Foundations that fund organizations in Irvine, California
Worked out from where the grants went, not where the foundations sit.
Funding landscape for Irvine nonprofits
1,084 private foundations gave $192M to Irvine organizations in their latest filings; 29 of the 100 that say either way accept applications.
1,872 grants in total, with a typical foundation's median grant to Irvine around $200K. 71 of these funders are based in California; the rest give here from elsewhere.
- Foundations giving here
- 1,084
- Accept applications
- 29
- of 100 that state a policy
- Dollars to Irvine
- $192M
- latest filings
- Grants
- 1,872
- Typical median grant
- $200K
- Based in CA
- 71%
- of funders listed
Funders, by dollars given to Irvine organizations
| Foundation | Based in | Grants here | Dollars here | Median | Accepts applications | Typical purposes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherese Mari Laulhere Foundation | Long Beach, CA | 1 | $44M | $44M | Preselected only | Cherese mari laulhere daf |
| Samueli Foundation | Corona del Mar, CA | 58 | $23M | $50K | Preselected only | General operations; Unrestricted support; Bolsa chica mesa coastal land rematriation |
| The Serr Charitable Action Trust | Chicago, IL | 1 | $18M | $18M | Preselected only | General support |
| The Marisla Foundation | Laguna Beach, CA | 2 | $9.9M | $5.0M | Yes | General support |
| The Stevns Trust | Hamilton | 1 | $3.9M | $3.9M | Preselected only | General purpose |
| Beckman Laser Institute Inc | Fountain Valley, CA | 1 | $3.5M | $3.5M | Preselected only | Robolase & medical program; pulmonary research; sol kimel m… |
| The Brunson Foundation | Beverly Hills, CA | 2 | $3.2M | $1.6M | Preselected only | Education of youth for engineering.; Medical research |
| Irvine Health Foundation | Irvine, CA | 4 | $3.1M | $75K | Yes | School of population and public health; Hoag aspire program; Discretionary for the uci chief of infectious disease to fu… |
| Oneroot Foundation | Ketchum, ID | 5 | $3.0M | $50K | Preselected only | To provide no-cost educational pathways and scholarships to…; To stop the defamation of the jewish people and secure just…; To enable all young people, especially those who need us mo… |
| Isidore C and Penny W Myers Foundation | Newport Beach, CA | 1 | $2.5M | $2.5M | Preselected only | To Further Donee Organization's exempt purpose |
| Gates Foundation | Seattle, WA | 6 | $2.3M | $335K | Yes | Tuberculosis; Enterics, diagnostics, genomics & epidemiology; Discovery and translational sciences; enterics, diagnostics… |
| One8 Foundation | Boston, MA | 1 | $2.0M | $2.0M | Preselected only | Education |
| Jack and Shanaz Langson Family Foundation | Newport Beach, CA | 2 | $1.7M | $855K | Preselected only | Donation for imca langson library; Support for general fund |
| The Larry and Helen Hoag Foundation | Long Beach, CA | 4 | $1.6M | $341K | Preselected only | Community programs |
| Edwards Lifesciences Foundation | Irvine, CA | 42 | $1.6M | $5,333 | Yes | General operating support; Engineering in cardiovascular health equity by faculty recr…; Proof of product program |
| John Templeton Foundation | West Conshohocken, PA | 4 | $1.3M | $322K | Yes | Cultivating intellectual character in the ai age; Causal selection, structure, and explanation in biology; Embedding the development of intellectual character within… |
| The Paul & Elisabeth Merage Family Foundation | Newport Beach, CA | 2 | $1.3M | $673K | Preselected only | General operating |
| The Joe Macpherson Foundation Inc | Tustin, CA | 4 | $1.3M | $225K | Preselected only | Charitable |
| Eric and Sheila Samson Foundation | Corona del Mar, CA | 5 | $1.3M | $72K | Preselected only | Donation |
| Argyros Family Foundation | Costa Mesa, CA | 15 | $1.2M | $25K | Yes | Public charity; Education; Religious |
| William S & Nancy E Thompson Foundation | Irvine, CA | 2 | $1.2M | $621K | Preselected only | General support |
| The Merage Institute | Newport Beach, CA | 1 | $1.2M | $1.2M | Preselected only | General operating |
| The Tu Foundation | Fountain Valley, CA | 2 | $1.1M | $575K | Preselected only | Support for education and research; Support for the arts - music |
| Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation | Irvine, CA | 13 | $1.1M | $15K | Yes | Research, general support & education |
| The Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust | New York, NY | 1 | $1.1M | $1.1M | Preselected only | Development of a multi-analyte sensor - glucose, lactate, o… |
| Ronald M Simon Family Foundation | Newport Beach, CA | 5 | $1.1M | $25K | Yes | To further donee organization's exempt purpose.; General operating expenses |
| Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation | Costa Mesa, CA | 1 | $1.0M | $1.0M | Preselected only | Sponsorship of classic series |
| The Jeanette Bertea Hennings Foundation C/O Ed W Hennings | Seattle, WA | 1 | $983K | $983K | Preselected only | General fund |
| Robert H Murphy Foundation | Santa Ana, CA | 1 | $966K | $966K | Preselected only | Various programs realted to foundation's core mission |
| The Wallace Foundation | New York, NY | 1 | $820K | $820K | Preselected only | To study the long-term effects of out-of-school arts educat… |
| The Sharon D Lund Foundation | Orange, CA | 5 | $750K | $110K | Preselected only | General operation |
| Alfred E Mann Charities Inc | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | $750K | $750K | Preselected only | Support of charitable purpose |
| The Heising-Simons Foundation | Los Altos, CA | 3 | $719K | $194K | Preselected only | To use paleoclimate proxy data and climate models to unders…; For community math; To deploy instruments in the ocean cavity of petermann glac… |
| Sun Family Foundation | Fountain Valley, CA | 15 | $710K | $25K | Preselected only | Community services; Education; Human services |
| Laura and John Arnold Foundation | Houston, TX | 6 | $689K | $90K | Preselected only | To support a study exploring the relationship between famil…; To analyze the use of prosecutorial discretion.; To update and expand analysis of the effectiveness of the o… |
| Gatherer Family Foundation | San Clemente, CA | 3 | $689K | $250K | Preselected only | General Funding |
| Abraham Family Foundation | Costa Mesa, CA | 2 | $689K | $344K | Preselected only | General |
| Servant's Heart Foundation Inc | Newport Beach, CA | 3 | $653K | $51K | Preselected only | Charitable purposes |
| Nicholas Endowment | Irvine, CA | 10 | $588K | $60K | Preselected only | Professional development; Core support; Alma science academy |
| The James Irvine Foundation | San Francisco, CA | 3 | $569K | $250K | Preselected only | To support Just Prosperity in California; For general operating support; For support of Food from the Bar |
| The Crean Foundation | Laguna Hills, CA | 15 | $558K | $10K | Preselected only | Medical Research.; Education.; Program for terminally ill children. |
| O L Halsell Foundation | Costa Mesa, CA | 11 | $534K | $35K | Yes | Operating funds; Operating Funds; Huntington beach youth shelter |
| Gsf Foundation | Irvine, CA | 13 | $534K | $11K | Preselected only | General support |
| Josephine Herbert Gleis Foundation | Corona del Mar, CA | 5 | $520K | $50K | Preselected only | General use; Support center for translational vision research; Support children's eye mobile |
| Long Family Foundation | Torrance, CA | 2 | $518K | $259K | Preselected only | General support |
| Graziadio Wellness Foundation | Redondo Beach, CA | 1 | $503K | $503K | Preselected only | Funding for grants and scholarships |
| William T Grant Foundation Inc | New York, NY | 4 | $503K | $136K | Yes | Reducing inequalities in opportunities to learn mathematics…; Mentoring and career development: 2024 santagata and fuente…; How ethnic studies teaching reduces racial inequality: iden… |
| John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation | Chicago, IL | 1 | $500K | $500K | Preselected only | In support of the india energy and climate center |
| M and L Hong Foundation | Pennington, NJ | 1 | $500K | $500K | Preselected only | Unrestricted general |
| George E Hewitt Foundation for Medical Research | Newport Beach, CA | 8 | $499K | $74K | Yes | Medical research grant |
| Ueberroth Family Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | 10 | $498K | $29K | Yes | Foundation goal |
| The William Jeff and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation | Laguna Beach, CA | 2 | $466K | $233K | Preselected only | General donation |
| Tarsadia Foundation | Newport Beach, CA | 7 | $455K | $50K | Preselected only | Program support |
| Alfred P Sloan Foundation | New York, NY | 1 | $450K | $450K | Yes | Toevaluate the interactions between critical mineral develo… |
| Joan Irvine Smith & Athalie R Clarke Fdn | Irvine, CA | 2 | $439K | $220K | Preselected only | To be used for its general operating expenses in order to p…; To be used to fund the work of the reeve-irvine research ce… |
| The California Endowment | Los Angeles, CA | 2 | $400K | $200K | Preselected only | Advancing health equity via aapi power building; General operating support |
| Ning Foundation | Corona del Mar, CA | 2 | $400K | $200K | Preselected only | Uci health discretionary fund; Ics discretionary fund |
| Broadcom Foundation | Wilmington, DE | 9 | $374K | $16K | Preselected only | Program support for STEM Activities, including expanding co…; Fair Sponsorship/Broadcom Coding with Commitment; Charitable Event |
| Warne Family Charitable Foundation Co FIRST Foundation Bank | Irvine, CA | 2 | $365K | $183K | Yes | For general use; General use |
| McBeth Foundation | Irvine, CA | 4 | $355K | $80K | Yes | Early childhood disability intervention.; Wishes for ill children; Adult education |
| Robert M Grace Foundation Inc | Winter Park, FL | 1 | $350K | $350K | Preselected only | To raise and manage private funds to support uci's broader… |
| Janet Curci Family Foundation | Tustin, CA | 2 | $350K | $175K | Yes | General Support of Charity; Capital Campaign |
| Tsao Family Foundation | Corona del Mar, CA | 3 | $348K | $138K | Preselected only | Support charitable organizations exempt purpose |
| The Simons Foundation Inc | New York, NY | 4 | $336K | $35K | Preselected only | Dynamical methods in spectral theory and random matrix prod…; Simons fellows in mathematics; Simons investigator in physics |
| Jane L Frederick Family Foundation | Wilmington, DE | 2 | $300K | $150K | Preselected only | Funds for the new Anaheim location; General & Unrestricted |
| H S Lee Family Foundation | Santa Rosa Beach, FL | 1 | $300K | $300K | Preselected only | General operating support |
| The Theodore J and Janice F Smith Family Foundation | Newport Beach, CA | 1 | $300K | $300K | Preselected only | Annual fund and two classic concerts |
| Carnegie Corporation of New York | New York, NY | 1 | $292K | $292K | Yes | For a one-time project on the Global South and the World Or… |
| Conrad N Hilton Foundation | Westlake Village, CA | 4 | $286K | $17K | Yes | For general operating support; To support research on treatments for sarcoma in children; To support the work of catholic sisters in health care |
| McMillen Family Foundation | Temecula, CA | 2 | $278K | $139K | Yes | Fund program support |
| Lyons Share Foundation | Newport Beach, CA | 3 | $275K | $115K | Preselected only | Support of arts programs; Underwrite concerts and operating expenses; Support concert programing |
| Bluebird Legacy Inc | Irvine, CA | 6 | $275K | $45K | Preselected only | General operating support; General operating support and youth mental health and acade…; Friendly visitor and senior protection ; smilemakers |
| Target ALS Foundation Inc | New York, NY | 1 | $260K | $260K | Preselected only | Biomedical research |
| Mentortainment Inc | Irvine, CA | 1 | $256K | $256K | Preselected only | General support |
| Anderson Community Partners | Las Vegas, NV | 2 | $255K | $128K | Yes | Children & youth |
| Thomas D Klingenstein Fund | Cranbury, NJ | 1 | $250K | $250K | Preselected only | General operating support |
| The Doyle Foundation Inc | San Clemente, CA | 1 | $250K | $250K | Yes | Restricted grant |
| The Berwick Degel Family Foundation C/O James a Degel | Vashon, WA | 1 | $250K | $250K | Preselected only | Korematsu center operations |
| Greinke Family Foundation | Long Beach, CA | 1 | $225K | $225K | Preselected only | General support |
| The Henry T and Elizabeth Segerstrom Charitable Foundation | Costa Mesa, CA | 1 | $225K | $225K | Preselected only | Support for artistry programs |
| With Foundation | San Mateo, CA | 1 | $225K | $225K | Yes | Project support |
| Mohammady Foundation | Brea, CA | 1 | $225K | $225K | Yes | Community Service |
| Ernest & Irma Rose Foundation C/O FIRST Foundation Advisors | Irvine, CA | 5 | $220K | $50K | Preselected only | General operating support |
| Shemastella Foundation | Irvine, CA | 3 | $216K | $15K | Yes | Charitable contribution; Chatholic mission; Catholic mission |
| Boukai Family Foundation | Irvine, CA | 2 | $204K | $102K | Preselected only | Charitable; Education |
| Resnick Family Community Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | $204K | $204K | Preselected only | Donee's tax exempt purpose |
| The Ford Foundation | New York, NY | 3 | $201K | $100K | Yes | Core support for the international justice clinic to work i…; For the department of sociology for work related to commemo…; Matching gift |
| Acts Charity Foundation | Irvine, CA | 1 | $200K | $200K | Yes | Help fund the organization's activities |
| Sw Park Foundation | Newport Coast, CA | 1 | $200K | $200K | Preselected only | Charitable |
| Clemons Family Foundation | Newport Beach, CA | 1 | $200K | $200K | Preselected only | To provide education for diverse and talented students adva… |
| Living Legacy Foundation | Franklin, TN | 1 | $200K | $200K | Preselected only | General support |
| Lincoln Dynamic Foundation | Henderson, NV | 1 | $200K | $200K | Preselected only | To provide financial support for various university schools… |
| Fries Family Foundation C/O Biddle Group | Seattle, WA | 1 | $200K | $200K | Preselected only | Support for professor don hoffman's research fund |
| The Yardi Foundation | Santa Barbara, CA | 1 | $200K | $200K | Preselected only | Support for education. |
| Mark Chapin Johnson Foundation | Mission Viejo, CA | 7 | $197K | $20K | Preselected only | Sponsorship of program |
| The Kay Family Foundation | Wilmington, DE | 4 | $195K | $18K | Preselected only | School of Education - in support of early childhood educati…; Support UCI Athletics - Men's Basketball; Support UCI Athletics - Men's Golf |
| Gochnauer Family Foundation | Corona del Mar, CA | 7 | $191K | $10K | Yes | General |
| Sageview Foundation | Newport Beach, CA | 3 | $188K | $53K | Yes | Educational hope to the youth of zimbabwe. invested in god'…; Sage Community Foundation is located in Rwanda and is the l…; The Hoag Classic is a PGA Tour Event that benefits the loca… |
| Unihealth Foundation | Pasadena, CA | 2 | $185K | $93K | Yes | Prime -lgbtq+: program in medical education for lesbian, ga…; Medical student scholarship 2025-2026 |
| Margolis Family Foundation | Corona del Mar, CA | 3 | $184K | $10K | Preselected only | Support |
Source: IRS Form 990-PF Part XV, latest electronic return per foundation (2026-10-28). "Accepts applications" reflects the foundation's own checkbox on Part XV line 2. Grants to individuals excluded.
Common questions
Which foundations give to nonprofits in Irvine, California?
Cherese Mari Laulhere Foundation, Samueli Foundation, The Serr Charitable Action Trust, The Marisla Foundation, The Stevns Trust and 95 others reported grants to Irvine organizations on their latest Form 990-PF.
How do I approach a foundation that doesn't accept applications?
A foundation that checks "contributes only to preselected organizations" on its 990-PF won't review a cold proposal. Look at who it funds, find a shared board member, grantee or advisor, and ask for an introduction. Foundations that accept applications usually list a contact and deadlines in Part XV; we show that text on each foundation's page.
Is this list complete?
No. It covers private foundations (Form 990-PF filers) whose latest electronic return lists at least one grant to an organization in Irvine. Community foundations and corporate giving programs file different forms and are not included yet.