mississippi Votes Action Fund CorporationJackson, MS$142,500332024
All in Action FundWashington, DC$135,000222024
Jobs With JusticeWashington, DC$135,000222024
Social Impact Action FundLittle Rock, AR$120,000222022
La Fuerza NcRaleigh, NC$117,500332024
Mijente Support CommitteePhoenix, AZ$105,000112022
Black Youth Project 100 NfpSpringfield, IL$100,000222022
Center for Empowered Politics Education FundOakland, CA$100,000112022
Forward TogetherOakland, CA$100,000222023
Progressive States ActionMadison, WI$100,000222022
Grassroots Global Justice Action FundWashington, DC$97,500332024
United for RespectSacramento, CA$97,500332024
Western Native Voice IncBillings, MT$97,500332024
Bvm Capacity Building Institute IncAtlanta, GA$75,000112021
New Virginia MajorityAlexandria, VA$75,000112024
New Georgia Project Action FdAtlanta, GA$75,000112024
One Fair Wage ActionCambridge, MA$75,000112024
Forward Together ActionOakland, CA$70,000112022
Opportunity 2 RestoreNew Orleans, LA$62,500112024
Equity AllianceNashville, TN$60,000112021
New Georgia Project Action FdAtlanta, GA$60,000112023
Black Women for WellnessLos Angeles, CA$50,000112021
Coalition for Humane Immigrant RightsLos Angeles, CA$50,000112021
Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive RightDenver, CO$50,000112021
Jobs With Justice San Francisco Bay AreaSan Francisco, CA$50,000112021
National Lgbtq Task Force Action Fund IncWashington, DC$50,000112024
Ncaat in ActionRaleigh, NC$50,000112024
Western Native VoiceBillings, MT$50,000112021
FortalezaRaleigh, NC$30,000112021
Movement Strategy Center Action FundOakland, CA$30,000112022
West Virginia Free IncorporatedCharleston, WV$30,000112021

47 of 67 (70%) 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 kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 53 of 67 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.

Civil Rights
35 orgs
Human Services
6 orgs
Community Improvement
4 orgs
Health Care
3 orgs
Education
1 org
Environment
1 org
Arts & Culture
1 org
Employment
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202142$2,550,000$50,000
202245$3,780,000$70,000
202341$2,625,000$50,000
202444$3,200,000$62,500

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

25% 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
$3.0M
New York
$1.5M
District of Columbia
$1.2M
Georgia
$1.0M
Arizona
$860K
Wisconsin
$525K
New Mexico
$465K
North Carolina
$440K

Down to the city

W Hollywood, CA
$1.3M
Washington, DC
$1.2M
New York, NY
$1.1M
Oakland, CA
$1.0M
Phoenix, AZ
$860K
Atlanta, GA
$715K

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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.

Tides Foundation37 shared recipientsAll Hands on Deck Network Inc36 shared recipientsTides Advocacy29 shared recipientsSixteen Thirty Fund28 shared recipientsOpen Society Action Fund Inc26 shared recipientsWay to Win Action Fund Inc24 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 $62,500 -- 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 human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding health care in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding civil rights in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in New YorkEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Groundswell Action Fund'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 0 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 44 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: 548 Market Street 49734, San Francisco, CA, 94104.

EIN 82-1172119 · 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.