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The Cowley Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Cowley 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.

$387k
Granted FY2025still arriving
20
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$127k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0191% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$1.1MHealth$338kFood & Nutrition$274kHousing & Shelter$199kYouth Development$74kArts & Culture$53kReligion$30kPublic Benefit$25kOther$0
02FY2025 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k14 grants · $41k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $65k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $282k
$3,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$3.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ASU Foundation$126,500
Maricopa County Community Colleges Foundation$100,000
Teach for America$55,000
Arizona Brainfood$29,500
The Michael J Fox Foundation$25,000
Keys to Change$10,000
St Mary's Food Bank Alliance$5,000
Operation Underground Railroad$4,500
Individual grant recipient$3,000
Globe Downtown Association$3,000
Cece's Hope Center$3,000
Chandler Cadet Charities$3,000
Champs Heart$3,000
Arizona Refugee Center$3,000
Treasures 4 Teachers$3,000
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 (FY18–25, $18k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 28% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%FOOTSTEPS FOR FERTILITY FOUNDATION: $4k → 8%FOOTSTEPS FOR FERTILITY FOUNDATION: $3k → 8%Footsteps for Fertility Foundation: $3k → 8%FOOTSTEPS FOR FERTILITY FOUNDATION: $2k → 8%Footsteps for Fertility Foundation: $2k → 8%Arizona Refugee Center: $3k → 11%ARIZONA FRIENDS OF FOSTER CHILDERN FOUNDATION: $2k → 11%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

ID
MN
IL
NY
OR
CA
UT
CO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
FL
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.

80%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.0M · 33 repeat orgs$522k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +15% for those funded once.

33 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 21 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
38

Total granted

$2.0M
$500k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+15%

Still filing today

67%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $23k 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
HealthEducationInternationalFood & NutritionCrime & LegalArts & CultureOther
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

  • ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2021–2025 · $330k · revenue +94%
  • MC
    MARICOPA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT FOUNDATION
    3× · 2022–2025 · $275k · revenue +2%
  • AB
    ARIZONA BRAINFOOD INC
    8× · 2017–2025 · $247k · revenue +39%

Funded once

  • MC
    Maricopa County Community Colleges Founda
    one grant, 2024 · $100k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2018 · $100k
  • MC
    MESA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
    one grant, 2021 · $75k
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
Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation

Phoenix children's hospital foundation supports phoenix children's hospital through fundraising ensuring that the hospital continues to stay on the leading edge of pediatric medicine and is equipped to fulfill its mission to advance hope,…

Health
2
Child Crisis Arizona

To provide children and youth in arizona a safe environment, free from abuse and neglect, by creating strong and successful families.

Crime & Legal
3
United Food Bank

United Food Bank unites communities to alleviate hunger.

Food & Nutrition
4
Arizona Food Bank Network

Develop solutions to end hunger through food banking, public policy and innovation.

Food & Nutrition
5
Center for the Future of Arizona

Bringing arizonans together to create a stronger and brighter future for our state.

Community Improvement
6
Education Forward Arizona

To advocate for high-quality education and training that aligns with career and workforce opportunities to advance the quality of life for all arizonans.

—
7
Arizona Community Foundation

To lead, serve and collaborate to mobilize enduring philanthropy for a better arizona.

Philanthropy
8
Arizona's Children Association

The mission of arizona's children association is to protect children, empower youth, and strengthen families.

Human Services
9
Foster 360

Foster360 equips former clients of the foster care system to break the cycle of homelessness and abuse.

Human Services
10
Child & Family Resources Inc

Child & family resource builds stronger children, youth, and families through prevention, education and intervention.

Human Services
11
Fresh Start Women's Foundation

The mission of fresh start women's foundation is to provide access and resources that help women achieve self-sufficiency and use their strength to thrive. we do this work in pursuit of our vision to create unlimited opportunities for…

Human Services
12
Children's Health Care

We champion the health needs of children and families. we are committed to improving children's health by providing the highest-quality, family centered care, advanced through research and education.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Feed My Starving Children Inc; the most unlike its peers is American Diabetes Association. 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

45 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. 45 of the 79 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/45
Grantees still filing
30/45
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Teach for America Inc: $500,000 · EducationTeach for America IncARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $329,500 · EducationARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION …+2 more: $6,000 · EducationMaricopa County Community Colleges Founda: $100,000 · OtherMaricopa County Community Colle…Individual grant recipient: $100,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientMESA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $75,000 · OtherMESA COMMUNITY COLLEGEFOREVER YOUNG FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN: $42,866 · OtherFOREVER YOUNG FOUNDATION FOR CH…BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VALLEY INC: $40,000 · OtherBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VALLE…THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS - PHILANTHROPIES: $27,500 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITY CENTRAL ARIZONA: $25,000 · OtherBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $25,000 · Other+48 more: $279,928 · Other+48 moreTHE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH: $150,000 · HealthTHE MICHAEL J …VALLEYWISE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $136,408 · HealthVALLEYWISE HEA…+8 more: $42,000 · Health+8 moreARIZONA BRAINFOOD INC: $246,500 · Food & NutritionARIZONA BRAI…ST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE: $35,000 · Food & NutritionST MARY'S FO…+1 more: $3,000 · Food & NutritionMARICOPA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT FOUNDATION: $275,000 · PhilanthropyMARICOPA COU…+1 more: $1,000 · PhilanthropyHuman Services Campus Inc: $80,000 · Housing & ShelterOUR RESCUE: $42,000 · Arts & CultureMETROPOLITAN YOUTH SYMPHONY: $6,000 · Arts & CultureMD DOGS INCORPORATED: $3,000 · Arts & Culture
Education$835,500Other$715,294Health$328,408Food & Nutrition$284,500Philanthropy$276,000Housing & Shelter$80,000Arts & Culture$51,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTeach for America Inc: $500,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $329,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMARICOPA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT FOUNDATION: $275,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetARIZONA BRAINFOOD INC: $246,500 over 8y, 5.0% of budgetTHE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH: $150,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetVALLEYWISE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $136,408 over 3y, 4.5% of budgetHuman Services Campus Inc: $80,000 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetFOREVER YOUNG FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN: $42,866 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetOUR RESCUE: $42,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VALLEY INC: $40,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE: $35,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY CENTRAL ARIZONA: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMARICOPA COUNTY FAIR INC: $20,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetFOOTSTEPS FOR FERTILITY FOUNDATION: $13,000 over 5y, 35% of budgetFEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC: $11,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD BICYCLE RELIEF NFP: $10,378 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTOSSIN' AWAY ALS: $10,000 over 4y, 9.1% of budgetCYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHANDLER FIREFIGHTERS CHARITIES: $8,500 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetSusan E Stanton Foundation (The): $8,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetAmerican Diabetes Association: $6,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMETROPOLITAN YOUTH SYMPHONY: $6,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetSTAND FOR CHILDREN LEADERSHIP CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFHF MEXICO INC: $4,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetPREVENT CHILD ABUSE AMERICA: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $3,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPaz De Cristo Community Center: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FOSTER ALLIANCE: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetInsulin For Life USA Inc: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTREASURES 4 TEACHERS INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMD DOGS INCORPORATED: $3,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetBig Brothers Big Sisters Of America: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARIZONA REFUGEE CENTER: $3,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetMANES AND MIRACLES: $3,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCHILD FIND OF AMERICA INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSOUTHWEST INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S COALTION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetArizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBIRCH CREEK SERVICE RANCH: $2,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetANASAZI FOUNDATION: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCharityVision International: $1,000 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.

  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MARICOPA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ARIZONA BRAINFOOD INC ↗
  • Who funds THE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH ↗
  • Who funds VALLEYWISE HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Human Services Campus Inc ↗
  • Who funds FOREVER YOUNG FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN ↗
  • Who funds OUR RESCUE ↗
  • Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VALLEY INC ↗
  • Who funds ST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds HABITAT FOR HUMANITY CENTRAL ARIZONA ↗
  • Who funds BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH ↗
  • Who funds MARICOPA COUNTY FAIR INC ↗
  • Who funds FOOTSTEPS FOR FERTILITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC ↗
  • Who funds WORLD BICYCLE RELIEF NFP ↗
  • Who funds TOSSIN' AWAY ALS ↗
  • Who funds CYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CHANDLER FIREFIGHTERS CHARITIES ↗
  • Who funds Susan E Stanton Foundation (The) ↗
  • Who funds American Diabetes Association ↗
  • Who funds METROPOLITAN YOUTH SYMPHONY ↗
  • Who funds STAND FOR CHILDREN LEADERSHIP CENTER INC ↗

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.

Arizona Community Fou…The Diane and Bruce H…Nina Mason Pulliam Ch…Burton Family Foundat…Thunderbirds CharitiesAmerican Express Foun…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Blackbaud Giving …Charities Aid Foundat…Gs Donor Advised Phil…American Endowment Fo…The Bank of America C…
Arizona Community FoundationAZ17.4× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Arizona Community Foundation · The Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation · Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust · Burton Family Foundation · Thunderbirds Charities · American Express Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · American Endowment Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 21%
  • Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: 21% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
8report 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 79 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 Cowley 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