All data used in rankings and calculations is provided by FoundationMark and FoundationIQ and reflects foundations with over $1 million in assets.
Overall Ranking by State
- California foundations reported total assets of $150.3 billion, ranking 2nd among states.
- California foundations 5 year total asset growth of 5.8%, ranked 17th.
- The average 5 year annualized return of California foundations for the period ended December 31, 2017 was 7.8%, 38th place.
Asset Development
- Since 2013 California foundations assets have increased by $36.9 billion from $113.5 billion to $150.3 billion.
- California’s growth rate (blue hashed line) of 5.8% was significantly faster than the overall foundation universe growth rate (yellow hashed line) of 5.4%.
Investment Performance
- California foundations estimated median performance for the 1-yr, 3-yr, and 5-yr periods ended Dec 31, 2017 was 13.7%, 6.3%, and 7.8% respectively.
- For the five year period, FoundationMark estimates California foundations underperformed the overall U.S. foundation universe by 36 basis points per year
Disclosed Investment Expenses
- California foundations reported $811.2 million in disclosed investment expenses for the most recent year.
- Median investment expenses for California foundations of 65 basis points were line with the national median of 65 basis points.
Foundations by Portfolio Strategy
Foundations by Asset Level
About 3,900 foundations in California have assets over $1 million.
- California has 23 of the top 100 foundation by asset size in the US.
- Over 580 of California foundations have assets of over $25 million.
Top 10 Foundations by Assets
Foundations by County and City
Incoming Contributions
Grants, Gifts and Operating Expenses
If you would like to learn more about the 3,920 foundations in California with assets over $1 million, or the other 40,000 foundations outside of California that we follow, including performance and expense data, please visit our affiliated companies: