Skip to content
Firehole Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Firehole Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$180k
Granted FY2025still arriving
22
Grants FY2025still arriving
13
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$266kPublic Benefit$51kHealth$44kScience & Tech$35kPublic Safety & Disaster$32kRecreation & Sports$32kInternational$29kHousing & Shelter$25kOther$0
02FY2025 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k16 grants · $26k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $104k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$2,000
Median grant
13
States reached
$3.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CARDIGAIN MOUNTAIN SCHOOL$50,000
COLUMBIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL$38,380
STANFORD UNIVERSITY HOOVER INSTITUT$25,000
BAPTIST HEALTH SOUTH FLORIDA FOUNDA$20,000
KAPPA DELTA FOUNDATION$11,000
CENTRAL MO HUMANE SOCIETY$10,000
COPA SAFETY AND EDUCATION FOUNDATIO$5,000
EMPOWERS AFRICA$5,000
FOOD BANK FOR CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST$2,341
COLBY FUND$2,300
GREATER PITTSBURGH FOOD BANK$2,000
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH$2,000
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY$2,000
NORTHWEST FILM FORUM$1,000
TRYPS CHILDRENS THEATER$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 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 43% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%Stanford University Hoover Institut: $25k → 8%AUTISM SPEAKS: $2k → 17%FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE MIAMI: $5k → 15%COLUMBIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL: $38k → 17%GENERATION SOS: $5k → 9%KAPPA DELTA FOUNDATION: $11k → 17%COPA SAFETY AND EDUCATION FOUNDATIO: $5k → 16%AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: $2k → 13%BALL STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $2k → 19%UNIVERSITY SCHOOL: $2k → 17%COPA SAFETY AND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDAT: $2k → 8%COLBY COLLEGE: $2k → 12%COLBY FUND: $2k → 13%GREATER PITTSBURGH FOOD BANK: $2k → 11%STANFORD UNIVERSITY HOOVER INSTITUT: $25k → 8%COLUMBIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL: $22k → 17%KAPPA DELTA FOUNDATION: $5k → 17%Second Amendment Foundation: $2k → 9%WILDLIFE HERITAGE FOUNDATION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: $3k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $2k → 11%HOOVER INSTITUTION: $10k → 8%COLUMBIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL: $15k → 17%TOWN OF LYME: $50k → 10%STANFORD UNIVERSITY HOOVER INSTITUT: $10k → 8%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADO: $5k → 17%CENTRAL MO HUMANE SOCIETY: $10k → 17%TOWN OF LYME NH: $15k → 10%EMPOWERS AFRICA: $9k → 17%BREAKTHROUGH MIAMI: $3k → 15%COLUMBIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL: $10k → 17%HOLDERNESS SCHOOL: $10k → 10%EMPOWERS AFRICA: $5k → 17%BREAKTHROUGH MIAMI: $3k → 15%FOOD BANK FOR CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST: $2k → 17%LYME (NH) HISTORIANS: $3k → 10%EMPOWERS AFRICA: $5k → 17%HOLDERNESS SCHOOL: $5k → 10%EMPOWERS AFRICA: $5k → 17%BAPTIST HEALTH SOUTH FLORIDA FOUNDA: $20k → 15%TOWN OF HANOVER NH: $24k → 10%CARDIGAN MOUNTAIN SCHOOL: $50k → 10%CARDIGAIN MOUNTAIN SCHOOL: $50k → 10%CARE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: $4k → 15%VISIONS FOR CREATIVE HOUSING: $25k → 10%CARE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: $3k → 15%CARDIGAN MOUNTAIN SCHOOL: $5k → 10%DOLPHIN CANCER CHALLENGE: $5k → 15%BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS MIAMI: $2k → 15%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

ME
VT
NH
WA
IL
NY
MA
OR
WY
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
MO
MD
AZ
TN
NC
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.

61%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$354k · 24 repeat orgs$228k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

24 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
61

Total granted

$354k
$183k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+13%

Still filing today

67%
49%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $45k 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
EducationHealthArts & CulturePhilanthropyAnimalsPublic Safety & DisasterOther
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

  • CM
    CARDIGAN MOUNTAIN SCHOOL
    3× · 2023–2025 · $105k · revenue +69%
  • EA
    EMPOWERS AFRICA INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $24k · revenue +290%
  • HS
    HOLDERNESS SCHOOL
    2× · 2022–2023 · $15k · revenue +4%

Funded once

  • TO
    TOWN OF LYME-FIRE STATION
    one grant, 2020 · $50k
  • VF
    VISIONS FOR CREATIVE HOUSING SOLUTIONSgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +134%
  • TO
    TOWN OF HANOVER NH
    one grant, 2017 · $24k
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
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
3
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
4
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
5
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
6
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
7
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
8
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
9
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
10
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
11
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
12
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Breakthrough Miami Inc; the most unlike its peers is St Stephens Anglican Church. 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

58 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. 58 of the 100 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)
57/58
Grantees still filing
37/58
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CARDIGAN MOUNTAIN SCHOOL: $105,000 · EducationCARDIGAN MOUNTAIN SCHOOLCOLUMBIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL INC: $87,763 · EducationCOLUMBIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL INCKAPPA DELTA FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $16,000 · EducationKAPPA DELTA FOUNDATION INCORPORATEDHOLDERNESS SCHOOL: $15,000 · EducationHOLDERNESS SCHOOLTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $10,000 · Education+12 more: $33,750 · Education+12 moreStanford University Hoover Institut: $60,000 · OtherStanford University Hoover InstitutTOWN OF LYME-FIRE STATION: $50,000 · OtherTOWN OF LYME-FIRE STATIONTOWN OF HANOVER NH: $23,847 · OtherTOWN OF HANOVER NHTOWN OF LYME NH: $15,179 · OtherTOWN OF LYME NH+60 more: $68,135 · Other+60 moreBaptist Health South Florida Foundation Inc: $20,000 · HealthYoung Leadership Addiction Awareness Inc: $5,000 · HealthAUTISM SPEAKS INC: $3,250 · HealthAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $2,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $1,200 · Health+6 more: $3,500 · HealthEMPOWERS AFRICA INC: $23,671 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $5,000 · InternationalVISIONS FOR CREATIVE HOUSING SOLUTIONS: $25,000 · Housing & ShelterCENTRAL MISSOURI HUMANE SOCIETY: $10,000 · AnimalsWildlife Heritage Foundation of New Hampshire: $2,500 · AnimalsNEW HAMPSHIRE WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $500 · AnimalsCopa Safety & Education Foundation: $6,000 · Public Safety & DisasterTHE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $425 · Public Safety & Disaster
Education$267,513Other$217,161Health$34,950International$28,671Housing & Shelter$25,000Animals$13,000Public Safety & Disaster$6,425

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 budgetCARDIGAN MOUNTAIN SCHOOL: $105,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCOLUMBIA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL INC: $87,763 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetVISIONS FOR CREATIVE HOUSING SOLUTIONS: $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetEMPOWERS AFRICA INC: $23,671 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetBaptist Health South Florida Foundation Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKAPPA DELTA FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $16,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHOLDERNESS SCHOOL: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH MIAMI INC: $8,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCARE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCopa Safety & Education Foundation: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetYoung Leadership Addiction Awareness Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY SCHOOL: $5,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAUTISM SPEAKS INC: $3,250 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBall State University Foundation Inc: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe President and Trustees of Colby College: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUPPER VALLEY TRAILS ALLIANCE: $3,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetLYME HISTORIANS INC: $2,500 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetWildlife Heritage Foundation of New Hampshire: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER PITTSBURGH COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION: $1,690 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $1,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE COMMODORE TRAIL INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPITTSBURGH PARKS CONSERVANCY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DEERING ESTATE FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRANSOM EVERGLADES SCHOOL INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAdvocates for Children of New York: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDOLPHINS CYCLING CHALLENGE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEmory University: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMIKEROWEWORKS FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHWEST FILM FORUM: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOONE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $700 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUPPER VALLEY HAVEN: $590 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MISSOURI SYMPHONY: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPOSITIVE TRACKS INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHEAST VIPASSANA ASSOCIATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHEATER REACHING YOUNG PEOPLE & SCHOOLS: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTURNING POINT USA INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALS THERAPY DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCORAL GABLES COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital: $500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $425 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.

New Hampshire Charita…Dunspaugh Dalton Foun…The Miami Foundation …Mightycause Charitabl…Assurant FoundationUnited Way Miami IncThe Kirk FoundationCyril F & Marie O'Nei…The Couch Family Foun…The Batchelor Foundat…Veterans United Found…Gulf Coast Community …
New Hampshire Charitable FoundationNH17.8× affinity7 shared granteesties to 7 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: New Hampshire Charitable Foundation · Dunspaugh Dalton Foundation Inc · The Miami Foundation Inc · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Assurant Foundation · United Way Miami Inc · The Kirk Foundation · Cyril F & Marie O'Neil Foundation · The Couch Family Foundation · The Batchelor Foundation Inc · Veterans United Foundation · Gulf Coast Community 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 Firehole Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Firehole Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 8%
  • Upper Valley Haven: 38% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Care Elementary School Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Als Therapy Development Foundation Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Upper Valley Trails Alliance: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
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 Firehole Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Firehole 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 100 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 Firehole’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