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Bedford Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bedford 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.

$31k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$93kEnvironment$78kArts & Culture$51kCommunity Improvement$15kHealth$11kPublic Safety & Disaster$5kRecreation & Sports$2kOther$0
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $6k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$555k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DIABLO REGIONAL ARTS ASSOCIATION$25,000
SANTA CATALINA FUND$5,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 45% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 9%Grand Canyon Trust: $10k → 16%LookUp: $5k → 8%Backcountry Hunters Anglers: $14k → 9%St Jude Children's Research Hospita: $10k → 7%Queen of the Valley Foundation: $1k → 9%Saint Mary's College: $25k → 9%PEPPERWOOD PRESERVE: $30k → 9%Haas Business School Fund - Fisher: $15k → 10%YOSMITE CONSERVANCY: $1k → 10%Santa Catalina School Fund: $35k → 12%KQED: $5k → 13%COUSE-SHARP HISTORIC SITE: $30k → 18%World Central Kitchen: $5k → 14%Cranbrook School: $1k → 8%Ducks Unlimited Inc: $1k → 17%Fountain Valley School: $10k → 9%Teton Valley Ranch Camp: $2k → 5%Grand Canyon Trust: $3k → 16%LookUp: $3k → 8%DIABLO REGIONAL ARTS ASSOCIATION: $25k → 9%Pepperwood Preserve: $20k → 9%Santa Catalina School Fund: $10k → 12%The Couse Foundation: $5k → 18%Fountain Valley School: $10k → 9%CC Community Chest: $3k → 8%SANTA CATALINA FUND: $5k → 12%The Couse Foundation: $3k → 18%Santa Catalina School Fund: $3k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

MT
MI
MA
WY
CA
CO
AZ
NM
TN
DC
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 11% of Bedford Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 60% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 68%.

Bedford Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.9% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

61%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$176k · 6 repeat orgs$113k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +84% since the first grant, against -6% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
11

Total granted

$176k
$82k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+84%
-6%

Still filing today

67%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $31k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentArts & CultureEducationYouth DevelopmentInternationalHealthOther
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

  • PF
    PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION
    2× · 2023–2024 · $50k · revenue +26%
  • TC
    THE COUSE FOUNDATION
    3× · 2022–2024 · $38k · revenue +84%
  • FV
    FOUNTAIN VALLEY SCHOOL OF COLORADO
    2× · 2020–2021 · $20k · revenue +93%

Funded once

  • SM
    SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue -6%
  • HB
    Haas Business School Fund - Fisher
    one grant, 2020 · $15k
  • BH
    BACKCOUNTRY HUNTERS & ANGLERS
    one grant, 2021 · $14k · revenue -24%
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
The Jmt Wilderness Conservancy

Working to restore the watersheds, wilderness, and wildlife in the high sierra nevada following the john muir trail (est. 1915) for all life in california.

Environment
2
Property and Environment Research Center

Perc is dedicated to advancing conservation through markets, incentives, property rights, and partnerships.

Public Benefit
3
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Inc

To guarantee all americans quality places to hunt and fish.

Animals
4
Conservation Farms & Ranches

Preserving and enhancing the habitat of wildlife, such as sandhill cranes, waterfowl, raptors, which habitat expenses are supported by agricultural activities.

Housing & Shelter
5
Colorado Open Lands

Colorado open lands' mission is to preserve the significant open lands and natural heritage of colorado through private and public partnerships, innovative land conservation, and strategic leadership.

Environment
6
Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources

The organization pursues higher standards of news coverage of natural resources and the environment -- standards of accuracy, fairness, balance, depth and context.

Arts & Culture
7
Klamath River Renewal Corporation

Krrc's mission is to implement the klamath hydroelectric settlement agreement by removing four hydroelectric dams on the klamath river, restoring surrounding lands, and implementing required mitigation measures. (continued on schedule o)as…

Environment
8
Greater Yellowstone Coalition

Greater yellowstone coalition works with all people to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of the greater yellowstone ecosystem, now and for future generations.

Environment
9
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

To effectively and efficiently mitigate risks to the reliability and security of the western interconnection's bulk power system.

Public Benefit
10
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
11
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
12
Sempervirens Fund

To ensure coast redwood forests in the santa cruz mountains thrive for generations to come. since 1900, sempervirens has protected more than 36,000 acres. learn more about our mission, vision, and strategic plan through 2030 at:…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Pepperwood Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Kqed Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

12 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. 12 of the 20 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
7/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Santa Catalina School Fund: $48,000 · OtherSanta Catalina School FundHaas Business School Fund - Fisher: $15,000 · OtherHaas Business School Fund - FisherSt Jude Children's Research Hospita: $10,000 · OtherSt Jude Children's Research HospitaLookUp: $7,500 · OtherLookUpSANTA CATALINA FUND: $5,000 · OtherSANTA CATALINA FUND+3 more: $4,500 · OtherPEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION: $50,000 · EnvironmentPEPPERWOOD FOUNDATIONBACKCOUNTRY HUNTERS & ANGLERS: $14,000 · EnvironmentBACKCOUNTRY HUNTERS & ANGLERSTHE GRAND CANYON TRUST INC: $12,500 · EnvironmentTHE GRAND CANYON TRUST INC+1 more: $1,000 · EnvironmentTHE COUSE FOUNDATION: $37,500 · Arts & CultureTHE COUSE FOUNDATIONDiablo Regional Arts Association: $25,000 · Arts & CultureDiablo Regional Arts Assoc…KQED INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureKQED INCSAINT MARY'S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA: $25,000 · EducationSAINT MARY'S COLL…FOUNTAIN VALLEY SCHOOL OF COLORADO: $20,000 · EducationFOUNTAIN VALLEY S…WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,000 · InternationalTHE TVRC EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 · Youth DevelopmentQUEEN OF THE VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $1,000 · Health
Other$90,000Environment$77,500Arts & Culture$67,500Education$45,000International$5,000Youth Development$2,000Health$1,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTHE COUSE FOUNDATION: $37,500 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetDiablo Regional Arts Association: $25,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetSAINT MARY'S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNTAIN VALLEY SCHOOL OF COLORADO: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBACKCOUNTRY HUNTERS & ANGLERS: $14,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE GRAND CANYON TRUST INC: $12,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetKQED INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TVRC EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetQUEEN OF THE VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDucks Unlimited Inc: $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.

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.

Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Vanguard Charitable Endowment ProgramPA8.8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Bedford Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bedford Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    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 Bedford Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Bedford Family 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 20 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 Bedford 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