Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

Armstrong McDonald Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.7M
Granted FY2025still arriving
21
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$610k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
0198% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2019–2025.

Education$2.4MHealth$1.9MAnimals$1.2MHuman Services$690kArts & Culture$594kScience & Tech$543kRecreation & Sports$422kReligion$412kOther$0
02FY2025 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $106k
  • $50k–250k17 grants · $2.0M
  • $250k+1 grant · $610k
$115,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$30M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
REID PARK ZOO$610,000
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA FOUNDATION-STEELE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH CENTER$191,222
BELLEVUE UNIVERSITY$183,900
CHILDREN'S MUSEUM TUCSON INC$152,925
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA FOUNDATION-FLANDRAU SCIENCE CENTER & PLANETARIUM$152,925
TU NIDITO$152,925
SOUTHERN ARIZONA AIDS FOUNDATION$150,000
MOBILE MEALS OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA$150,000
EMERGE CENTER AGAINST DOMESTIC ABUSE$135,000
MOSAIC$130,180
NORTWEST SCHOOL FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING CHILDREN$115,000
WESTERN NATIONAL PARKS ASSOCIATION$91,600
SPECIAL OLYMPICS ARIZONA INC$76,460
MOSAIC SENIOR SERVICES INC$76,460
SPECIAL OLYMPICS NEBRASKA INC$76,460
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY21–25, $360k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%EMERGE CENTER AGAINST DOMESTIC ABUSE: $135k → 15%EMERGE CENTER AGAINST DOMESTIC ABUSE: $63k → 15%EMERGE CENTER AGAINST DOMESTIC ABUSE: $60k → 15%EMERGE CENTER AGAINST DOMESTIC ABUSE: $45k → 15%EMERGE CENTER AGAINST DOMESTIC ABUSE: $36k → 15%ARIZONA'S CHILDREN ASSOCIATION: $12k → 15%ARIZONA'S CHILDREN ASSOCIATION: $10k → 15%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$8.9M · 27 repeat orgs$139k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +30% since the first grant, against -20% for the ones you funded once.

27 repeat relationships — 20 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
2

Total granted

$8.9M
$64k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
-20%

Still filing today

78%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $75k went to new ones.

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

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

’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthRecreation & SportsAnimalsHousing & ShelterHuman ServicesOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • CO
    COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS
    2× · 2021–2022 · $702k · revenue +45%
  • RP
    REID PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
    2× · 2024–2025 · $680k · revenue +1%
  • BU
    Bellevue University
    4× · 2021–2025 · $603k · revenue +31%

Funded once

  • TF
    TMC FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $49k
  • UN
    UMOM NEW DAY CENTERS INC
    one grant, 2021 · $15k · revenue -20%

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

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
2
Ymca of Southern Arizona

Ymca of southern arizona is dedicated to improving the quality of human life and helping all people realize their fullest potential through the development of spirit, mind and body. we are a powerful association of men, women and children,…

Human Services
3
Banner -University Medical Group

Assist banner health complete its mission to make health care easier so life can be better by providing integrated & coordinated care & population health management.

Health
4
Arizona Community Foundation

To lead, serve and collaborate to mobilize enduring philanthropy for a better arizona.

Philanthropy
5
Tucson Audubon Society

Inspire people to enjoy and protect birds through recreation, education, conservation, and restoration of the environment, upon which we all depend.

Animals
6
Arizona Latin-American Medical Association
Unclassified
7
Arizona Wins

Az wins is a coalition of organizations dedicated to achieving public policies that benefit working arizona families and advancing an inclusive, engaged, just and equitable state for all arizonans. in 2024 az wins substantially reduced its…

Civil Rights
8
Arizona Autism Charter Schools Inc

Education of students with autism and related disorders

Education
9
Arizona Family Health Partnership

To make sexual and reproductive healthcare accessible to everyone

—
10
Phoenix Seminary Inc

Phoenix seminary's mission is to train men and women for christ-centered ministry for the building of healthy churches in phoenix and the world.

Education
11
Arizona Christian University

Arizona christian university provides a biblically-integrated, liberal arts education equipping graduates to serve the lord jesus christ in all aspects of life, as leaders of influence and excellence.

Education
12
Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Azaap is committed to improving the health of arizona children and supporting the pediatric professionals who care for them.

Health

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Casa De Los Ninos and the most unlike its peers is Andra Heart Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 47 years old; the field is 12. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number27%0%<5yr16%5%5–10yr19%5%10–20yr15%27%20–35yr11%32%35–55yr12%32%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value27%0%<5yr16%8%5–10yr19%2%10–20yr15%26%20–35yr11%27%35–55yr12%38%55yr+

The field is 27% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 16% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/24
the rest of the field
16%
3,902/25,099

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 24 of the 30 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/24
Grantees still filing
16/24
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS — $702,000 · EducationCOLLEGE OF THE OZARKSUniversity of Arizona Foundation — $645,267 · EducationUniversity of Arizona FoundationBellevue University — $602,900 · EducationBellevue UniversityHASTINGS COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $533,600 · EducationHASTINGS COLLEGE FOUNDATIONNorthwest School for Hearing-Impaired Children — $345,000 · EducationNorthwest School for Hearing-Impaire…OMAHA STREET SCHOOL — $128,900 · EducationTU NIDITO CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES INC — $607,925 · HealthTU NIDITO CHILD…Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation — $460,000 · HealthSouthern Arizon…ANDRA HEART FOUNDATION — $155,300 · HealthANDRA HEART FOU…+1 more — $31,142 · HealthREID PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY — $680,000 · AnimalsREID PARK ZOOL…ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO — $518,743 · AnimalsZOOLOGICAL SOC…UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA FOUNDATION-FLANDRAU SCIENCE CENTER & PLANETARIUM — $497,925 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA FOU…MOSAIC SENIOR SERVICES INC — $146,460 · OtherMOSAIC SENIOR SERVICES IN…UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA FOUNDATION-COLLEGE OF SCIENCE — $98,725 · OtherARIZONA ARTS LIVE — $98,725 · OtherCASCADE FOUNDATION — $84,400 · OtherBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF THE MIDLANDS — $76,350 · OtherPIMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $74,644 · OtherMOBILE MEALS OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA INC — $379,300 · OtherMOBILE MEALS OF SOUTHERN …TUCSON CENTERS FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN INC DBA EMERGE CENTER AGAINST DOMESTIC ABUSE — $339,000 · OtherTUCSON CENTERS FOR WOMEN …CASA DE LOS NINOS — $183,000 · OtherCASA DE LOS NINOS+2 more — $70,275 · OtherSPECIAL OLYMPICS NEBRASKA INC — $233,460 · Recreation & SportsWESTERN NATIONAL PARKS ASSOCIATION — $223,269 · Recreation & SportsSPECIAL OLYMPICS ARIZONA INC — $188,460 · Recreation & SportsTUCSON CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC DBA CHILDREN'S MUSEUM TUCSON — $540,725 · Arts & CultureMOSAIC — $412,180 · Housing & ShelterUMOM NEW DAY CENTERS INC — $15,000 · Housing & Shelter
Education$2,957,667Health$1,254,367Animals$1,198,743Other$2,048,804Recreation & Sports$645,189Arts & Culture$540,725Housing & Shelter$427,180

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetCOLLEGE OF THE OZARKS — $702,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetREID PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY — $680,000 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetUniversity of Arizona Foundation — $645,267 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTU NIDITO CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES INC — $607,925 over 5y, 11% of budgetBellevue University — $602,900 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTUCSON CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC DBA CHILDREN'S MUSEUM TUCSON — $540,725 over 5y, 8.0% of budgetZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO — $518,743 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSouthern Arizona AIDS Foundation — $460,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetMOSAIC — $412,180 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMOBILE MEALS OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA INC — $379,300 over 5y, 9.5% of budgetNorthwest School for Hearing-Impaired Children — $345,000 over 5y, 2.4% of budgetTUCSON CENTERS FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN INC DBA EMERGE CENTER AGAINST DOMESTIC ABUSE — $339,000 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS NEBRASKA INC — $233,460 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetWESTERN NATIONAL PARKS ASSOCIATION — $223,269 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS ARIZONA INC — $188,460 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetCASA DE LOS NINOS — $183,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetANDRA HEART FOUNDATION — $155,300 over 5y, 21% of budgetOMAHA STREET SCHOOL — $128,900 over 5y, 3.6% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF THE MIDLANDS — $76,350 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetPIMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $74,644 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetBLINDNESS-LEARNING IN NEW DIMENSIONS INC — $31,142 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetARIZONA'S CHILDREN ASSOCIATION — $21,275 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUMOM NEW DAY CENTERS INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Community Foundation …The Hs Lopez Family F…United Way of Tucson …Arizona Community Fou…Margaret E Mooney Fou…Connie Hillman Family…Jewish Community Foun…Texas Instruments Fou…Mulcahy FoundationFred & Christine Arms…Aetna Foundation IncUnion Pacific Foundat…
Community Foundation for Southern ArizonaAZ23.6× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Southern Arizona · The Hs Lopez Family Foundation · United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona Inc · Arizona Community Foundation · Margaret E Mooney Foundation · Connie Hillman Family Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona · Texas Instruments Foundation · Mulcahy Foundation · Fred & Christine Armstrong Foundation · Aetna Foundation Inc · Union Pacific Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Armstrong McDonald Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 30 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines