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American Modern Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

American Modern Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$23k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Human Services$176kHealth$145kCommunity Improvement$76kAnimals$54kEnvironment$38kPhilanthropy$33kFood & Nutrition$31kYouth Development$31kOther$0
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$6,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$8k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Clermont Chamber of Commerce Founda$10,000
Cincinnati Cares$6,000
The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Cincinnati$3,500
Down Syndrome Association of Greate$3,021
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $138k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Denver Adaptive Divers: $25 → 12%Mississippi State University Foundation: $2k → 24%CMAK Sandy Hook Memorial Foundation: $25 → 9%Give Like A Mother: $8k → 9%Point Arc Of Northern Kentucky: $155 → 11%CLERMONT SENIOR SERVICES: $6k → 9%CLERMONT SENIOR SERVICES: $5k → 9%JUVENILE DIABETES CURE ALLIANCE: $75 → 17%CLERMONT SENIOR SERVICES: $5k → 9%CLERMONT SENIOR SERVICES: $4k → 9%Charity Water: $25 → 17%CHILD FOCUS: $3k → 9%LIGHTHOUSE YOUTH SERVICES INC: $100 → 16%Give Like A Mother: $706 → 9%GIVE LIKE A MOTHER: $110 → 9%Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Cincinnati: $4k → 16%The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Cincinnati: $4k → 16%Covered Greater Cincinnati: $10k → 16%HEALTHSOURCE FOUNDATION: $4k → 9%HealthSource Foundation: $3k → 9%HealthSource Foundation: $3k → 9%PRO SENIORS: $100 → 16%Bluebird Bus Of Hope: $5k → 9%CHILD FOCUS: $10k → 16%Varner Foundation For Children And Families: $8k → 16%CHILD FOCUS: $7k → 16%EMPOWER YOUTH: $8k → 9%CHILD FOCUS: $6k → 16%EMPOWER YOUTH: $2k → 9%EMPOWER YOUTH: $1k → 9%YWCA Greater Cincinnati: $6k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER CINCINNATI: $5k → 16%YMCA OF GREATER CINCINNATI: $5k → 16%Child Focus: $5k → 16%YWCA OF GREATER CINCINNATI: $4k → 16%Ymca Of Greater Cincinnati: $3k → 16%Clermont Senior Services: $2k → 16%Empower Youth: $1k → 16%Lighthouse Youth Services: $450 → 16%Changing Gears: $400 → 16%Cincinnati Association For The Blind And Visually Impaired: $400 → 16%Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank: $400 → 16%Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank: $400 → 16%Give Like A Mother: $230 → 16%Cincinnati Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired: $100 → 16%Cincinnati Association For the Blind: $25 → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
IL
MI
NY
MA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
TN
NC
SC
DC
LA
MS
GA
TX
FL
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.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$545k · 65 repeat orgs$167k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against +7% for those funded once.

65 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 63 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

65
152

Total granted

$545k
$154k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
+7%

Still filing today

68%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 42% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $13k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
AnimalsHuman ServicesHealthInternationalEnvironmentPhilanthropyOther
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

  • CC
    CLERMONT COUNTY CHAMBER FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $50k · revenue +10%
  • TU
    THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $40k · revenue +23%
  • CF
    Child Focus
    5× · 2020–2024 · $29k · revenue +26%

Funded once

  • UW
    United Way
    one grant, 2020 · $11k
  • HF
    HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
    one grant, 2023 · $11k
  • RW
    RED WOLF SANCTUARY INC
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue 0%
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
Columbus Humane

To fight animal cruelty, help animals in need and advocate for their well-being.

Animals
2
Ohio United Way

To strengthen the capacity of United Ways across Ohio and to advance the common good for Ohioans.

Philanthropy
3
Animal Care Sanctuary

Animal care sanctuary's lifesaving mission as a no kill organization envisions a community that promotes turning compassion into action for companion animals by: 1.) adopting healthy pet companions into loving homes. 2.) promoting the…

Animals
4
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
5
Columbus Zoological Park Association

Empowering people. saving wildlife.

Animals
6
Cincinnati Zoo Foundation Inc

Perform fundraising functions, provide financial support, carryout the purpose and otherwise operating for the benefit of the zoological society of cincinnati.

Animals
7
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
8
Cintrifuse

To empower Cincinnati entrepreneurs to launch bold, scalable startups; and we work to improve the odds of those startups growing into transformational companies.

Community Improvement
9
Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati

To resolve serious legal problems of low income people, to promote economic and family stability, and reduce poverty through effective legal assistance.

—
10
Greater Cleveland Volunteers

Greater cleveland volunteers enriches the community and indivuduals through volunteer service. volunteers age 18 and older are recruited and placed in the agency's programs or referred to local nonprofit or public organizations to help…

Philanthropy
11
Worldwide Vets Incorporated

Our goal is to sustainably improve animal welfare, provide veterinary care, and improve veterinary education globally. in order to achieve this goal, we work in over 10 countries, across 5 continents, supporting local people and animals,…

Animals
12
Animal Outlook Inc

Animal outlook is a national animal protection organization working to end the abuse of farmed animals using a variety of strategies, including investigations, legal advocacy, corporate and food system reform, and vegan outreach.

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Good Charities; the most unlike its peers is Honor Flight Tri-State. 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

139 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 139 of the 222 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
136/139
Grantees still filing
83/139
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $32,159 · OtherIndividual grant recipientBoys Girls Club: $15,836 · OtherINSPIRING PURPOSE DAY PROGRAM: $15,000 · OtherUnited Way: $11,250 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $11,000 · OtherCincinnati Cares: $10,500 · OtherCASA FOR CLERMONT KIDS: $17,600 · OtherCASA FOR CLERMONT KIDSYELLOW RIBBON SUPPORT FOUNDATION: $10,500 · Other+113 more: $189,487 · Other+113 moreChild Focus: $29,300 · Human ServicesChild FocusYWCA of Greater Cincinnati: $22,375 · Human ServicesYWCA of Greater Cincin…Clermont Senior Services Inc: $21,150 · Human ServicesClermont Senior Servic…EMPOWER YOUTH: $12,415 · Human ServicesEMPOWER YOUTHCOVERD GREATER CINCINNATI: $10,800 · Human ServicesCOVERD GREATER CINCINN…The HealthSource Foundation: $9,870 · Human ServicesThe HealthSource Found…GIVE LIKE A MOTHER: $8,546 · Human ServicesGIVE LIKE A MOTHERVARNER FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: $7,750 · Human ServicesVARNER FOUNDATION FOR …RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF GREATER CINCINNATI INC: $7,300 · Human ServicesBluebird Bus of Hope: $5,000 · Human Services+12 more: $7,755 · Human Services+12 moreCLERMONT COUNTY CHAMBER FOUNDATION: $50,000 · PhilanthropyCLERMONT COUNTY…THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI FOUNDATION: $39,650 · PhilanthropyTHE UNIVERSITY …United Way of Greater Cincinnati: $5,156 · Philanthropy+6 more: $3,518 · PhilanthropyAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $22,300 · HealthAMERICAN …American Heart Association Inc: $21,827 · HealthAmerican …ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $11,610 · HealthALZHEIMER…ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $2,450 · Health+9 more: $3,628 · Health+9 moreLeague for Animal Welfare: $12,300 · AnimalsTHE HAMILTON COUNTY SPCA INC DBA SPCA CINCINNATI: $10,055 · AnimalsRED WOLF SANCTUARY INC: $10,000 · AnimalsZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI: $5,000 · AnimalsANIMAL RESCUE FUND INC: $3,700 · Animals+18 more: $2,618 · AnimalsKeep Cincinnati Beautiful Inc: $23,600 · EnvironmentCINCINNATI NATURE CENTER: $11,000 · EnvironmentVALLEY VIEW FOUNDATION: $3,000 · Environment+5 more: $1,101 · EnvironmentNEST COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER: $10,050 · Food & NutritionFREESTORE FOODBANK INC: $9,525 · Food & Nutrition+2 more: $550 · Food & Nutrition
Other$313,332Human Services$142,261Philanthropy$98,324Health$61,815Animals$43,673Environment$38,701Food & Nutrition$20,125

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCLERMONT COUNTY CHAMBER FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 5y, 14% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI FOUNDATION: $39,650 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetChild Focus: $29,300 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetKeep Cincinnati Beautiful Inc: $23,600 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetYWCA of Greater Cincinnati: $22,375 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $22,300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $21,827 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetClermont Senior Services Inc: $21,150 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCASA FOR CLERMONT KIDS: $17,600 over 4y, 4.9% of budgetINSPIRING PURPOSE DAY PROGRAM: $15,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetEMPOWER YOUTH: $12,415 over 4y, 4.8% of budgetLeague for Animal Welfare: $12,300 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $11,610 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCINCINNATI NATURE CENTER: $11,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOVERD GREATER CINCINNATI: $10,800 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetYELLOW RIBBON SUPPORT FOUNDATION: $10,500 over 2y, 11% of budgetMatthew 25 Ministries Inc: $10,350 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HAMILTON COUNTY SPCA INC DBA SPCA CINCINNATI: $10,055 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEST COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER: $10,050 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetRED WOLF SANCTUARY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetGIVE BACK CINCINNATI: $10,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetThe HealthSource Foundation: $9,870 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetFREESTORE FOODBANK INC: $9,525 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHONOR FLIGHT TRI-STATE: $8,700 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetGIVE LIKE A MOTHER: $8,546 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetVARNER FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: $7,750 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF GREATER CINCINNATI INC: $7,300 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBon Secours Mercy Health Foundation: $6,700 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUnited Way of Greater Cincinnati: $5,156 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBluebird Bus of Hope: $5,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGETWITIT INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetOHIO DISTRICT KIWANIS FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetANIMAL RESCUE FUND INC: $3,700 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $3,625 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBack 2 Back Ministries Inc: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVALLEY VIEW FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetCINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $2,450 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF KENTUCKY INC: $2,367 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF OKI PARTNERS: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMississippi State University Foundation Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDOWN SYNDROME ASSOCIATION OF GREATER CINCINNATI: $1,775 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWATSI INC: $1,425 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCINCINNATI ANIMAL CARE HUMANE SOCIETY: $1,050 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWHISKEY AND WISHES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCincinnati Institute of Fine Arts: $1,000 over 3y, 0.0% 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.

The Greater Cincinnat…Duke Energy FoundationUnited Way of Greater…Elsa M Heisel Sule Ch…Johnson Charitable Gi…Carol Ann and Ralph V…Andrew Jergens Founda…John a Schroth Family…The Scripps Howard Fo…Ge Aerospace Foundati…Pfau Charitable Found…The Thomas J Emery Me…
The Greater Cincinnati FoundationOH77.3× affinity50 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Greater Cincinnati Foundation · Duke Energy Foundation · United Way of Greater Cincinnati · Elsa M Heisel Sule Charitable Trust 2005 · Johnson Charitable Gift Fund · Carol Ann and Ralph V Haile Jr Foundation · Andrew Jergens Foundation · John a Schroth Family Char Tr · The Scripps Howard Foundation · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Pfau Charitable Foundation · The Thomas J Emery Memorial

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 Modern Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from American Modern Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 30%
  • Farm Aid Inc: 100% of income from government
  • Connecticut River Watershed Council Inc: 40% of income from government
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Oxfam-America Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
21report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
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 Modern Foundation?

Find your warmest path to American Modern Foundation 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 222 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on American Modern’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