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· Private foundation

Vadon Foundation

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.

$3.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
39
Grants FY2024still arriving
14
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What you fund
0194% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172024.

Education$4.4MArts & Culture$3.1MYouth Development$1.4MHuman Services$1.2MCivil Rights$972kPhilanthropy$710kHealth$305kAnimals$187kOther$0
02FY2024 · 39 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k13 grants · $393k
  • $50k–250k24 grants · $2.6M
  • $250k+2 grants · $500k
$75,000
Median grant
14
States reached
$54M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$250,000
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$250,000
OCETI SAKOWIN COMMUNITY ACADEMY$225,000
SALISH SCHOOL OF SPOKANE$200,000
CHILDREN OF THE SETTING SUN PRODUCTIONS$200,000
TREEHOUSE$175,000
INCHELIUM LANGUAGE AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION$160,000
KNIFE CHIEF BUFFALO NATION SOCIETY$140,000
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES POWER PROJECT INC$100,000
CHEYENNE RIVER YOUTH PROJECT$100,000
SPOKANE LANGUAGE HOUSE$100,000
TANKA FUND$100,000
AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH RUNNING STRONG$100,000
YUCHI LANGUAGE PROJECT$100,000
FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER$100,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $937k) land where the poverty rate runs at 22%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 89% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%THE CENTER POLE: $40k → 23%STANDING ROCK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $35k → 33%AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH RUNNING STRONG: $100k → 6%BRAVE HEARTS SOCIETY: $25k → 22%NATIONAL INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER: $120k → 18%NATIONAL INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER: $120k → 18%KNIFE CHIEF BUFFALO NATION SOCIETY: $140k → 42%SAAD K'IDILYE: $75k → 14%KNIFE CHIEF BUFFALO NATION SOCIETY: $90k → 42%SAAD K'IDILYE: $70k → 14%SAAD K'IDILYE: $70k → 14%CHIEF SEATTLE CLUB: $50k → 9%YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE: $1k → 9%YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE: $500 → 9%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
SD
CT
CA
CO
NE
VA
AZ
NM
NC
DC
HI
OK

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$10M · 41 repeat orgs$2.8M to everyone else

41 repeat relationships — 27 still active in FY2024, 14 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

41
28

Total granted

$10M
$2.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+15%
+33%

Still filing today

68%
68%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $590k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesInternationalHealthYouth DevelopmentOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • Salish School of Spokane
    5× · 2018–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +82%
  • CO
    CHILDREN OF THE SETTING SUN PRODUCT
    4× · 2021–2024 · $540k · revenue +570%
  • OS
    Oceti Sakowin Community Academy
    2× · 2023–2024 · $300k · revenue +22% · 26% of their budget

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $950k
  • IP
    INDIAN PUEBLO CULTURAL CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $140k · revenue -38%
  • PF
    POTLATCH FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $126k · revenue +47%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Naa Kaani Native Program

The naa kaani native program strives to educate and empower native communities in the pacific norhtwest, with a focus on the salish sea territory. we support cultural events, advocate for tribal rights, and aim to improve lives and…

Community Improvement
2
The Cultural ConservancySacred Land Foundation

We are a Native-led Indigenous rights organization. We are dedicated to our mission of protecting & revitalizing Indigenous cultures, empowering them in the direct application of their traditional knowledge & practices on their ancestral…

Arts & Culture
3
Indigenous Women Rising Indigeous Women Rising
4
Lelooska Foundation

Educate about Native Americans of the NW and North America.

Arts & Culture
5
American Indian Institute

The american indian institute's mission is to perpetuate the ancient wisdom and cultural heritage of north america's native people and to promote a greater understanding of that wisdom amoung all people.

Human Services
6
Coast Salish Youth Coalition

To cultivate the next generation of culturally engaged environmental stewards.

Environment
7
Indigenous Creatives Collective

Our mission is to help improve Indigenous well-being through art-making community building and equitable creative opportunities for personal and professional growth.

8
Native Healing Llc
Animals
9
Crows Shadow Institute Inc

Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts provides educational, social and economic opportunitities to Native Americans through artistic development.

Unclassified
10
International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity Batani
International
11
The Foundation for Indigenous Education Leadership Development
Education
12
Hipeexnu Kii U Nuun Wisiix

The Nez Perce Language is in critical danger of becoming extinct with no more fluent first language speakers. Our small organization provides language instruction and hands-on cultural engagement experiences for students and their…

Health

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ndn Collective Inc and the most unlike its peers is Kwu Cnxi. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyIndependent K-12 SchoolsHealth Access Advocacy and …Dance Arts OrganizationsCommunity FoundationsPolicy Research and AdvocacyCommunity Arts CentersChristian Missionary Organi…Community Foundations
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 18 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%15%<5yr14%17%5–10yr20%26%10–20yr18%21%20–35yr13%17%35–55yr15%4%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%11%<5yr14%18%5–10yr20%43%10–20yr18%20%20–35yr13%7%35–55yr15%1%55yr+

The field is 21% startups (under 5 years old) — 15% of your grantees by number, and just 11% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 3% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
3%2/60
the rest of the field
12%
4,743/38,908

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

57 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 57 of the 83 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

8
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
56/57
Grantees still filing
30/57
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

SAAS (SEATTLE ACADEMY) — $1,053,246 · OtherSAAS (SEATTLE ACADEMY)Individual grant recipient — $950,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientTREEHOUSE — $625,350 · OtherTREEHOUSEFRED HUTCHINSON — $572,859 · OtherFRED HUTCHINSONTHE YARROW PROJECT — $460,000 · OtherTHE YARROW PROJECTCHEYENNE RIVER YOUTH PROJECT — $390,000 · OtherCHEYENNE RIVER YOUTH PROJECTNKWUSM SCHOOL — $275,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $250,000 · Other+34 more — $2,295,415 · Other+34 moreSalish School of Spokane — $1,001,274 · EducationSalish School of SpokaneTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $749,868 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF…Indigenous Peoples Power Project Inc — $300,000 · EducationIndigenous Peoples Power…Oceti Sakowin Community Academy — $300,000 · EducationOceti Sakowin Community …NACA-INSPIRED SCHOOLS NETWORK — $150,000 · EducationCAMAS FOUNDATION — $135,000 · EducationBERTSCHI SCHOOL — $100,314 · Education+6 more — $250,000 · Education+6 moreINCHELIUM LANGUAGE AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION — $747,513 · Arts & CultureINCHELIUM LANGUAG…Blue Bird LifeWays — $260,000 · Arts & CultureBlue Bird LifeWay…SPOKANE LANGUAGE HOUSE — $235,000 · Arts & CultureSPOKANE LANGUAGE …MAHCHIWMINAHNAHTIK CHIPPEWA AND CREE LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION — $185,000 · Arts & CultureMAHCHIWMINAHNAHTI…Red Eagle Soaring — $145,000 · Arts & CultureRed Eagle SoaringINDIAN PUEBLO CULTURAL CENTER — $140,000 · Arts & CultureINDIAN PUEBLO CUL…POTLATCH FUND — $125,877 · Arts & CulturePOTLATCH FUNDNOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC — $120,000 · Arts & CultureNOT AN ALTERNATIV…+5 more — $200,000 · Arts & Culture+5 moreNATIONAL INDIGENOUS WOMENS RESOURCE CENTER INC — $240,000 · Human ServicesKnife Chief Buffalo Nation Society — $230,000 · Human ServicesSaad K'idilye' — $215,000 · Human ServicesAMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH RUNNING STRONG INC — $125,000 · Human ServicesCHIEF SEATTLE CLUB — $50,237 · Human ServicesCenter Pole — $40,000 · Human ServicesSTANDING ROCK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT — $35,000 · Human Services+2 more — $21,500 · Human ServicesCHILDREN OF THE SETTING SUN PRODUCT — $540,000 · PhilanthropyBLACK HILLS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $25,000 · PhilanthropyNDN COLLECTIVE INC — $252,169 · Community ImprovementNative American food sovereignty alliance dba NAFSA — $50,000 · Community ImprovementOAYE LUTA OKOLAKICIYE — $105,000 · HealthLAKOTA YOUTH DEVELOPMENT — $75,000 · Health
Other$6,871,870Education$2,986,456Arts & Culture$2,158,390Human Services$956,737Philanthropy$565,000Community Improvement$302,169Health$180,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetSalish School of Spokane — $1,001,274 over 5y, 12% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $749,868 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetINCHELIUM LANGUAGE AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION — $747,513 over 5y, 84% of budgetCHILDREN OF THE SETTING SUN PRODUCT — $540,000 over 4y, 7.2% of budgetIndigenous Peoples Power Project Inc — $300,000 over 3y, 31% of budgetOceti Sakowin Community Academy — $300,000 over 2y, 26% of budgetBlue Bird LifeWays — $260,000 over 4y, 23% of budgetNDN COLLECTIVE INC — $252,169 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetNATIONAL INDIGENOUS WOMENS RESOURCE CENTER INC — $240,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetSPOKANE LANGUAGE HOUSE — $235,000 over 3y, 54% of budgetKnife Chief Buffalo Nation Society — $230,000 over 2y, 57% of budgetSaad K'idilye' — $215,000 over 3y, 8.9% of budgetMAHCHIWMINAHNAHTIK CHIPPEWA AND CREE LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION — $185,000 over 2y, 25% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND — $150,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNACA-INSPIRED SCHOOLS NETWORK — $150,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetTanka Fund — $150,000 over 2y, 8.9% of budgetRed Eagle Soaring — $145,000 over 3y, 19% of budgetINDIAN PUEBLO CULTURAL CENTER — $140,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetCAMAS FOUNDATION — $135,000 over 3y, 18% of budgetPOTLATCH FUND — $125,877 over 1y, 9.7% of budgetMakoce Agriculture Development — $125,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH RUNNING STRONG INC — $125,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetNOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC — $120,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetNa'ah Illahee Fund — $110,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetOAYE LUTA OKOLAKICIYE — $105,000 over 2y, 8.5% of budgetBERTSCHI SCHOOL — $100,314 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetLAKOTA YOUTH DEVELOPMENT — $75,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetKWU CNXI — $75,000 over 2y, 46% of budgetUNITED INDIANS OF ALL TRIBES FOUNDATION — $61,500 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetCHIEF SEATTLE CLUB — $50,237 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetNative American food sovereignty alliance dba NAFSA — $50,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetCOUNCIL FOR NATIVE HAWAIIAN ADVANCEMENT — $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetArtist Trust — $50,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetHAIDA ROOTS — $50,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetSe Si Le — $45,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetZUNI YOUTH ENRICHMENT PROJECT — $40,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetCenter Pole — $40,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetNAKOA FOUNDATION — $40,000 over 3y, 82% of budgetMEDICINE FISH CORP — $35,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetHOPI SCHOOL INC — $35,000 over 1y, 7.1% of budgetSOUTH DAKOTA EDUCATION EQUITY COALITION — $35,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetTHRESH INC — $35,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetThe Ciesla Foundation — $25,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetBlackfeet Eco Knowledge — $25,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetBLACK HILLS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPIEGAN INSTITUTE — $25,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetHearts Gathered — $25,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetCULTURAL SURVIVAL INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

First Nations Development InstituteCO53.7× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: First Nations Development Institute · Ndn Collective Inc · Novo Foundation · Common Counsel Foundation · Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples Inc · Northwest Area Foundation · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Potlatch Fund · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Seattle Foundation · Charlotte y Martin Foundation-Ima · Inatai Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Vadon Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 20%6%23%51%90%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    11report 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, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Vadon Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Vadon 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 83 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph