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Anton and Augusta Birkel Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Anton and Augusta Birkel Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$833k
Granted FY2022
2
Grants FY2022
1
States reached
$602k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2022.

Health$1.2MEducation$248kHuman Services$7kReligion$5kArts & Culture$2kCrime & Legal$1kAnimals$900Youth Development$400Other$0
02FY2022 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2022

  • $50k–250k1 grant · $231k
  • $250k+1 grant · $602k
$602,226
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE SEEING EYE$602,226
THE SEEING EYE$230,551
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 (FY20–21, $600) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 83% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%GUIDING EYES FOR THE BLIND: $100 → 9%canine companions for independence: $500 → 13%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

MT
NY
OR
NJ
CT
CA
KY
VA
GA
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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.5M · 7 repeat orgs$14k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +154% since the first grant, against +38% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2022, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
19

Total granted

$1.5M
$14k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+154%
+38%

Still filing today

57%
53%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22
Human ServicesEducationHealthReligionCivil RightsAnimalsOther
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

  • TS
    THE SEEING EYE INC
    6× · 2017–2022 · $1.2M · revenue +52%
  • AL
    ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE
    5× · 2017–2021 · $240k · revenue +152%
  • TL
    THE LIVING VINE INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $4k · revenue +283%

Funded once

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT
    one grant, 2021 · $3k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $1k
  • SL
    ST LABRA INDIAN SCHOOL
    one grant, 2017 · $1k
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
Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc

Dogs Inc mission is to transform lives by creating and nurturing extraordinary partnerships between people and dogs.

Human Services
2
America's Vetdogs the Veterans K-9 Corps Inc

To assist disabled veterans, active military personnel, first responders with disabilities, and those who have served our country honorably to live with dignity and independence. america's vetdogs trains and places guide dogs for…

Public Benefit
3
International Guiding Eyes Inc Dba Guide Dogs of America

The organizations mission is to transform lives through partnerships with service dogs.the organization provides professionally trained, expertly matched service dogs and personalized instruction in their care and use to people who are…

Human Services
4
Hillsdale College

Hillsdale college is a private liberal arts college with approximately 1,500 students. founded in 1844, the college remains, in the words of its articles of association, "grateful to god for the inestimable blessings resulting from the…

Education
5
Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation Inc

Promoting increased independence to men and women who are blind by providing them with highest quality guide dogs.

Human Services
6
Virginia Wesleyan University

Virginia wesleyan university is a fully accredited liberal arts, united-methodist related institution founded in 1961.

—
7
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
8
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
9
Dominican University of California

Our institutional mission is to educate and prepare students to be ethical leaders and socially responsible global citizens who incorporate the dominican values of study, reflection, community and service into their lives.

Education
10
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
11
Southeastern Guide Dogs Endowment Trust

To support the Operating Organization - Southeastern Guide Dogs, Inc. DBA Dogs Inc

Health
12
The Maryland School for the Blind

As a statewide resource center, the school provides outreach, educational and residential services for students to reach their fullest potential by preparing them to be as successful, independent, and well-rounded contributing members of…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Seeing Eye Inc; the most unlike its peers is Blue Ridge Casa for Children 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

14 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. 14 of the 26 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
13/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE SEEING EYE INC: $1,195,131 · Human ServicesTHE SEEING EYE INC+2 more: $600 · Human ServicesALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $240,104 · EducationALICE LLOYD COLLEG…+2 more: $2,000 · EducationSALVATION ARMY: $5,500 · OtherRAPPAHANNOCK COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $3,500 · OtherOLD SAVANNAH MISSION: $3,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT: $2,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $1,000 · OtherST LABRA INDIAN SCHOOL: $1,000 · OtherSHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH: $1,000 · OtherNNCASA: $1,000 · Other+7 more: $2,550 · OtherTHE LIVING VINE INC: $4,000 · HealthChildren's Hospital and Healthcare Services Foundation: $2,500 · HealthTHE OLD SAVANNAH CITY MISSION INC: $1,000 · ReligionBLUE RIDGE CASA FOR CHILDREN INC: $1,000 · Civil RightsOPERATION SMILE INC: $500 · International
Human Services$1,195,731Education$242,104Other$21,050Health$6,500Religion$1,000Civil Rights$1,000International$500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE SEEING EYE INC: $1,195,131 over 6y, 2.5% of budgetALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $240,104 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetTHE LIVING VINE INC: $4,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetChildren's Hospital and Healthcare Services Foundation: $2,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE OLD SAVANNAH CITY MISSION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPATRICK HENRY COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLUE RIDGE CASA FOR CHILDREN INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE MR HOLLAND'S OPUS FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOPERATION SMILE INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCANINE COMPANIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetColonial Williamsburg Foundation: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES: $400 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGUIDE DOG FOUNDATION FOR THE BLIND INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGUIDING EYES FOR THE BLIND INC: $100 over 1y, 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.

Network for GoodDonor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Network for GoodDC9.8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Network for Good · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Anton and Augusta Birkel Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Anton and Augusta Birkel Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 Anton and Augusta Birkel Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Anton and Augusta Birkel 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 26 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record but names no grant recipient in the published copy, so the figures above are from FY2022, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Anton and Augusta Birkel’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

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