About Car Donation Foundation
Operate vehicle donation programs that turn unwanted vehicles into funding and support for charities serving children, veterans, and animals; maximize transparency, efficiency, and impact for charity partners.
Focus Areas
childrenveteransanimal welfarefundraising / vehicle donations
Who They Fund
nonprofit organizations (sector unspecified)organizations rather than individual beneficiaries
Funding Style
unrestricted / general operating supportcore organizational supportflexible / responsive funding
Topics
no specific programmatic focus / not restricted to thematic areas
About Car Donation Foundation
Car Donation Foundation channels vehicle-donation proceeds into general support for charities serving children, veterans, and animals. The pattern is visible in its largest recent awards: a $751,724 grant to Make a Wish Foundation Greater Bay Area in 2023 and repeated six-figure support for veteran-serving organizations such as America’s Warrior Partnership, Veteran’s Airlift Command Foundation, and Gary Sinise Foundation. The foundation’s grantmaking is not limited to a single beneficiary type or a narrow local service area; it funds nonprofits across the United States, with grants going to organizations working on wish granting, military-family support, rescue services, and related needs. Its active programs show the operating model behind that giving: Animal Car Donation, Wheels For Wishes, Vehicles For Veterans, and Wheels For Wishes & Wellness. Across the recent grants list, the foundation appears to favor general support rather than tightly restricted project funding, with recipients including Make a Wish Foundation of Massachusetts & Rhode Island in Boston, Bob Woodruff Family Foundation in New York, and Operation Gratitude in Encino. The result is a funder built around flexible nonprofit support funded through donated vehicles.
What Car Donation Foundation Funds
In children’s health and wish-granting work, Car Donation Foundation gave $605,027 in 2025 to Make a Wish Foundation Greater Bay Area for general support, and it also supported Make a Wish Foundation Mid-atlantic and Make a Wish Foundation of Alaska & Washington. For veterans’ services, the foundation awarded $457,772 in 2024 to America’s Warrior Partnership for general support, alongside grants to Operation Homefront and Student Veterans of America. Animal welfare appears through its dedicated vehicle-donation program, Animal Car Donation, which funds animal rescue programs and tax-exempt charities operating local animal rescues across the United States. The foundation’s broader children-focused program, Wheels For Wishes & Wellness, is described as supporting children’s charities and hospitals serving children throughout the United States. These programs point to a grantmaker organized around named national initiatives rather than a single issue area.
How Car Donation Foundation Gives
Car Donation Foundation’s recent grants cluster around a median size of $114,190, with a lower quartile of $44,787 and an upper quartile of $295,800. The list includes repeated awards to the same organizations across 2023, 2024, and 2025, including multiple general-support grants to several veteran and wish-granting nonprofits. That pattern suggests ongoing relationships rather than isolated one-time gifts. The foundation operates through vehicle-donation programs and does not fund individuals. Its stated philosophy emphasizes unrestricted, general operating, and core organizational support, which matches the general-support language in the recent grants list. The available program descriptions also indicate that unsolicited applications are not accepted in the active donation programs.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$18.5M
Total Assets
$10.9M
Total Revenue
$57.2M
Total Expenses
$57.5M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $45K and $296K, with a median of $114K.
25th Percentile
$45K
Median
$114K
75th Percentile
$296K
Geographic Reach
National42 states funded
About 10% of grants go to recipients in CA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
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