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Pony Barnes Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Pony Barnes 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.

$4.7M
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$2.5M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$2.5MAnimals$1.5MRecreation & Sports$765kHuman Services$41kCivil Rights$40kYouth Development$23kPhilanthropy$16kInternational$10k
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,500,025
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Tower Foundation of San Jose Un$2,481,364
Jane Goodall Institute$1,500,025
American Camping Association Inc$694,695
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 (FY22–23, $54k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 56% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Camps in Common: $13k → 10%Camp Ocean Pines: $15k → 12%YMCA OF METROPOLITAN LOS ANGELES: $15k → 14%Camps in Common: $12k → 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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

2%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$93k · 3 repeat orgs$4.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +116% since the first grant, against -38% for those funded once.

3 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
9

Total granted

$93k
$100k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+116%
-38%

Still filing today

67%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.7M went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’25
Human ServicesCivil RightsAnimalsReligionInternationalPhilanthropyOther
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
    2× · 2022–2023 · $38k
  • TJ
    TAWONGA JEWISH COMMUNITY CORPORATION
    2× · 2022–2023 · $31k · revenue +1%
  • CI
    Camps in Common
    2× · 2022–2023 · $24k · revenue +116%

Funded once

  • CO
    CAMP OCEAN PINES INC
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue +22%
  • YM
    Young Men's Christian Association of Metropolitan Los Angelesgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue +80%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF CAMP NATOMA INC
    one grant, 2022 · $14k · revenue -38%
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
Fantasy Camps for Kids
Recreation & Sports
2
Inclusion Revolution Inc a California Nonprofit Corporation

Camp Revolution provides a safe, fun and motivational overnight outdoor camping experience for differently-abled teens and adults. Our goal is to empower each camper with confidence, boost self-esteem, experience outdoor adventures and…

Human Services
3
LandPaths

LandPaths' mission is to foster a love of the land in Sonoma County. LandPaths creates ways for people to experience the beauty, understand the value, and assist in healing the land in their local communities.

Environment
4
The Camp-Legends Inc
—
5
Camp Nakanawa

Empowering young women to have a lasting positive impact on society by strengthening their confidence, independence, and companionship for others.

Recreation & Sports
6
Camp Ten Trees

Camp Ten Trees was one of the first of its kind in the world and still offers the Pacific Northwest's only residential summer camp programming for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and their allies…

Recreation & Sports
7
The Camp At Sunshine Farm
Philanthropy
8
Camp Debbie Lou
—
9
Camp Kaleidoscope

Camp Kaleidoscope, with offices on the Stanford University campus, trains student leaders to support San Francisco Bay Area children who have or had a parent with cancer. Through a free, week-long overnight camp and year-round programming,…

Human Services
10
Discovery Camps Inc
Youth Development
11
The Campfire Foundation
Youth Development
12
Star Lake Camp

Star Lake Wilderness Camp provides an outdoor education, recreation and living experience where youth can unplug and grow in their physical, social and mental health. We intentionally welcome youth who are traditionally underserved, have…

Recreation & Sports
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Tawonga Jewish Community Corporation; the most unlike its peers is Laurel Foundation. 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

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 16 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)
11/12
Grantees still filing
6/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

The Tower Foundation of San Jose Un: $2,481,364 · OtherThe Tower Foundation of San Jose UnAMERICAN CAMPING ASSOCIATION INC: $694,695 · OtherAMERICAN CAMPING ASSOCIATION INC+3 more: $52,500 · OtherJANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION: $1,500,025 · AnimalsJANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIF…Camps in Common: $24,000 · Human ServicesCAMP OCEAN PINES INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesYoung Men's Christian Association of Metropolitan Los Angeles: $15,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF CAMP NATOMA INC: $14,000 · Human ServicesTAWONGA JEWISH COMMUNITY CORPORATION: $31,000 · ReligionCAMP IT UP INC: $12,000 · Civil RightsBrave Trails: $10,000 · Civil RightsLAUREL FOUNDATION: $8,500 · PhilanthropyInland Empire Community Foundation: $7,743 · PhilanthropyCAMP LIGHTBULB INCORPORATED: $10,000 · International
Other$3,228,559Animals$1,500,025Human Services$68,000Religion$31,000Civil Rights$22,000Philanthropy$16,243International$10,000

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 budgetAMERICAN CAMPING ASSOCIATION INC: $694,695 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetTAWONGA JEWISH COMMUNITY CORPORATION: $31,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCamps in Common: $24,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetCAMP OCEAN PINES INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetYoung Men's Christian Association of Metropolitan Los Angeles: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF CAMP NATOMA INC: $14,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetCAMP IT UP INC: $12,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetBrave Trails: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCAMP LIGHTBULB INCORPORATED: $10,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetInland Empire Community Foundation: $7,743 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.

Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust IncIN8.8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Pony Barnes Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Pony Barnes Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
    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 Pony Barnes Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Pony Barnes 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 16 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