Lucky Duck Foundation
San Diego, CA · EIN 20-3324885. Reported 108 grants totalling $8,477,558 to 61 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, 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 Lucky Duck Foundation, by its IRS classification it exists to support one specific institution in medical research -- typically its own parent hospital, university or school (NTEE H119).
- How spread out its giving is. 61 distinct organizations, with 15% 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.
- How much its list changes. 48% 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 $39,166. Half of what it reported fell between $16,667 and $80,000; the smallest was $5,050 and the largest $666,742. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego County Sheriffs | San Diego, CA | $1,267,852 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| San Diego Rescue Mission Inc | San Diego, CA | $1,150,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| The San Diego College of Continuing Education Foundation | San Diego, CA | $900,346 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Sdhc Building Opportunities Inc | San Diego, CA | $540,500 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Urban Street Angels Inc | San Diego, CA | $538,069 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Youth Assistance Coalition Inc | San Diego, CA | $508,390 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| The Salvation Army | Honolulu, HI | $348,561 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Interfaith Community Services Inc | Escondido, CA | $221,400 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Home Start Incorporated | San Diego, CA | $197,667 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| The Church of Salvation | San Diego, CA | $190,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Serving Seniors | San Diego, CA | $186,050 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Shoreline Community Services | San Diego, CA | $150,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Dreams for Change Inc | San Diego, CA | $123,915 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Doors of Change | Cardiff, CA | $122,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Regional Task Force on the Homeless Inc | San Diego, CA | $120,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Humble Design Inc | Southfield, MI | $101,153 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Through Hope | Chula Vista, CA | $100,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| East County Transitional Living Center Inc | El Cajon, CA | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Monarch School Project | San Diego, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| San Diego Taxpayers Educational Foundation | San Diego, CA | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| We See You Inc | San Diego, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Cura Smiles Inc | San Diego, CA | $75,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Housing 4 the Homeless | La Jolla, CA | $75,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| National Conflict Resolution Center | San Diego, CA | $75,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Rise Up Industries | San Diego, CA | $73,333 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Sheltercare Providers of San Diego Inc | San Diego, CA | $71,400 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Mcalister Institute for Treatment and Education Inc | El Cajon, CA | $64,241 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Imago Dei Ministries | San Diego, CA | $60,467 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Voices of Our City Choir Inc | San Diego, CA | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| YMCA of San Diego County | San Diego, CA | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Community Resource Center | Encinitas, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| San Diego Canyonlands Inc | San Diego, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Vietnam Veterans of San Diego | San Diego, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Project Overlay | San Diego, CA | $47,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Third Avenue Charitable Organization Inc | San Diego, CA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Helen Woodward Animal Center | Rcho Santa Fe, CA | $35,650 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in | Fallbrook, CA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| City Heights Community Development Corporation | San Diego, CA | $34,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Solutions for Change Inc | Vista, CA | $33,690 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Convicted 4 Christ Ministries | Oceanside, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Adjoin | San Diego, CA | $28,274 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| U C San Diego Foundation | La Jolla, CA | $27,355 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Cohen Veterans Network Inc | Stamford, CT | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Pastor of St Gabriel Catholic Parish in Poway Ca Corp Sole | San Diego, CA | $21,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| California State University San Marcos Foundation | San Marcos, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Computers 2 Sd Kids | San Diego, CA | $18,550 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Genesis Recovery | Dulzura, CA | $13,651 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Point Loma Nazarene University | San Diego, CA | $13,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Teaching and Learning Collaborative Inc | San Diego, CA | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of San Diego | San Diego, CA | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| San Diego State University Foundation | San Diego, CA | $12,394 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Jewish Family Service of San Diego | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mission Beach Womens Club Foundation | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| San Diego Youth Services | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sd Youth Services | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The San Diego Foundation | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Empowerment Plan | Detroit, MI | $8,100 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| NAMI San Diego | San Diego, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| United Presbyterian Church in the USA | San Diego, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Interfaith Shelter Network of San D Iego | San Diego, CA | $7,050 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mission Edge San Diego | San Diego, CA | $6,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
30 of 61 (49%) 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.
- San Diego County Sheriffs
Food & Water for the Unsheltered - San Diego Rescue Mission
SDRM Walk With Me Program-Pmt 2 of - Youth Assistance Coalition
YAC Drop-In Center & Honoring Heath - San Diego Continuing Ed
2021 Rising to Success Pathways pro - Urban Street Angels
grant to relocate 30 beds at VVSD - Home Start Inc
Giving Tuesday Donations proceeds
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 48 of 61 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 25 | $1,922,732 | $23,900 |
| 2022 | 25 | $2,193,063 | $35,000 |
| 2023 | 29 | $2,261,336 | $42,000 |
| 2024 | 29 | $2,100,427 | $43,667 |
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
94% 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
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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.
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 $39,166 -- 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 Lucky Duck Foundation'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 17 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 12 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: 5675 Ruffin Road 100, San Diego, CA, 92123.
EIN 20-3324885 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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