GrantmakersCalifornia

Unlikely Collaborators Inc

West Hollywood, CA · EIN 88-0928669. Reported 53 grants totalling $6,719,822 to 46 organizations across tax years 2022-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

46organizations funded
$75,000median reported grant
$6,719,822granted, 2022-2024
71%of grantees funded again the next year
15%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 Unlikely Collaborators Inc, the IRS classifies it as a philanthropic organization (NTEE T99).
  2. How spread out its giving is. 46 distinct organizations, with 15% 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. 71% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 1 year-to-year transition. 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 $75,000. Half of what it reported fell between $45,000 and $125,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $621,784. 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
1 grant
$10,000 - $25,000
3 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
10 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
17 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
13 grants
$250,000 Or More
9 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
Search Inside Yourself Leadership InstituteSan Francisco, CA$1,000,000332024
Kalw Public Media IncSan Francisco, CA$877,704222024
Storyville Center for the Spoken Word IncNew York, NY$871,784222024
Naropa UniversityBoulder, CO$572,000112024
University of MiamiCoral Gables, FL$409,004332024
Fireside Project IncSan Francisco, CA$236,357222024
End Well FoundationHealdsburg, CA$154,000112024
Mass Design GroupBoston, MA$150,000112024
Dougy Center IncPortland, OR$136,500112024
Entertainment Industry FoundationLos Angeles, CA$125,000112024
Mindshift Recovery IncScituate, MA$125,000112023
Mindfulness FirstCave Creek, AZ$109,353112024
The UCLA FoundationLos Angeles, CA$107,890112024
Bring Change 2 MindSan Francisco, CA$100,000112024
Open Source WellnessEl Cerrito, CA$100,000112024
Sounds True FoundationDenver, CO$100,000112024
Street Poets IncLos Angeles, CA$100,000112024
Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies IncSanta Monica, CA$92,500112024
Arts for Healing and Justice NetworkLos Angeles, CA$85,200112024
American National Red CrossWashington, DC$75,000112024
Garrison InstituteGarrison, NY$75,000112024
Igda FoundationWashington, DC$75,000112024
Inward Bound Mindfulness Education IncAttleboro, MA$75,000112024
John P Mcgovern Museum of Health & Medical ScienceHouston, TX$75,000112024
The Peace Studio IncNew York, NY$75,000112023
Dear Jack Foundation IncLittleton, CO$74,000112024
Medicinal Media IncPasadena, CA$69,000112024
Drala Mountain CenterRed Fe Lks, CO$52,000112024
Emory UniversityAtlanta, GA$50,000112024
Mindful Life ProjectRichmond, CA$50,000112024
Motus TheaterBoulder, CO$50,000112024
Wholeschool Mindfulness IncWrentham, MA$50,000112024
ClosegapLos Angeles, CA$45,000112024
Community PartnersLos Angeles, CA$45,000112024
The Foundation for Art and Healing IncBrighton, MA$45,000112024
Usona Institute IncFitchburg, WI$43,000112024
Walker West Music AcademyMinneapolis, MN$40,000112024
Magik Magik OrchestraSausalito, CA$31,750112024
Hope Is Alive Ministries IncOklahoma City, OK$30,000112024
Jimmy Miller Memorial FoundationManhattan Beach, CA$26,280112024
International Documentary Association IncLos Angeles, CA$25,000112024
Unusual Suspects Theatre CoPasadena, CA$25,000112024
New Directions for Women IncCosta Mesa, CA$23,500112024
Kindness Org IncNew York, NY$23,000112024
The Stray Theater IncLos Angeles, CA$15,000112024
University of California Berkeley FoundationBerkeley, CA$5,000112024

5 of 46 (11%) received money in more than one year over the 3 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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 43 of 46 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.

Arts & Culture
12 orgs
Education
9 orgs
Mental Health
5 orgs
Human Services
5 orgs
Public & Societal Benefit
2 orgs
Health Care
2 orgs
International Affairs
1 org
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
20222$393,333$196,666
20237$1,250,537$125,000
202444$5,075,952$75,000

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

50% 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
$3.3M
New York
$1.0M
Colorado
$848K
Massachusetts
$445K
Florida
$409K
District of Columbia
$150K
Oregon
$136K
Arizona
$109K

Down to the city

San Francisco, CA
$2.2M
New York, NY
$970K
Boulder, CO
$622K
Los Angeles, CA
$548K
Coral Gables, FL
$409K
Healdsburg, CA
$154K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund32 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc23 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc16 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust16 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program13 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc13 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 $75,000 -- 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 arts & culture in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding arts & culture in New YorkEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Unlikely Collaborators Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 3 returns (tax years 2022-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 44 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: 8605 Santa Monica Blvd 99722, West Hollywood, CA, 90069.

EIN 88-0928669 · 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.