Skip to content
The Bernice Heffernan Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Bernice Heffernan Family 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.

$106k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$56k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$560kReligion$367kHealth$119kHuman Services$87kYouth Development$59kFood & Nutrition$46kHousing & Shelter$44kPhilanthropy$35kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $45k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $56k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OUR LADY OF THE LAKE PARISH$55,545
SACRED HEART SCHOOL$25,000
SACRED HEART RETREAT APOSTOLATE$10,000
VERBUM DEI HIGH SCHOOL$10,000
UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND$5,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $68k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $12k → 10%OUR DIVINE SAVIOR CHICO CONFERENCE SOCIETY OF ST V: $4k → 12%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $8k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $7k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $6k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $5k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $4k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $3k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $5k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $5k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $5k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY: $5k → 10%HOLLYWOOD SENIOR CENTER: $500 → 12%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 5% of The Bernice Heffernan Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Bernice Heffernan Family 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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 39 repeat orgs$206k to everyone else

39 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 36 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

39
22

Total granted

$1.1M
$145k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+56%
+61%

Still filing today

62%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $61k 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
EducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentHealthHousing & ShelterPublic 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

  • CC
    CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $63k · revenue +118%
  • OUTSIDE IN
    7× · 2017–2024 · $47k · revenue +95%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN
    5× · 2018–2024 · $36k · revenue +213%

Funded once

  • VD
    VERBUM DEI JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL
    one grant, 2024 · $85k
  • OC
    ORANGE CATHOLIC FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $10k
  • MC
    MERCY CORPS
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
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 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
2
Catholic Charities of Spokane

Catholic charities affirms the dignity of every person, partnering with parishes and the greater community to serve and advocate for those who are vulnerable, bringing stability and hope to people throughout eastern washington.

Human Services
3
Housing Choices Coalition for Persons With Developmental Disabilities Inc

To enhance the lives of people with developmental and other disabilities by creating quality, affordable housing options.

Housing & Shelter
4
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
5
Mary's Shelter

Believing in the value of every life, mary's path empowers vulnerable teen mothers in foster care and their babies to create lives of dignity, hope and self-sufficiency.

Human Services
6
Compass Family Services

Compass family services helps homeless families and those at imminent risk to achieve housing stability, economic self-sufficiency, and well-being.

Human Services
7
Community Housing Sonoma County

Community Housing Sonoma County creates supportive housing communities for people living with disabling conditions, especially veterans.

Housing & Shelter
8
President-Board of Trustees Santa Clara College

Scu is a catholic and jesuit institution that makes student learning its central focus, promotes faculty and staff learning in its various forms, and exhibits organizational learning.

Education
9
One Community Health

Advance health and social justice for all members of our community.

—
10
Second Harvest North Central Food Bank

Engaging the community to end hunger

—
11
Taylor Family Housing Inc

To provide housing for low income persons, and to support tenderloin neighborhood development corporation in carrying out its purpose.

Housing & Shelter
12
Pacific University

A diverse and sustainable learning community dedicated to discovery and excellence in teaching, scholarship and practice, pacific university inspires students to think, care, create and pursue justice in our world.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is North Valley Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Butte County Firefighters Benevolent Fund Inc. 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

40 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. 40 of the 67 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
40/40
Grantees still filing
31/40
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

OUR LADY OF THE LAKE CHURCH: $162,000 · OtherOUR LADY OF THE LAKE CHURCHJESUIT HIGH SCHOOL: $87,500 · OtherJESUIT HIGH SCHOOLVERBUM DEI JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL: $85,000 · OtherVERBUM DEI JESUIT HIGH SCHOOLSACRED HEART SCHOOL: $83,000 · OtherSACRED HEART SCHOOLMATER DEI HIGH SCHOOL ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF ORANGE: $60,250 · OtherMATER DEI HIGH SCHOOL ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF ORANGEOUR LADY OF THE LAKE PARISH: $55,545 · OtherVERBUM DEI HIGH SCHOOL: $50,000 · OtherOUTSIDE IN: $47,000 · OtherPASTOR OF SACRED HEART PARISH - RED BLUFF A CORPORATION SOLE: $45,000 · OtherSACRED HEART RETREAT APOSTOLATE: $45,000 · OtherDE LA SALLE NORTH CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL: $44,245 · Other+33 more: $313,225 · Other+33 moreCORPORATION OF GONZAGA UNIVERSITY: $30,000 · EducationUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $20,000 · EducationTALLER SAN JOSE HOPE BUILDERS: $15,000 · EducationTHE BASIC FUND: $10,000 · EducationTrustees of Tufts College: $7,500 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND: $5,000 · Education+4 more: $6,000 · EducationCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY INC: $63,005 · Human ServicesOUR DIVINE SAVIOR CHICO SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL: $4,000 · Human Services+2 more: $2,500 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN: $36,000 · Youth DevelopmentFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN-PORTLAND: $20,000 · Youth Development+1 more: $1,000 · Youth DevelopmentPOOR AND THE HOMELESS TEHAMA COUNTY COALITION: $25,000 · Housing & ShelterHOMES FOR OUR TROOPS INC: $15,000 · Housing & ShelterLifeNet Family Resource: $19,875 · HealthPostpartum Health Alliance: $3,000 · HealthSEMPER FI & AMERICA'S FUND: $2,000 · HealthBUTTE COUNTY FIREFIGHTERS BENEVOLENT FUND INC: $9,500 · Public Safety & Disaster
Other$1,077,765Education$93,500Human Services$69,505Youth Development$57,000Housing & Shelter$40,000Health$24,875Public Safety & Disaster$9,500

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 budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY INC: $63,005 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetOUTSIDE IN: $47,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN: $36,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMERCY FOUNDATION NORTH: $30,500 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetCORPORATION OF GONZAGA UNIVERSITY: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL BLEEDING DISORDERS FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPOOR AND THE HOMELESS TEHAMA COUNTY COALITION: $25,000 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN-PORTLAND: $20,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLifeNet Family Resource: $19,875 over 6y, 4.3% of budgetTHE NORTHWEST CATHOLIC COUNSELING CENTER: $19,000 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetBLANCHET HOUSE OF HOSPITALITY: $17,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetOREGON FOOD BANK: $17,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetHOMES FOR OUR TROOPS INC: $15,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTALLER SAN JOSE HOPE BUILDERS: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSt Anne School: $10,995 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BASIC FUND: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBUTTE COUNTY FIREFIGHTERS BENEVOLENT FUND INC: $9,500 over 3y, 7.8% of budgetSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF ORANGE COUNTY INC: $9,005 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTrustees of Tufts College: $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFamily Service Agency of Tehama County: $5,250 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOUR DIVINE SAVIOR CHICO SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL: $4,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetSTATE THEATRE FOR THE ARTS: $3,475 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW AVENUES FOR YOUTH INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOLVE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSEMPER FI & AMERICA'S FUND: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetYouth for Change: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPACT FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE NORTH STATE: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOMEBOY INDUSTRIES: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSMART READING: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTransition Projects Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHollywood Senior Center dba Community for Positive Aging: $500 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.

  • Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ORANGE COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds OUTSIDE IN ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN ↗
  • Who funds MERCY FOUNDATION NORTH ↗
  • Who funds CORPORATION OF GONZAGA UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL BLEEDING DISORDERS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds POOR AND THE HOMELESS TEHAMA COUNTY COALITION ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN-PORTLAND ↗
  • Who funds University of Notre Dame du Lac ↗
  • Who funds LifeNet Family Resource ↗
  • Who funds THE NORTHWEST CATHOLIC COUNSELING CENTER ↗
  • Who funds BLANCHET HOUSE OF HOSPITALITY ↗
  • Who funds OREGON FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds HOMES FOR OUR TROOPS INC ↗
  • Who funds TALLER SAN JOSE HOPE BUILDERS ↗
  • Who funds St Anne School ↗
  • Who funds THE BASIC FUND ↗
  • Who funds BUTTE COUNTY FIREFIGHTERS BENEVOLENT FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF ORANGE COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds Trustees of Tufts College ↗
  • Who funds Family Service Agency of Tehama County ↗

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.

OCF Joseph E Weston P…Juan Young TrustOrange County Communi…The Oregon Community …The Collins FoundationCatholic Community Fo…Dignity HealthCalifornia Community …Marie Lamfrom Charita…The Gordon D Sondland…The Levecke Family Fo…Nobbs Family Foundati…
OCF Joseph E Weston Public FoundationOR21.2× affinity8 shared granteesties to 9 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: OCF Joseph E Weston Public Foundation · Juan Young Trust · Orange County Community Foundation · The Oregon Community Foundation · The Collins Foundation · Catholic Community Foundation of Los Angeles · Dignity Health · California Community Foundation · Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Trust · The Gordon D Sondland and Katherine J Durant Foundation · The Levecke Family Foundation · Nobbs Family 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 The Bernice Heffernan Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Bernice Heffernan Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Outside in: 33% of income from government
  • Transition Projects Inc: 29% of income from government
  • Oregon Food Bank: 21% of income from government
  • New Avenues for Youth Inc: 20% of income from government
  • Trustees of Tufts College: 13% of income from government
  • Hollywood Senior Center dba Community for Positive Aging: 9% of income from government
  • Friends of the Children-Portland: 5% of income from government
  • Solve: 5% of income from government
  • Smart Reading: 3% of income from government
  • Community Cycling Center: 2% of income from government
  • Serendipity Center Inc: 2% of income from government
  • University of Portland: 1% of income from government
  • The Northwest Catholic Counseling Center: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 The Bernice Heffernan Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Bernice Heffernan Family 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 67 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 Bernice Heffernan Family’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