Skip to content
Foundation Dossiers

Oregon · Private foundation

Zera Foundation Inc

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.

$434k
Granted FY2024(still arriving)
43
Grants FY2024
42
Organizations funded FY2023
24%
First-time grantees FY2023
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2024
$7,500
Largest grant, FY2024
$76,600
Organizations funded a year
29 to 42
FY2017 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024
1
Total assets, FY2024
$5.0M
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 24% of the organizations Zera Foundation Inc funded were first-time grantees, receiving 18% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $70k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23
Human ServicesEducationArts & CultureEnvironmentAnimalsFood & NutritionOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2024still arriving43$434k23%
FY202342$395k24%
FY202240$343k45%
FY202142$385k50%
FY202040$375k55%
FY201934$298k35%
FY201829$247k31%
FY201729$232kn/a
94% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Housing & Shelter$601kEducation$380kHuman Services$329kFood & Nutrition$289kAnimals$195kArts & Culture$180kCrime & Legal$124kHealth$117kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Pear$212,37583%
Path Home$140,00061%
Daraja Education Fund$105,00052%
Urban Gleaners$59,10070%
Rahab's Sisters$55,00067%
Outside the Frame$55,00053%
Free Geek$55,00051%
Oregon Symphony Association$52,00050%
Join$50,00050%
The Library Foundation$50,00050%
Show all 81 grantees
All grantees of Zera Foundation Inc by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Pear$212,37583%
Path Home$140,00061%
Daraja Education Fund$105,00052%
Urban Gleaners$59,10070%
Rahab's Sisters$55,00067%
Outside the Frame$55,00053%
Free Geek$55,00051%
Oregon Symphony Association$52,00050%
Join$50,00050%
The Library Foundation$50,00050%
Open Hearts Open Minds$49,00067%
Oregon Food Bank$40,00030%
Portland Animal Welfare Team$40,00052%
The Insight Alliance$40,00043%
Store to Door$37,50051%
Oregon Community Warehouse Inc$37,50031%
Kindred Partners$33,86841%
Project Pooch$33,00043%
The Pongo Fund$32,50041%
Portland Backpack$30,00046%
Pdx Diaper Bank$30,00036%
Fences for Fido$29,50043%
The Dental Foundation of Oregon$27,50031%
Growing Gardens$27,50031%
Blanchet House of Hospitality$25,00030%
Central City Concern$25,00020%
Medical Teams International$25,00030%
Hand in Hand American Friends of the Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Isra$25,00030%
Mother & Child Education Center$22,50032%
Cascade AIDS Project$22,50030%
Portland Rescue Mission$20,5002n/a
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon$20,0002n/a
The Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization$20,00030%
The Circus Project$20,00021%
Hollywood Senior Center dba Community for Positive Aging$20,00031%
My Voice Music Inc$20,00022%
Pacific Refugee Support Group$20,00021%
Transition Projects Inc$20,00020%
Kindness Farm$17,50024%
Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education$17,5003n/a
Lift Urban Portland$17,50021%
Merry Heart Children's Camp$16,50057%
Hacienda Community Development Corporation$16,00010%
Oregon Justice Resource Center$16,00020%
Tivnu Building Justice$15,50023%
Metropolitan Family Service$15,00020%
Portland YouthBuilders$15,00030%
Old Dog Haven$15,00020%
Shir Tikvah$12,5001n/a
William Temple House$10,00020%
Eastside Jewish Commons$10,00016%
Family Dogs New Life Shelter$10,00022%
Sail2Change$10,00018%
Gleaners of Clackamas County Inc$10,00010%
Friends of Zenger Farm$10,00020%
Farmers Market Fund$10,00020%
Holla School$10,00021%
Friends of the Children-Portland$10,00010%
Assist$10,00011%
Catching the Dream$10,00021%
Adventures Without Limits$8,5251n/a
New Avenues for Youth Inc$7,50010%
See You at the Summit$7,500114%
Blueprint$7,5001n/a
Pueblo Unido PDX$7,50017%
Rose Community Development Corporat$7,50010%
Snowcap Community Services$7,50010%
Adelante Mujeres$5,00010%
Black United Fund of Oregon$5,00010%
David's Harp 930771871$5,00026%
Bird Alliance of Oregon Inc$5,00010%
Incight Company$5,00010%
Bloomin Boutique$5,00011%
Youth Music Project$5,00010%
Friends of Saturday Academy$5,00011%
Shelter Now$5,0001n/a
In Kind Boxes$2,50013%
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc$2,00020%
The Northwest Academy$1,00010%
Wallowa County Humane Society$84813%
Spoon Foundation$3001n/a

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 50 recipients with no EIN on record ($691k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Zera Foundation Inc supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPear: $212,375 over 8y, 2.8% of budgetPath Home: $140,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetDaraja Education Fund: $105,000 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetUrban Gleaners: $59,100 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetRahab's Sisters: $55,000 over 6y, 6.8% of budgetOutside the Frame: $55,000 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetFree Geek: $55,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetOregon Symphony Association: $52,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetJoin: $50,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetThe Library Foundation: $50,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetOpen Hearts Open Minds: $49,000 over 6y, 7.2% of budgetOregon Food Bank: $40,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPortland Animal Welfare Team: $40,000 over 5y, 2.4% of budgetThe Insight Alliance: $40,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetStore to Door: $37,500 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetOregon Community Warehouse Inc: $37,500 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetKindred Partners: $33,868 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetProject Pooch: $33,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetThe Pongo Fund: $32,500 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetPortland Backpack: $30,000 over 4y, 6.3% of budgetPdx Diaper Bank: $30,000 over 3y, 5.6% of budgetFences for Fido: $29,500 over 4y, 3.3% of budgetThe Dental Foundation of Oregon: $27,500 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetGrowing Gardens: $27,500 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetBlanchet House of Hospitality: $25,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCentral City Concern: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMedical Teams International: $25,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHand in Hand American Friends of the Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Isra: $25,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetMother & Child Education Center: $22,500 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetCascade AIDS Project: $22,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetThe Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization: $20,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetThe Circus Project: $20,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetHollywood Senior Center dba Community for Positive Aging: $20,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetMy Voice Music Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetPacific Refugee Support Group: $20,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetTransition Projects Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKindness Farm: $17,500 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetLift Urban Portland: $17,500 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetMerry Heart Children's Camp: $16,500 over 5y, 7.2% of budgetHacienda Community Development Corporation: $16,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetOregon Justice Resource Center: $16,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTivnu Building Justice: $15,500 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetMetropolitan Family Service: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPortland YouthBuilders: $15,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetOld Dog Haven: $15,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetWilliam Temple House: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetEastside Jewish Commons: $10,000 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetFamily Dogs New Life Shelter: $10,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 73.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Marie Lamfrom Charita…The Oregon Community …The Autzen FoundationOCF Joseph E Weston P…The Collins FoundationJuan Young TrustRose E Tucker Charita…Meyer Memorial TrustHillman Family Founda…The Harold & Arlene S…Careoregon IncMaybelle Clark Macdon…
Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation TrustOR83.2× affinity43 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Trust · The Oregon Community Foundation · The Autzen Foundation · OCF Joseph E Weston Public Foundation · The Collins Foundation · Juan Young Trust · Rose E Tucker Charitable Trust · Meyer Memorial Trust · Hillman Family Foundations · The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer Care Foundation · Careoregon Inc · Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund

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.

Compare Zera Foundation Inc with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Zera Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Zera Foundation Inc 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.

About Zera Foundation Inc

How much does Zera Foundation Inc give?
Zera Foundation Inc reported 43 grants totaling $433,587 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 29 and 42 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
What does Zera Foundation Inc fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Housing & Shelter (22%), Education (14%), Human Services (12%).
Who are Zera Foundation Inc's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Pear ($212k), Path Home ($140k), Daraja Education Fund ($105k).
Does Zera Foundation Inc fund new organizations?
In FY2023, 24% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Zera Foundation Inc accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as Zera Foundation Inc?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Trust, The Oregon Community Foundation, The Autzen Foundation.
Where is Zera Foundation Inc based?
Zera Foundation Inc is based in OR.

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 132 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 Zera’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