Funders › Oregon

Bob Fessler Family Foundation

Woodburn, OR · EIN 93-1258437. Reported 115 grants totalling $663,380 to 43 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,000median grant
$663,380granted, 2021-2025
43recipients, as named on its returns
70%of grantees funded again the next year
$3,588,432assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Bob Fessler Family Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $100 and the largest $50,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
21 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
51 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
13 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
23 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
6 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Abbey Foundation of OregonSt Benedict, OR$141,000552025
Silverton Health FoundationSilverton, OR$60,000552025
St Mary's Catholic ChurchMt Angel, OR$59,500542025
Eastern Oregon UniversityLa Grande, OR$49,000442024
California Polytechnic State UniversitySan Luis Obiscpo, CA$45,000222025
Mt Angel Community FoundationMt Angel, OR$38,500652025
Holy Family AcademySalem, OR$31,160442025
Fr Bernard Youth CenterMt Angel, OR$25,000442024
OSU FoundationCorvallis, OR$23,500642024
Chesterton Academy of the Rogue ValleyCentral Point, OR$22,500222025
St Luke Catholic SchoolWoodburn, OR$20,000552025
Kennedy High SchoolMt Angel, OR$14,900552025
Sonshine Ministries InternationalWilsonville, OR$14,700222022
Friends of Silverton FFA AlumniSilverton, OR$13,000222025
Mt Angel Community Foundation ScholarshipMt Angel, OR$12,500112022
Holy Cross Catholic Parish & SchoolPortland, OR$10,000112023
Oregon Nurseries FoundationWilsonville, OR$10,000112023
Mt Angel Chamber of CommerceMt Angel, OR$9,000552025
Ohsu Doernbecher Children's HospitalPortland, OR$7,200332023
Oregon FFA FoundationCorvallis, OR$6,500552025
Blanchet Community FoundationSalem, OR$6,070112025
Sacred Heart Catholic SchoolGervais, OR$6,000332025
Good Samaritan FoundationPortland, OR$5,000112022
Randall's Children's Hospital FoundationPortland, OR$5,000112022
Mt Angel Community and Senior CenterMt Angel, OR$4,000442024
Mt Angel Fire Volunteer AssociationMt Angel, OR$3,500442024
The Matthew Unrein Memorial FoundationMt Angel, OR$3,500442025
Habitat for HumanityMt Angel, OR$2,000112021
Kids Safe FoundationEugene, OR$2,000112021
Marion Polk Food ShareSalem, OR$2,000222025
Gervais High SchoolGervais, OR$1,600222025
St Paul Parochial SchoolSt Paul, OR$1,500332025
Mt Angel Youth SportsMt Angel, OR$1,200442025
Archdiocese of Portland in OregonPortland, OR$1,000112024
Holy Trinity Private SchoolSilverton, OR$1,000112024
Mt Angel Knights of ColumbusMt Angel, OR$1,000112024
Silverton Bearcats VolleyballSilverton, OR$1,000222022
The Pregnancy CenterMedford, OR$1,000112025
Lasalle Catholic College Preparatory SchoolMilwaukie, OR$850112025
Chelsea Hicks FoundationTualatin, OR$500112021
Union Gospel MissionSalem, OR$500112023
Jfk Project GraduationMt Angel, OR$100112021
The Linda L Vladyka Breast Wellness FoundationSalem, OR$100112022

26 of 43 (60%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 70%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 40 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Education
12 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
8 grants
Food & Nutrition
7 grants
Youth Development
5 grants
Religion
4 grants
Health Care
2 grants
Human Services
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202123$90,100$2,000
202223$118,100$2,000
202323$150,500$1,500
202425$170,700$5,000
202521$133,980$1,500

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

93% of its giving went to organizations in Oregon. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Oregon
$618K
California
$45K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc11 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund10 shared recipientsThe Oregon Community Foundation8 shared recipientsThe Salem Foundation7 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program7 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation5 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Oregon.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Bob Fessler Family Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 13009 Mckee School Rd Ne, Woodburn, OR, 97071. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 93-1258437 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.