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Lark Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Lark Foundation

Its FY2020 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$31k
Granted FY2020
2
Grants FY2020
1
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2020.

International$105kHealth$100kEnvironment$48kFood & Nutrition$45kEducation$33kHousing & Shelter$33kPublic Safety & Disaster$23kRecreation & Sports$10kOther$0
02FY2020 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2020

  • Under $10k1 grant · $6k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOSPICE MAUI$25,000
Individual grant recipient$5,929
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–20, $123k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 18% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%HOSPICE MAUI: $25k → 9%HOSPICE MAUI: $25k → 9%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $13k → 14%HOSPICE MAUI: $25k → 9%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $10k → 14%HOSPICE MAUI: $25k → 9%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

MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
CO
VA
MD
AR
DC
HI
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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$360k · 9 repeat orgs$66k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +84% since the first grant, against +78% for those funded once.

9 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2020, 8 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
7

Total granted

$360k
$60k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+84%
+78%

Still filing today

78%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20
InternationalHuman ServicesEnvironmentFood & NutritionEducationOther
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

  • HM
    HOSPICE MAUI INC
    4× · 2017–2020 · $100k · revenue +112%
  • Feeding America
    3× · 2017–2019 · $45k · revenue +84%
  • MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $45k · revenue +98%

Funded once

  • CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +120%
  • BO
    BUCKETS OF RAIN
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue -62%
  • RT
    RAINFOREST TRUSTgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +78%
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 Alliance Holding Inc

RA works at the intersection of business, agriculture & forests to improve lives & protect nature by transforming how land is used, production of goods & consumer choices.

Environment
2
Floresta Usa Incorporated

Plant with purpose, a christian nonprofit organization, reverses deforestation and poverty around the world by transforming the lives of the rural poor. we do this through: - watershed restoration & regenerative agriculture - savings…

International
3
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
4
Rights and Resources Institute Inc

Rri's mission is to support local communities and indigenous peoples' struggles against poverty and marginalization by promoting greater global commitment and action towards policy, market, and legal reforms that secure their rights to…

Environment
5
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
6
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

The mission of the global alliance for improved nutrition (gain) is to improve the consumption of healthier diets for all, especially the most vulnerable, by improving the availability, affordability, desirability, and sustainability of…

Food & Nutrition
7
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
8
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
9
Charity Global Inc

Charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe water to people around the world. continued on schedule o.

Human Services
10
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
11
World Cocoa Foundation Inc
—
12
Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy

Iatp works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems.

Food & Nutrition
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Rainforest Trust; the most unlike its peers is Buckets of Rain. 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

11 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. 11 of the 17 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/11
Grantees still filing
10/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HOSPICE MAUI INC: $100,000 · Human ServicesHOSPICE MAUI INCAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $22,500 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & It…KA HALE A KE OLA HOMELESS: $32,500 · OtherKA HALE A KE OLA HOMELESSHEIFER INTERNATIONAL: $30,000 · OtherHEIFER INTERNATIONALRAINFOREST ALLIANCE INC: $22,500 · OtherRAINFOREST ALLIANCE INCCAMP KESEM UNIV OF CO: $10,000 · OtherCAMP KESEM UNIV OF COIndividual grant recipient: $9,955 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $5,929 · OtherALL HANDS HEARTS SMART RESCUE: $5,000 · OtherMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $45,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES …International Rescue Committee INC: $30,000 · InternationalInternational Rescue Comm…BUCKETS OF RAIN: $10,000 · InternationalBUCKETS OF RAINRAINFOREST TRUST: $10,000 · InternationalRAINFOREST TRUSTFeeding America: $45,000 · Food & NutritionFeeding Ame…PROLITERACY WORLDWIDE: $32,500 · EducationCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $5,000 · Environment
Human Services$122,500Other$115,884International$95,000Food & Nutrition$45,000Education$32,500Environment$15,000

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 budgetHOSPICE MAUI INC: $100,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetFeeding America: $45,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $45,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPROLITERACY WORLDWIDE: $32,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRAINFOREST ALLIANCE INC: $22,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $22,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBUCKETS OF RAIN: $10,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetRAINFOREST TRUST: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $5,000 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    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 Lark Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Lark 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 17 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 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Lark’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