Missouri · Nonprofit
BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC
BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC (Missouri) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,000 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF GREATER ST LOUIS INC ($15,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.0M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $45k
- Net assets
- $2.4M
What Build-A-Bear Foundation Inc does
Mission
Build-a-bear foundation seeks to add a little more heart to life by sharing hugs, inspiring creativity, and making days a little bit brighter for those in need.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Health, wellness and literacy program - donations to charitable organizations to support their efforts in health, wellness and literacy programs.
$1,639,957 spentof which $1,639,957 as grants98% of program spendingAssociate disaster relief - donations to individuals supporting babw associates in need of financial relief.
$30,739 spentof which $30,739 as grants2% of program spendingAssociate scholarship - donations to babw associates and family members who applied and were accepted to receive the scholarships.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,670,696.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $1.2M to $1.9M (+63%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
98% of BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $8k → $38k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 4 of 5 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
83% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 40% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
75% of BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $15k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 11,263 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 50 states
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc · corp_trust
- Build-A-Bear UK · corp_trust
- Build-A-Bear Canada · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC?
- BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC (Missouri) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,000 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF GREATER ST LOUIS INC ($15,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $45,000 in grants to BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC.
- Who is the largest funder of BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC?
- UNITED WAY OF GREATER ST LOUIS INC is the largest funder on record, with $15,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BUILD-A-BEAR FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 5 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing