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The North Ridge Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The North Ridge 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.

$273k
Granted FY2025still arriving
42
Grants FY2025still arriving
10
States reached
$85k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$509kEnvironment$507kArts & Culture$353kCommunity Improvement$186kInternational$178kScience & Tech$145kSocial Science$23kReligion$19kOther$0
02FY2025 · 42 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k32 grants · $53k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $135k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $85k
$1,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$16k
Total assets

Anchored by a single position: about 99% of reported assets are held in Berkshire Hath Cl B.

Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION$85,000
COMMON SENSE MEDIA$25,000
REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT$25,000
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$25,000
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES$10,000
SUSTAINABLE CONSERVATION$10,000
SAVE THE CHILDREN FEDERATION INC$10,000
CATALYST CALIFORNIA$10,000
SPOKANE CIVIC THEATRE INC$10,000
WORLD LEARNING$10,000
GLOBAL IMPACT$5,000
NATURE CONSERVANCY$5,000
NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC$5,000
LANDESA$5,000
THE CATHEDRAL OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST$2,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 47% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%STANFORD LAW SCHOOL: $50k → 8%CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE: $50k → 10%Friends of the Charles Darwin Foundation: $25k → 9%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $15k → 17%SAVE THE CHILDREN FEDERATION INC: $10k → 9%LANDESA: $50k → 9%NATURE CONSERVANCY: $20k → 7%REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT: $40k → 9%SMITHSONIAN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER: $100k → 6%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $10k → 10%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $10k → 17%WORLD LEARNING: $50k → 14%LANDESA: $50k → 9%REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT: $35k → 9%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE: $10k → 10%WORLD LEARNING: $25k → 14%LANDESA: $36k → 9%REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT: $25k → 9%SMITHSONIAN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER: $25k → 6%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE: $10k → 10%WORLD LEARNING: $25k → 14%LANDESA: $15k → 9%REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT: $25k → 9%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $10k → 10%LANDESA: $15k → 9%REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT: $25k → 9%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE: $10k → 10%SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $85k → 14%REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT: $25k → 9%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT: $25k → 9%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $76k → 14%REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT: $25k → 9%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $30k → 14%SPOKANE CIVIC THEATRE: $19k → 12%SPOKANE CIVIC THEATRE: $15k → 12%COMMON SENSE MEDIA: $115k → 10%COMMON SENSE MEDIA: $25k → 10%COMMON SENSE MEDIA: $25k → 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

VT
WA
ID
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
PA
CT
RI
CA
VA
MD
DC
GA
TX
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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.8M · 56 repeat orgs$51k to everyone else

56 repeat relationships: 38 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

56
13

Total granted

$1.8M
$51k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+19%
+19%

Still filing today

77%
77%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
EducationEnvironmentArts & CultureInternationalAnimalsCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
    8× · 2017–2025 · $327k · revenue +31%
  • REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT
    8× · 2018–2025 · $225k · revenue +26%
  • RD
    RURAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE
    9× · 2017–2025 · $186k · revenue +19%

Funded once

  • FO
    Friends of the Charles Darwin Foundation
    one grant, 2024 · $25k
  • REWILD
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue +1%
  • COMMUNITY INITIATIVESgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +254%
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 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
2
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
3
Golden Gate University

Golden gate university prepares individuals to lead and serve by providing high quality, practice-based educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions - as a nonprofit institution - in an innovative and challenging…

Education
4
Conservation Society of California

Through management of oakland zoo, the conservation society of california deepens connection with animals, saves wildlife, and inspires champions for the natural world.

Animals
5
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
7
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
8
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
9
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.": - count it: our work is…

International
10
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
11
Center for Strategic and International Studies

The center for strategic and international studies (csis) is a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to advancing practical ideas to address the world's greatest challenges.

International
12
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Save the Bay; the most unlike its peers is Kootenai Environmental Alliance. 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

58 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. 58 of the 73 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
57/58
Grantees still filing
44/58
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $327,000 · Arts & CultureSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIONCOMMON SENSE MEDIA: $165,000 · Arts & CultureCOMMON SENSE MEDIACALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $130,000 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCESSPOKANE CIVIC THEATRE INC: $86,000 · Arts & CultureSPOKANE CIVIC THEATRE INC+4 more: $30,500 · Arts & CultureTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $291,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES…ST JOHN'S COLLEGE: $25,000 · EducationST JOHN'S COLLEGECONSCIOUS CONNECTIONS FOUNDATION: $21,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $20,500 · Education+13 more: $76,500 · Education+13 moreREGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT: $225,000 · EnvironmentREGULATORY ASSIST…NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $45,500 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES…Sustainable Conservation: $30,000 · EnvironmentSustainable Conse…+8 more: $48,500 · Environment+8 moreWORLD LEARNING: $100,000 · OtherWORLD LEARNINGTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $60,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSE…Friends of the Charles Darwin Foundation: $25,000 · OtherFriends of the C…THE CATHEDRAL OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST: $21,000 · OtherTHE CATHEDRAL OF…STANFORD INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH: $20,000 · OtherSTANFORD INSTITU…CATALYST CALIFORNIA: $12,000 · OtherBridge the Gap College Prep: $12,000 · Other+19 more: $73,000 · Other+19 moreWORLD LEARNING INC: $130,000 · InternationalWORLD LEAR…Save The Children Federation Inc: $39,500 · InternationalSave The C…HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $14,500 · InternationalHUMAN RIGH…Volunteers in Asia: $9,000 · International+4 more: $12,000 · International+4 moreRURAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: $185,500 · Community ImprovementRURAL DEV…REWILD: $10,000 · AnimalsPOINT REYES BIRD OBSERVATORY: $3,500 · Animals
Arts & Culture$738,500Education$434,000Environment$349,000Other$323,000International$205,000Community Improvement$185,500Animals$13,500

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 budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $327,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $291,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetREGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT: $225,000 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetRURAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: $185,500 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetCOMMON SENSE MEDIA: $165,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $130,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetWORLD LEARNING INC: $130,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSPOKANE CIVIC THEATRE INC: $86,000 over 9y, 1.7% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $60,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $45,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $39,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetSustainable Conservation: $30,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetST JOHN'S COLLEGE: $25,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCONSCIOUS CONNECTIONS FOUNDATION: $21,000 over 9y, 5.8% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $20,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $14,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budget10000 DEGREES: $12,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetCATALYST CALIFORNIA: $12,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBridge the Gap College Prep: $12,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetKQED INC: $10,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetREWILD: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINLAND NORTHWEST LAND TRUST: $9,500 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetMARIN AGRICULTURAL LAND TRUST: $9,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTen Strands: $9,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetVolunteers in Asia: $9,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetMARIN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $9,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetNew Century Chamber Orchestra: $9,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetMARLBOROUGH SCHOOL: $9,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION: $9,000 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetNATIONAL OUTDOOR LEADERSHIP SCHOOL: $9,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $9,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATRE FOUNDATION: $8,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE: $7,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHWEST THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER: $7,000 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetMARIN ACADEMY: $7,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetGlobal Impact: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNEW MEDIA LEARNING CENTER: $4,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetWILLIAM J BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMARIN PROMISE PARTNERSHIP: $4,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL COMMITTEE ON UNITED STATES -CHINA RELATIONS INC: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetKOOTENAI ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE: $4,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetSave The Bay: $3,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPOINT REYES BIRD OBSERVATORY: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCatchLight: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWESTERN RIVERS CONSERVANCY: $3,000 over 3y, 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 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds REGULATORY ASSISTANCE PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds RURAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds COMMON SENSE MEDIA ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ↗
  • Who funds WORLD LEARNING INC ↗
  • Who funds SPOKANE CIVIC THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds Save The Children Federation Inc ↗
  • Who funds Sustainable Conservation ↗
  • Who funds ST JOHN'S COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds CONSCIOUS CONNECTIONS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC ↗
  • Who funds 10000 DEGREES ↗
  • Who funds CATALYST CALIFORNIA ↗
  • Who funds Bridge the Gap College Prep ↗
  • Who funds KQED INC ↗
  • Who funds REWILD ↗
  • Who funds INLAND NORTHWEST LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds MARIN AGRICULTURAL LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds Ten Strands ↗
  • Who funds Volunteers in Asia ↗
  • Who funds MARIN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds New Century Chamber Orchestra ↗
  • Who funds MARLBOROUGH SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF LAW FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL OUTDOOR LEADERSHIP SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATRE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds NORTHWEST THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER ↗

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.

The San Francisco Fou…Marin Community Found…Silicon Valley Commun…The William & Flora H…Jewish Community Fede…The Goldman Sachs Cha…Gs Donor Advised Phil…East Bay Community Fo…Swig FoundationMorgan Stanley Global…Seattle FoundationGordon E and Betty I …
The San Francisco FoundationCA22.2× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · East Bay Community Foundation · Swig Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Seattle Foundation · Gordon E and Betty I Moore 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 North Ridge Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The North Ridge 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%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Mercy Corps: 47% of income from government
  • World Learning Inc: 39% of income from government
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • St John's College: 2% of income from government
  • Wesleyan University: 1% of income from government
  • Western Rivers Conservancy: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
10report 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 73 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 North Ridge’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