Skip to content
Nonprofiteer
← All organizations

BRIDES FOUNDATION

EIN 81-1902616 PORTLAND, OR

Revenue 2024
$3,070,091
Expenses 2024
$2,447,731

Program services were 92.9% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
P19
Classification
1000
Street
2505 SE 11TH AVE STE 120

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2024

Mission

TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR WOMEN-FOCUSED CHARITIES BY COLLECTING AND RESELLING DONATED WEDDING GOWNS AND ACCESSORIES.

  • BRIDES FOR A CAUSE IS AN OREGON NONPROFIT THAT PROVIDES FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR WOMEN-FOCUSED CHARITIES BY COLLECTING AND RESELLING DONATED WEDDING GOWNS AND BRIDAL ACCESSORIES. THE DONATED WEDDING DRESSES AND BRIDAL ACCESSORIES ARE RECEIVED FROM BRIDAL STORES, DESIGNERS, MANUFACTURES AND INDIVIDUALS AND RESOLD AT ITS BOUTIQUE LOCATIONS. BRIDES FOR A CAUSE OPERATES FIVE BRIDAL STORE LOCATIONS, INCLUDING PORTLAND, OR, TACOMA, WA, SEATTLE, WA, SACRAMENTO, CA AND SAN DIEGO, CA. THE ORGANIZATION GIVES MONETARY DONATIONS TO 501(C)(3) ORGANIZATIONS THAT SUPPORT WOMENS CAUSES WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT AND PROMOTING SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN THE WEDDING INDUSTRY BY RESELLING THE DONATED BRIDAL ATTIRE. IN 2024, BRIDES FOR A CAUSE COLLECTED 8,661 DONATED WEDDING DRESSES, VALUING $2,682,404 ALONG WITH $141,004 WORTH OF SPECIAL OCCASION DRESSES AND BRIDAL ACCESSORIES. BRIDES FOR A CAUSE CONTRIBUTED $550,000 TO 52 LOCALLY AND NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED CHARITABLE CAUSES THAT PROVIDES SERVICES AND ASSISTANCE TO WOMEN IN NEED. BRIDES FOR A CAUSE ALSO PROVIDED IN-KIND DONATIONS OF WEDDING DRESSES, SPECIAL OCCASION DRESSES AND BRIDAL ACCESSORIES VALUING $153,866 TO OTHER 501(C)(3) ORGANIZATIONS TO SUPPORT THEIR MISSION, INCLUDING 54 FREE WEDDING DRESSES TO MILITARY BRIDES AND FIRST RESPONDERS THROUGH THE BRIDES ACROSS AMERICA OPERATION WEDDING GOWN EVENTS. IN 2024, BRIDES FOR A CAUSE CONTRIBUTED $550,000 TO THE FOLLOWING BENEFICIARIES: ABBYS CLOSET, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN (AAUW), AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY, AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION, ASTRAEA LESBIAN FOUNDATION FOR JUSTICE, BABY QUEST FOUNDATION, BRADLEY ANGLE, BRIDES ACROSS AMERICA, CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, COCOON HOUSE, DAYS FOR GIRLS, DRESS FOR SUCCESS OREGON, DRESS FOR SUCCESS SEATTLE, EQUALITY NOW, EVERY MOTHER COUNTS, FIGHTING PRETTY, FREEDOM NETWORK USA, GENERATEHOPE, GIRLS INC OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, GIRLS ON THE RUN, GIRLS WHO CODE, GLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN, HAYDEN'S HELPING HANDS, JOYFUL HEART FOUNDATION, JUBILEE WOMENS CENTER, INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MISSION, LADIES WHO LAUNCH, LODI HOUSE, MARYS PLACE, NATIONAL WOMENS HEALTH NETWORK, OVARIAN CANCER RESEARCH ALLIANCE (OCRA), PERIOD., PINK LEMONADE PROJECT, PRINCESS PROJECT, ROSE HAVEN, RUBY ROOM, RUNNING START, SHE SHOULD RUN, SHE'S THE FIRST, SISTER LEAGUE OF SAN DIEGO, THE LOVELAND FOUNDATION, TOO YOUNG TO WED, VOW FOR GIRLS, WEAVE INC., WELLSPRING WOMENS CENTER, WISH UPON A WEDDING, WOMAN OF WONDER, WOMEN DELIVER, WOMENHEART: THE NATIONAL COALITION FOR WOMEN WITH HEART DISEASE, YOUNG WOMEN EMPOWERED AND 9TO5 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WORKING WOMEN.

    Expenses $2,273,345 · Grants $703,866 · Revenue $320,611

As filed on the 2024 return.

Officers and directors · 2024

As listed in Part VII of the 2024 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • Erin Scharf

    Executive Dir.

    Total calculated
    $158,834
    From this org
    $147,782
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $11,052
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $147,782
    Bonus
    not reported
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $4,433
    Nontaxable benefits
    $6,619
    Filer's total
    $158,834

  • Brenda Chovanak

    President

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0.5

  • Heather Clark

    Treasurer

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0.5

  • Brian Wolf

    Secretary

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0.5

  • Kelsey Chu

    Director

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0.5

  • Linda Harris

    Director

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0.5

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2024
    Revenue
    $3,070,091
    Expenses
    $2,447,731
    Contributions
    $2,688,130
    Grants paid
    $703,866
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $2,176,105
    Expenses
    $2,191,131
    Contributions
    $1,964,277
    Grants paid
    $746,012
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $1,992,911
    Expenses
    $1,960,632
    Contributions
    $1,872,093
    Grants paid
    $706,045

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,896,434
    Expenses
    $1,748,888
    Assets (EOY)
    $1,942,953

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $2,353,133
    Expenses
    $1,748,888
    Assets (EOY)
    $2,399,652

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,822,660
    Expenses
    $1,512,644
    Assets (EOY)
    $1,885,045

  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,814,255
    Expenses
    $1,502,003
    Assets (EOY)
    $1,478,815

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,560,419
    Expenses
    $1,140,076
    Assets (EOY)
    $1,160,748

  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $952,839
    Expenses
    $794,739
    Assets (EOY)
    $737,614

  • 2016 · 990

    Revenue
    $720,339
    Expenses
    $143,068
    Assets (EOY)
    $606,470

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all.

Grants made

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Where these grants went next →

Grants received

No itemized grant names this organization as a recipient. Only grants over $5,000 are itemized, and only by filers of the full Form 990.

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 13 October 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 13 October 2026 and read 29 October 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2024, the newest we have parsed for this organization.