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Aurora Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Aurora Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$48k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Environment$985kCivil Rights$239kArts & Culture$229kEducation$186kPhilanthropy$140kFood & Nutrition$97kScience & Tech$78kHealth$64kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $8k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $40k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$3.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CONTINUING THE LEGACY DANCE$20,000
THE JUST ONE PROJECT$10,000
SMITH CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS$10,000
CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY$5,000
DESERT ROOTS RISING STARS$3,000
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 (FY20–24, $28k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%US RIGHT TO KNOW: $22k → 10%US Right to Know: $5k → 10%US Right to Know: $1k → 10%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.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
MT
MN
IL
NY
MA
NV
IA
CT
CA
CO
VA
MD
NM
NC
DC
HI
AL
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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.8M · 35 repeat orgs$258k to everyone else

35 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 32 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

35
34

Total granted

$1.8M
$235k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+15%

Still filing today

60%
35%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 52% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $23k 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
EnvironmentEducationArts & CultureScience & TechHealthPhilanthropyOther
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

  • JT
    JUSTICE THROUGH MUSIC PROJECT
    2× · 2019–2020 · $85k · revenue +7%
  • YF
    Youth for Environmental Sanity
    4× · 2017–2020 · $82k · revenue +1%
  • HA
    HAWAII ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESSIVE ACTION
    4× · 2017–2020 · $65k · revenue +124%

Funded once

  • JH
    JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2024 · $35k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $22k
  • SA
    Sustainable Action Fund
    one grant, 2020 · $20k
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
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
2
Rainforest Action Network

Rainforest Action Network (RAN) works toward a world where the rights and dignity of all communities are respected and where healthy forests, a stable climate and wild biodiversity are protected and celebrated.

Environment
3
Health in Harmony

Health in Harmony's mission is to reverse tropical rainforest deforestation for planetary health.

Health
4
Rainforest Alliance Inc

RA works at the intersection of business, agriculture & forests to improve lives & protect nature by transforming how land is used, production of goods & consumer choices.

—
5
Environment Now
—
6
Namati Inc

Namati, inc. (namati) is dedicated to putting the law in people's hands. we strive to build a just world, in which every one of us can take part in the decisions and demand accountability from the institutions that affect our lives.…

Crime & Legal
7
Rainforest Alliance Holding Inc

RA works at the intersection of business, agriculture & forests to improve lives & protect nature by transforming how land is used, production of goods & consumer choices.

Environment
8
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
9
Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente

To strenghten people's ability to guarantee their individual and collective right to a healthy environment, via the development, implementation, and effective enforcement of national and international law.

Crime & Legal
10
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
11
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
12
The Mountain Institute Inc

Advance the well- being of mountain people and conservation of mountain environments.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New Mexico Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Haiku Aina Permaculture Initiative. 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

37 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. 37 of the 75 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
37/37
Grantees still filing
20/37
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $325,990 · OtherIndividual grant recipientThe Haiku Aina Permaculture Initiative: $163,281 · OtherThe Haiku Aina Permaculture InitiativeTHE TRACKING PROJECT INC: $128,660 · OtherTHE TRACKING PROJECT INCIceers Foundation: $70,549 · OtherWakan Foundation: $68,259 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $57,200 · OtherGo Green Culture Foundation: $56,000 · Other+49 more: $579,658 · Other+49 moreYouth for Environmental Sanity: $81,500 · EnvironmentYouth for…The Pachamama Alliance: $48,100 · EnvironmentThe Pacha…Amazon Watch Inc: $22,725 · EnvironmentAmazon Wa…BIO BAMBOO INC: $14,000 · EnvironmentBIO BAMBO…FUNGI FOUNDATION INC: $10,297 · EnvironmentFUNGI FOU…+3 more: $4,500 · EnvironmentTHE JUST ONE PROJECT: $119,000 · PhilanthropyMAUI UNITED WAY: $17,500 · PhilanthropyNEW MEXICO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 · PhilanthropyInstitute for Responsible Technology: $78,400 · Science & TechAMAZON CONSERVATION TEAM: $36,710 · Science & TechJUSTICE THROUGH MUSIC PROJECT: $85,000 · Civil RightsMOVE TO AMEND: $17,250 · Civil RightsHAWAII ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESSIVE ACTION: $65,000 · Community ImprovementMAUI ARTS & CULTURAL CENTER: $25,500 · Arts & CultureThe Smith Center for the Performing Arts: $20,000 · Arts & CultureHUICHOL CENTER FOR CULTURAL SURVIVAL AND TRADITIONAL ARTS: $17,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$1,449,597Environment$181,122Philanthropy$141,500Science & Tech$115,110Civil Rights$102,250Community Improvement$65,000Arts & Culture$62,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe Haiku Aina Permaculture Initiative: $163,281 over 5y, 51% of budgetTHE TRACKING PROJECT INC: $128,660 over 5y, 32% of budgetTHE JUST ONE PROJECT: $119,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetJUSTICE THROUGH MUSIC PROJECT: $85,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetYouth for Environmental Sanity: $81,500 over 4y, 8.5% of budgetInstitute for Responsible Technology: $78,400 over 4y, 6.2% of budgetHAWAII ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESSIVE ACTION: $65,000 over 4y, 4.7% of budgetThe Pachamama Alliance: $48,100 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCenter for Food Safety: $40,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetAMAZON CONSERVATION TEAM: $36,710 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetUS RIGHT TO KNOW: $28,000 over 3y, 4.5% of budgetMAUI ARTS & CULTURAL CENTER: $25,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION: $23,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetAmazon Watch Inc: $22,725 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMEDIA COLLECTIVE INC: $22,500 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetThe Smith Center for the Performing Arts: $20,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMAUI UNITED WAY: $17,500 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetMOVE TO AMEND: $17,250 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetHUICHOL CENTER FOR CULTURAL SURVIVAL AND TRADITIONAL ARTS: $17,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetMCKENNA ACADEMY OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY INC: $15,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetCOLLECTIVE HERITAGE INSTITUTE: $14,930 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetFOOD & WATER WATCH: $13,708 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFUNGI FOUNDATION INC: $10,297 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetEmergence Benefactors: $9,500 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetNETWORK FOR GOOD: $8,515 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSACRED TRUST: $7,049 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetPono Hawaii Initiative: $6,000 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetCHOATE ROSEMARY HALL FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW MEXICO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFOOD & WATER ACTION FUND: $3,250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMON CAUSE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $520 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $250 over 1y, 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 The Haiku Aina Permaculture Initiative ↗
  • Who funds THE TRACKING PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds THE JUST ONE PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds JUSTICE THROUGH MUSIC PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds Youth for Environmental Sanity ↗
  • Who funds Institute for Responsible Technology ↗
  • Who funds HAWAII ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESSIVE ACTION ↗
  • Who funds The Pachamama Alliance ↗
  • Who funds Center for Food Safety ↗
  • Who funds AMAZON CONSERVATION TEAM ↗
  • Who funds US RIGHT TO KNOW ↗
  • Who funds MAUI ARTS & CULTURAL CENTER ↗
  • Who funds ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Amazon Watch Inc ↗
  • Who funds MEDIA COLLECTIVE INC ↗
  • Who funds The Smith Center for the Performing Arts ↗
  • Who funds MAUI UNITED WAY ↗
  • Who funds MOVE TO AMEND ↗
  • Who funds HUICHOL CENTER FOR CULTURAL SURVIVAL AND TRADITIONAL ARTS ↗
  • Who funds THE NEW MEXICO DANCE COALITION ↗
  • Who funds MCKENNA ACADEMY OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY INC ↗
  • Who funds COLLECTIVE HERITAGE INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds BIO BAMBOO INC ↗
  • Who funds FOOD & WATER WATCH ↗

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.

Tides FoundationImpactassetsincRsf Social Finance IncMarin Community Found…The Gerry-Corbett Fou…PatagoniaorgBny Mellon Charitable…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Silicon Valley Commun…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…American Endowment Fo…
Tides FoundationCA16.7× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Tides Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Rsf Social Finance Inc · Marin Community Foundation · The Gerry-Corbett Foundation Inc · Patagoniaorg · Bny Mellon Charitable Gift Fund · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment 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 Aurora Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Aurora Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Choate Rosemary Hall Foundation Incorporated: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
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 Aurora Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Aurora 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 75 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 Aurora’s 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