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New Mexico · Nonprofit

FRACTAL FOUNDATION

FRACTAL FOUNDATION (New Mexico) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $34,631 to it, the largest being THE US CHARITABLE GIFT TRUST ($20,000). 1 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 FY2020
$39k
Funders on record
4
Grants received
$35k
Net assets
$174k
1/4 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 16%
01What it does

What Fractal Foundation does

Mission

We use the beauty of fractals to inspire interest in science, math and art.

As stated on its FY2020 Form 990-EZ.

Program

Public outreach activites with our fractal hot airballoons, usually seen by hundreds of thousands of spectators at the albuquerque international balloon fiesta (sched o)

The first program described on its most recent Form 990-EZ.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($117k) Expenses 100 ($80k) Net assets 100 ($211k)2019 Revenue 39 ($46k) Expenses 74 ($59k) Net assets 94 ($198k)2020 Revenue 33 ($39k) Expenses 78 ($63k) Net assets 82 ($174k)
201820192020
Revenue (33)Expenses (78)Net assets (82)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $198k to $174k (−12%).

$211k
$198k
$174k
201820192020
Total assets

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.

2018
2019
2020
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

71% of FRACTAL FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (89% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 835 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.

$37k
’18
−$13k
’19
−$24k
’20
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $6k → $13.

3 of 4 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 FRACTAL FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

FRACTAL FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

100% 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 FRACTAL FOUNDATION.

58%
largest funder
100%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 99% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.

“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 FRACTAL 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 $9k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from New Mexico funders.

NM

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $26k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

FRACTAL FOUNDATION's revenue fell 67% between 2018 and 2020.

Operating margin−61% · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−42% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 525 science & tech nonprofits under $100k, FY2020

Organizations like FRACTAL 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 New Mexico

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NM

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRACTAL 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 FRACTAL FOUNDATION?
FRACTAL FOUNDATION (New Mexico) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $34,631 to it, the largest being THE US CHARITABLE GIFT TRUST ($20,000). 1 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 FRACTAL FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $34,631 in grants to FRACTAL FOUNDATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FRACTAL FOUNDATION?
THE US CHARITABLE GIFT TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $20,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FRACTAL FOUNDATION find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Mexico. 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 Fractal →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2020 (financials across 2018–2020), and the filings of 4 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