The Toan-O'Brien Foundation makes a small number of large, targeted grants with a strong emphasis on civil liberties and constitutional rights alongside selective support for secondary and arts education. The foundation’s giving is dominated by substantial, repeat funding to the American Civil Liberties Union, while smaller awards support local and boarding school arts programs, indicating both national advocacy and local educational interests.
Highly concentrated giving: few, large grants with a dominant repeat grantee (ACLU) and occasional smaller institutional education grants; mix of national advocacy funding and local/state educational support.
A single civil-liberties relationship defines much of the Toan-o'brien Foundation Barrett Toan & Paula O'brien Ttees’ recent giving: the American Civil Liberties Union received $750,000 in 2023 and another $187,500 in 2024. Around that core, the foundation also backed arts and education institutions, including New Mexico School for the Arts with $80,000 and Asheville School with $50,000. The pattern points to a funder that mixes major advocacy support with smaller, targeted grants for schools and civic or cultural nonprofits. Its recent grants include both large awards and modest gifts, with amounts ranging from a few hundred dollars to six-figure support. The foundation’s named recipients include organizations in New Mexico, North Carolina, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Washington, DC, suggesting a national scope rather than a single-locality strategy. Education-related support appears alongside constitutional-rights and public-charity purposes, and some recipients recur across years, indicating continued relationships rather than one-time transactions. The overall picture is of a foundation that uses a limited number of grants to support a mix of advocacy, education, conservation, and community-serving work.
Civil liberties is the clearest throughline in the foundation’s grantmaking, anchored by $750,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union in 2023 and $187,500 in 2024, both for public charitable purposes. In education, it supported New Mexico School for the Arts with $80,000 in 2024, aligning with its arts-focused secondary education interest in Santa Fe. The foundation also funded boarding and independent-school education with a $50,000 grant to Asheville School in 2024 and a smaller $2,000 grant to the same school in 2023. Beyond schools, it made grants for broader public-charity purposes to groups such as Feeding America, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, The Wilderness Society, and The Nature Conservancy, showing interest in community support, conservation, and related civic causes.
Typical grant size is $2,000 at the 25th percentile, $5,000 at the median, and $10,000 at the 75th percentile. That distribution sits alongside a small number of much larger grants, including six-figure support. The record shows repeat giving to the same recipients across years, most clearly for the American Civil Liberties Union and Asheville School, which suggests ongoing relationships rather than single transactions. The foundation does not fund individuals and does not make program-related investments. Grants are listed as charitable-purpose awards, with several marked for public charitable purposes and a smaller set tagged to education of under-resourced children.
$0
$34K
$7K
$7K
Most grants fall between $2K and $10K, with a median of $5K.
25th Percentile
$2K
Median
$5K
75th Percentile
$10K
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Notable grantees: American Civil Liberties Union, New Mexico School for the Arts, Asheville School
Grants are national in scope, and every recent recipient is in the United States. New Mexico appears most often, led by Albuquerque and Santa Fe, which together account for multiple grants, including awards to the American Civil Liberties Union, New Mexico School for the Arts, Breakthrough Santa Fe, Wildearth Guardians, and Think New Mexico. Other recipient cities include Asheville, Chicago, Boulder, New York, Washington, DC, and Ithaca. Twenty-seven percent of grants go to recipients in the headquarters state, New Mexico, but the giving reaches well beyond it.
The clearest pattern is civil liberties and constitutional-rights advocacy, centered on the American Civil Liberties Union. Education is another recurring theme, including support for New Mexico School for the Arts, Asheville School, and College Bound. The grants list also includes conservation, food access, and other public-charity purposes.
The grant-size distribution is $2,000 at the 25th percentile, $5,000 at the median, and $10,000 at the 75th percentile. The record also includes much larger awards, including six-figure support for the American Civil Liberties Union and an $80,000 grant to New Mexico School for the Arts.
Yes. The American Civil Liberties Union received grants in both 2023 and 2024, and Asheville School also appears in two different years. That pattern suggests ongoing relationships with some recipients rather than one-time awards only.
The grant list is national, with all recent recipients located in the United States. New Mexico appears most often among recipient locations, especially Albuquerque and Santa Fe, but the foundation also gave to organizations in North Carolina, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Washington, DC, and other states.
2025
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2025.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION | ALBUQUERQUE, NM | $187,500 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| NEW MEXICO SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS | SANTA FE, NM | $80,000 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| ASHEVILLE SCHOOL | ASHEVILLE, NC | $50,000 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY | ITHACA, NY | $10,000 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| FEEDING AMERICA | CHICAGO, IL | $10,000 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| WILDEARTH GUARDIANS | SANTA FE, NM | $5,000 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| BREAKTHROUGH SANTA FE | SANTA FE, NM | $5,000 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| COLLEGE BOUND | ST LOUIS, MO | $5,000 | 2024 | EDUCATION OF UNDER-RESOURCED CHILDREN |
| THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY | WASHINGTON, DC | $3,000 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY | NEW YORK, NY | $3,000 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSTY AND MEDICINE | BALTIMORE, MD | $2,500 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| THE NATURE CONSERVANCY | ARLINGTON, VA | $2,000 | 2024 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION | ALBUQUERQUE, NM | $750,000 | 2023 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| CONSCIOUS ALLIANCE | BOULDER, CO | $20,000 | 2023 | PUBLIC CHARIABLE PURPOSES |
| THE WRIGHT OPERA HOUSE | OURAY, CO | $10,000 | 2023 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| MAYO CLINIC | ROCHESTER, MN | $10,000 | 2023 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY | NEW YORK, NY | $2,000 | 2023 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| ASHEVILLE SCHOOL | ASHEVILLE, NC | $2,000 | 2023 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION | OAKLAND, CA | $1,000 | 2023 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| THINK NEW MEXICO | SANTA FE, NM | $1,000 | 2023 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| MONTEZUMA LAND CONSERVANCY | CORTEZ, CO | $300 | 2023 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
| KENYON COLLEGE | GAMBLER, OH | $250 | 2023 | PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES |
NEW MEXICO SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS
$80,000PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES
CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY
$10,000PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES
PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES
COLLEGE BOUND
$5,000EDUCATION OF UNDER-RESOURCED CHILDREN
NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY
$3,000PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES
JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSTY AND MEDICINE
$2,500PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES
THE WRIGHT OPERA HOUSE
$10,000PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES
MAYO CLINIC
$10,000PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES
NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY
$2,000PUBLIC CHARITABLE PURPOSES