The Sharks Foundation
San Jose, CA · EIN 77-0374062. Reported 67 grants totalling $3,352,818 to 57 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, 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 The Sharks Foundation, by its IRS classification it raises and distributes funds for youth development (NTEE O12).
- How spread out its giving is. 57 distinct organizations, with 47% 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. 24% 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 $20,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $33,429; the smallest was $5,185 and the largest $906,327. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| See Statement a | San Jose, CA | $1,579,540 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Valley Health Foundation Vhf | San Jose, CA | $185,700 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Cityteam Ministries | San Jose, CA | $140,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Bill Wilson Center | Santa Clara, CA | $133,429 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Npower Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Latino Education Advancement Foundation | San Jose, CA | $85,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Loved Twice | Oakland, CA | $83,429 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Second Harvest of Silicon Valley | San Jose, CA | $56,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Canine Companions for Independence | Santa Rosa, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Save the Bay | Oakland, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Teen Kitchen Project | Soquel, CA | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Child Advocates of Silicon Valley Inc | Milpitas, CA | $33,429 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Habitat for Humanity International Inc | Oakland, CA | $33,429 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Hope Services | San Jose, CA | $33,429 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Jewish Family Service of Silicon Valley | Los Gatos, CA | $33,429 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Self-Estem | Oakland, CA | $33,429 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wayfinder Family Services | View Park, CA | $31,165 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Scientific Adventures | Oakland, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| One Life Counseling Center | San Carlos, CA | $28,700 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Adolescent Counseling Services | Redwood City, CA | $25,715 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Blood Cancer United Inc | Rye Brook, NY | $25,715 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Elevate Tutoring Inc | San Jose, CA | $25,715 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Movimiento De Arte Y Cultura Latino Americana De San Jose Incorporated | San Jose, CA | $25,715 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Narika | Fremont, CA | $25,715 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| International Association for Human Values | Washington, DC | $25,710 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| 10000 Degrees | San Rafael, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Mental Health Association for Chinese Communities | Castro Valley, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| One Step Beyond Inc | Peoria, AZ | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Science Is Elementary Inc | Mountain View, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley | San Jose, CA | $23,400 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Jessie Rees Foundation | Rcho Sta Marg, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Ronald Mcdonald House Charities-Bay Area | Palo Alto, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Shine Together Inc | Milpitas, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 | |
| Save Our Shores | Santa Cruz, CA | $17,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Jasper Ridge Farm | Woodside, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| United Service Organizations Inc | Arlington, VA | $14,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Vitalant | Scottsdale, AZ | $13,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Cancer Carepoint Inc | San Jose, CA | $12,960 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Side By Side | San Anselmo, CA | $12,585 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Aircraft Carrier Hornet Foundation | Alameda, CA | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Techbridge Girls | Sacramento, CA | $11,815 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Art of Living Foundation | Walnut Creek, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Running for a Better Oakland | Oakland, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| San Jose Firefighters Burn Foundation Inc | San Jose, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| San Jose Parks Foundation | San Jose, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Special Olympics Northern California Inc | Pleasant Hill, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Bay Area Womens Sports Initiative Inc | San Jose, CA | $9,145 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sharks Alumni Foundation | San Jose, CA | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Marthas Kitchen | San Jose, CA | $8,900 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| There With Care of the Bay Area | Redwood City, CA | $8,650 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends for Youth Inc | Palo Alto, CA | $8,170 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Dec My Room Inc | Houston, TX | $7,365 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley | San Jose, CA | $6,360 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| American Cancer Society Inc | Atlanta, GA | $6,145 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Give US the Floor | San Francisco, CA | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Summer Search | Oakland, CA | $5,930 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
10 of 57 (18%) 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.
- See Statement a
GENERAL CHARITABLE PURPOSE - Vmc Foundation Turningwheels for Kids
GENERAL CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTION
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 52 of 57 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 | $673,213 | $673,213 |
| 2021 | 1 | $906,327 | $906,327 |
| 2022 | 37 | $918,978 | $12,960 |
| 2023 | 28 | $854,300 | $25,000 |
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
93% 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 The Sharks 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 $20,000 -- 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 The Sharks Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: 525 West Santa Clara Street, San Jose, CA, 95113.
EIN 77-0374062 · 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.