California · Nonprofit
NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION
NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 262 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,658,628 to it, the largest being THE RACHAEL RAY FOUNDATION ($2,025,000). 169 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.9M
- Funders on record
- 262
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $39M
What National Disaster Search Dog Foundation does
Mission
Our mission is to strengthen disaster response in america by rescuing and recuiting dogs and partnering them with firefighters and other first responders to find people buried alive in the wreckage of disasters.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Canine recruitment and training:the search dog foundation (sdf) engages hundreds of shelters and rescue groups across the country to identify and recruit high-drive dogs for disaster search work. Following medical screenings and behavioral evaluations, promising canine recruits will train daily at our national training center and typically take 10 to 12 months to master the skills required for disaster search, which include agility, direction and control, and locating and alerting for victims hidden beneath rubble and debris.
$3,020,048 spent51% of program spendingSearch team training and support:sdf works closely with task forces to meet their requests for new canine disaster search teams and to support existing teams (provided free of charge by sdf). When search dogs reach graduation, sdf pairs them with first responders who have also been trained by sdf during a six-month handler training program. Once paired, all sdf teams receive advanced training and comprehensive veterinary care throughout their careers, to ensure they achieve and maintain certification for deployment. Through our search team grants, sdf also provides financial assistance to sdf and non-sdf teams for equipment, other costs related to training, and for veterinary care of non-sdf dogs to help them remain healthy, well-equipped, and ready to respond when disasters strike. Our 125-acre campus features unique canine search facilities and disaster simulation training props that are also made available, free of charge, to other first-response groups, benefiting hundreds of working dog teams each year.
$1,641,563 spentof which $205,685 as grants28% of program spendingCanine lifetime placement:sdf makes a lifetime commitment to every dog recruited. Once rescued, they never need to be rescued again. Dogs who cannot become disaster search dogs are carefully matched and placed in alternative working careers or active family homes that are better suited to their personalities and needs. Sdf keeps in touch and acts as a dog's advocate for their entire life to ensure each dog receives proper care in a happy and healthy environment, and sdf will welcome a dog back into our immediate care to be re-homed if needed.
$1,302,007 spent22% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,963,618.
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 2019 to 2020, from $35M to $36M (+4%).
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.
92% of NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Chief executive
Rhett Mauck
CEO
Board chair
George Leis
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 76 funders to 117 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $2.5M.
31 of 262 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 262 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
NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 15 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 15 funders to its left
31% 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 NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 15% · 2019 19% · 2020 16% · 2021 15% · 2022 14% · 2023 14% — 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.
How long its funders stay
52% of NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION draws 70% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 33 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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
NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION's funding base is broadening — from 76 funders to 117 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,002 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG 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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 9 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG 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 NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION?
- NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 262 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,658,628 to it, the largest being THE RACHAEL RAY FOUNDATION ($2,025,000). 169 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 262 organizations giving $16,658,628 in grants to NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION, 169 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION?
- THE RACHAEL RAY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,025,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG 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 National Disaster Search Dog →
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 262 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