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The Lisa Wade Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Lisa Wade Foundation

Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$674k
Granted FY2023
11
Grants FY2023
6
States reached
$634k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2023.

Philanthropy$637kEnvironment$121kInternational$47kArts & Culture$45kEducation$10kPublic Benefit$10kHuman Services$10kFood & Nutrition$7kOther$0
02FY2023 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k8 grants · $19k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $22k
  • $250k+1 grant · $634k
$3,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FRANKEL-WADE DONOR ADVISED FUND$633,997
THRESHOLD FOUNDATION$11,500
UNITE AMERICA INSTITUTE$10,000
SSP EDDY HOUSE$5,000
SIERRA NEVADA JOURNEYS$5,000
OREGON NATURAL DESERT ASSOCIATION$3,000
TAHOE FUND$2,500
WINDY25 MEMORIAL FUND$1,060
ALLIANCE FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE$1,000
Individual grant recipient$501
BREAKING WALLS$500
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 (FY18–18, $911) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Saving Grace: $911 → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
PA
CA
CO
SC
DC
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.

21%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$190k · 12 repeat orgs$709k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +56% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2023, 7 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
28

Total granted

$190k
$54k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+56%
+21%

Still filing today

83%
68%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 3% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $655k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
Arts & CultureInternationalEnvironmentFood & NutritionPublic BenefitYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • TF
    THRESHOLD FOUNDATION
    7× · 2017–2023 · $90k · revenue +7%
  • WILD SALMON CENTER
    2× · 2021–2022 · $10k · revenue +115%
  • TF
    TAHOE FUND
    2× · 2022–2023 · $8k · revenue +56%

Funded once

  • PP
    PROTOTYPE PGH INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue +45%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2018 · $5k
  • WE
    Women's Earth and Climate Action Networkgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +584%
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
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
2
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
3
Rogue Climate

Rogue Climate's mission is to empower Southern Oregon communities most impacted by climate change including low-income, rural, youth, seniors & communities of color, to win climate justice by organizing for clean energy, sustainable jobs &…

Education
4
Wildearth Guardians

Wildearth guardians works to protect and restore the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the american west.

Unclassified
5
Global Forest Generation

Global Forest Generation restores and protects forest ecosystems in partnership with grassroots leaders and local communities across vast landscapes which play a critical role in preserving water, protecting biodiversity, storing carbon,…

Environment
6
Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente

To strenghten people's ability to guarantee their individual and collective right to a healthy environment, via the development, implementation, and effective enforcement of national and international law.

Crime & Legal
7
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
8
Transformca dba Transform

Transform works to ensure that people of all incomes thrive in a world safe from climate chaos.

Community Improvement
9
Amazon Watch Inc

To protect the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with Indigenous communities in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, and the preservation of the Amazon Basin's…

Environment
10
CarbonPlan

Improving the transparency and scientific integrity of climate solutions through open data and tools.

Environment
11
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide

Educational & charitable. to provide legal and scientific information to public interest attorneys and scientists in numerous countries.

—
12
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Voice of Witness a Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation; the most unlike its peers is Breaking Walls 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

33 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. 33 of the 47 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)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/33
Grantees still filing
20/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FRANKEL-WADE DONOR ADVISED FUND: $633,997 · OtherFRANKEL-WADE DONOR ADVISED FUNDIMPACT A VILLAGE INC: $29,000 · Other+28 more: $69,521 · Other+28 moreTHRESHOLD FOUNDATION: $90,017 · InternationalTHRESHOLD FO…HIAS INC: $5,000 · International+2 more: $1,250 · InternationalWarrior Films Inc: $25,500 · Arts & CultureBREAKING WALLS INC: $4,500 · Arts & CultureMAGIC THEATRE INC: $2,500 · Arts & CultureIndependent Arts & Media: $2,500 · Arts & CultureOREGON WALKS: $1,500 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $1,150 · Arts & CultureWILD SALMON CENTER: $10,000 · AnimalsUNITE AMERICA INSTITUTE INC: $10,000 · Public BenefitTAHOE FUND: $7,500 · EnvironmentDeschutes Land Trust: $747 · EnvironmentRainforest Action Network: $500 · EnvironmentPROTOTYPE PGH INC: $5,000 · Education
Other$732,518International$96,267Arts & Culture$37,650Animals$10,000Public Benefit$10,000Environment$8,747Education$5,000

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 budgetTHRESHOLD FOUNDATION: $90,017 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetIMPACT A VILLAGE INC: $29,000 over 3y, 22% of budgetWarrior Films Inc: $25,500 over 5y, 5.6% of budgetWILD SALMON CENTER: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUNITE AMERICA INSTITUTE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTAHOE FUND: $7,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SAFE HOUSE EDUCATION FUND: $5,500 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetOREGON NATURAL DESERT ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSIERRA NEVADA JOURNEYS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHIAS INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWomen's Earth and Climate Action Network: $5,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetBREAKING WALLS INC: $4,500 over 5y, 10% of budgetMAGIC THEATRE INC: $2,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetIndependent Arts & Media: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetACTBLUE CHARITIES INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetART WITHOUT LIMITS: $2,500 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetBelladonna Sanctuary: $2,500 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetHigh Desert Food & Farm Alliance: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetOREGON WALKS: $1,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetALLIANCE FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNETWORK FOR GOOD: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPEAR: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVOICE OF WITNESS A NONPROFIT PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKARAT SCHOOL PROJECT: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWATER MISSIONS INTERNATIONAL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF FOOD BANKS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAVING GRACE: $911 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDeschutes Land Trust: $747 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRainforest Action Network: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Bhutan Foundation: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPARTNERS IN COMPASSIONATE CARE INC: $250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetChildren's Cancer Association: $150 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.

Meyer Memorial TrustTides FoundationImpactassetsincMarin Community Found…Silicon Valley Commun…The Roundhouse Founda…The Oregon Community …The Autzen FoundationPatagoniaorgGreater Washington Co…The Chicago Community…Vanguard Charitable E…
Meyer Memorial TrustOR17× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Meyer Memorial Trust · Tides Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Marin Community Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Roundhouse Foundation · The Oregon Community Foundation · The Autzen Foundation · Patagoniaorg · Greater Washington Community Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 46%
  • Hias Inc: 88% of income from government
  • Wild Salmon Center: 49% of income from government
  • Saving Grace: 48% of income from government
  • Deschutes Land Trust: 46% of income from government
  • High Desert Food & Farm Alliance: 45% of income from government
  • Oregon Walks: 15% of income from government
  • Oregon Natural Desert Association: 9% of income from government
  • Pear: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Lisa Wade Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Lisa Wade 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 47 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Lisa Wade’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