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Golden Paws Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Golden Paws 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.

$3.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$1.3M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0180% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Education$3.3MHealth$2.1MScience & Tech$100kPublic Safety & Disaster$100kEnvironment$25kArts & Culture$25kOther$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $50k–250k3 grants · $500k
  • $250k+3 grants · $2.5M
$525,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$8.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY$1,250,000
JOHNS HOPKINS$750,000
Individual grant recipient$525,000
INOVA HEALTH FOUNDATION$200,000
THE POTOMAC SCHOOL$200,000
GEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION$100,000
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 (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 51% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 7%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT): $350k → 8%NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING: $50k → 14%GEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION: $100k → 13%WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY: $1.3M → 19%See Attached List: $957k → 6%CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL (CI): $525k → 7%MADISON COUNTY VOLUNTEER FIRE CO: $100k → 11%JOHNS HOPKINS: $750k → 19%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT): $250k → 8%NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING: $50k → 14%GEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION: $100k → 13%WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY: $100k → 19%THE POTOMAC SCHOOL: $200k → 6%CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL (CI): $500k → 7%BLUE RIDGE CENER FOR MUSIC & CREATIVE ARTS: $25k → 11%JOHNS HOPKINS: $350k → 19%MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT): $250k → 8%NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $25k → 14%GEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION: $100k → 13%THE POTOMAC SCHOOL: $200k → 6%CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL (CI): $400k → 7%JOHNS HOPKINS: $250k → 19%GEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION: $100k → 13%THE POTOMAC SCHOOL: $50k → 6%CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL (CI): $400k → 7%THE POTOMAC SCHOOL: $40k → 6%INOVA HEALTH FOUNDATION: $225k → 6%INOVA HEALTH FOUNDATION: $200k → 6%INOVA HEALTH FOUNDATION: $200k → 6%INOVA HEALTH FOUNDATION: $93k → 6%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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.4M · 8 repeat orgs$150k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against +7% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
3

Total granted

$6.4M
$150k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+7%

Still filing today

50%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthEnvironmentPublic Safety & DisasterArts & 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

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    4× · 2022–2025 · $1.8M
  • JH
    JOHNS HOPKINS
    3× · 2023–2025 · $1.4M
  • WV
    WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2024–2025 · $1.4M

Funded once

  • MC
    MADISON COUNTY VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $100k · revenue +50%
  • BR
    Blue Ridge Center for Music & Creative Arts
    one grant, 2024 · $25k · 34% of their budget
  • NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +7%
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
University of Virginia Investment Management Company

The university of virginia investment management company (uvimco) is organized to invest funds on behalf of the rector and visitors of the university of virginia (the university or uva) and university-associated organizations (uaos).

Education
2
University of Maryland Physicians Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

—
3
University of Maryland Oncology Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
4
University of Maryland Anesthesiology Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

—
5
University of Virginia Foundation

To provide administrative services to university of virginia (university) entities, university associated organizations, or other entities involved in activities which support the university. to engage in matters pertaining to real…

Education
6
University of Maryland Emergency Medicine Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
7
University of Maryland Eye Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
8
University of Maryland Neurosurgeryassociates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Education
9
University of Maryland Neurology Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

—
10
University of Maryland Pediatric Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
11
University of Maryland Surgical Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
12
Marietta College

Marietta college (mc) provides a strong foundation for a lifetime of leadership, critical thinking, and problem solving. we achieve this mission by offering undergraduates a contemporary liberal arts education and graduate students an…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Georgia Tech Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Madison County Volunteer Fire Company 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

8 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. 8 of the 12 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
5/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $1,825,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientJOHNS HOPKINS: $1,350,000 · OtherJOHNS HOPKINSWEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY: $1,350,000 · OtherWEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY+1 more: $100,000 · OtherMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $850,000 · EducationMassachusetts Institute of Te…The Potomac School: $490,000 · EducationThe Potomac SchoolGEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION INC: $400,000 · EducationGEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION INCAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $210,000 · EducationAMERICAN UNIVERSITYINOVA HEALTH SYSTEM FOUNDATION: $718,000 · HealthINOVA HEAL…MADISON COUNTY VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY INC: $100,000 · Public Safety & DisasterBlue Ridge Center for Music & Creative Arts: $25,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $25,000 · Environment
Other$4,625,000Education$1,950,000Health$718,000Public Safety & Disaster$100,000Arts & Culture$25,000Environment$25,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $850,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetINOVA HEALTH SYSTEM FOUNDATION: $718,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe Potomac School: $490,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetGEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION INC: $400,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $210,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMADISON COUNTY VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY INC: $100,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetBlue Ridge Center for Music & Creative Arts: $25,000 over 1y, 34% of budgetNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Golden Paws Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Golden Paws Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 35%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
1report 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.

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 12 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

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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