Skip to content
Ask
← FundingAlso makes grants — grantmaker profile →

California · Nonprofit

NOVATO FIRE FOUNDATION

NOVATO FIRE FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,080 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM H DONNER FOUNDATION INC ($11,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$83k
Funders on record
4
Grants received
$18k
Net assets
$268k
3/4 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 8%
01What it does

What Novato Fire Foundation does

Mission

To enrich the lives of our communities by harnessing the goodwill of our firefighters and those who support us.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Golf tournament to raise funds to support causes

    $21,390 spent
    36% of program spending

  2. FIRE SQUIRTS-Designed for the enrichment of children 10-14 years old, teaching them teamwork, discipline and self confidence in a weeklong fire academy at our Station 62 training center. Children are selected by Marin Advocates for Children, Marin Big Brothers Big Sisters, Novato Youth Center and Novato Parks, Recreation and Community Services.

    $12,748 spent
    21% of program spending

  3. HOLIDAY TOY DRIVE - Provides toys, bikes and gift cards to local disadvantaged children throughout our communities every holiday season, continuing a long-standing Novato Firefighter tradition.

    $9,383 spent
    16% of program spending

  4. AED program provides 100 Automatic External Defibrillators (AED's) throughout our communities in strategic locations and inside every Novato Police cruiser. This program also maintains the AED's by providing pads, batteries and updates as necessary.

    $5,010 spent
    8% of program spending

  5. Pancake breakfast

    $3,354 spent
    6% of program spending

  6. SCHOLARSHIPS - provided to less privileged youth

    $3,000 spent
    5% of program spending

  7. Alisa ann ruch burn foundation

    $2,000 spent
    3% of program spending

  8. California fire foundation

    $742 spent
    1% of program spending

  9. Program expenses general

    $675 spent
    1% of program spending

  10. Gofundme

    $500 spent
    1% of program spending

  11. Childrens hospital fundraiser- costco

    $500 spent
    1% of program spending

  12. FIREFIGHTER HISTORICAL - to preserve the history of the Novato fire service by making available to the public a collection of historical firefighting equipment and visual displays that pay tribute to the previous and current generations of firefighters

    $100 spent
    0% of program spending

  13. CHILI COMPANY PROGRAM- Our team of Firefighter Chefs, led by Executive Head Chef Marvin Blandon entertains and competes up and down the state to bring home pride and financial donations.

  14. FIRE VICTIMS 2017- to help various local firefighters from several local precincts In Sonoma and Napa counties and to assist the many firefighters and their families who've lost homes.

  15. MUSEUM - to preserve the history of the Novato fire service by making available to the public a collection of historical firefighting equipment and visual displays that pay tribute to the previous and current generations of firefighters

  16. Dague family charitable donation

  17. Merchandise purchases

  18. Program food purchases

  19. Other small special events

  20. Hamilton ryan

The 20 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $59,402.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($360k) Expenses 100 ($44k) Net assets 100 ($496k)2018 Revenue 63 ($226k) Expenses 804 ($353k) Net assets 75 ($370k)2019 Revenue 18 ($64k) Expenses 487 ($214k) Net assets 44 ($221k)2020 Revenue 16 ($59k) Expenses 61 ($27k) Net assets 51 ($253k)2021 Revenue 13 ($46k) Expenses 123 ($54k) Net assets 49 ($245k)2022 Revenue 35 ($127k) Expenses 155 ($68k) Net assets 59 ($291k)2023 Revenue 23 ($81k) Expenses 294 ($129k) Net assets 49 ($243k)2024 Revenue 27 ($96k) Expenses 180 ($79k) Net assets 52 ($261k)2025 Revenue 23 ($83k) Expenses 169 ($74k) Net assets 54 ($268k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (23)Expenses (169)Net assets (54)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $370k to $221k (−40%).

$496k
$370k
$221k
$253k
$245k
$291k
$243k
$261k
$271k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$317k
’17
−$126k
’18
−$149k
’19
$33k
’20
−$8k
’21
$59k
’22
−$48k
’23
$17k
’24
$9k
’25
34
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed10108877777
Joined·+0+1+0+0+2+0+0+0
No longer listed·03012000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $5k → $1k.

Funder
'17
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
total
funders
1
1
2
2
2
1

2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 NOVATO FIRE 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

NOVATO FIRE FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% 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

28% 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 NOVATO FIRE FOUNDATION.

61%
largest funder
100%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 100% · 2023 97% — 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

NOVATO FIRE FOUNDATION draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 2 states in all.

NY
DE

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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

Organizations like NOVATO FIRE 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

San Jose Firefighters Burn Foundation Inc83%Newport Beach Fire Department Foundation83%Hayward Firefighter Charitable Fund82%Santa Clara Firefighters Foundation81%Northern California Bleeding Disorders Foundation Formerly Hemophilia Foundtn81%Nevada County Fairgrounds Foundation80%Santa Ynez Valley People Helping People80%Napa City Firefighters Charitable Fund80%

Nationally

San Jose Firefighters Burn Foundation Inc83%Newport Beach Fire Department Foundation83%Croton Falls Volunteer Fire Department Department Inc82%Hayward Firefighter Charitable Fund82%Santa Clara Firefighters Foundation81%Northern California Bleeding Disorders Foundation Formerly Hemophilia Foundtn81%Firefighter Angel Foundation81%Nevada County Fairgrounds Foundation80%
05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

80% of spending goes to programs.

Program 80%Management 20%Fundraising 0%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

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

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NOVATO FIRE 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 NOVATO FIRE FOUNDATION?
NOVATO FIRE FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,080 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM H DONNER FOUNDATION INC ($11,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does NOVATO FIRE FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $18,080 in grants to NOVATO FIRE FOUNDATION, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of NOVATO FIRE FOUNDATION?
THE WILLIAM H DONNER FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $11,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like NOVATO FIRE 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.

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 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