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The Gerdybirds Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Gerdybirds 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.

$16k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$4k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2023 to 2025.

Education$14kFood & Nutrition$12kHousing & Shelter$10kCommunity Improvement$4kHuman Services$3kCrime & Legal$3kArts & Culture$3kRecreation & Sports$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$73k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$4,100
Zoe Scruggs Ale Art Scholarship$2,500
Hopes Corner Inc$2,045
SECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY$2,000
UNIVERSITY OF ORANGE$1,500
YWCA$1,500
EAST OAKLAND COLLECTIVE$738
Misssey$700
Wikimedia Foundation$500
The Sogorea Te Land Trust$200
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 (FY23–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 78% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Go Fund Me: $648 → 7%United Effort: $6k → 8%Critical Resistance: $1k → 10%Wikimedia Foundation: $520 → 10%YWCA: $2k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF ORANGE: $4k → 16%SECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY: $5k → 7%United Effort: $4k → 8%The Sogorea Te Land Trust: $500 → 10%Wikimedia Foundation: $500 → 10%YWCA: $2k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF ORANGE: $3k → 16%SECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY: $3k → 7%Hopes Corner Inc: $2k → 8%EAST OAKLAND COLLECTIVE: $4k → 10%RAINN: $723 → 14%UNIVERSITY OF ORANGE: $2k → 16%SECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY: $2k → 7%Zoe Scruggs Ale Art Scholarship: $3k → 8%The Sogorea Te Land Trust: $200 → 10%MVLA SOCCER CLUB: $1k → 8%EAST OAKLAND COLLECTIVE: $738 → 10%Misssey: $1k → 10%Misssey: $700 → 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.

74%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$38k · 8 repeat orgs$14k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +8% since the first grant, against -11% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
6

Total granted

$38k
$9k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+8%
-11%

Still filing today

75%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 71% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’23’24’25
Crime & LegalFood & NutritionCommunity ImprovementEducationHealthEnvironmentOther
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

  • SH
    SECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY
    3× · 2023–2025 · $10k · revenue +8%
  • MI
    MOTIVATING INSPIRING SUPPORTING AND SERVING SEXUALLY EXPLOITED YOUTH
    2× · 2024–2025 · $2k · revenue +25%
  • WF
    WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $1k · revenue +11%

Funded once

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF PUTHISASTRA
    one grant, 2023 · $5k
  • MS
    MVLA SOCCER CLUB
    one grant, 2023 · $1k
  • CR
    Critical Resistance
    one grant, 2024 · $1k · revenue -59%
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
Food Forward Inc

Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.

Food & Nutrition
2
California Donor Table

California Donor Table anchors a hub of donors, foundations, and community leaders. We pool together our resources to shape California into a truly democratic state that works for the people, not the powerful. Rooted in our commitment to…

Civil Rights
3
Impact Oakland Now
Community Improvement
4
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Inc

UUSC advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. Our work is grounded in the belief that all people have inherent…

International
5
Rainforest Action Network

Rainforest Action Network (RAN) works toward a world where the rights and dignity of all communities are respected and where healthy forests, a stable climate and wild biodiversity are protected and celebrated.

Environment
6
Floreciendo

The mission of Oakland Bloom is to advance food and economic justice community power and resilience with working-class immigrant and diaspora chef-entrepreneurs. Oakland Bloom does this through stewarding Open Test Kitchen as a kitchen and…

Employment
7
Extrafood

Food Rescue - The Organization rescues excess fresh food from Bay Area businesses, schools and non-profits and immediately delivers the food to safety net partners - such as senior housing centers, after-school programs, and homeless…

Food & Nutrition
8
Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco Inc

The Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco is dedicated to combating the displacement crisis gripping our city by building the power of working-class tenants of color to take on the real estate industry and win housing justice for all.…

Education
9
Center for Humane Technology

Center for Humane Technology is a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that the most consequential technologies actually serve humanity. We bring clarity to how the tech ecosystem works in order to shift the incentives that drive it.

Science & Tech
10
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
11
The Conversationalist
—
12
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Motivating Inspiring Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth; the most unlike its peers is Hopes Corner Inc. 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

11 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. 11 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)
11/11
Grantees still filing
5/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $10,100 · OtherIndividual grant recipientUNIVERSITY OF PUTHISASTRA: $5,129 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF PUTHISASTRAYWCA: $3,000 · OtherYWCAZoe Scruggs Ale Art Scholarship: $2,500 · OtherZoe Scruggs Ale Art ScholarshipMVLA SOCCER CLUB: $1,000 · Other+2 more: $1,148 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF ORANGE INC: $8,000 · Community ImprovementUNIVERSITY OF ORANGE INCThe East Oakland Collective: $4,238 · Community ImprovementThe East Oakland Collectiv…SECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY: $9,638 · Food & NutritionSECOND HARVEST OF SILICON…Hopes Corner Inc: $2,045 · Food & NutritionHopes Corner IncMOTIVATING INSPIRING SUPPORTING AND SERVING SEXUALLY EXPLOITED YOUTH: $1,700 · Crime & LegalCritical Resistance: $1,000 · Crime & LegalWIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $1,020 · EducationRape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN): $723 · HealthSOGOREA TE LAND TRUST: $700 · Environment
Other$22,877Community Improvement$12,238Food & Nutrition$11,683Crime & Legal$2,700Education$1,020Health$723Environment$700

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 budgetSECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY: $9,638 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ORANGE INC: $8,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetThe East Oakland Collective: $4,238 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMOTIVATING INSPIRING SUPPORTING AND SERVING SEXUALLY EXPLOITED YOUTH: $1,700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $1,020 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCritical Resistance: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN): $723 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOGOREA TE LAND TRUST: $700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGOFUNDMEORG: $648 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PEOPLE'S FUND: $500 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.

East Bay Community Fo…The San Francisco Fou…Silicon Valley Commun…American Online Givin…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
East Bay Community FoundationCA13.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: East Bay Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · 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 The Gerdybirds Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Gerdybirds Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get 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 · 0–75%
    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 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

    Play a game based on Gerdybirds’ 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