The Centofante Foundation directs its philanthropic dollars almost exclusively to higher education, with all recorded giving concentrated as general support to the University of Southern California. Its grants appear intended as unrestricted institutional support rather than narrowly targeted programmatic funding, suggesting a preference for strengthening a single university partner. The foundation is highly concentrated, favoring depth of support to one institution over breadth across multiple organizations or causes.
Very concentrated: a small number of large grants (three grants totaling $3.02M) all to a single repeat grantee, indicating preferred long-term support for one primary institution rather than many smaller or diverse grantees.
Notable grantees: University of Southern California
Centofante Foundation’s giving is centered on one institution: the University of Southern California received three of the foundation’s largest recent grants, including $1,020,000 in 2024 and $1,000,000 in both 2023 and 2025. That pattern points to sustained, general support rather than short-term project funding. The foundation’s recent record also includes a smaller recurring relationship with Swim With Mike Foundation in Pasadena, with grants in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Across the available data, every recorded grant stayed in California and every recipient was a U.S. organization. Centofante Foundation is highly concentrated in its approach, with its dollars directed to a narrow set of higher-education and related nonprofit partners. The repeated use of “general contribution” for the largest grants suggests a preference for flexible institutional support. For a nonprofit researcher, the key takeaway is the depth of support: the foundation appears to favor sustained backing for a single university partner while maintaining a secondary relationship with a local Pasadena-based organization.
Higher education is the clearest area of support in the recent record. Centofante Foundation gave $1,020,000 to the University of Southern California in 2024 as a general contribution, and it also made $1,000,000 general contributions to USC in 2023 and 2025. That establishes a multi-year pattern of unrestricted institutional support to one university. A smaller but recurring nonprofit relationship appears with Swim With Mike Foundation. The foundation gave $22,000 in 2023, $2,500 in 2024, and $20,000 in 2025, each listed as a general contribution. The repetition across three years shows continuity, even at a much smaller scale than the USC grants. The available data does not show other cause areas beyond higher education and this related nonprofit support.
Centofante Foundation’s typical grant size is large: the distribution shows a p25 of $20,500, a median of $511,000, and a p75 of $1,000,000. The recent record also shows repeated support across multiple years rather than one-off giving, especially for the University of Southern California and Swim With Mike Foundation. The grants are listed as general contributions, indicating flexible support rather than project-specific awards. The foundation’s giving is highly concentrated, with all recorded grants going to California recipients and no evidence of individual grantmaking or program-related investments in the provided data.
$20K
$279K
$226K
$22K
Most grants fall between $21K and $1M, with a median of $511K.
25th Percentile
$21K
Median
$511K
75th Percentile
$1M
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All recorded grants in the provided data went to U.S. recipients, and 100% of grants were made to organizations in the headquarters state, California. Recipient locations include Los Angeles and Pasadena. The largest grants went to Los Angeles-based University of Southern California, while Swim With Mike Foundation in Pasadena also received multiple grants. The geographic pattern is local and tightly focused rather than distributed across states or countries.
The recent grants are all listed as general contributions, including $1,020,000 to the University of Southern California in 2024 and repeated general contributions to Swim With Mike Foundation. That pattern points to flexible, unrestricted institutional support rather than project-specific funding.
Two organizations appear multiple times in the recent record: the University of Southern California received grants in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and Swim With Mike Foundation also received grants in each of those years.
The grant-size distribution is large, with a p25 of $20,500, a median of $511,000, and a p75 of $1,000,000. The recent record includes million-dollar awards to the University of Southern California and smaller grants to Swim With Mike Foundation.
Its giving is local and concentrated in California. All recorded grants went to recipients in the foundation’s headquarters state, and the recipient cities in the recent list are Los Angeles and Pasadena.
2026
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2026.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWIM WITH MIKE FOUNDATION | PASADENA, CA | $20,000 | 2026 | GENERAL CONTRIBUTION |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | LOS ANGELES, CA | $1,000,000 | 2025 | GENERAL CONTRIBUTION |
| SWIM WITH MIKE FOUNDATION | PASADENA, CA | $20,000 | 2025 | GENERAL CONTRIBUTION |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | LOS ANGELES, CA | $1,020,000 | 2024 | GENERAL CONTRIBUTION |
| SWIM WITH MIKE FOUNDATION | PASADENA, CA | $2,500 | 2024 | GENERAL CONTRIBUTION |
| UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | LOS ANGELES, CA | $1,000,000 | 2023 | GENERAL CONTRIBUTION |
| SWIM WITH MIKE FOUNDATION | PASADENA, CA | $22,000 | 2023 | GENERAL CONTRIBUTION |