GrantmakersCalifornia

Milagro Foundation

San Rafael, CA · EIN 94-3274541. Reported 54 grants totalling $1,130,000 to 45 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

45organizations funded
$20,000median reported grant
$1,130,000granted, 2021-2024
17%of grantees funded again the next year
14%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 Milagro Foundation, the IRS classifies it under international affairs rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE Q300) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 45 distinct organizations, with 14% 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. 17% 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 $20,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $80,000. 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.
$10,000 - $25,000
40 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
13 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 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
10000 DegreesSan Rafael, CA$160,000332024
Carlos Santana Arts AcademyNorth Hills, CA$80,000332024
Little WishesSan Anselmo, CA$50,000222024
Rize MarinMarin City, CA$45,000212023
Turning GreenSausalito, CA$45,000222024
10000 DegreesSan Rafael, CA$40,000112021
Hand in Hand American Friends of Cntr for Jewish-Arab Edu in IsraelPortland, OR$40,000112023
Extrafood OrgKentfield, CA$35,000222024
Equality Florida Institute IncTallahassee, FL$30,000112023
Little Stars IndiaSonoma, CA$30,000112024
North of Market Tenderloin Community Benefit CorporationSan Francisco, CA$30,000112024
Andy Vargas FoundationIrvine, CA$25,000112024
Hale Opio Kauai IncLihue, HI$25,000222024
Alive & FreeSan Francisco, CA$20,000112023
Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity ProjectMill Valley, CA$20,000112023
Bay Area Community ResourcesEl Cerrito, CA$20,000112024
Canal AllianceSan Rafael, CA$20,000112023
Girls Incorporated of Alameda CountyOakland, CA$20,000112022
Huckleberry Youth Programs IncSan Francisco, CA$20,000112023
Hippo Water RollersChartwell$20,000112024
Larkin Street Youth ServicesSan Francisco, CA$20,000112023
Marin Horizon School IncorporatedMill Valley, CA$20,000112023
Mosaic ProjectOakland, CA$20,000112024
Outright VermontBurlington, VT$20,000112022
Project 150Las Vegas, NV$20,000112023
Project Avary IncSan Rafael, CA$20,000112023
Three SquareLas Vegas, NV$20,000112023
Three SquareLas Vegas, NV$20,000112021
Womens Audio MissionSan Francisco, CA$20,000112023
World Central KitchenWashington, DC$20,000112021
Cinnamongirl IncOakland, CA$15,000112024
Bridge the Gap College PrepSausalito, CA$10,000112024
Carlos Santana Arts AcademyNorth Hills, CA$10,000112021
Enriching Lives Through MusicSan Rafael, CA$10,000112022
Figo Charitable FoundationUnited Kingdom$10,000112022
Huckleberry Youth ProgramsSan Rafael, CA$10,000112021
Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, MD$10,000112022
Operation Genesis IncSan Francisco, CA$10,000112022
Play MarinSausalito, CA$10,000112024
Project AverySan Rafael, CA$10,000112021
Safe Nest Temporary Assistance for Domestic Crisis IncLas Vegas, NV$10,000112024
Strong Start Go Mobile Pre-KLas Vegas, NV$10,000112021
The Multicultural Center of Marin IncSan Rafael, CA$10,000112024
Ucsf Foundation Investment CompanySan Francisco, CA$10,000112022
Ucsf Foundation - Heal InitiaSan Francisco, CA$10,000112021

6 of 45 (13%) 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 34 of 45 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.

Human Services
9 orgs
Education
5 orgs
Arts & Culture
3 orgs
Food & Nutrition
2 orgs
Crime & Legal
2 orgs
Youth Development
2 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 orgs
Medical Research
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
20218$130,000$10,000
202212$190,000$10,000
202317$395,000$20,000
202417$415,000$20,000

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

80% 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
$875K
Nevada
$80K
Oregon
$40K
Florida
$30K
Hawaii
$25K
Vermont
$20K
District of Columbia
$20K
Maryland
$10K

Down to the city

San Rafael, CA
$280K
San Francisco, CA
$140K
North Hills, CA
$90K
Las Vegas, NV
$80K
Sausalito, CA
$65K
Oakland, CA
$55K

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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.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc27 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund24 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc23 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust21 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program20 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc18 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 $20,000 -- 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 human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding arts & culture in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Milagro 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.

Address of record on the latest return: 5 Mitchell Blvd, San Rafael, CA, 94903.

EIN 94-3274541 · 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.