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The Cairn Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Cairn Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$1.0M
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 2024.

Philanthropy$1.0MYouth Development$372kEnvironment$200kRecreation & Sports$125kHuman Services$90kHealth$87kEducation$69kArts & Culture$10k
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $90k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.0M
$40,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATIO$1,000,000
COOMBS OUTDOORS$40,000
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY IN INDIANA$35,000
TETON ADAPTIVE SPORTS INC$15,000
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 (FY17–23, $77k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 19% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SAM'S WISH INC: $8k → 5%OUT OF A JAM INC: $15k → 12%SAM'S WISH INC: $8k → 5%SAM'S WISH INC: $8k → 5%SAM'S WISH INC: $8k → 5%SAM'S WISH INC: $8k → 5%SAM'S WISH INC: $6k → 5%JACKSON HOLE THERAPEUTIC RIDING: $10k → 5%SAM'S WISH INC: $6k → 5%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.

43%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$834k · 9 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
6

Total granted

$834k
$119k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+92%
+149%

Still filing today

89%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 8% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.0M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesPhilanthropyYouth DevelopmentEnvironmentCrime & LegalOther
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

  • TD
    The Doug Coombs Foundation
    6× · 2017–2024 · $192k · revenue ×12
  • BI
    Believe in a Dream Inc
    7× · 2017–2023 · $180k · revenue +92% · 30% of their budget
  • AI
    ACRES Inc
    4× · 2017–2023 · $115k · revenue +370%

Funded once

  • DC
    DEKALB CENTRAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • TC
    TURNSTONE CENTER FOR CHILDREN & ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +58%
  • OO
    OUT OF A JAM INC
    one grant, 2021 · $15k · 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
Accessible Alpine Adventure Tours
Health
2
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
3
Camp Tuku

At Camp Tuku, our mission is to provide a mindfulness approach to the camp experience for kids; a program designed to integrate the mind, body, and heart, giving kids skills early in life to help them nurture inner resilience. With a focus…

Recreation & Sports
4
Teewinot Institute

Research, education, and action that enhance the sustainability, resilience, and transformation of human relationships with the environment.

International
5
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
6
Idaho Base Camp Inc

A nonprofit organization rooted in the wood river valley, idaho basecamp helps develop resilience, confidence, and connection in youth through adventure, exploration, and intentional play in the outdoors.

Environment
7
Tahoe Ability Program

Tahoe ability program (tap) is creating inclusion, independence and advancement for people with disabilities within their community.

Human Services
8
Accessibility Outdoors Foundation
Recreation & Sports
9
Girl Scouts of Colorado

Girl scouts of colorado prepares girls and adults to create unique leadership paths, ignite change, and share a worldwide sisterhood through traditions and new experiences. girl scouts builds girls of courage, confidence, and character,…

Youth Development
10
Jackson Hole Nordic Alliance

Jackson hole nordic alliance connects people & winter trails. we are the resource hub for local nordic, fat bike, snowshoe & trail information. we help build the winter trails community & promote responsible recreation.

Recreation & Sports
11
Edge Outdoors

EDGE Outdoors is a powerful initiative addressing the health disparities faced by Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (cis, trans, queer) by dismantling systemic barriers to wellness and outdoor recreation, particularly within snow…

—
12
International Mountain Bicycling Association Central Wyoming Trails Alliance

CWTA seeks to preserve, protect, and promote mountain biking, trail running, hiking and equestrian access on public and publicly accessible private lands. Through effective communication and education, we advocate for diverse use…

Recreation & Sports
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Turnstone Center for Children & Adults With Disabilities Inc; the most unlike its peers is Grand Teton National Park 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

14 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. 14 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
12/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · PhilanthropyGRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION+1 more: $20,500 · PhilanthropyBelieve in a Dream Inc: $180,000 · EducationBelieve in a D…FRIENDS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SURREY INC: $60,000 · EducationFRIENDS OF THE…TETON LITERACY CENTER: $8,500 · EducationThe Doug Coombs Foundation: $192,300 · Youth DevelopmentThe Doug Co…THE NATURE CONSERVANCY IN INDIANA: $85,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CON…DEKALB CENTRAL FOUNDATION: $50,000 · OtherDEKALB CENTRAL…Children of Shelters: $45,000 · OtherChildren of Sh…GIGIS PLAYHOUSE INC: $10,000 · OtherAMANI FAMILY SERVICES: $30,000 · OtherAMANI FAMILY S…TURNSTONE CENTER FOR CHILDREN & ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES INC: $25,000 · OtherTURNSTONE CENT…ACRES Inc: $115,000 · EnvironmentSAM'S WISH INC: $52,000 · Human ServicesOUT OF A JAM INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesJACKSON HOLE THERAPEUTIC RIDING: $10,000 · Human ServicesTETON ADAPTIVE: $75,000 · Recreation & Sports
Philanthropy$1,020,500Education$248,500Youth Development$192,300Other$245,000Environment$115,000Human Services$77,000Recreation & Sports$75,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetGRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetThe Doug Coombs Foundation: $192,300 over 6y, 5.8% of budgetBelieve in a Dream Inc: $180,000 over 7y, 30% of budgetACRES Inc: $115,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetTETON ADAPTIVE: $75,000 over 6y, 5.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SURREY INC: $60,000 over 4y, 9.7% of budgetSAM'S WISH INC: $52,000 over 7y, 21% of budgetChildren of Shelters: $45,000 over 3y, 5.6% of budgetAMANI FAMILY SERVICES: $30,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetTURNSTONE CENTER FOR CHILDREN & ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetDEKALB COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $20,500 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetOUT OF A JAM INC: $15,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetJACKSON HOLE THERAPEUTIC RIDING: $10,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetTETON LITERACY CENTER: $8,500 over 1y, 0.8% 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.

English-Bonter-Mitche…The James Foundation …Ardelle and Theresa G…M E Raker Foundation …The Waterfield Founda…Edward M Wilson Found…Surack Family Foundat…Community Foundation …McMillen Foundation I…Flora Dale Krouse Fou…Dr Louis a and Anne B…Community Foundation …
English-Bonter-Mitchell FdnPA17.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 10 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: English-Bonter-Mitchell Fdn · The James Foundation Inc · Ardelle and Theresa Glaze Foundation · M E Raker Foundation Inc · The Waterfield Foundation Inc · Edward M Wilson Foundation · Surack Family Foundation Inc · Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne Inc · McMillen Foundation Inc · Flora Dale Krouse Foundation · Dr Louis a and Anne B Schneider Fdn · Community Foundation of Jackson Hole

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%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 · 0–5%
    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 Cairn Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to The Cairn Foundation Inc 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Cairn’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