GrantmakersCalifornia

Stratum

San Francisco, CA · EIN 35-2692988. Reported 86 grants totalling $4,811,148 to 43 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

43organizations funded
$49,177median reported grant
$4,811,148granted, 2021-2024
77%of grantees funded again the next year
8%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 Stratum, the IRS classifies it under religion rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE X20) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 43 distinct organizations, with 8% 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. 77% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 2 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 $49,177. Half of what it reported fell between $43,191 and $63,539; the smallest was $15,000 and the largest $142,491. 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
8 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
37 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
35 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
6 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
Hue Church IncSanta Clara, CA$361,482332024
New City Church OaklandSan Francisco, CA$235,184332024
Citizens Church of San FranciscoSan Francisco, CA$231,406332024
Eastown ChurchSan Ramon, CA$183,540222024
Radiant ChurchVisalia, CA$164,602332024
Risen ChurchHayward, CA$163,970332024
New Evergreen Church (formerly New Valley)San Jose, CA$159,577222023
Tekoa Church IncSan Jose, CA$156,819332024
City Parish ChurchPetaluma, CA$148,074332024
Bold ChurchSan Jose, CA$143,416332024
Refuge Community ChurchSan Mateo, CA$140,004442024
Inspire Church IncUnion City, CA$138,802332024
City Center Church IncBerkeley, CA$137,603222024
Branches SfSan Francisco, CA$137,219332024
Storyline Church IncOakland, CA$136,966222023
Holy Trinity ChurchMountain View, CA$134,083332024
Trinity First (sf)San Francisco, CA$133,309332024
Neuma USA IncSan Francisco, CA$127,539222024
Sonoma CollectiveSonoma, CA$123,846222024
Gospel Community ChurchSanta Cruz, CA$120,195222023
The PorchSan Francisco, CA$111,327332024
Fresh Start ChurchVallejo, CA$103,712222024
Genesis Community Assembly of God (genesis Co Church)Winters, CA$103,087222024
Incredible ChurchOakland, CA$102,750222024
Quicksilver ChurchSan Jose, CA$94,771222024
Realm ChurchOakland, CA$93,773222023
Tapestry ChurchOakland, CA$89,503112022
Redeemer Lutheran ChurchRedwood City, CA$83,153112024
Good Shepherd Lutheran ChurchHayward, CA$70,959112022
Santa Cruz Baptist ChurchAptos, CA$66,417112022
Our City Center ChurchBerkeley, CA$65,020112022
Christ Church NapaNapa, CA$63,539112024
Petra ChurchSan Francisco, CA$63,002222024
Fathers House Oakland IncOakland, CA$60,858112024
Heirs ChurchBrisbane, CA$60,100112024
Revive Presbyterian Church of Silicon ValleySunnyvale, CA$54,126112023
Emerge BerkeleyBerkeley, CA$43,541112024
Hillside Church of MarinCorte Madera, CA$43,008112024
Current Silicon ValleySunnyvale, CA$40,641112022
Eden ChurchCampbell, CA$40,000112022
Trinity Church (benecia)Benicia, CA$39,986222024
Church of the BayMountain View, CA$20,197112024
San Francisco LighthouseSan Francisco, CA$20,042112024

28 of 43 (65%) 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 23 of 43 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.

Religion
23 orgs

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
20211$15,000$15,000
202225$1,646,288$62,107
202328$1,572,207$50,118
202432$1,577,653$44,283

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

San Francisco, CA
$1.1M
San Jose, CA
$555K
Oakland, CA
$484K
Santa Clara, CA
$361K
Berkeley, CA
$246K
Hayward, CA
$235K
San Ramon, CA
$184K
Visalia, CA
$165K

Find more funders like Stratum

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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund15 shared recipientsNatl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc14 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc10 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc9 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program4 shared recipientsStrategic Launch Network3 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 $49,177 -- 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 religion in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Stratum'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 32 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: Po Box 29603, San Francisco, CA, 94129.

EIN 35-2692988 · 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.