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El Roble Azul Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

El Roble Azul 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.

$1.4M
Granted FY2018
21
Grants FY2018
13
States reached
$417k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

98% of El Roble Azul Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 2 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2018, the last year El Roble Azul Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 14 organizations, $1M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

1
’17
14
’18
7
’19
1
’20
1
’21
2
’22
3
’23
2
’24
2
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$7.1MScience & Tech$368kPublic Benefit$291kEducation$236kSocial Science$183kEnvironment$60kHealth$20kCommunity Improvement$7kOther$0
02FY2018 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2018

  • Under $10k10 grants · $27k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $40k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $551k
  • $250k+2 grants · $755k
$10,000
Median grant
13
States reached
$16M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FRIENDS OF UFM INC$417,400
ATLAS NETWORK$337,340
STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY$233,000
FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION$163,750
REASON FOUNDATION$53,800
FOUNDATION FOR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY$50,000
GUANACASTE DRY FOREST CONSERV FD$50,000
CATO INSTITUTE$10,345
PROPERTY ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CENTE$10,000
NEVADA POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE$10,000
INTL WALDENSTROMS MACROGIOBULINEMIA FDN$10,000
BRAIN & BEHAVIOR RESEARCH FDTN$7,500
HEARTLAND INSTITUTE$5,000
INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE$5,000
THE ATLAS SOCIETY$2,500
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 8%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 10% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%ARIZONA ANIMAL WELFARE LEAGUE INC: $1k → 11%PROPERTY ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CENTE: $10k → 10%INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE: $5k → 10%REASON FOUNDATION: $69k → 14%BRAIN & BEHAVIOR RESEARCH FDTN: $8k → 17%THE ATLAS SOCIETY: $3k → 16%ATLAS NETWORK: $337k → 14%INTL WALDENSTROMS MACROGIOBULINEMIA FDN: $10k → 9%FOUNDATION FOR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY: $50k → 10%BOGLEHEADS CENTER FOR FINANICAL LIT: $650 → 12%FRIENDS OF UFM INC: $6k → 15%ASSOC OF PRIVATE ENTERPRISE EDUCATION: $499 → 12%VANGUARD CHARITABLE: $1.4M → 7%FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION: $164k → 13%HEARTLAND INSTITUTE: $5k → 14%FRIENDS OF UFM INC: $417k → 6%ATLAS NETWORK: $25k → 7%GUIDESTAR: $750 → 7%SPCA OF NORTHERN NEVADA: $1k → 10%NEVADA POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $10k → 13%GUANACASTE DRY FOREST CONSERV FD: $50k → 10%GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: $1k → 11%REASON FOUNDATION: $65k → 14%ATLAS SOCIETY: $700 → 16%COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: $4k → 14%VANGUARD CHARITABLE: $1.3M → 7%FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION: $658 → 13%FRIENDS OF UFM INC: $11k → 6%ATLAS NETWORK: $6k → 7%REASON FOUNDATION: $54k → 14%REASON FOUNDATION: $3k → 14%VANGUARD CHARITABLE: $1.0M → 7%STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY: $233k → 7%REASON FOUNDATION: $8k → 14%MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE: $2k → 14%VANGUARD CHARITABLE: $973k → 7%REASON FOUNDATION: $7k → 14%REASON FOUNDATION: $3k → 14%VANGUARD CHARITABLE: $754k → 7%COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: $2k → 14%VANGUARD CHARITABLE: $573k → 7%FUND FOR AMERICAN STUDIES: $2k → 14%VANGUARD CHARITABLE: $475k → 7%COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: $2k → 14%CATO INSTITUTE: $10k → 14%CATO INSTITUTE: $10k → 14%CATO INSTITUTE: $4k → 14%CATO INSTITUTE: $3k → 14%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

VT
MT
IL
NY
NV
OH
RI
CA
VA
MD
AZ
TN
DC
GA
TX
FL
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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 7 repeat orgs$391k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +71% since the first grant, against +64% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2018, 1 since wound down; 19 grantees were first funded in FY2018 (too recent to call). Read against FY2018, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
19

Total granted

$1.2M
$391k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+71%
+64%

Still filing today

86%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
Public BenefitEducationPhilanthropySocial ScienceHealthArts & 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

  • FO
    FRIENDS OF UFM INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $434k · revenue +12%
  • TR
    THE REASON FOUNDATION
    7× · 2018–2025 · $209k · revenue +89%
  • FF
    Foundation for Economic Education Inc
    2× · 2018–2019 · $164k · revenue +29%

Funded once

  • SF
    STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $233k · revenue +46%
  • GD
    GUANACASTE DRY FOREST CONSERV FD
    one grant, 2018 · $50k
  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $50k · revenue +57%
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
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
2
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
3
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
4
Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics

The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…

Social Science
5
Independence Institute

The mission of independence institute is to empower individuals and to educate citizens,legislators and opinion makers about public policies that enhance personal and economic freedom.

Public Benefit
6
Federation for American Immigration Reform

The federation for american immigration reform's (fair) mission is to educate the public about the economic, sociological, environmental, demographic and other effects of mass immigration to the united states.

International
7
The Libertarian Institute

Disseminate information and education about pertinent economic, social and governmental topics, via print, web and other media to educate the public about the principles of LIbertarianism.

Education
8
R Street Institute

The r street institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public-policy research organization ("think tank"). our mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government. (continued on…

Education
9
Frontiers of Freedom Institute

To educate the public on constitutional issues and public policy matters. We are dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, peace through strength, limited government, free enterprise, and the values embodied in the Declaration of…

Public Benefit
10
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Inc

The manhattan institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in america and its great cities.

Public Benefit
11
Council On Foreign Relations Inc

The council on foreign relations (cfr) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and…

International
12
Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies Inc

The phoenix center was established in 1998 with a mission to provide independent assessments of the economic and material implications of regulatory and economic policy in the u.s. and abroad. to achieve this goal, the center supports…

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Foundation for Government Accountability Inc; the most unlike its peers is Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Northern Nv. 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

20 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. 20 of the 28 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/20
Grantees still filing
18/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM: $6,444,014 · PhilanthropyVANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAMFRIENDS OF UFM INC: $433,870 · PhilanthropyFRIENDS OF UFM INCATLAS NETWORK: $367,580 · OtherGUANACASTE DRY FOREST CONSERV FD: $50,000 · Other+14 more: $42,099 · OtherSTUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INC: $233,000 · EducationTHE REASON FOUNDATION: $208,550 · EducationFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $194,700 · Community ImprovementFoundation for Economic Education Inc: $164,408 · Social ScienceFOUNDATION FOR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY INC: $50,000 · Public BenefitCATO INSTITUTE: $26,645 · Public BenefitPROPERTY AND ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CENTER: $10,000 · Public BenefitTHE HEARTLAND INSTITUTE: $5,000 · Public Benefit+1 more: $1,000 · Public BenefitTHE INTERNATIONAL WALDENSTROM'S MACROGLOBULINEMIA FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · Health
Philanthropy$6,877,884Other$459,679Education$441,550Community Improvement$194,700Social Science$164,408Public Benefit$92,645Health$10,000

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 budgetVANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM: $6,444,014 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF UFM INC: $433,870 over 3y, 20% of budgetSTUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INC: $233,000 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetTHE REASON FOUNDATION: $208,550 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $194,700 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFoundation for Economic Education Inc: $164,408 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE: $26,645 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNEVADA POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetPROPERTY AND ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE INTERNATIONAL WALDENSTROM'S MACROGLOBULINEMIA FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCOMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: $6,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ATLAS SOCIETY LTD: $3,200 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE FUND FOR AMERICAN STUDIES: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS OF NORTHERN NV: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNutritionfactsorg Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ARIZONA ANIMAL WELFARE LEAGUE: $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.

Donors Trust IncShell USA Company Fou…The Chase Foundation …The Dunn FoundationAtlas Economic Resear…Charles Koch InstituteCharles Koch Foundati…Morgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…
Donors Trust IncVA17.5× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donors Trust Inc · Shell USA Company Foundation · The Chase Foundation of Virginia · The Dunn Foundation · Atlas Economic Research Foundation · Charles Koch Institute · Charles Koch Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 El Roble Azul Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from El Roble Azul Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 El Roble Azul Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to El Roble Azul 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 28 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 2018, released 2018. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on El Roble Azul’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