GrantmakersCalifornia

United Way of San Diego County

San Diego, CA · EIN 95-2213995. Reported 64 grants totalling $2,388,075 to 48 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.

48organizations funded
$22,474median reported grant
$2,388,075granted, 2020-2023
15%of grantees funded again the next year
26%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 United Way of San Diego County, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70).
  2. How spread out its giving is. 48 distinct organizations, with 26% 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. 15% 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 $22,474. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $40,000; the smallest was $5,114 and the largest $223,944. 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.
$5,000 - $10,000
12 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
21 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
18 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
8 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
5 grants

16 of those grants were non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $608,639 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.

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
Dreams for Change IncSan Diego, CA$631,524532022
Hardercompany Community Research IncSan Francisco, CA$232,238332022
International Rescue Committee IncNew York, NY$225,267332022
San Diego Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Community CenterSan Diego, CA$223,944112020
YMCA of San Diego CountySan Diego, CA$138,942432022
Info Line of San Diego CountySan Diego, CA$70,379332022
Sbcs CorporationChula Vista, CA$68,132112020
Paving Great FuturesSan Diego, CA$53,520222022
Equality Alliance of San Diego CountySan Diego, CA$47,652112020
Creating Coding CareersPoway, CA$41,346222022
Api Initiative IncChula Vista, CA$35,000112020
Campesinos UnidosBrawley, CA$35,000112020
Junior Achievement of San Diego CountySan Diego, CA$34,025112022
Cloudcast MediaSan Diego, CA$30,000112021
Comite Civico Del Valle IncBrawley, CA$30,000112020
Employee Rights CenterSan Diego, CA$30,000112020
Traveling StoriesSan Diego, CA$28,969222022
Armed Services YMCA Camp PendletonCamp Pendleton, CA$25,000112022
Environmental Health CoalitionNational City, CA$25,000112020
Mission Edge San DiegoSan Diego, CA$25,000112020
Partnership for the Advancement of New AmericansSan Diego, CA$25,000112020
Union of Pan Asian CommunitiesSan Diego, CA$25,000112020
Voices for ChildrenSan Diego, CA$25,000112023
Acce InstituteLos Angeles, CA$20,000112020
California Rural Legal Assistance IncModesto, CA$20,000112020
CASA Familiar IncSan Ysidro, CA$20,000112020
Vista Community ClinicVista, CA$20,000112020
Chicano Federation of San Diego County IncSan Diego, CA$15,500112020
Think DignitySan Diego, CA$15,000112020
Words AliveSan Diego, CA$14,794112021
Reuben H Fleet Science CenterSan Diego, CA$12,126112022
CloudcastSan Diego, CA$12,000112022
Bayside Community CenterSan Diego, CA$10,000112020
California State University San Marcos CorporationSan Marcos, CA$10,000112020
Chula Vista Elem School DistChula Vista, CA$10,000112020
Imperial Valley Food BankImperial, CA$10,000112020
Logan Heights Community Development CorporationSan Diego, CA$10,000112020
San Diego Organizing ProjectSan Diego, CA$10,000112020
Viet VoicesSan Diego, CA$8,500112020
Girls Incorporated of San Diego CountySan Diego, CA$8,481112022
San Diego Regional Economic Development FoundationSan Diego, CA$8,346112022
Metropolitan Area Advisory Com on Anti-Poverty of San Diego Cnty IncChula Vista, CA$7,830112020
Catholic Charities Diocese of San DiegoSan Diego, CA$7,600112021
License to FreedomEl Cajon, CA$7,500112020
San Diego Korean American CoalitionSan Diego, CA$7,500112020
Escondido Education CompactEscondido, CA$6,000112021
We Support USan Diego, CA$5,846112020
Ucsd CreateLa Jolla, CA$5,114112022

8 of 48 (17%) 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.

It also reported 8 groups of grants to individuals -- scholarships, emergency assistance and similar. Schedule I reports these by category with a headcount and never by name, so there is nothing here we could publish about the recipients even if we wanted to.

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 36 of 48 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
13 orgs
Education
4 orgs
Arts & Culture
3 orgs
Community Improvement
3 orgs
International Affairs
2 orgs
Employment
2 orgs
Civil Rights
2 orgs
Health Care
2 orgs

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202034$1,049,121$20,000
202113$705,315$30,000
202216$608,639$14,959
20231$25,000$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

91% 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
$2.2M
New York
$225K

Down to the city

San Diego, CA
$1.5M
San Francisco, CA
$232K
New York, NY
$225K
Chula Vista, CA
$121K
Brawley, CA
$65K
Poway, CA
$41K

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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.

The San Diego Foundation31 shared recipientsPrice Philanthropies Foundation20 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund19 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc18 shared recipientsThe Conrad Prebys Foundation16 shared recipientsJewish Community Foundation of San Diego15 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 $22,474 -- 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 United Way of San Diego County's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 4699 Murphy Canyon Road, San Diego, CA, 92123.

EIN 95-2213995 · 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.