Grants for search and rescue organizations

Name: Top 25 grants made to search and rescue squads
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

160 search and rescue squads received at least $272,594 in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 178 grants made from 156 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 156 foundations, 90% made just a single grant to rescue orgs, and 1% made grants to four or more rescue orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$272,594

Total grant dollars given to search and rescue organizations

178

Number of grants made annually to search and rescue organizations

156

Number of grantmakers funding search and rescue organizations

$1,000

Median grant size to search and rescue organizations

Foundations that support search and rescue squads

Out of all grants made to search and rescue organizations, 77% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 23% of the dollar-value of grants to rescue orgs. Foundations funding rescue orgs also made grants to animal shelters, food banks, multiservice human service organizations, historical societies, and colleges.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	121
Medium	17
Large	18

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	2
Private	127
Corporate	15
Other	12

Grants made

Grants made to rescue orgs	Number of grantmakers
1	141
2-3	13
4-10	2
11+	0

Top 10 foundations supporting search and rescue squads

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to rescue orgs	Number of grants made to rescue orgs	Median grant size
Puget Sound Energy Foundation	DE	Metro	1.0%	5	$2,500
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.0%	5	$40
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.0%	3	$600
The Fraternal Order of Eagles Foundation	OH	National	0.5%	2	$5,000
United Fund of Surry	NC	Metro	2.0%	2	$3,500
United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area	MT	State	1.9%	2	$2,081
United Way of Florence County	SC	Metro	0.4%	2	$1,721
Mutual of America Foundation	NY	National	0.1%	2	$750
Chubb Charitable Foundation	PA	National	0.0%	2	$625
The Charles and Margaret Levin Family Foundation	MD	Metro	0.3%	2	$625

See all grantmaking to search and rescue organizations

Search and rescue squads grantees

Search and rescue organizations with more than $5 million in total revenues received 4% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 3% of all rescue orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	178
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	0

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,000
$100k-$500k	$1,000
$500k-$1M	$875
$1M-$5M	$250
>$5M	$2,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
Colorado	34
Maryland	20
New Jersey	18
New York	15
Other	91

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
New York City	19
Washington DC	18
Trenton	10
Montgomery	5
Other	64

Top 25 grants made to search and rescue organizations

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Aguilas Del Desierto	$5,000	For Core Operating Support To Reduce Accidents and Deaths Among Migrants in the Mountains, Deserts, and Rural Areas of California By Convening Search Teams and Providing Direct Services.	California Wellness Foundation
Friends of Rockland	$5,000	Exempt Purpose	MassMutual Foundation
Mountain Rescue Aspen	$5,000	For the Use of the Donee Organization	The Aresty Family Foundation
Marin County Sheriff's Dept Search and Rescue Unit	$5,000	Scholarship Awards	Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership (CVNL)
Mountain Rescue Aspen	$5,000	Environment	Shenandoah Foundation
Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue	$5,000	In Furtherance of Section 501(c)(3) Charitable Purpose	Raintree Foundation
Washington State Sar Planning Unit	$5,000	Probability-Based Search Planning Software	Puget Sound Energy Foundation
Wolfpack Search and Recovery	$5,000	Community Development	The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC)
Escambia Search and Rescue	$5,000	Search & Rescue Services	The Huisking Foundation
Zaka Search and Rescue	$5,000	General Support	Nathaniel Foundation
Mountain Rescue Aspen	$5,000	General & Unrestricted	The Broder Family Foundation
Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad (BCCRS)	$5,000	General	Wilczynski Foundation
Zaka Rescue and Recovery	$5,000	Charity	Alexander Charitable Foundation U / A / D 12 / 18 / 2000
Mountain Rescue Aspen	$5,000	Charity	Barbara and Franklin Carson Family Foundation
Pennsylvania Canine Search and Rescue	$5,000	General Support	Anne B Sweigart Charitable Foundation
Mountain Rescue Aspen	$5,000	General Operating	Pamela Bakken Foundation Ma
Sheriffs Posse of Sun City West	$5,000	For the General Purposes Or Other Charitable Purposes of the Organization.	Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
St John Rescue	$5,000	General Support	Longview Foundation
Ouray Mountain Rescue Team	$5,000	Purchase A New Rescue Jeep	Western Colorado Community Foundation (WCCF)
Park County Search and Rescue	$5,000	Program & Operating	The Summit Foundation
Anchorage Search Team	$5,000	Equipment/supplies	The Fraternal Order of Eagles Foundation
Churchill County NV Search and Rescue	$5,000	Equipment/supplies	The Fraternal Order of Eagles Foundation
Appalachian Mountain Rescue Team	$5,000	General Operating Support	Trailsend Foundation
Delta County Search and Rescue	$5,000	Support	Cox Family Foundation
Mountain Rescue Aspen	$4,500	Charity	Ellerbeck Family Foundation

See all grants to search and rescue organizations

Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Search and rescue organizations" category for this page is determined by the "M23: Search and Rescue Squads, Services" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.