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Blackberry Creek Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Blackberry Creek 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.

$336k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$150k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0185% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Food & Nutrition$546kHousing & Shelter$178kCommunity Improvement$166kEducation$130kHealth$85kYouth Development$85kArts & Culture$76kInternational$55kOther$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k5 grants · $21k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $115k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $200k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$6.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ALAMEDA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK$150,000
BIKE EAST BAY$50,000
CYCLES OF CHANGE$25,000
CALIFORNIA MOBILITY FUND$10,000
CALIFORNIA HOUSING DEFENSE FUND$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
WALK OAKLAND BIKE OAKLAND$10,000
SMITH COLLEGE$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
BERKELEY PUBLIC SCHOOLS FUND$10,000
BERKELEY HIGH SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT FUND$10,000
URBAN TILTH$5,000
WATERSIDE WORKSHOPS$5,000
GROUNDWORK RICHMOND$5,000
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 (FY21–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 33% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SMITH COLLEGE: $10k → 12%RICH CITY RIDES: $10k → 9%BIKE EAST BAY: $50k → 10%GREENBELT ALLIANCE: $10k → 10%CALIFORNIA YIMBY EDUCATION FUND: $10k → 12%CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: $10k → 17%MIDWEST ACCESS COALITION: $10k → 14%SMITH COLLEGE: $10k → 12%RICH CITY RIDES: $10k → 9%BIKE EAST BAY: $35k → 10%GREENBELT ALLIANCE: $10k → 10%CALIFORNIA MOBILITY FUND: $10k → 12%RAZOM FOR UKRAINE: $50k → 17%CHICAGO ABORTION FUND: $10k → 14%SMITH COLLEGE: $10k → 12%RICH CITY RIDES: $10k → 9%BIKE EAST BAY: $15k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY CLINIC CONSORTIUM: $10k → 10%CALIFORNIA BICYCLE COALITION EDUCATION FUND: $10k → 12%SMILE TRAIN: $25k → 17%SMITH COLLEGE: $10k → 12%BIKE EAST BAY: $10k → 10%CALIFORNIA YIMBY EDUCATION FUND: $10k → 12%SMITH COLLEGE: $10k → 12%CALIFORNIA BICYCLE COALITION EDUCATION FUND: $10k → 12%CALIFORNIA YIMBY EDUCATION FUND: $10k → 12%CALIFORNIA BICYCLE COALITION EDUCATION FUND: $10k → 12%CALIFORNIA YIMBY EDUCATION FUND: $10k → 12%CALIFORNIA MOBILITY FUND: $10k → 12%CYCLES OF CHANGE: $25k → 10%CYCLES OF CHANGE: $25k → 10%CYCLES OF CHANGE: $15k → 10%CYCLES OF CHANGE: $10k → 10%WALK BIKE BERKELEY: $10k → 10%WALK BIKE BERKELEY: $10k → 10%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY EAST BAYSILICON VALLEY: $50k → 10%WALK BIKE BERKELEY: $10k → 10%CALIFORNIA HOUSING DEFENSE FUND: $10k → 10%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY EAST BAY: $25k → 10%WALK BIKE BERKELEY: $10k → 10%CALIFORNIA RENTERS LEGAL ADVOCACY & EDUCATION FUND: $10k → 10%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY EAST BAY: $20k → 10%CALIFORNIA HOUSING DEFENSE FUND: $10k → 10%TRANSFORM: $10k → 10%CALIFORNIA HOUSING DEFENSE FUND: $10k → 10%WALK OAKLAND BIKE OAKLAND: $10k → 10%WALK OAKLAND BIKE OAKLAND: $10k → 10%BERKELEY PUBLIC SCHOOLS FUND: $10k → 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.
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.3M · 20 repeat orgs$206k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +24% since the first grant, against -1% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
17

Total granted

$1.3M
$201k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+24%
-1%

Still filing today

80%
88%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

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

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

’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEnvironmentCivil RightsHousing & ShelterEducationRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • ALAMEDA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK
    5× · 2021–2025 · $525k · revenue +2%
  • EB
    East Bay Bicycle Coalition DBA Bike East Bay
    5× · 2021–2025 · $113k · revenue +32%
  • CO
    CYCLES OF CHANGE
    5× · 2021–2025 · $80k · revenue +18%

Funded once

  • PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +26%
  • RAZOM INC
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue -65%
  • SMILE TRAIN INC
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +2%
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
California Bicycle Coalition

The mission of the California Bicycle Coalition is to advocate for equitable, inclusive, and prosperous communities where bicycling helps to enable all Californians to lead healthy and joyful lives.

—
2
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

The mission of San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is to transform San Francisco's streets and neighborhoods into more livable and safe places by promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation.

Environment
3
Transportation Alternatives for Marin
Public Benefit
4
350 Bay Area Action

Mission: We are building a grassroots climate movement in the Bay Area and beyond to eliminate carbon pollution and achieve a clean energy future with racial, economic, and environmental justice. Our vision is that all who live in the Bay…

Environment
5
San Francisco Housing Action Coalition

Promote public understanding of policies supporting the creation of well-designed, well-located housing at all levels of affordability for residents of the Bay Area, California.

Housing & Shelter
6
California Yimby

To empower Californians with the knowledge and tools to advocate for more housing and make our state affordable and accessible for everyone.

Housing & Shelter
7
350 Bay Area

We are building a grassroots climate movement in the Bay Area and beyond to eliminate carbon pollution and achieve a clean energy future with racial, economic, and environmental justice.

Environment
8
Acterra Action for a Healthy Planet

To bring people together to create local solutions for a healthy planet.

Environment
9
Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition

To build healthier and more just communities by making bicycling safe and accessible for everyone. We envision a community that values, includes, and encourages bicycling for all purposes for all people. Our overarching goal is to increase…

Recreation & Sports
10
Biketopia

We work to make bicycles accessible to everyone in the East Bay community. We provide bike education affordable repairs and refurbished bikes.

Education
11
Oakland Community Land Trust

Combating community deterioration and expanding housing and economic opportunities for low and moderate income residents; promoting neighborhood stability and community involvement through permanently affordable homeownership and equity…

Housing & Shelter
12
Impact Oakland Now
Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greenbelt Alliancepeople for Open Space; the most unlike its peers is Ukraine House Dc Foundation 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

32 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. 32 of the 38 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
32/32
Grantees still filing
20/32
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ALAMEDA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: $525,000 · OtherALAMEDA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOOD BANKEast Bay Bicycle Coalition DBA Bike East Bay: $112,500 · OtherEast Bay Bicycle Coalition DBA Bike East BayIndividual grant recipient: $46,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $37,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $35,000 · OtherRAZOM INC: $50,000 · Other+15 more: $160,000 · Other+15 moreHABITAT FOR HUMANITY EAST BAY SILICON VALLEY: $95,000 · Housing & ShelterHABITAT FO…California YIMBY Education Fund: $40,000 · Housing & ShelterCalifornia…+1 more: $2,500 · Housing & ShelterTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $50,000 · EducationTHE TRUST…Berkeley High School Development Group: $40,000 · EducationBerkeley …Berkeley Public Schools Fund: $40,000 · EducationBerkeley …California Mobility Fund: $50,000 · Arts & CultureAlameda Post Inc: $16,136 · Arts & CultureBERKELEY CITY CLUB CONSERVANCY: $10,000 · Arts & CultureUKRAINE HOUSE DC FOUNDATION INC: $5,176 · Arts & CultureWATERSIDE WORKSHOPS: $5,000 · Arts & CultureCYCLES OF CHANGE: $80,000 · Youth DevelopmentCalifornia Housing Defense Fund: $40,000 · Civil RightsMIDWEST ACCESS COALITION: $10,000 · Civil RightsYellowhammer Fund: $10,000 · Civil RightsTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $10,000 · Civil RightsPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $50,000 · Health
Other$965,500Housing & Shelter$137,500Education$130,000Arts & Culture$86,312Youth Development$80,000Civil Rights$70,000Health$50,000

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 budgetALAMEDA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: $525,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetEast Bay Bicycle Coalition DBA Bike East Bay: $112,500 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY EAST BAY SILICON VALLEY: $95,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCYCLES OF CHANGE: $80,000 over 5y, 3.4% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCalifornia Mobility Fund: $50,000 over 5y, 2.2% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRAZOM INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCalifornia Housing Defense Fund: $40,000 over 4y, 3.0% of budgetBerkeley High School Development Group: $40,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetCalifornia YIMBY Education Fund: $40,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetBerkeley Public Schools Fund: $40,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetWalk Oakland Bike Oakland: $27,500 over 5y, 17% of budgetGroundwork Richmond Inc: $25,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetSMILE TRAIN INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUrban Tilth: $20,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetGREENBELT ALLIANCEPEOPLE FOR OPEN SPACE: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetAlameda Post Inc: $16,136 over 4y, 4.7% of budgetCHICAGO ABORTION FUND: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSan Francisco Community Clinic Consortium: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMIDWEST ACCESS COALITION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetYellowhammer Fund: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTransformca dba Transform: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBERKELEY CITY CLUB CONSERVANCY: $10,000 over 2y, 9.4% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUKRAINE HOUSE DC FOUNDATION INC: $5,176 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJohn Muir Land Trust prev Muir Heritage Land Trust: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRebuilding Together East Bay Network: $2,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBERKELEY PARTNERS FOR PARKS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetFLORECIENDO: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPlanting Justice: $500 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.

The San Francisco Fou…East Bay Community Fo…ImpactassetsincKaiser Foundation Hos…Silicon Valley Commun…The Yelp FoundationClif Family FoundationThe California Endowm…Jewish Community Fede…The Abeles FoundationMighty Arrow Family F…Rails to Trails Conse…
The San Francisco FoundationCA28.3× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Yelp Foundation · Clif Family Foundation · The California Endowment · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · The Abeles Foundation · Mighty Arrow Family Foundation · Rails to Trails Conservancy

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • The Trustees of the Smith College: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
9report 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.

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 38 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 Blackberry Creek’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