Open House Center

Open House Center (EIN 81-4301838) files as a Form 990-PF private foundation, but the evidence strongly indicates it is not a conventional grantmaking source for outside nonprofits. Its own website describes a direct-service adult day program in Concord, CA — serving adults and older adults with developmental disabilities and complex healthcare/behavioral needs, established in 2016 (IRS ruling 2017) — with recreational, clinical, and RCEB (Regional Center of the East Bay) case-management partnerships, but zero mention of grant applications, funding priorities, or an external grants program. The IRS record backs this up: 'application_process' and 'grants_page_url' are both blank, 'application_instructions' reads '__none__', and 'grants_paid' is $0 in every fiscal year from 2017 through 2023, even as reported 'total_giving' climbed to $1.67M. That pattern is the signature of a family foundation funding its own affiliated program rather than distributing grants to third parties. Leadership is a tight family/insider group: Chairman Maria V. Ancheta (uncompensated across all reported years), Foundation Manager James I. Mercado (compensation rising from $126,295 to $169,191 over the three most recent reported years), and Vice President Ronnie Ancheta (compensation $83,200-$91,833). There is no grantee list in our database (zero entries), no matched public grant opportunities, and no news coverage of any grant award made by this entity. For grant seekers, the realistic strategy here is to treat Open House Center as a non-prospect for a traditional LOI/proposal cycle. If there is a genuine reason to believe otherwise (e.g., a personal connection to the Ancheta or Mercado family, or a direct-service partnership opportunity analogous to OHC's existing nursing-school and RCEB tie-ins), the better approach is a direct phone call to confirm whether any discretionary giving exists before investing time in a written proposal — not a cold application, because no application infrastructure appears to exist.

The numbers describe an organization funding its own growth, not a third-party grants program. Total assets grew from $141,306 in FY2017 to $5,793,145 in FY2023, and reached $7,147,333 in the most recently verified record (consistent with CauseIQ's reported FY2024 figures) — a roughly 50x increase in seven years. Reported 'total_giving' rose in step: $2,284 (2017), $4,050 (2018), $114,650 (2019), $991,839 (2020), $1,043,776 (2021), $1,352,595 (2022), and $1,671,285 (2023). Critically, 'grants_paid' is $0 in every one of those years, meaning this reported giving almost certainly reflects program/operating expenditures on OHC's own day-program facility and services, not checks written to outside nonprofits. Revenue is overwhelmingly contribution-driven: FY2023 contributions of $2,545,083 made up 99.4% of total revenue ($2,560,804), and net investment income was $0 in every reported year despite millions in assets — unusual for a foundation, and consistent with assets held largely in program-related or illiquid form (e.g., the facility itself) rather than an invested endowment. Officer/trustee compensation has been volatile: $0 (2017-2018), $110,600 (2019), a spike to $206,140 (2020), then settling to $82,970 (2021), $98,466 (2022), and $158,245 (2023) — roughly 6-9% of total giving in recent years. There is no program-area or geographic breakdown available because our database shows zero grantees and zero matched public grants for this record; all available evidence points to a single 'program area' — OHC's own Concord, CA adult day program — rather than a diversified giving portfolio.

Open House Center sits among a small cluster of Human Services-focused entities near the $7.1-7.2M asset tier, but its underlying model — self-funding an operating program rather than distributing outside grants — makes it an outlier versus foundations that actually run open or invited grant cycles.

All six entities cluster tightly by asset size ($7.1M-$7.2M), which is likely a database sampling artifact rather than a meaningful strategic peer set. None of the five peers have public application data in our system either, so this asset tier as a whole appears to be dominated by small, closely held family foundations rather than foundations running active, discoverable grant programs — reinforcing that grant seekers should prioritize better-documented funders over cold outreach to this tier.

The most concrete recent activity is operational, not philanthropic: Open House Center relocated to a new facility in Concord, CA in spring 2025, using a temporary phone line, (925) 375-1200, from May 7-17, 2025. Following the move, OHC hosted tours for clients (including a design competition tied to the new space) and for RCEB (Regional Center of the East Bay) case managers and nurses to preview the facility. The organization also continues to host nursing students for clinical placements, consistent with its focus on clients with complex healthcare and behavioral needs. Financially, CauseIQ reports FY2024 total revenue of $3,632,582, a 41.9% increase year-over-year, and total assets of $7,147,333 — both matching the most recently verified figures in our own database (verified 2026-08-05). No news coverage, press release, or grantee announcement describing an actual grant award by Open House Center was found in any search. Leadership has remained stable across the reporting period: Maria V. Ancheta as Chairman, Ronnie Ancheta as Vice President, and James I. Mercado as Foundation Manager, with no reported leadership changes in 2025-2026.

Because no application process, grants page, or funding-priorities statement exists for Open House Center — the IRS filing lists 'application_instructions' as '__none__' and 'application_process' as blank, and the organization's own website (About, Location, Community Outreach pages) never mentions external grantmaking — the standard grant-writing playbook does not apply here. Practical guidance: (1) Do not submit a cold LOI or full proposal; there is no visible intake process to receive it. (2) If you have a specific, well-founded reason to believe OHC might fund outside work (e.g., a personal introduction to the Ancheta or Mercado family, or a genuine service partnership akin to OHC's existing ties with RCEB and area nursing programs), start with a phone call — (925) 349-4244 is OHC's current main line — rather than a written application, and ask directly whether the foundation makes any grants outside its own program. (3) Expect the answer to likely be no: 'grants_paid' has been $0 in every fiscal year on record (2017-2023) despite total giving of $1.67M in 2023 alone, meaning essentially all of that spending funds OHC's own Concord day program. (4) If your organization also serves adults with developmental disabilities in Contra Costa County or partners with RCEB, a partnership or referral conversation (not a grant ask) is the more realistic path — OHC already engages outside groups (nursing schools, RCEB case managers) as service partners. (5) Given the near-total absence of public information, deprioritize this record relative to funders in our peer set with documented, open application processes, and redirect research time toward funders whose 990 filings show consistent non-zero grants_paid figures.