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American Center at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

American Center

AMERICAN CENTERs mission is to identify and amplify the voices of americans who want better results from our government.

$90k
Granted FY2024still arriving
2
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$80k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Public Benefit$29MCivil Rights$860kEducation$100kEnvironment$50kCommunity Improvement$30kHealth$27k
02FY2024 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $80k
$80,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$647k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN CENTER FOUNDATION$80,000
FAIRNESS CORP$10,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%OKLAHOMA FORWARD INC: $26.3M → 16%FAIRNESS CORP: $10k → 14%INDEPENDENT ALASKA: $750k → 14%WEST VIRGINIA STRONG INC: $850k → 19%ALASKA PROGRESSIVE DONOR TABLE: $30k → 10%OKLAHOMA FORWARD INC: $490k → 16%AMERICAN CENTER FOUNDATION: $105k → 14%WEST VIRGINIA STRONG INC: $317k → 19%FIRST ALASKANS INSTITUTE: $100k → 10%OKLAHOMA FORWARD: $149k → 16%AMERICAN CENTER FOUNDATION: $80k → 14%THE ALASKA CENTER: $87k → 10%OKLAHOMA PROSPERITY FUND: $20k → 16%AMERICAN CENTER FOUNDATION: $75k → 14%ALASKA CENTER: $50k → 10%OKLAHOMA FORWARD INC: $9k → 16%AMERICAN CENTER FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%OKLAHOMA PROGRESS NOW: $9k → 16%AMERICAN CENTER FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY ACTION NETWORK: $27k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$28M · 3 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
9

Total granted

$28M
$1.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-5%
+24%

Still filing today

100%
56%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24
Civil RightsCommunity ImprovementHealthArts & CultureOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • OF
    OKLAHOMA FORWARD INC
    4× · 2020–2023 · $27M · revenue +101% · 100% of their budget
  • FW
    For West Virginia's Future Inc
    2× · 2021–2022 · $1.2M · revenue -88% · 79% of their budget
  • AC
    AMERICAN CENTER FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $310k · revenue -5% · 100% of their budget

Funded once

  • IA
    INDEPENDENT ALASKA
    one grant, 2020 · $750k
  • FA
    FIRST ALASKANS INSTITUTEgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +117%
  • NP
    Native Peoples Action Incgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $75k · revenue +90%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Alaskans for Better Elections Foundation
Civil Rights
2
Alaska Wins

AK Wins promotes responsible economic development, fiscal policy and general prosperity by educating, engaging and empowering Alaskans on important public policy issues.

—
3
Stand Up Alaska

To Harness the power of the diverse people of Alaska and their communities to empower and support transformative social change. Stand Up Alaska is an Alaskan-led movement providing intersectional and diverse views on issues affecting all…

Civil Rights
4
Alaskans for Posterity Inc

Holding elected officials accountable for acting in the best interests of alaska by educating the general public on key state and local policy issues.

Public Benefit
5
Native American Advocacy Foundation
Philanthropy
6
Alaska Historical Publication Association
Education
7
Alaska Trails

Building partnerships, building trails. Working to build trails across the state and build capacity for trail organizations.

Recreation & Sports
8
Naya Action Fund

Dedicated to expanding political advocacy and building electoral power in partnership with the native community.

Civil Rights
9
Alaska Public Interest Research Group

Consumer Advocacy

Public Benefit
10
Alaskans for Better Elections

Alaskans for Better Elections (ABE) was formed to advocate and campaign for the election reforms contained in Alaska Ballot Measure 2 in 2020:requiring more transparency in campaign donations and instituting a new election system…

Public Benefit
11
Alaskans for Better Government Inc

Alaskans for better government is a ballot initiative campaign to have the state of alaska recognize alaskas 229 federally-recognized native tribes in statute.

—
12
Alaska Rural Electric Cooperative Association Educational Foundation Inc
Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is First Alaskans Institute; the most unlike its peers is Oklahoma Forward Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 14 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/10
Grantees still filing
4/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

OKLAHOMA FORWARD INC: $26,908,575 · OtherOKLAHOMA FORWARD INCFor West Virginia's Future Inc: $1,166,821 · Other+4 more: $851,000 · OtherAMERICAN CENTER FOUNDATION: $310,000 · Civil RightsNative Peoples Action Inc: $75,000 · Civil Rights+1 more: $10,000 · Civil RightsTHE ALASKA CENTER: $137,313 · EnvironmentFIRST ALASKANS INSTITUTE: $100,000 · Community ImprovementAlaska Progressive Donor Table: $30,000 · Community ImprovementAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC: $27,000 · HealthNative Peoples Action Community Fund: $25,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$28,926,396Civil Rights$395,000Environment$137,313Community Improvement$130,000Health$27,000Arts & Culture$25,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetOKLAHOMA FORWARD INC: $26,908,575 over 4y, 100% of budgetFor West Virginia's Future Inc: $1,166,821 over 2y, 79% of budgetAMERICAN CENTER FOUNDATION: $310,000 over 5y, 100% of budgetTHE ALASKA CENTER: $137,313 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetFIRST ALASKANS INSTITUTE: $100,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetNative Peoples Action Inc: $75,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetAlaska Progressive Donor Table: $30,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC: $27,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNative Peoples Action Community Fund: $25,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Sixteen Thirty FundNew Venture Fund
Sixteen Thirty FundDC15.4× affinity5 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sixteen Thirty Fund · New Venture Fund

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization American Center funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from American Center. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–24
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to American Center?

    Find your warmest path to American Center through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 14 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on American Center’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home