United Ways of California
South Pasadena, CA · EIN 94-1646369. Reported 115 grants totalling $17.5M to 45 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 Ways of California, the IRS classifies it under community improvement rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE S20Z) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 45 distinct organizations, with 17% 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. 65% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $47,000. Half of what it reported fell between $20,000 and $142,167; the smallest was $5,357 and the largest $2,222,701. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interface Children Family Services | Camarillo, CA | $3,027,516 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| United Way Fresno and Madera Counties | Fresno, CA | $2,449,214 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| Northern Santa Barbara County United Way Inc | Santa Maria, CA | $1,196,861 | 7 | 4 | 2024 |
| United Way of Merced County Inc | Merced, CA | $876,776 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| United Way of Tulare County | Tulare, CA | $866,940 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Community Link Capital Region | Sacramento, CA | $716,059 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| United Way of Central Eastern California Inc | Bakersfield, CA | $702,706 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| United Way Fresno Madera | Fresno, CA | $671,706 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| United Way of Monterey County | Salinas, CA | $544,008 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| United Way Worldwide | Alexandria, VA | $542,760 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Inland Empire United Way | Riverside, CA | $540,928 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| United Way of San Luis Obispo County | Sn Luis Obisp, CA | $520,540 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Inland Southern California United Way | Riverside, CA | $495,415 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| United Way San Joaquin | Stockton, CA | $490,800 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| United Way of Santa Cruz County | Capitola, CA | $448,520 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| United Way of Northern California | Redding, CA | $392,691 | 5 | 3 | 2023 |
| United Way of the Bay Area | San Francisco, CA | $343,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Orange Countys United Way | Irvine, CA | $313,192 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| United Way of Stanislaus County | Modesto, CA | $307,918 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| United Way Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| United Way of the Wine Country | Santa Rosa, CA | $198,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| United Way of Ventura County Inc | Ventura, CA | $165,669 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| United Way of Northern California | Redding, CA | $162,167 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| United Way of the Wine Country | Santa Rosa, CA | $148,150 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Grantsassistnace Less Than 5K | South Pasadena, CA | $146,550 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| United Way of San Diego County | San Diego, CA | $125,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| United Way of Santa Barbara County Inc | Santa Barbara, CA | $104,865 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Southern California Education Fund | Burbank, CA | $101,350 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Goodwill Industries of Sacramento Valley & Northern Nevada Inc | Sacramento, CA | $93,885 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| United Way of Imperial County | Imperial, CA | $80,400 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Kings United Way | Hanford, CA | $80,200 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| John Burton Advocates for Youth | San Francisco, CA | $73,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Lutheran Social Services of Northern California | Concord, CA | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| United Way California Capital Region | Sacramento, CA | $58,283 | 4 | 2 | 2024 |
| California Children and Families Foundation Inc | Alameda, CA | $48,333 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Latino Community Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $40,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Anti-Recidivism Coalition | Los Angeles, CA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| California Alliance of Caregivers Inc | Sacramento, CA | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| First 5 Association of California Inc | Alameda, CA | $33,075 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| People for Irvine Community Health | Irvine, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Nevada County United Way | Grass Valley, CA | $13,900 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| One La-Iaf | Los Angeles, CA | $13,175 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| United Way of San Joaquin County | Stockton, CA | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| California Children & Families Fdn | Alameda, CA | $11,250 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Yuba-Sutter-Colusa United Way | Marysville, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
26 of 45 (58%) 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.
- Icfs
2-1-1 SERVICES STATE-WIDE - United Way Fresno Madera
FARMWORKERS RELIEF WORK, CAL EITC OUTREACH - United Way Worldwide
RELIEF FUNDS TO MAUI FIRE VICTIMS - United Way of Fresno & Madera Counties
PROMOTING FREE TAX PREP PROGRAM - Inland Empire United Way
PROMOTING CALIF EMPLOYEE ITC PROGRAM - United Way of Northern California
PROMOTING COVERED CALIF HEALTH INSURANCE
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 33 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | $598,593 | $16,180 |
| 2022 | 17 | $932,589 | $44,106 |
| 2023 | 32 | $9,385,906 | $108,449 |
| 2024 | 39 | $6,614,214 | $79,865 |
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
97% 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.
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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.
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 $47,000 -- 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 United Ways of California'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 39 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: 1107 Fair Oaks Avenue Ste 12, South Pasadena, CA, 91030.
EIN 94-1646369 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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