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Bear Gulch Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bear Gulch 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.

$1.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
50
Grants FY2025still arriving
13
States reached
$175k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Environment$2.0MHealth$1.1MInternational$804kEducation$493kRecreation & Sports$394kHuman Services$383kArts & Culture$361kCommunity Improvement$344kOther$0
02FY2025 · 50 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k12 grants · $90k
  • $10k–50k32 grants · $654k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $530k
$15,079
Median grant
13
States reached
$13M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GOOD GRIEF NETWORK$175,458
TOWER HILL SCHOOL$100,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION$80,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD MAR MONTE$65,000
PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST$59,168
AMERICARES$50,000
RADICAL MONARCHS$40,000
THE LILTH FUND$39,530
OREGON HUMANE SOCIETY$39,530
PATHFINDER INTERNATIONAL$39,530
BRIGID ALLIANCE$39,530
FRIENDS OF HUDDART & WUNDERLICH PARKS$35,720
RAICES$24,766
WOODSIDE-AREA HORSE OWNERS ASSOCIATION$20,000
I NEED AN A$19,890
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, $277k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 89% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $15k → 10%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $15k → 10%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $15k → 10%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $15k → 10%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $15k → 10%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $15k → 10%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $15k → 10%FRIENDLY HOUSE: $16k → 12%FRIENDLY HOUSE: $15k → 12%GROWING GARDENS: $15k → 12%BRIGID ALLIANCE: $40k → 17%GROWING GARDENS: $15k → 12%BRIGID ALLIANCE: $40k → 17%CLIMATE RESILIENT COMMUNITIES: $15k → 8%CLIMATE RESILIENT COMMUNITIES: $15k → 8%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

AK
VT
WA
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
PA
CT
CA
UT
NE
VA
MD
DE
DC
TX
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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.3M · 77 repeat orgs$196k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +22% since the first grant, against -2% for those funded once.

77 repeat relationships: 46 still active in FY2025, 31 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

77
8

Total granted

$7.3M
$161k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
-2%

Still filing today

70%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $35k 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
EnvironmentInternationalHuman ServicesEducationHealthArts & CultureOther
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

  • PO
    PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST
    9× · 2017–2025 · $548k · revenue +164%
  • PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $495k · revenue +12%
  • OREGON HUMANE SOCIETY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $262k · revenue +26%

Funded once

  • SM
    SAN MATEO COUNTY HISTORY MUSEUM
    one grant, 2020 · $101k
  • NF
    NORTHBAY FIRE RELIEF FUND
    one grant, 2017 · $25k
  • LG
    LONGWOOD GARDENS INC
    one grant, 2022 · $11k · revenue +13%
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
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
2
Conservation International Foundation

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

Environment
3
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
4
Chile-California Council

The Chile-California Council is a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to developing and promoting joint endeavors and cooperative relations between Chile and California, as well as individuals, legal entities and other institutions in…

International
5
Sustainable Conservation

Sustainable Conservation advances the collaborative stewardship of Californias land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people. For over three decades, Sustainable Conservation has built coalitions of people with different…

Environment
6
CalWild

The California Wilderness Coalition protects the natural landscapes that make California unique, providing clean air and water, a home to wildlife, and a place for recreation and spiritual renewal.

—
7
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
8
Rainforest Trust

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

International
9
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
10
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
11
Nature Collective

Nature collective's mission is to drive a passion for nature for all. we think inclusively and diversely when serving those devoid of nature those who remember nature and want to connect back to it and those who have an affinity with…

Environment
12
California Wildlife Foundation

The foundation works with diverse groups representing many interests to acquire and restore critical wildlife habitat and protecting species

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated; the most unlike its peers is Longwood Gardens Inc. 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

63 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 63 of the 91 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)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
63/63
Grantees still filing
37/63
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST: $548,055 · EnvironmentPENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUSTSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $524,570 · EnvironmentSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATIONFRIENDS OF HUDDART & WUNDERLICH PARKS: $219,102 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF HUDDART & WUNDERLICH…SEMPERVIRENS FUND: $182,321 · EnvironmentSEMPERVIRENS FUNDNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $111,184 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNC…THE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE: $95,164 · EnvironmentTHE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $94,475 · Environment+10 more: $295,057 · Environment+10 moreOUTSIDE IN: $242,796 · OtherOUTSIDE INThe Center for Investigative Reporting Inc: $201,623 · OtherThe Center for Investigative Reporting In…GOOD GRIEF NETWORK: $131,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $114,787 · OtherCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES FBO RADICAL MONARCHS: $104,000 · OtherSAN MATEO COUNTY HISTORY MUSEUM: $100,537 · OtherCOMMITTEE ON THE SHELTERLESS: $100,292 · OtherOREGON HUMANE SOCIETY: $262,436 · OtherOREGON HUMANE SOCIETYRADICAL MONARCHS: $140,000 · Other+46 more: $1,368,664 · Other+46 morePATHFINDER INTERNATIONAL: $428,662 · InternationalPATHFINDER INT…AMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $338,604 · InternationalAMERICARES FOU…THE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $71,301 · InternationalTHE UNION OF C…ENGENDERHEALTH INC: $60,853 · InternationalENGENDERHEALTH…+2 more: $36,394 · InternationalPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $494,978 · HealthPLANNED PA…PLANNED PARENTHOOD MAR MONTE INC: $202,478 · HealthPLANNED PA…TOWER HILL SCHOOL ASSOCIATION: $421,766 · Education+3 more: $23,500 · EducationAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $106,587 · Human ServicesTHE BRIGID ALLIANCE INC: $79,928 · Human ServicesTHE CERES COMMUNITY PROJECT: $65,591 · Human ServicesFRIENDLY HOUSE INC: $30,591 · Human ServicesGrowing Gardens: $30,318 · Human ServicesClimate Resilient Communities: $30,000 · Human ServicesGOOD GRIEF NETWORK: $288,419 · Community Improvement
Environment$2,069,928Other$2,766,135International$935,814Health$697,456Education$445,266Human Services$343,015Community Improvement$288,419

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 budgetPENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST: $548,055 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $524,570 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $494,978 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetPATHFINDER INTERNATIONAL: $428,662 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetTOWER HILL SCHOOL ASSOCIATION: $421,766 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $338,604 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetGOOD GRIEF NETWORK: $288,419 over 2y, 70% of budgetOREGON HUMANE SOCIETY: $262,436 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetOUTSIDE IN: $242,796 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF HUDDART & WUNDERLICH PARKS: $219,102 over 9y, 14% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD MAR MONTE INC: $202,478 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetThe Center for Investigative Reporting Inc: $201,623 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetSEMPERVIRENS FUND: $182,321 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetRADICAL MONARCHS: $140,000 over 3y, 7.5% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $111,184 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $106,587 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMITTEE ON THE SHELTERLESS: $100,292 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE: $95,164 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetTHE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $94,475 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC: $90,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetREFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES: $84,972 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BRIGID ALLIANCE INC: $79,928 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPETALUMA RIVER PARK FOUNDATION INC: $75,795 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $71,301 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CERES COMMUNITY PROJECT: $65,591 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetPollinator Partnership: $64,000 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetENGENDERHEALTH INC: $60,853 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSAN MATEO COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION FOUNDATION: $60,169 over 6y, 2.6% of budgetNATIONAL CENTER FOR EQUINE FACILITATED THERAPY: $60,169 over 9y, 0.6% of budgetSAN MATEO COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION: $56,169 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetSIERRA HARVEST: $50,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetSouthern Utah Wilderness Alliance: $48,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetGreen Foothills Foundation dba Green Foothills: $45,285 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $45,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $40,557 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetALASKA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $35,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetWOODSIDE MUSICAL THEATRE INC: $30,774 over 3y, 71% of budgetFRIENDLY HOUSE INC: $30,591 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetGrowing Gardens: $30,318 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetFelton Institute: $30,302 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCLIMATE SOLUTIONS: $30,302 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $30,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetVerde Inc: $30,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetUrban Tilth: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITIES FOR A BETTER ENVIRONMENT: $30,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetClimate Resilient Communities: $30,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetHEALING TOGETHER: $25,394 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTHE HORSE PARK AT WOODSIDE: $21,000 over 7y, 0.1% 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 PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST ↗
  • Who funds SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds PATHFINDER INTERNATIONAL ↗
  • Who funds TOWER HILL SCHOOL ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds AMERICARES FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds GOOD GRIEF NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds OREGON HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds OUTSIDE IN ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF HUDDART & WUNDERLICH PARKS ↗
  • Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD MAR MONTE INC ↗
  • Who funds The Center for Investigative Reporting Inc ↗
  • Who funds SEMPERVIRENS FUND ↗
  • Who funds RADICAL MONARCHS ↗
  • Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
  • Who funds COMMITTEE ON THE SHELTERLESS ↗
  • Who funds THE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds REFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds THE BRIGID ALLIANCE INC ↗
  • Who funds PETALUMA RIVER PARK FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC ↗
  • Who funds THE CERES COMMUNITY PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds Pollinator Partnership ↗
  • Who funds ENGENDERHEALTH INC ↗
  • Who funds SAN MATEO COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL CENTER FOR EQUINE FACILITATED THERAPY ↗
  • Who funds SAN MATEO COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds SIERRA HARVEST ↗
  • Who funds Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance ↗
  • Who funds Green Foothills Foundation dba Green Foothills ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗

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.

Silicon Valley Commun…Orange County Communi…Resources Legacy FundTides FoundationMarin Community Found…Atkinson FoundationPatagoniaorgBothin FoundationThe William & Flora H…Kaiser Foundation Hos…Gordon E and Betty I …Sand Hill Foundation
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA24.9× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Orange County Community Foundation · Resources Legacy Fund · Tides Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Atkinson Foundation · Patagoniaorg · Bothin Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation · Sand Hill 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 Bear Gulch Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bear Gulch Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Outside in: 33% of income from government
  • Zip Code Wilmington Inc: 21% of income from government
  • Growing Gardens: 6% of income from government
  • Verde Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Friendly House Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Americares Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Tower Hill School Association: 0% of income from government
  • Oxfam-America Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Bear Gulch Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Bear Gulch 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 91 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 Bear Gulch’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