Grants for search and rescue organizations

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 sizeNumber 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 typeNumber of grantmakers
Community
 
2
Private
 
127
Corporate
 
15
Other
 
12

Grants made

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

Top 10 foundations supporting search and rescue squads

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to rescue orgsNumber of grants made to rescue orgsMedian grant size
Puget Sound Energy FoundationDEMetro1.0%5$2,500
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.0%5$40
Shell Oil Company FoundationTXNational0.0%3$600
The Fraternal Order of Eagles FoundationOHNational0.5%2$5,000
United Fund of SurryNCMetro2.0%2$3,500
United Way of the Lewis and Clark AreaMTState1.9%2$2,081
United Way of Florence CountySCMetro0.4%2$1,721
Mutual of America FoundationNYNational0.1%2$750
Chubb Charitable FoundationPANational0.0%2$625
The Charles and Margaret Levin Family FoundationMDMetro0.3%2$625

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 grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
178
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
0

Grant amount by grantee size

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

Grantee states

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

Grantee metros

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

Top 25 grants made to search and rescue organizations

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
Aguilas Del Desierto$5,000For 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$5,000Exempt PurposeMassMutual Foundation
Mountain Rescue Aspen$5,000For the Use of the Donee OrganizationThe Aresty Family Foundation
Marin County Sheriff's Dept Search and Rescue Unit$5,000Scholarship AwardsCenter for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership (CVNL)
Mountain Rescue Aspen$5,000EnvironmentShenandoah Foundation
Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue$5,000In Furtherance of Section 501(c)(3) Charitable PurposeRaintree Foundation
Washington State Sar Planning Unit$5,000Probability-Based Search Planning SoftwarePuget Sound Energy Foundation
Wolfpack Search and Recovery$5,000Community DevelopmentThe Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC)
Escambia Search and Rescue$5,000Search & Rescue ServicesThe Huisking Foundation
Zaka Search and Rescue$5,000General SupportNathaniel Foundation
Mountain Rescue Aspen$5,000General & UnrestrictedThe Broder Family Foundation
Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad (BCCRS)$5,000GeneralWilczynski Foundation
Zaka Rescue and Recovery$5,000CharityAlexander Charitable Foundation U / A / D 12 / 18 / 2000
Mountain Rescue Aspen$5,000CharityBarbara and Franklin Carson Family Foundation
Pennsylvania Canine Search and Rescue$5,000General SupportAnne B Sweigart Charitable Foundation
Mountain Rescue Aspen$5,000General OperatingPamela Bakken Foundation Ma
Sheriffs Posse of Sun City West$5,000For the General Purposes Or Other Charitable Purposes of the Organization.Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
St John Rescue$5,000General SupportLongview Foundation
Ouray Mountain Rescue Team$5,000Purchase A New Rescue JeepWestern Colorado Community Foundation (WCCF)
Park County Search and Rescue$5,000Program & OperatingThe Summit Foundation
Anchorage Search Team$5,000Equipment/suppliesThe Fraternal Order of Eagles Foundation
Churchill County NV Search and Rescue$5,000Equipment/suppliesThe Fraternal Order of Eagles Foundation
Appalachian Mountain Rescue Team$5,000General Operating SupportTrailsend Foundation
Delta County Search and Rescue$5,000SupportCox Family Foundation
Mountain Rescue Aspen$4,500CharityEllerbeck Family Foundation
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.