Chispa Foundation

Private foundation · Grantmaker Santa Babrara, CA EIN: 47-4635240

Chispa Foundation is a private foundation, based in Santa Babrara, CA. IRS filing data is available from 2019 through 2025. As of 2025, the organization holds $31K in total assets.

Chispa Foundation at a glance

Total assets
$31,377
-5.4% vs 2024
Revenue (2025)
$1,140
-66.8% vs 2024
Expenses (2025)
$2,945
-97.3% vs 2024
Latest 990 filing
Form 990-PF, 2025 View filing

Data from IRS Form 990-PF, 2025; updated September 2026.

Who Chispa Foundation funds

How this funder distributes its grants

Grant Size Distribution

16 grants across all recorded years

8<$50K4$50–100K$100–250K1$250–500K1$500K–1M2$1–5M$5M+

The most common grant size was under $50K: 8 grants of 16 (50%).

Geographic Focus

Where this funder awards grants

Grant Distribution by State

7states

Cities

Santa BarbaraBuffaloWashingtonNew YorkSaratogaBerkeleyBostonBrooklynCambridgeIrvineMontgomeryPhiladelphiaSan FranciscoSanta Fe

How Chispa Foundation gives

  • Giving fell 95% from 2021 to 2024. Method
  • In 2024 it paid out well above its IRS minimum distribution (the 5% rule). Method

From the foundation's IRS Form 990-PF filings. Methodology.

Giving History

Giving Over Time

Total grant dollars and number of grants per year

$0$1M$2M$3M32 grants2019 13 grants2020 4 grants2021 4 grants2022 5 grants2023 3 grants2024 0 grants2025

From 2019 to 2024, annual grant giving ranged from $106K (2024) to $2.3M (2021). In 2024 it made 3 grants totaling $106K.

Grants by year

Grant recipients and amounts by year

RecipientPurposeAmount
Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CAUnrestricted Support of Local non-profits in the sector of Care and Education$75,000
Reach Unrestricted Support of Local non-profits in the sector of care and education$25,000
Story Teller Childrens Center Santa Barbara, CAUnrestricted Support of Local non-profits in the sector of care and education$6,000
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Financial History

Multi-year comparison from IRS filings

Figures from IRS filings, by filing year
Filing yearTotal AssetsRevenueExpensesGrants paidGrantsQualifying DistributionsNet Investment IncomeDistributable Amount
2025$31,377$1,140$2,945————$1,562
2024$33,182$3,433$108,947$106,0003$106,000$486$4,038
2023$138,696$7,840$162,458$159,2005$159,200$4,582$10,092
2022$293,314$-38,938$1,888,326$1,832,0004$1,832,000—$76,252
2021$2,700,574$2,841,887$2,396,105$2,320,0004$2,320,000$2,765,782$152,246
2020$3,892,080$4,214,711$1,023,678$1,021,33613—$2,479,969$92,116
2019$2,224,655$757,495$419,643$416,00032——$71,647

Under IRS private-foundation payout rules, Chispa Foundation reported a distributable amount of $2K for 2025 — the minimum it must pay out in qualifying distributions.

Leadership & Key People

Officers and directors from IRS filings

Chispa Foundation is led by Sheila Cullen, President on every filing since 2019; none of the 2 officers listed in 2025 report compensation.

Officers on the 2025 filing

  • Sheila Cullen

    President

    On filings since 2019

    4 hrs/week

    No compensation reported

  • Tom Cullen

    Treasurer

    On filings since 2019

    4 hrs/week

    No compensation reported

Data from IRS Form 990 filings, 2019–2025. "On filings since" is the earliest filing we hold that lists the person; hours are average hours per week as reported.

Frequently asked questions about Chispa Foundation

How large is Chispa Foundation?

Chispa Foundation reported $31K in total assets on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. Its revenue that year was $1K.

Where does Chispa Foundation operate?

Chispa Foundation has awarded grants in Alabama, California, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania.

How much is Chispa Foundation required to give away each year?

Private foundations must generally distribute about 5% of their assets annually. For 2025, Chispa Foundation reported a distributable amount of $2K on its IRS Form 990-PF — the minimum it must pay out in qualifying distributions.

What is Chispa Foundation's EIN?

Chispa Foundation's EIN (Employer Identification Number) is 47-4635240. IRS Form 990 filing data is available on this page for 2019–2025.

Data last updated September 2026. Sourced from IRS Form 990-PF filings.

Data update history

(8)

When this profile's IRS filing data changed on Grantable

  1. Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2019 (received by the IRS July 10, 2020)
  2. Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2020 (received by the IRS April 10, 2021)
  3. Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2021 (received by the IRS May 16, 2022)
  4. Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2022 (received by the IRS April 17, 2023)
  5. Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2023 (received by the IRS April 7, 2024)
  6. Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2024 (received by the IRS April 15, 2025)
  7. Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2025 (received by the IRS March 15, 2026)
  8. IRS filings on file for fiscal years 2019–2025

Explore Open Grants

Browse active grant opportunities in Chispa Foundation's focus areas in our free grants database

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Cite this profile

Grantable. (2026). Chispa Foundation funder profile. GrantGraph. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://grantable.co/funders/chispa-foundation-morg_8697c1158dba4d5a884b9eba2aac6274

BibTeX
@misc{grantable_474635240_2026,
  author       = {{Grantable}},
  title        = {{Chispa Foundation funder profile}},
  howpublished = {GrantGraph},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://grantable.co/funders/chispa-foundation-morg_8697c1158dba4d5a884b9eba2aac6274},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-12. Data licensed CC BY 4.0}
}

The figures on this page are open data under CC BY 4.0: reuse them with credit to Grantable and a link. Download the data.

Figures come from Chispa Foundation's IRS filings (methodology). AI-written summaries, news items and logos are not covered by the open licence. Spot an error? Email hello@grantable.co.

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