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Bechen Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bechen Family 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.

$352k
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$241k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$2.8MArts & Culture$1.3MHealth$172kRecreation & Sports$90kHuman Services$57kYouth Development$49kHousing & Shelter$28kPhilanthropy$19kOther$0
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k11 grants · $19k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $34k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $299k
$2,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PORTLAND ART MUSEUM$240,650
OREGON ESPISCOPAL SCHOOL$58,555
OHSU FOUNDATION$12,500
FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN$10,500
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$10,500
SUNRIVER NATURE CENTER$5,100
OUTSIDE IN$5,000
WESTERN RIVERS CONSERVANCY$2,000
HOMESHARE OREGON$2,000
OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING$1,000
DE LA SALLE NORTH CATHOLIC SCHOOL$1,000
OREGON JOURNALISM PROJECT$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
CROSSROAD CAMPUS$500
SIERR COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY$300
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 (FY20–25, $77k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, 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%OREGON HARBOR OF HOPE: $10k → 12%CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $2k → 14%OREGON HARBOR OF HOPE: $10k → 12%CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $1k → 14%CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $1k → 14%CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $1k → 14%CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $1k → 14%CROSSROAD CAMPUS: $500 → 14%METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICE: $25k → 12%METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICE: $20k → 12%METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICE: $2k → 12%METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICE: $2k → 12%METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICE: $1k → 12%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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.0M · 27 repeat orgs$91k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

27 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
26

Total granted

$3.0M
$87k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
+8%

Still filing today

78%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • PORTLAND ART MUSEUM
    6× · 2020–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +14%
  • HIGH DESERT MUSEUM
    5× · 2020–2024 · $146k · revenue +267%
  • Victory Academy Inc
    4× · 2021–2024 · $116k · revenue +11%

Funded once

  • OC
    OHSU CENTER FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH
    one grant, 2022 · $15k
  • TC
    THE CHILDRENS COURSE INC
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +8%
  • OF
    OHSU FOUNDATION - CIRCLE OF GIVING
    one grant, 2021 · $10k
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
Oregon Center for Public Policy

The oregon center for public policy's mission is to achieve economic justice for all oregonians through research, analysis, and advocacy. ocpp works to change policies that foster economic security and stability for all oregonians. we do…

Employment
2
Oregon Energy Systems Technology and Research
Environment
3
Oregon Research Institute

Oregon research institute is an independent behavioral sciences research center dedicated to understanding human behavior and improving the quality of human life through the prevention and treatment of health, educational, and social…

Social Science
4
Oregon Music Festival

Oregon Music Festival's mission is the performance, production, and promotion of classical music through orchestral, choral/orchestra, and chamber music.

Arts & Culture
5
Oregon Agricultural Trust

Oregon agricultural trust partners with farmers and ranchers to protect agricultural lands for the benefit of oregons economy, communities, and landscapes.

Environment
6
Oregon Justice Network

Oregon Justice Network is an alliance built and staffed by criminal legal system impacted people advocating for the well-being of people affected or at-risk of being affected by carceral systems. Our work centers around restorative…

Human Services
7
Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association

Orla serves as the leading industry advocate, striving to protect, improve and promote oregon hospitality.

—
8
Our Oregon

Promote economic and social fairness by working in coalition open a broad range of issues and activities in the public arena

Human Services
9
Oregon Arts Watch

Oregon Arts Watch produces independent, professional arts and culture journalism and criticism that is transparent, fair and accurate.

Arts & Culture
10
Portland Community Media

Open signal's mission is to nurture the change-making power of community media in service of a just and equitable world.

Arts & Culture
11
The Oregon Community Foundation

The mission of The Oregon Community Foundation is to improve lives of all Oregonians through the power of philanthropy.

Philanthropy
12
Citizens Utility Board

As directed by oregon voters in 1984, the oregon citizens' utility board (cub) represents the interests of oregon's residential utility customers before administrative, judicial, and legislative bodies. cub works at the intersection of…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Elevate Oregon; the most unlike its peers is Home Share Oregon. 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

35 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. 35 of the 58 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
35/35
Grantees still filing
27/35
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $1,430,500 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFO…Victory Academy Inc: $116,000 · EducationVictory Academy IncTHE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $75,000 · Education+2 more: $63,000 · EducationOREGON EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $1,073,555 · OtherOREGON EPISCOPAL SCHOOLOHSU FOUNDATION: $132,500 · OtherOHSU FOUNDATION+30 more: $108,500 · Other+30 morePORTLAND ART MUSEUM: $1,096,650 · Arts & CulturePORTLAND ART MUSEUMHIGH DESERT MUSEUM: $146,000 · Arts & CultureHIGH DESERT MUSEUM+7 more: $61,500 · Arts & CultureOREGON ADAPTIVE SPORTS: $42,000 · Recreation & SportsPORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION: $37,000 · Recreation & SportsTHE CHILDRENS COURSE INC: $10,000 · Recreation & SportsMetropolitan Family Service: $50,100 · Human ServicesOREGON TRAIL OF HOPE: $20,000 · Human ServicesTHE CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $6,500 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN: $41,500 · Youth DevelopmentELEVATE OREGON: $6,000 · Youth DevelopmentPROVIDENCE PORTLAND MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 · HealthCitizens United for Research in Epilepsy: $2,000 · HealthMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OREGON: $1,000 · Health
Education$1,684,500Other$1,314,555Arts & Culture$1,304,150Recreation & Sports$89,000Human Services$76,600Youth Development$47,500Health$18,000

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 budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $1,430,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetPORTLAND ART MUSEUM: $1,096,650 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetHIGH DESERT MUSEUM: $146,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetVictory Academy Inc: $116,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetTHE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 4y, 54% of budgetMetropolitan Family Service: $50,100 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetChildrens Literacy Project Formerly Known as BeUndivided: $50,000 over 2y, 6.1% of budgetOREGON ADAPTIVE SPORTS: $42,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN: $41,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION: $37,000 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetOREGON SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $34,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetOREGON TRAIL OF HOPE: $20,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetOREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING: $14,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSMART READING: $13,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CHILDRENS COURSE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetPROVIDENCE PORTLAND MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOUTSIDE IN: $9,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CROSSROADS CAMPUS: $6,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetOREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION INC: $6,200 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetELEVATE OREGON: $6,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHabitat for Humanity of La Pine Sunriver: $4,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWESTERN RIVERS CONSERVANCY: $4,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPORTLAND CENTER STAGE: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOREGON MUSIC EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ULI FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHome Share Oregon: $2,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCitizens United for Research in Epilepsy: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSIERRA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $1,300 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OREGON: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOREGON FOOD BANK: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOREGON JOURNALISM PROJECT: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBraking Cycles: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJAPANESE GARDEN SOCIETY OF OREGON: $1,000 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 BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds PORTLAND ART MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds HIGH DESERT MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds Victory Academy Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Metropolitan Family Service ↗
  • Who funds Childrens Literacy Project Formerly Known as BeUndivided ↗
  • Who funds OREGON ADAPTIVE SPORTS ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN ↗
  • Who funds PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds OREGON SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds OREGON TRAIL OF HOPE ↗
  • Who funds OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING ↗
  • Who funds SMART READING ↗
  • Who funds THE CHILDRENS COURSE INC ↗
  • Who funds PROVIDENCE PORTLAND MEDICAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds OUTSIDE IN ↗
  • Who funds THE CROSSROADS CAMPUS ↗
  • Who funds OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ELEVATE OREGON ↗
  • Who funds ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Habitat for Humanity of La Pine Sunriver ↗
  • Who funds WESTERN RIVERS CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds PORTLAND CENTER STAGE ↗
  • Who funds OREGON MUSIC EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds THE ULI FOUNDATION ↗

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.

Maybelle Clark Macdon…The Oregon Community …Juan Young TrustOCF Joseph E Weston P…Hillman Family Founda…Marie Lamfrom Charita…Onpoint Community Cre…The Autzen FoundationM J Murdock Charitabl…Wheeler FoundationThe Holzman FoundationRose E Tucker Charita…
Maybelle Clark Macdonald FundOR34.2× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund · The Oregon Community Foundation · Juan Young Trust · OCF Joseph E Weston Public Foundation · Hillman Family Foundations · Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Trust · Onpoint Community Credit Union · The Autzen Foundation · M J Murdock Charitable Trust · Wheeler Foundation · The Holzman Foundation · Rose E Tucker Charitable Trust

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 Bechen Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bechen Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 90%4%15%34%60%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
  • Metropolitan Family Service: 29% of income from government
  • Elevate Oregon: 28% of income from government
  • Oregon Food Bank: 21% of income from government
  • High Desert Museum: 11% of income from government
  • Providence Portland Medical Foundation: 5% of income from government
  • Smart Reading: 3% of income from government
  • Portland Art Museum: 1% of income from government
  • Portland Center Stage: 1% of income from government
  • Oregon Public Broadcasting: 1% of income from government
  • Western Rivers Conservancy: 0% of income from government
  • Oregon Symphony Association: 0% of income from government
  • Oregon Shakespeare Festival Association Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
9get no government money at all
5report 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.

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 58 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 Bechen Family’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