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Owl Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Owl 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.

$95k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$93k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

98% of Owl Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Orange County'S United Way, 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.

Organizations named directly on the return

2
’17
3
’18
3
’19
3
’20
4
’21
4
’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$772kEnvironment$51kEducation$50kCommunity Improvement$17kArts & Culture$5kInternational$3kAnimals$2kHuman Services$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $2k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $93k
$1,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNITED WAY ORANGE COUNTY$93,000
THE LIVING DESERT ZOO AND GARDENS$1,000
CURE (CENTER URBAN RENEWAL AND EDUCATION)$1,000
LAGUNA BEACH POLICE FOUNDATION$100
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 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 94% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%CLASSICS FOR KIDS FOUNDATION: $5k → 8%ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $4k → 10%BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITIES: $2k → 11%HAWAII LAND TRUST: $500 → 9%CENTER FOR URBAN RENEWAL AND EDUCATION: $10k → 14%Tennyson Center For Children: $1k → 12%TROUT UNLIMITED: $45k → 7%HOPE AND JUSTICE PROJECT: $1k → 15%ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $4k → 10%BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITIES: $2k → 11%HAWAII LAND TRUST: $250 → 9%CENTER FOR URBAN RENEWAL AND EDUCATION: $3k → 14%TROUT UNLIMITED: $150 → 7%ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $4k → 10%BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITIES: $2k → 11%CENTER FOR URBAN RENEWAL AND EDUCATION: $3k → 14%ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $4k → 10%BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITIES: $2k → 11%CENTER FOR URBAN RENEWAL AND EDUCATION: $2k → 14%ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $3k → 10%BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITIES: $1k → 11%CURE (CENTER URBAN RENEWAL AND EDUCATION): $2k → 14%ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%THE LIVING DESERT ZOO AND GARDENS: $1k → 11%CURE (CENTER URBAN RENEWAL AND EDUCATION): $1k → 14%UNITED WAY - ORANGE COUNTY: $100k → 10%THE LIVING DESERT ZOO AND GARDENS: $1k → 11%NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%UNITED WAY ORANGE COUNTY: $95k → 10%THE LIVING DESERT: $1k → 11%UNITED WAY - ORANGE COUNTY: $95k → 10%THE LIVING DESERT: $872 → 11%UNITED WAY - ORANGE COUNTY: $94k → 10%THE LIVING DESERT: $872 → 11%UNITED WAY ORANGE COUNTY: $93k → 10%THE LIVING DESERT: $872 → 11%UNITED WAY - ORANGE COUNTY: $90k → 10%THE LIVING DESERT: $720 → 11%UNITED WAY - ORANGE COUNTY: $90k → 10%THE LIVING DESERT: $720 → 11%UNITED WAY - ORANGE COUNTY: $85k → 10%UNITED WAY - ORANGE COUNTY: $30 → 10%NORTHWOOD LITTLE LEAGUE: $1k → 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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 84% of Owl Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Owl Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

58%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$82k · 6 repeat orgs$58k to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 2 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

6
5

Total granted

$82k
$58k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
+33%

Still filing today

83%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $100 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
EnvironmentAnimalsArts & CulturePhilanthropyEducationRecreation & 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

  • TU
    TROUT UNLIMITED INC
    2× · 2022–2023 · $45k · revenue +49%
  • BG
    BIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITIES INC
    5× · 2018–2022 · $9k · revenue +18%
  • LD
    LIVING DESERT THE
    8× · 2017–2025 · $7k · revenue +84%

Funded once

  • ND
    NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue -29%
  • CF
    CLASSICS FOR KIDS FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue -71%
  • TC
    Tennyson Center For Children
    one grant, 2018 · $1k
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
Northern Jaguar Project

The mission of the northern jaguar project is to preserve and recover the world's northermost population of the jaguar, its unique natural habitat, and native wildlife under its protection as a flagship, keystone, and umbrella species.

Animals
2
National Wildlife Federation

Unite all americans to ensure wildlife thrives in a rapidly changing world.

Animals
3
National Audubon Society Inc

We work towards a future where birds thrive across the americas because audubon is a powerful, diverse, and ever-growing force for conservation. (continued on schedule o).

Environment
4
Climate Conservation Dba Center for Large Landscape Conservation

We bring science, policy, and proven solutions directly to communities working to restore the integrity and natural connectivity of the landscapes in which they live. (see schedule o)

Environment
5
Nature Collective

Nature collective's mission is to drive a passion for nature for all. we think inclusively and diversely when serving those devoid of nature those who remember nature and want to connect back to it and those who have an affinity with…

Environment
6
The Peregrine Fund Inc

To change the future for nature and humanity by conserving birds of prey worldwide.

—
7
California Trout Inc

Caltrout's mission is ensuring healthy water and resilient wild fish for a better california. we share a common vision of a california where healthy waters flow from headwaters to sea. where the diversity and resilience of our waters and…

Animals
8
Portland Trails

Over the next five years, portland trails will work to transform greater portland into a regional hub of connectivity and sustainability. by facilitating the expansion and enhancement of our trail network, we will foster inclusive…

Environment
9
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
10
Pohaku Pelemaka

Our mission is to protect, perpetuate, and enhance: the intrinsic qualities of the lower puna area, native hawaiian wellbeing, and the transmission of intergenerational knowledge and practices in partnership with county, state, government,…

Human Services
11
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
12
Property and Environment Research Center

Perc is dedicated to advancing conservation through markets, incentives, property rights, and partnerships.

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Orange County Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Classics for Kids Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

12 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. 12 of the 14 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)
12/12
Grantees still filing
7/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ORANGE COUNTY'S UNITED WAY: $741,780 · PhilanthropyORANGE COUNTY'S UNITED WAY+2 more: $30,000 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · OtherCURE (CENTER URBAN RENEWAL AND EDUCATION): $3,000 · Other+2 more: $2,476 · OtherTROUT UNLIMITED INC: $45,150 · AnimalsCENTER FOR URBAN RENEWAL & EDUCATION: $17,000 · Arts & CultureLIVING DESERT THE: $7,056 · EnvironmentHAWAIIAN ISLANDS LAND TRUST: $750 · EnvironmentCLASSICS FOR KIDS FOUNDATION: $4,600 · EducationNORTHWOOD LITTLE LEAGUE INC: $1,000 · Recreation & SportsLaguna Beach Police Foundation: $100 · Employment
Philanthropy$771,780Other$55,476Animals$45,150Arts & Culture$17,000Environment$7,806Education$4,600Recreation & Sports$1,000Employment$100

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 budgetORANGE COUNTY'S UNITED WAY: $741,780 over 9y, 0.6% of budgetNATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetTROUT UNLIMITED INC: $45,150 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $21,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR URBAN RENEWAL & EDUCATION: $17,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetBIGHORN GOLF CLUB CHARITIES INC: $9,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetLIVING DESERT THE: $7,056 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCLASSICS FOR KIDS FOUNDATION: $4,600 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetHOPE AND JUSTICE PROJECT INC: $1,226 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHAWAIIAN ISLANDS LAND TRUST: $750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLaguna Beach Police Foundation: $100 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO6.2× affinity5 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get 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
    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 14 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 Owl’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