Skip to content
Vadon Foundation at a glance

· 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 it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

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

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

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

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
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$250,000
Individual grant recipient$250,000
OCETI SAKOWIN COMMUNITY ACADEMY$225,000
CHILDREN OF THE SETTING SUN PRODUCTIONS$200,000
SALISH SCHOOL OF SPOKANE$200,000
TREEHOUSE$175,000
INCHELIUM LANGUAGE AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION$160,000
KNIFE CHIEF BUFFALO NATION SOCIETY$140,000
TANKA FUND$100,000
YUCHI LANGUAGE PROJECT$100,000
CHEYENNE RIVER YOUTH PROJECT$100,000
AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH RUNNING STRONG$100,000
SPOKANE LANGUAGE HOUSE$100,000
FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER$100,000
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES POWER PROJECT INC$100,000
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 (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 its 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
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

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

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has 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

+20%
+31%

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
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

  • Salish School of Spokane
    5× · 2018–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +82%
  • CO
    CHILDREN OF THE SETTING SUN PRODUCT
    4× · 2021–2024 · $540k · revenue +400%
  • 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%
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
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ndn Collective Inc; 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.
04the grantee network

57 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. 57 of the 83 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.

8
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
56/57
Grantees still filing
32/57
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and 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 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 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 budgetCOUNCIL FOR NATIVE HAWAIIAN ADVANCEMENT: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetArtist Trust: $50,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetNative American food sovereignty alliance dba NAFSA: $50,000 over 1y, 1.4% 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 budgetSOUTH DAKOTA EDUCATION EQUITY COALITION: $35,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetHOPI SCHOOL INC: $35,000 over 1y, 7.1% of budgetMEDICINE FISH CORP: $35,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetTHRESH INC: $35,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetThe Ciesla Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetBLACK HILLS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBlackfeet Eco Knowledge: $25,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetHearts Gathered: $25,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetPIEGAN INSTITUTE: $25,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetCULTURAL SURVIVAL INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

First Nations Develop…Ndn Collective IncNovo FoundationCommon Counsel Founda…Seventh Generation Fu…Northwest Area Founda…The Schmidt Family Fo…Potlatch FundAmalgamated Charitabl…Seattle FoundationCharlotte y Martin Fo…Inatai Foundation
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

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%23%51%90%funder's 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, 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 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 83 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Vadon’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