Sample funder match
How CESTRA BUTNER FAMILY FOUNDATION stacks up for Riverside Youth Coding Academy.
This is the same funder analysis Kindora delivers to a real nonprofit user — fit verdict, alignment notes, giving footprint, and recommended next steps. The funder is real; the sample analysis was generated for a fictional Bay Area youth STEM nonprofit.
CESTRA BUTNER FAMILY FOUNDATION
EIN 81-0730704
Fit score
85
Fit analysis
Why this funder ranked where it did against the sample org's mission and programs.
The Cestra Butner Family Foundation appears to be a strong prospect for Riverside Youth Coding Academy based on demonstrated Oakland-centered giving, youth and education alignment, and a clear pattern of supporting organizations similar in geography and beneficiary type. Actual grant history shows 86.4% of total dollars to California and approximately 85.0% to Oakland alone ($2.975M of $3.5M), which is highly favorable for a Bay Area youth-serving nonprofit expanding in East Bay schools. Programmatically, the foundation funds youth development, education, scholarships, and college-access pathways, with recent grants to Hidden Genius Project, Oakland Promise, OK Program of Oakland, and Oral Lee Brown Foundation—strong comparables to a coding academy serving students through school-based cohorts and apprenticeships. The main limitations are missing grantee organizational data (budget, age, staff size, exact headquarters) and the absence of a public website or open application process, but based on the 990 evidence this is still the kind of local youth opportunity organization the foundation already supports.
Strategic framing
The strongest positioning is to describe Riverside Youth Coding Academy as a local youth opportunity and education-equity organization that uses computer science, mentorship, and paid apprenticeships to help East Bay students move from school engagement to college/career readiness. The application should emphasize Oakland/East Bay student outcomes, free access, local employer engagement, and a credible pathway into postsecondary and workforce opportunities. It should avoid an overly technical framing and instead align with the foundation's demonstrated interest in youth development, educational opportunity, and strong local institutions.
What's working
- Free access model removes cost barriers for youth.
- Cohort-based in-school, after-school, and summer structure creates sustained engagement rather than one-off enrichment.
- Paid teen apprenticeship pipeline connects education to real economic opportunity.
- Bay Area tech mentor network offers locally rooted career exposure.
- School district partnership and systems-change goals suggest long-term community impact beyond individual participants.
What's marginal
- The grantee's exact headquarters and primary service geography are not fully specified; Oakland/East Bay presence should be explicitly confirmed.
- Budget, staff size, and organizational age are missing, making it impossible to fully compare against the foundation's typical grantee profile.
- No known personal or board connection to Cestra Butner Family Foundation was provided.
- The foundation's explicit interest in technology education is not documented; the case must be framed as youth opportunity, education access, and career pathway development rather than coding alone.
- No public application pathway is documented, increasing the importance of introductions and tailored outreach.
Programs that match
- General Operating Support / Core Mission Support
- College Access / Scholarship-Oriented Pathway
- Systems Change / School District Advocacy
What we'd want to confirm
- Can the organization document how many Oakland and East Bay students it serves now versus plans to serve?
- Does the organization have a budget and operating scale that supports a request above the median grant size?
- Are there existing Oakland-based partners, advisors, donors, or mentors who can validate community embeddedness?
- Can the organization show outcomes comparable to other youth pipeline organizations the foundation funds?
- Is there a warm route to the trustees or to a funded peer organization that could facilitate introduction?
Suggested next steps
- Confirm and foreground Oakland/East Bay service footprint in all materials, especially any OUSD partnerships, East Bay school sites, and number of Oakland students served.
- Develop a concise one-page funding brief positioning the organization as an Oakland/East Bay youth opportunity pipeline, not just a coding program.
- Open with a general operating support request in the $30,000-$50,000 range tied to free student cohorts, paid apprenticeships, and mentor-supported career exposure.
- Highlight comparability to Hidden Genius Project, Oakland Promise, and other youth-serving Oakland grantees without overstating similarity.
- Seek a warm introduction through Oakland civic, education, Rotary, cultural, or philanthropy networks, given the likely relationship-based nature of grantmaking.
- Prepare outcome data that shows student persistence, apprenticeship placement, school engagement, and postsecondary/career trajectory, since the foundation appears to favor tangible community benefit.
- If outreach gains traction, discuss how expansion supports Oakland and broader East Bay students first; avoid leading with San Francisco expansion unless clearly connected to existing Bay Area impact.
Generated by Kindora's AI from the funder's public 990 filings, public website, and aggregated public grant history.
Funder snapshot
Capacity and giving footprint at a glance — drawn from the latest public 990 filings.
Total assets
$13M
Annual giving
$3.5M
Geographic scope
Regional
76% in CA
Application mode
Not specified
| Grant size | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Range across recent grants | $25k | $30k | $125k |
The Cestra Butner Family Foundation concentrates large, targeted grants to cultural and youth-serving organizations in Oakland, with an emphasis on sustaining flagship local institutions (especially performing arts and children’s attractions) and supporting education and youth opportunity programs. While most funding is highly local and recurrent, the foundation also makes selective larger gifts to national service-oriented groups.
Source: Latest public IRS Form 990 / 990-PF filings and aggregated public grant histories.
Focus areas
Themes Kindora extracted from the funder's public profile, program pages, and grant history.
Programmatic focus
Funding philosophy
Beneficiary types
Source: Public funder websites, public program pages, and AI synthesis of public 990 filings.
Recent giving signals
A look at where this funder has placed grants recently — useful for benchmarking and warm-intro paths.
Notable grantees
Stated focus areas (from public profile)
- Supporting performing arts institutions in Oakland (e.g., Oakland Symphony)
- Funding children’s museum/interactive play spaces and early childhood enrichment (e.g., Children’s Fairyland)
- Local youth opportunity and college-readiness initiatives in Oakland (e.g., Oakland Promise)
- Support for national volunteer/service organizations (e.g., Peace Corps Foundation)
Source: Public 990 grant lists and the funder's own published program descriptions.
Take the next step
Go deeper on this funder.
In the live product, briefs are generated for your top matches first. The sample org has briefs for 7 funders.
Sample analysis — generated for fictional org against real public funders
Sample data: Riverside Youth Coding Academy is a fictional 501(c)(3). The fit score, verdict, and rationales above were generated by Kindora's real matching and AI fit-analysis pipelines using public IRS Form 990 filings, public funder websites, and aggregated public grant histories. The funder is real.
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