California · Nonprofit
THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION
THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,116,117 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($3,185,169). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What The Canary Fund Dba Canary Foundation does
Mission
Canary Foundation is a public charity exempt from U.S. federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code in the United States. Canary Foundation of Canada is a Public Foundation registered with the Canada Revenue Agency; Business Number 82906 8550 RROOO1.The Canary Foundation has assembled teams of cancer researchers recognized by their peers as leaders in their disciplines from across multiple institutions and disciplines to attack the problem of early detection in a new, collaborative, action-oriented manner with the foremost objective of translating research into clinical applications. Canary differentiators include: * Dedication to early detection * Leaders in collaborative science * Focused and managed research * Best-in-class talent * 100% of donations goes to researchOne of the first decisions the Science Team made was to choose ovarian cancer as a prototype for creating an early detection blood test to detect trace amounts of proteins called biomarkers pro
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The goal of the Canary Scientific Programs is to develop blood tests and imaging tests that can together be used to detect lethal cancers at a curable stage. Our plan for early and accurate cancer detection involves first screening patients with a blood test and then moving those patients who tested positive to a high-resolution imaging test to further isolate cancer so that it can be removed. Chances of survival are highest when cancer is detected before it spreads. Thus, accurate detection of cancer that would otherwise be lethal at its earliest stage promises to dramatically improve survival after diagnosis. Canary has supported research programs focused on solid tumor cancer types including ovarian, lung, pancreas and prostate cancers, as well as a Collaborations Program with collaborating early detection programs and centers that include the Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection.
$2,011,373 spentof which $1,760,069 as grants100% of program spendingCanary Ovarian Cancer Program: The goal of our ovarian research program is to develop a strategy to accurately identify ovarian cancers that would otherwise be lethal at a stage when they are readily curable. The program focuses on high grade serous ovarian cancer, which is the most common and lethal subtype, in order to have the highest impact on reducing ovarian cancer mortality. Our aims include understanding the earliest stages of cancer development in the fallopian tube, identifying molecular markers for early detection or prevention, and developing advanced imaging techniques for early detection of the disease. Development of blood and imaging tests follows a similar roadmap; both include biomarker discovery followed by validation, but they also involve different techniques and challenges.
Canary Lung Cancer Program:Canary is focused on developing diagnostics with high sensitivity and specificity to detect otherwise lethal lung cancers at a stage when they are readily curable. To this end, Canary has assembled a team of experts who are collaborating to discover and validate biomarkers for blood and imaging tests that together will identify individuals harboring lethal lung cancers so that they can be removed. The Canary Lung Cancer Program has supported the development and maintenance of critical biospecimen resources, blood biomarker discovery and validation, molecular imaging projects for early detection of lethal lung cancer, and epidemiology and modeling for effective lung cancer screening.(continued Sch O)
Canary Prostate Cancer Program:The specific goals of the Canary Foundation Prostate program are to develop tests that can: 1) Identify lethal prostate cancers at an early (curable) stage; 2) Classify prostate cancers as either 1) potentially lethal; best treated with aggressive therapy b) non-lethal: suitable for continued monitoring without aggressive treatment. Given the large body of published but invalidated candidate markers for prostate cancer, we are focusing our initial efforts on evaluating the performance of a selected set of promising biomarkers. Candidate biomarkers are evaluated based on their ability to detect lethal prostate cancers at an early (curable) stage and to discriminate lethal from non-lethal prostate cancer. We are considering both fluid-based and tissue-based biomarkers for prognostic applications. The Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study (PASS) enrolls men who opt for active surveillance of their early stage prostate cancer. Men are followed closely for signs of cancer progression, donating biospecimens and clinical data for a minimum of 5 years or until receiving treatment for their disease. The biospecimens and clinical data provide a valuable…
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,011,373.
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 $6.5M to $2.6M (−60%).
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 THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 3 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
Don Listwin
Founder & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 16 funders to 12 funders, grant income fell $1.8M → $1.7M.
9 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
32% 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 THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 41% · 2019 39% · 2020 33% · 2021 72% · 2022 54% · 2023 49% — 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
23% of THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
87% of THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION is better cushioned than half of the 1,504 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,504 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY 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
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
45%
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 THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY 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 THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION?
- THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,116,117 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($3,185,169). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $14,116,117 in grants to THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY FOUNDATION?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,185,169 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CANARY FUND DBA CANARY 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 40 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