California · Nonprofit
COUGAR FOUNDATION
COUGAR FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,755 to it, the largest being THE BLACKBAUD GIVING FUND ($9,870). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $25k
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What Cougar Foundation does
Mission
To enrich students' high school educational experience. This is accomplished by providing funds that finance activities and experiences for students such as club activities, community service activities, tutorial and peer counseling programs and travel expenses to compete on local, state, national, and international levels. These experiences represent the areas of band, choir, debate/forensics, drama, athletics, student organizations, and academic competitive teams or individual events.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Uniforms, equipment, clothing/apparel, and coaching expenses were provided for the benefit of over 1,000 male and female clovis high school athletes.uniforms: $87,669equipment: $162,994clothing/apparel: $56,383supplies: $31,043coaching related expenses: $45,683
$383,772 spent25% of program spendingTravel and related expenses were provided for the benefit of more than 1,000 students in order to participate in various local, state, and national athletic and academic/scholastic/arts competitions. These travel expenses included, but are not limited to, transportation (air fares, car rentals, bus and van transportation, lodging, fuels, meals), tournament and competition entry fees and registrations.competition, registration, and other fees: $17,681tournament entry fees and expenses: $32,822travel and transportation expenses: $133,675
$184,178 spent12% of program spendingUniforms, clothing/apparel, fees and registrations, equipment, musical instruments, travel, vehicle expense (truck for transporting equipment to competitions), and miscellaneous program expenses for students active in clovis high school's marching band & colorguard program, as well as other musical arts programs.uniforms, clothing/apparel: $33,688other program expenses: $127,501travel and transportation expenses: $141,528equipment expenses: $35,756competition, registration, and other fees: $15,128supplies: $15,620
$369,221 spent24% of program spending1.)awards, appreciation, and recognition of both students and staff for their endeavors: $8,3162.)concessions expenses: $5,0813.)equipment: $23,1004.)supplies: $34,3035.)clothing/apparel: $43,4896.)various programs and co-curricular funding assistance: $459,975
$574,264 spentof which $39,735 as grants38% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,511,435.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2024 to 2025, from $854k to $1.1M (+25%).
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.
35% of COUGAR FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 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
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $0 → $289.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 75% 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 COUGAR FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 6 of 7 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
COUGAR FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
75% 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 COUGAR FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 89% · 2021 87% · 2022 94% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“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 COUGAR FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $6k that is directly attributable, 65% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $19k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states 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
COUGAR FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like COUGAR FOUNDATION
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COUGAR FOUNDATION: 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 COUGAR FOUNDATION?
- COUGAR FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,755 to it, the largest being THE BLACKBAUD GIVING FUND ($9,870). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does COUGAR FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $24,755 in grants to COUGAR FOUNDATION, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COUGAR FOUNDATION?
- THE BLACKBAUD GIVING FUND is the largest funder on record, with $9,870 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COUGAR FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Cougar →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 7 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing