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Audacious Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Audacious Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$968k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$504k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Youth Development$4.2MEducation$2.7MHealth$2.3MEnvironment$2.0MArts & Culture$767kHuman Services$440kPublic Benefit$363kRecreation & Sports$309kOther$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $20k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $100k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $95k
  • $250k+2 grants · $754k
$5,011
Median grant
3
States reached
$2.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Wilderness Youth Project Incorporated$503,900
Explore Ecology$250,000
Children and Family Resource Services$95,000
Golden State South MTB$45,000
Children and Nature Network$27,500
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation$15,000
Santa Maria Valley YMCA$12,000
The Foundation Roundtable$6,500
Channel Islands YMCA$5,011
Santa Barbara Foundation$3,000
Santa Maria Valley YMCA$2,000
Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden$2,000
Starr-King Parent-Child Workshop$500
Communities in Schools of Richmond$258
Individual grant recipient$258
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $478k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%The Hive Mentality: $25k → 22%Oaks Parent Child Workshop: $500 → 14%Channel Islands YMCA: $21k → 14%Channel Islands YMCA: $15k → 14%Channel Islands YMCA: $7k → 14%Channel Islands YMCA: $7k → 14%Channel Islands YMCA: $5k → 14%Channel Islands YMCA: $5k → 14%Children and Family Resource Services: $131k → 14%Children and Family Resource Services: $100k → 14%Children and Family Resource Services: $95k → 14%Children's Resource & Referral: $5k → 14%CHANNEL ISLANDS YMCA: $5k → 14%Channel Islands YMCA: $2k → 14%FRIENDSHIP ADULT DAY CARE CENTER: $20k → 14%FRIENDSHIP ADULT DAY CARE CENTER IN: $18k → 14%GUADALUPE KIDS COME FIRST FOUNDATIO: $12k → 14%GUADALUPE KIDS COME FIRST FOUNDATIO: $5k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

67%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$8.9M · 52 repeat orgs$4.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +46% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

52 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 43 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

52
82

Total granted

$8.9M
$4.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+30%

Still filing today

56%
45%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $90k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationEnvironmentHuman ServicesArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • WY
    Wilderness Youth Project Inc
    6× · 2017–2025 · $2.8M · revenue +359% · 25% of their budget
  • EE
    EXPLORE ECOLOGY
    5× · 2017–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +119%
  • SB
    SANTA BARBARA BICYCLE COALITION DBA MOVE SANTA BARBARA COUNTY
    4× · 2017–2022 · $362k · revenue +58%

Funded once

  • CA
    CHILDREN AND FAMILY RESOURCE SERVIC
    one grant, 2019 · $1.0M
  • SB
    SANTA BARBARA COUNTY EDUCATION OFFI
    one grant, 2017 · $938k
  • WY
    WILDERNESS YOUTH PROJECT INCORPORAT
    one grant, 2019 · $850k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Santa Barbara Education Foundation

Santa Barbara Education Foundation (SBEF) provides and supports programs that enrich the academic, artistic, and personal development of all students in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.

Education
2
Pacific Community Charter School

To provide a rigorous interdisciplinary curriculum which prepares students to enter higher education and occupations in their communities with an understanding of their geographic and historical roots and the goals toward which they can…

Education
3
Pacific Coast Academy

Provide a high standard of education to students through comprehensive curriculum supported by energetic, dynamic, and caring teachers.

Education
4
Pacific View Charter School

To focus on the success of each student & involve parents in the education of their children. the school is comitted to providing appropriate physical space, materials, qualified personnel, and staff development in order to guide the…

Education
5
The Buckley School

The buckley school is a dynamic, nurturing learning community committed to equity and inclusion. our innovative teachers and challenging programs inspire creativity, courage, and collaboration. by promoting a balanced development of mind,…

—
6
Cabrillo Point Academy

Provide a high standard of education to students through comprehensive curriculum supported by energetic, dynamic, and caring teachers.

Education
7
Pacoima Charter School

To create an environment that fosters a high quality educational experience for all children. we strive to prepare students for college and career by holding high academic expectations, nurturing positive social-emotional growth,…

Education
8
The San Francisco School

A private school that cultivates and celebrates the intellectual, imaginative, and humanitarian promise of each student in a community that practices mutual respect, embraces diversity, and inspires passion for learning.

—
9
Ross Valley Charter School

Our mission at rvc is to encourage curiosity and inquiry, foster cultural competency and social-emotional learning, and develop a confident love of learning. our program goes beyond progressive education by using inquiry, exploration,…

Education
10
Terra Marin School

Our mission is to spark wonder and intellectual curiosity in each child. We achieve this through a purposeful blend of:Engaging academics custom-tailored to each child's abilities, strengths and interests;An unparalleled social-emotional…

Education
11
Tomorrow's Leadership Collaborative Charter School

The mission of tlc is to educate diverse students through a rigorous, standards-based, collegepreparatory program to become conscientious, caring, and responsible 21st century citizens. tlc is grounded in an inclusive vision of teaching…

—
12
South Sutter Charter School

South sutter charter school is an independent study charter school that provides a voluntary public educational choice for families of students who choose to educate their children in the home environment.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Way of Santa Barbara County Inc; the most unlike its peers is Mckinley Elementary School Pta. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

72 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 72 of the 143 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
17
Early backer (in before they grew)
71/72
Grantees still filing
59/72
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHILDREN AND FAMILY RESOURCE SERVIC: $1,041,905 · OtherCHILDREN AND FAMILY RESOURCE SERVICSANTA BARBARA COUNTY EDUCATION OFFI: $937,545 · OtherSANTA BARBARA COUNTY EDUCATION OFFISANTA BARBARA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRI: $874,360 · OtherSANTA BARBARA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRIWILDERNESS YOUTH PROJECT INCORPORAT: $849,671 · OtherWILDERNESS YOUTH PROJECT INCORPORATLompoc Unified School Dist: $697,289 · OtherLompoc Unified School DistUCSB ARTS AND LECTURES: $282,295 · OtherNOTRE DAME SCHOOL: $278,428 · OtherUNITED BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF GREA: $260,000 · OtherSOCIAL SKILLS AMERICA: $247,479 · Other+90 more: $1,876,870 · Other+90 moreWilderness Youth Project Inc: $2,799,944 · Youth DevelopmentWilderness Youth Projec…+2 more: $37,350 · Youth DevelopmentEXPLORE ECOLOGY: $1,084,363 · EnvironmentEXPLORE ECO…COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $82,521 · EnvironmentCOMMUNITY E…VENTURA LAND TRUST: $79,000 · EnvironmentVENTURA LAN…+5 more: $79,768 · Environment+5 moreNATURE TRACK FOUNDATION INC: $159,043 · EducationSANTA BARBARA MIDDLE SCHOOL: $149,520 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $143,712 · EducationLOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $62,913 · EducationCAMINO NUEVO CHARTER ACADEMY: $45,360 · EducationCALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $45,000 · EducationPUEBLO NUEVO EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT G: $33,067 · EducationCHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK: $27,500 · Education+12 more: $76,343 · EducationCHILDREN AND FAMILY RESOURCE SERVICES: $326,339 · Human ServicesChannel Islands Young Men's Christian Association: $66,302 · Human ServicesFRIENDSHIP ADULT DAY CARE CENTER INC: $37,500 · Human ServicesTHE HIVE MENTALITY: $25,000 · Human ServicesGuadalupe Kids Come First Foundation: $17,400 · Human Services+2 more: $5,500 · Human ServicesCLINICAS DEL CAMINO REAL INC: $295,500 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD CALIFORNIA CENTRAL COAST: $40,000 · HealthSanta Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation: $15,000 · HealthSansum Diabetes Research Institute: $15,000 · Health+1 more: $10,000 · HealthSANTA BARBARA BICYCLE COALITION DBA MOVE SANTA BARBARA COUNTY: $361,960 · Public Benefit
Other$7,345,842Youth Development$2,837,294Environment$1,325,652Education$742,458Human Services$478,041Health$375,500Public Benefit$361,960

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWilderness Youth Project Inc: $2,799,944 over 6y, 25% of budgetEXPLORE ECOLOGY: $1,084,363 over 5y, 23% of budgetSANTA BARBARA BICYCLE COALITION DBA MOVE SANTA BARBARA COUNTY: $361,960 over 4y, 16% of budgetCHILDREN AND FAMILY RESOURCE SERVICES: $326,339 over 2y, 12% of budgetCLINICAS DEL CAMINO REAL INC: $295,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHILDRENS CREATIVE PROJECT: $203,499 over 4y, 6.8% of budgetNATURE TRACK FOUNDATION INC: $159,043 over 3y, 11% of budgetSANTA BARBARA MIDDLE SCHOOL: $149,520 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $143,712 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $82,521 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetVENTURA LAND TRUST: $79,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetChannel Islands Young Men's Christian Association: $66,302 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetLOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: $62,913 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHERAPY DOGS OF SANTA BARBARA INC: $55,950 over 3y, 31% of budgetSanta Barbara Bucket Brigade: $50,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetSANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $49,523 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetCAMINO NUEVO CHARTER ACADEMY: $45,360 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF RICHMOND INC: $45,258 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetCALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $45,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBIKEVENTURA: $42,955 over 2y, 7.4% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD CALIFORNIA CENTRAL COAST: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDSHIP ADULT DAY CARE CENTER INC: $37,500 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetKABOOM INC: $33,605 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPUEBLO NUEVO EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT G: $33,067 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetFUND FOR SANTA BARBARA INC: $30,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetSANTA BARBARA MARITIME MUSEUM: $27,018 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetTHE HIVE MENTALITY: $25,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetSANTA BARBARA DANCE INSTITUTE: $23,300 over 3y, 7.3% of budgetDESIGNING JUSTICE DESIGNING SPACES: $22,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGIRLS INCORPORATED OF CARPINTERIA: $20,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetLeading from Within: $20,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetGuadalupe Kids Come First Foundation: $17,400 over 1y, 19% of budgetOJAI VALLEY YOUTH FOUNDATION: $17,350 over 1y, 21% of budgetFoodbank of Santa Barbara County Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSansum Diabetes Research Institute: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetOne Cool Earth: $12,500 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetEQUITAS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL: $10,695 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVISTA CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $10,220 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLompoc Valley Community Healthcare Organization Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPTA CALIFORNIA CONGRESS OF PARENTS Adams Elementary PTA: $8,860 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetBRIGHT STAR SCHOOLS: $8,330 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEPIC Leadership Center Inc: $8,000 over 2y, 7.2% of budgetFranklin Elementary PTA: $7,735 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetASPIRE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $6,048 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMCKINLEY ELEMENTARY PTA: $5,826 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetZACA CENTER PRESCHOOL: $5,800 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetTODAYS FRESH START: $5,757 over 2y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds Wilderness Youth Project Inc ↗
  • Who funds EXPLORE ECOLOGY ↗
  • Who funds SANTA BARBARA BICYCLE COALITION DBA MOVE SANTA BARBARA COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds CHILDREN AND FAMILY RESOURCE SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds CLINICAS DEL CAMINO REAL INC ↗
  • Who funds SOCIAL SKILLS AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds CHILDRENS CREATIVE PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds NATURE TRACK FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SANTA BARBARA MIDDLE SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds VENTURA LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds Channel Islands Young Men's Christian Association ↗
  • Who funds LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THERAPY DOGS OF SANTA BARBARA INC ↗
  • Who funds Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade ↗
  • Who funds SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CAMINO NUEVO CHARTER ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF RICHMOND INC ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BIKEVENTURA ↗
  • Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD CALIFORNIA CENTRAL COAST ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Hutton Foundation Dba…Santa Barbara Foundat…Williams-Corbett Foun…Towbes FoundationJames S Bower Foundat…The Wood-Claeyssens F…Mosher FoundationAnn Jackson Family Fo…The Kirby-Jones Found…June G Outhwaite Char…The McCune FoundationPatricia Bragg Founda…
Hutton Foundation Dba Hutton Parker FoundationCA68× affinity31 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Hutton Foundation Dba Hutton Parker Foundation · Santa Barbara Foundation · Williams-Corbett Foundation · Towbes Foundation · James S Bower Foundation · The Wood-Claeyssens Foundation · Mosher Foundation · Ann Jackson Family Foundation · The Kirby-Jones Foundation · June G Outhwaite Charitable Trust JS Poucher KL Englert & CM Cooney Co-Tr · The McCune Foundation · Patricia Bragg Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Audacious Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Audacious Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 51%
  • National Park Trust Inc: 51% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
33report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Audacious Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Audacious Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 143 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Audacious’ filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home