Funding search · EIN 954085811 · Los Angeles, CA

The David Geffen Foundation

Name: The David Geffen Foundation grants, 2022–2024
Creator: PaperOrbit
License: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/exempt-organization-public-disclosure-and-availability-requirements

A private foundation (files IRS Form 990-PF). Most private foundations do not take unsolicited applications; the route in is usually a program officer.

281
grants reported: $332.8M
total given: 2022–2024
filing years: $10,000
median grant

Based on grants this organization reported to the IRS for tax years 2022–2024. This is what they filed, not a complete record of their giving, and recent years may be incomplete because filings lag.

Full IRS filings ↗How this is built Report an error

Funding pattern

What this funder pays for, at what size, and how to position adjacent work. Read from their filings, with every number checked against the record.

Where the money goes

Nine-figure naming gifts to Los Angeles museums, chiefly LACMA
Endowment-scale gifts to Yale, UCLA, Columbia, Memorial Sloan Kettering
Film and television institutions: Academy Foundation, Motion Picture & TV Fund
Jewish, Israel-related and Holocaust remembrance organizations
LGBTQ+ rights, HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ youth services
Small LA safety-net checks: homelessness, free clinics, women's services

Typical grant

The distribution is barely a distribution, it is two separate funders in one filing. Median grant is $10,000 with the middle half between $5,000 and $25,000, and those small checks go to LA and NY nonprofits by the dozen; meanwhile eight gifts of $1M or more in 2024 alone account for over $108M, topped by $50M to LACMA and $15M to Yale. With 281 grants to 158 recipients across three years, most of the small-dollar names recur annually at roughly the same amount, while the mega-gifts are one-time institutional commitments tied to specific buildings and schools.

Their words

Phrases from their own grant descriptions, worth speaking back to them.

“GENERAL SUPPORT”
“UCLA FOUNDATION (GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE)”
“ACADEMY FOUNDATION”
“MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER”

Positioning adjacent work

Route the ask through UCLA, Yale, Columbia or MSK if your work sits inside one of them.
Ask for unrestricted operating money. Every single grant is coded GENERAL SUPPORT, none project-restricted.
Unaffiliated organizations should ask $10,000 to $25,000, not six figures. That is the actual band.
Health asks work best framed as cancer or neurodegeneration, echoing MSK and Frontotemporal Degeneration.

Worth knowing: This is a personal, relationship-driven checkbook: the top eight recipients took roughly 97 percent of 2024 dollars, and nearly all giving lands in Los Angeles or New York, with the largest gifts going to institutions that carry the Geffen name on a building or school. Cold approaches from outside that orbit realistically compete for the $5,000 to $25,000 tier.

Top recipients

Repeat recipients are the strongest signal of whether a funder has an open door or quietly re-funds the same organizations.

La County Museum of Art2 grants · $100.0M
Yale University3 grants · $45.0M
UCLA Foundation3 grants · $44.4M
Museum of Modern Art2 grants · $40.0M
Lincoln Center for Performing Arts1 grant · $30.0M
Columbia University3 grants · $25.0M
Academy Foundation3 grants · $15.0M
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center1 grant · $10.0M
Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream1 grant · $6.0M
92nd Street Y1 grant · $3.0M

Giving over time

$90.6M

2022

$129.7M

2023

$112.5M

2024

Grant history

The 100 largest of 281 grants.

$50.0M
La County Museum of Art · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
General support
$50.0M
La County Museum of Art · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
General support
$30.0M
Museum of Modern Art · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$30.0M
Lincoln Center for Performing Arts · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$18.6M
UCLA Foundation · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$15.8M
UCLA Foundation · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
General support
$15.0M
Yale University · New Haven, CT · 2024
General support
$15.0M
Yale University · New Haven, CT · 2023
General support
$15.0M
Yale University · New Haven, CT · 2022
General support
$10.0M
UCLA Foundation · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
General support
$10.0M
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$10.0M
Museum of Modern Art · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$8.3M
Columbia University · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$8.3M
Columbia University · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$8.3M
Columbia University · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$6.0M
Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream · Santa Monica, CA · 2024
General support
$5.0M
Academy Foundation · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
General support
$5.0M
Academy Foundation · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
General support
$5.0M
Academy Foundation · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$3.0M
92nd Street Y · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$1.0M
Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration · Radnor, PA · 2024
General support
$1.0M
Elton John AIDS Foundation · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$1.0M
Motion Picture & Television Fund · Woodland Hills, CA · 2024
General support
$1.0M
Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration · Radnor, PA · 2023
General support
$1.0M
Elton John AIDS Foundation · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$1.0M
Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration · Radnor, PA · 2022
General support
$900,000
Young Eisner Scholars · Inglewood, CA · 2023
General support
$700,000
National Library of Israel USA · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$700,000
National Library of Israel USA · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$700,000
National Library of Israel USA · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$300,000
UCLA Foundation (Geffen Playhouse) · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
General support
$300,000
UCLA Foundation (Geffen Playhouse) · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
General support
$300,000
UCLA Foundation (Geffen Playhouse) · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$250,000
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$150,000
American Friends of Magen David Adom · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$150,000
American Friends of Soroka Medical Center · Scarsdale, NY · 2023
General support
$150,000
Friends of United Hatzalah · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$130,000
World Jewish Congress American Section · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$100,000
Harlem School of the Arts · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$100,000
Simon Wiesenthal Center · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
General support
$100,000
Skirball Cultural Center · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
General support
$100,000
Jewish National Fund · Rockville Ctr, NY · 2023
General support
$100,000
Success Academy Charter Schools · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$100,000
American Film Institute · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$100,000
Save the Children · Fairfield, CT · 2022
General support
$100,000
Whitney Museum of American Art · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$100,000
Young Eisner Scholars · Inglewood, CA · 2022
General support
$50,000
Anti-Defamation League · Washington, DC · 2024
General support
$50,000
Lambda Legal Defenseeduc Fnd · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$50,000
Hillel at UCLA · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
General support
$50,000
Lambda Legal Defenseeduc Fnd · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$50,000
Anti-Defamation League · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$50,000
Clooney Foundation for Justice · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$50,000
Federation of Jewish Communities of the Cis · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$50,000
Friends of United Hatzalah · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$50,000
International Medical Corp · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$50,000
International Rescue Committee · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$50,000
Lambda Legal Defenseeduc Fnd · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$50,000
Mayors Fund for Los Angeles · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$25,000
Encorps STEM Teachers Program · Redondo Beach, CA · 2024
General support
$25,000
Glaad · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
General support
$25,000
Hammer Museum · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
General support
$25,000
Hetrick-Martin Institute · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$25,000
Jazz Foundation of America · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$25,000
One Campaig · Washington, DC · 2024
General support
$25,000
City Year · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
General support
$25,000
Encorps STEM Teachers Program · Redondo Beach, CA · 2023
General support
$25,000
Glaad · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
General support
$25,000
Hetrick-Martin Institute · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$25,000
New York Public Library · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$25,000
Safe Space Pictures Foundation · Beverly Hills, CA · 2023
General support
$25,000
Simon Wiesenthal Center · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
General support
$25,000
American Society for Yad Vashem · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$25,000
Children'S Diabetes Foundation · Aurora, CO · 2022
General support
$25,000
City Year · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$25,000
Elton John AIDS Foundation · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$25,000
Encorps STEM Teachers Program · Redondo Beach, CA · 2022
General support
$25,000
Glaad · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$25,000
Hammer Museum · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$25,000
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society · Silver Spring, MD · 2022
General support
$25,000
Hetrick-Martin Institute · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$25,000
Natural Resources Defense Council · New York, NY · 2022
General support
$25,000
Simon Wiesenthal Center · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$25,000
Tikva Children'S Home · West Caldwell, NJ · 2022
General support
$24,000
Bucks Rock Camp · New Milford, CT · 2024
General support
$24,000
Bucks Rock Camp · New Milford, CT · 2023
General support
$24,000
Bucks Rock Camp · New Milford, CT · 2022
General support
$20,000
American Friends of the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled · Northfield, IL · 2024
General support
$20,000
Jenkins Penn Haitian Relief Organization · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
General support
$20,000
Jewish Healing and Hospice Center of Los Angeles · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
General support
$20,000
People for the American Way Foundation · Washington, DC · 2024
General support
$20,000
Safe Horizon · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$20,000
Sage · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$20,000
World Jewish Congress American Section · New York, NY · 2024
General support
$20,000
Jewish Healing and Hospice Center of Los Angeles · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
General support
$20,000
People for the American Way · Washington, DC · 2023
General support
$20,000
Safe Horizon · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$20,000
World Jewish Congress American Section · New York, NY · 2023
General support
$20,000
Jewish Healing and Hospice Center of Los Angeles · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
General support
$20,000
People for the American Way · Washington, DC · 2022
General support

View all 281 grants →

Who else funds this kind of work

Same state

Silicon Valley Community Foundation10,471 grants · $10.10B
Tides Foundation9,402 grants · $1.86B
UCLA Foundation276 grants · $1.75B

Similar grant size

The Ayco Charitable Foundation15,303 grants · $2.05B
Paypal Charitable Giving Fund32,081 grants · $1.40B
Seattle Foundation14,012 grants · $457.3M

Grants already paid are the record; PaperOrbit reads your paper and finds the funders whose record matches it — then explains why.

Search funders like this one

Source: IRS Form 990-PF, Part XV, as filed by the foundation. These are grants already paid — a record of what this funder backs, not an open call.