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Armstrong Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Armstrong 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.

$10k
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$2k
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, FY2023 to 2024.

Environment$12kArts & Culture$4kEducation$2kHousing & Shelter$1kPhilanthropy$1k
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$349k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NATIONAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL$2,000
TRUSTEES OF RESERVATION$1,000
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY$1,000
MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY$1,000
BARTWOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUM$1,000
WGBH BOSTON$1,000
BOSTON ARCHITECTURAL COLLEGE$1,000
REDFORD CENTER INC$1,000
WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC$1,000
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 (FY23–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 89% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%BOSTON ARCHITECTURAL COLLEGE: $1k → 16%REDFORD CENTER INC: $1k → 10%NATIONAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL: $2k → 17%BARTWOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUM: $1k → 28%WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $2k → 14%BOSTON ARCHITECTURAL COLLEGE: $1k → 16%REDFORD CENTER INC: $1k → 10%NATIONAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL: $1k → 17%BARTWOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUM: $1k → 28%WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $1k → 14%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $1k → 16%HAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION: $1k → 17%TRUSTEES OF RESERVATION: $1k → 16%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1k → 16%WGBH BOSTON: $1k → 16%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1k → 16%WGBH BOSTON: $1k → 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.

78%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$14k · 6 repeat orgs$4k to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
2

Total granted

$14k
$2k

Still filing today

83%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’23’24
EnvironmentArts & 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

  • WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $3k · revenue -2%
  • NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $3k · revenue +29%
  • WGBH Educational Foundation
    2× · 2023–2024 · $2k · revenue -2%

Funded once

  • HB
    HAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $1k
  • HF
    HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
    one grant, 2023 · $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
National Audubon Society Inc

We work towards a future where birds thrive across the americas because audubon is a powerful, diverse, and ever-growing force for conservation. (continued on schedule o).

Environment
2
Conservation Law Foundation Inc

Conservation law foundation, inc. (clf) protects new england's environment for the benefit of all people and future generations. we use the law, science, and markets to create solutions that preserve and restore our natural resources,…

Environment
3
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
4
Environment Now
—
5
New Jersey Conservation Foundation

Recognizing that a healthy environment is critical to the well-being and survival of all living things, new jersey conservation foundation is devoted to preserving land and protecting natural resources throughout new jersey's (continued on…

Environment
6
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
7
Wildlife Conservation Society

The wildlife conservation society (wcs) saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature.

Animals
8
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
9
Climate Conservation Dba Center for Large Landscape Conservation

We bring science, policy, and proven solutions directly to communities working to restore the integrity and natural connectivity of the landscapes in which they live. (see schedule o)

Environment
10
Ocean Conservancy

Ocean conservancy unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.

Environment
11
The International Dark-Sky Association Inc

Darksky international restores the nighttime environment and protects communities from the harmful effects of light pollution through outreach, advocacy, and conservation.

—
12
Property and Environment Research Center

Perc is dedicated to advancing conservation through markets, incentives, property rights, and partnerships.

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Trustees of Reservations; the most unlike its peers is Redford Center 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

8 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. 8 of the 11 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
3/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $3,000 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INCNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $3,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INCREDFORD CENTER INC: $2,000 · EnvironmentREDFORD CENTER INCMASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $1,000 · EnvironmentMASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY INCTHE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS: $1,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONSBOSTON ARCHITECTURAL COLLEGE: $2,000 · OtherBOSTON ARCHITECTURAL COLLEGEBARTWOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUM: $2,000 · OtherBARTWOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUMTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $2,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYHAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION: $1,000 · OtherHAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATIONHABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $1,000 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITYWGBH Educational Foundation: $2,000 · Arts & CultureWGBH Educat…
Environment$10,000Other$8,000Arts & Culture$2,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWGBH Educational Foundation: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON ARCHITECTURAL COLLEGE: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetREDFORD CENTER INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS: $1,000 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • The Trustees of Reservations: 2% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Audubon Society Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Wgbh Educational Foundation: 1% of income from government
  • Boston Architectural College: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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 Armstrong Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Armstrong 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 11 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Armstrong’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