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Bently Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bently Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$771k
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$250k
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, FY2018 to 2024.

Environment$2.7MAnimals$2.1MArts & Culture$1.6MCommunity Improvement$1.4MHousing & Shelter$705kInternational$310kScience & Tech$284kCrime & Legal$200kOther$0
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $50k–250k7 grants · $521k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$65,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$39M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BIG LIFE FOUNDATION$250,000
Individual grant recipient$155,916
CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA$100,000
Individual grant recipient$65,000
CLASSICAL TAHOE$50,000
UNITE THE PARKS$50,000
AMAZON WATCH$50,000
AMERICAN RIVERS$50,000
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.

US giving: 71% of grant dollars ($6.8M). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 29% that went abroad ($2.8M) is mapped below.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $150k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, 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%CLASSICAL TAHOE: $50k → 10%CLASSICAL TAHOE: $50k → 10%CLASSICAL TAHOE: $50k → 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

WA
NY
OR
NV
IN
CT
CA
CO
VA
AZ
NM
DC
AL
TX

Beyond the US: 29% of all-years giving ($2.8M)

1 country, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore
United Kingdom$2.8M · 6 grants
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. International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same 990 filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain.
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 14% of Bently Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 3% of the giving stays in NV; by stated purpose, 5%.

Bently Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 41% 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.

27%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.5M · 10 repeat orgs$6.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +133% since the first grant, against +33% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
34

Total granted

$2.5M
$6.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+133%
+33%

Still filing today

80%
68%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $165k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’20’21’22’23’24
AnimalsEnvironmentArts & CultureInternationalEducationPhilanthropyOther
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

  • BL
    BIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA
    4× · 2018–2024 · $800k · revenue +133%
  • TC
    THE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE
    3× · 2018–2021 · $521k · revenue +30%
  • LW
    Lewa Wildlife Conservancy USA
    3× · 2020–2023 · $209k · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • CT
    CABRACH TRUST
    one grant, 2021 · $1.4M
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $705k
  • ST
    SAVE THE RHINO INTERNATIONAL INC
    one grant, 2020 · $500k · revenue -84% · 27% of their budget
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 Trust

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

International
2
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
3
Conservation International Foundation

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

Environment
4
Wildlife Conservation Society

The wildlife conservation society (wcs) saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature.

Animals
5
Endangered Species International

Endangered Species International is strongly committed to reversing the trend of human-induced species extinction, saving endangered animals, and preserving wild places.

Animals
6
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
7
Wildlife Alliance Inc

Wildlife alliance is the leader in direct protection of forests and wildlife in tropical asia. our mission is to combat deforestation, biodiversity loss, climate change, and poverty by partnering with local communities and governments.…

Animals
8
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.

—
9
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
10
Cascadia Wildlands

Cascadia wildlands defends and restores cacasia's wild ecosystems in the forests,in the courts, and in the streets. we envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, a stable climate, and…

Environment
11
Environment Now
—
12
Wild Earth Allies Inc

Our mission is to protect vital areas of our natural world for the benefit of wildlife, habitats, and people by inspiring collaborative action. Our vision is a world where wildlife and people flourish in healthy ecosystems that sustain us…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wildaid Inc; the most unlike its peers is Ric OBarrys Dolphin Project. 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

35 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. 35 of the 49 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
35/35
Grantees still filing
29/35
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CABRACH TRUST: $1,395,300 · OtherCABRACH TRUSTIndividual grant recipient: $704,550 · OtherIndividual grant recipientSCOTTISH SCULPTURE WORKSHOP: $351,875 · OtherSCOTTISH SCULPTURE WORKSHOPLake Tahoe Wildlife Care Inc: $250,000 · OtherLake Tahoe Wildlife Care IncIndividual grant recipient: $222,546 · OtherTHE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO: $219,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $200,000 · OtherBAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL: $160,000 · Other+14 more: $1,099,420 · Other+14 moreBIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA: $800,000 · AnimalsBIG LIFE FOUNDATION USASAVE THE RHINO INTERNATIONAL INC: $500,000 · AnimalsSAVE THE RHINO INTERNATIONAL …WILDAID INC: $329,000 · AnimalsWILDAID INCLewa Wildlife Conservancy USA: $209,437 · AnimalsLewa Wildlife Conservancy USACENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC: $200,000 · AnimalsCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSI…Asia Wild: $120,000 · AnimalsHumane World for Animals International: $100,000 · AnimalsXERCES SOCIETY INC: $100,000 · AnimalsSEE TURTLES: $100,000 · Animals+2 more: $75,000 · AnimalsTHE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE: $521,000 · EnvironmentTHE CORAL REEF …EARTHJUSTICE: $250,000 · EnvironmentEARTHJUSTICESAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $250,000 · EnvironmentSAVE THE REDWOO…UNITE THE PARKS: $108,000 · EnvironmentUNITE THE PARKSSave The Bay: $75,000 · EnvironmentSave The BayAMERICAN RIVERS INC: $50,000 · EnvironmentAmazon Watch Inc: $50,000 · Environment+1 more: $14,000 · EnvironmentSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $350,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $150,000 · Arts & CultureCHANNEL 5 PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureLINK GLOBAL: $150,000 · InternationalTHE HYGEIA FOUNDATION FOR HEALTH SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT INC: $50,000 · InternationalAuroville International USA: $10,000 · InternationalTHE CRUCIBLE: $200,000 · EducationEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $200,000 · Civil Rights
Other$4,602,691Animals$2,533,437Environment$1,318,000Arts & Culture$525,000International$210,000Education$200,000Civil Rights$200,000

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 budgetBIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA: $800,000 over 4y, 5.1% of budgetTHE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE: $521,000 over 3y, 4.9% of budgetSAVE THE RHINO INTERNATIONAL INC: $500,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $350,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWILDAID INC: $329,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetLake Tahoe Wildlife Care Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetEARTHJUSTICE: $250,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $250,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetLewa Wildlife Conservancy USA: $209,437 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetTHE CRUCIBLE: $200,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $200,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC: $200,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $200,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL: $160,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $150,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCLASSICAL TAHOE: $150,000 over 3y, 5.1% of budgetLINK GLOBAL: $150,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetAsia Wild: $120,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetUNITE THE PARKS: $108,000 over 2y, 59% of budgetHumane World for Animals International: $100,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetXERCES SOCIETY INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetSEE TURTLES: $100,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetSave The Bay: $75,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetAMERICAN RIVERS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE HYGEIA FOUNDATION FOR HEALTH SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT INC: $50,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetAmazon Watch Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetLOS ANGELES CLEANTECH INCUBATOR: $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSUGAR PINE FOUNDATION: $32,000 over 1y, 26% of budgetRic OBarrys Dolphin Project: $25,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetCHANNEL 5 PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetALPINE WATERSHED GROUP: $14,000 over 2y, 8.3% of budgetAuroville International USA: $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% 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.

Jpmorgan Chase Founda…AbbVie FoundationSilicon Valley Commun…The Bank of America C…American Endowment Fo…The Pfizer Foundation…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…National Philanthropi…Paypal Charitable Giv…Morgan Stanley Global…American Online Givin…
Jpmorgan Chase FoundationNY11.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 22%
  • Xerces Society Inc: 22% of income from government
  • See Turtles: 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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 Bently Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Bently 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 49 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Bently’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