United Way of Northern California
Redding, CA · EIN 94-1251675. Reported 67 grants totalling $2,215,051 to 55 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 United Way of Northern California, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70Z).
- How spread out its giving is. 55 distinct organizations, with 19% 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. 12% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $14,300. Half of what it reported fell between $9,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $5,168 and the largest $283,928. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American National Red Cross | Washington, DC | $419,141 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| The California Wellness Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $251,119 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Sierra Health Foundation | Sacramento, CA | $235,435 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Camp Fire Long Term Recovery Group | Paradise, CA | $190,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Plumas Rural Services Inc | Quincy, CA | $121,550 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Chico Housing Action Team | Chico, CA | $84,300 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| State of California Governor's Office of Emergency Services | Mather, CA | $81,825 | 2 | 1 | 2023 |
| United Way California Capital Region | Sacramento, CA | $65,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Shasta Builders Exchange Community Fund | Redding, CA | $61,655 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Stonewall Alliance of Chico | Chico, CA | $47,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| 2-1-1 Humboldt Information and Resource Center | Eureka, CA | $37,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Tengx Center of the Northstate Inc | Redding, CA | $36,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Help Central Inc | Chico, CA | $32,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Salvation Army World Service Office Sawso | Alexandria, VA | $32,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Susanville Indian Rancheria | Susanville, CA | $29,500 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Projectcamp | Los Angeles, CA | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Northern Valley Catholic Social Service Inc | Redding, CA | $24,800 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Level Up Norcal | Redding, CA | $24,220 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| African American Family & Cultural Center | Oroville, CA | $22,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Tiny Mighty and Strong Corporation | Tulelake, CA | $20,305 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Yuba-Sutter-Colusa United Way | Marysville, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Oroville Southside Community Improvement Association Inc | Oroville, CA | $19,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Connections Corporation | Chico, CA | $18,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Oroville Hope Center | Oroville, CA | $17,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Tehama County Arts Council | Red Bluff, CA | $16,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Disability Action Center | Chico, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Resources for Indian Student Education Inc | Alturas, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Safe Space Winter Shelter Inc | Chico, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Siskiyou Community Resource Collaborative | Yreka, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| National Association for the Advancement of Colored People | Baltimore, MD | $14,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Training Employment and Community Help Inc | Alturas, CA | $13,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Housing Improvement Program Incorporated | Chico, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Initiatives | Oakland, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Good News Rescue Mission | Redding, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Happy Camp Community Action Inc | Happy Camp, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pflag Inc | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Shasta County Child Abuse Prevention Coordinating Council | Redding, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Trinity County Food Assistance Program | Weaverville, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin | San Rafael, CA | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Connecting Point | Grassvalley, CA | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Eden I & R Inc | Hayward, CA | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Napa Valley Community Organizations Active in Disaster | Napa, CA | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sierra Resource Conservation District | Auberry, CA | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Siskiyou County Arts Council | Mount Shasta, CA | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Trinity County Office of Education | Weaverville, CA | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Toyon Wintu Center | Shasta Lake, CA | $7,800 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Far Northern Coordinating Council on Developmental Disabilities | Redding, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Plumas Crisis Intervention and Resource Center | Quincy, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Nor El Muk Band of Wintu Indians of Northern California | Weaverville, CA | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Poor and the Homeless Tehama County Coalition | Red Bluff, CA | $6,900 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Indian Cultural Organization | Redding, CA | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Karuk Tribe | Happy Camp, CA | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Local Indians for Education | Redding, CA | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| North Valley Community Foundation | Chico, CA | $5,333 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| S H Cowell Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $5,168 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
7 of 55 (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.
- The California Wellness Foundation
RELIEF & LONG TERM RECOVERY ASSISTANCE FOR LOCAL WILDFIRE SURVIVORS - Plumas Rural Services
DISASTER PREPARATION EDUCATION - Tengx Center of the Northstate Inc
COVID EDUCATION, OPERATIONAL EXPENSES - Help Central Inc
COMMUNITY EDUCATION CAMPAIGN - State of California Office of Planning & Research
LANGUAGE & LITERACY ACCESSIBILITY; LGBTQIA & 211 OUTREACH TO RURAL COMMUNITIES - African American Family & Cultural Center
COMMUNITY EDUCATION CAMPAIGN, SUPPORT FOR UNDER-FUNDED GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS OPERATIONAL EXPENSES
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 38 of 55 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- 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 | 17 | $550,055 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 8 | $414,198 | $14,650 |
| 2023 | 7 | $708,760 | $50,000 |
| 2024 | 35 | $542,038 | $13,500 |
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
79% 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
Foundations that fund only organizations they pick gave to this one
8 private foundations that told the IRS they contribute only to organizations they select themselves reported 13 grants totalling $564,142 to United Way of Northern California. That is 22% of the 37 funders we can see giving to it. Those 8 foundations do not take unsolicited requests -- their own returns say so. The IRS classifies this organization as a federated giving programme.
2 of them gave in more than one tax year, which is the only durability signal the filings carry.
What that does not mean. It does not mean an application here reaches that money. A grant from a closed foundation is often a designated gift or a donor-advised fund earmarked by whoever gave it, and has nothing to do with any open programme this organization runs. Neither tax return says which, so neither do we. The list below is who put money in. It is not a route to it.
| Foundation | State | Reported | Grants | Years | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The California Endowment | California | $360,000 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Nike Foundation | Oregon | $125,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Lee and Carol Tager Family Foundation | California | $38,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Ira E Brink Trust IV | Colorado | $31,076 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Eli Lilly and Company Foundation | Indiana | $5,266 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Synchrony Foundation | Connecticut | $3,900 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Richards Family Charitable Foundation | California | $800 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lumen Clarke M Williams Foundation | Delaware | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
A linked name has a page of its own. We publish one for a foundation that takes no unsolicited requests only when a real share of its giving goes to organizations that make grants themselves, and that page opens by saying it does not take requests.
Both the count and the total are floors. A foundation appears here only where its return named this organization clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows. There are more; we cannot name them.
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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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
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 $14,300 -- 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 United Way of Northern California's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
Address of record on the latest return: 3300 Churn Creek Road, Redding, CA, 96002.
EIN 94-1251675 · 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.