Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

Ayers Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$408k
Granted FY2024still arriving
23
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$57k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.

Education$822kInternational$787kHuman Services$326kRecreation & Sports$299kArts & Culture$263kYouth Development$242kHousing & Shelter$82kHealth$78kOther$0
02FY2024 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k6 grants · $35k
  • $10k–50k15 grants · $266k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $107k
$10,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$6.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AGAHOZO-SHALOMN YOUTH VILLAGE$57,265
PERUVIAN HEARTS$50,000
ANGELS' PLACE INC$36,000
PEOPLE OF PERU PROJECT$30,000
CORAZON DE ESPERANZA INC$30,000
MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY$25,000
PERU CHAMPS ASSOCIATION$25,000
ZEBRA YOUTH$20,000
YORK STREET PROJECT$20,000
HOMELESS CHILDREN'S EDUCATION FUND$10,000
URBAN IMPACT$10,000
INDUSTRIAL ARTS WORKSHOP INC$10,000
TRYING TOGETHER$10,000
JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF PITTSBURGH$10,000
PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC$10,000
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 (FY17–24, $221k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%HEKIMA PLACE INC: $56k → 11%SARAH'S PLACE WOMEN'S RESOURCE: $25k → 27%JEWISH FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICE: $15k → 11%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF LOS ANGELES INC: $10k → 14%SARAH'S PLACE WOMEN'S RESOURCE: $15k → 27%SARAH'S PLACE WOMEN'S RESOURCE: $15k → 27%SARAH'S PLACE WOMEN'S RESOURCE: $15k → 27%JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF PITTSBURGH: $10k → 11%JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF PITTSBURGH: $10k → 11%JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICE: $10k → 11%JEWISH FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICE: $10k → 11%JEWISH FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICE: $10k → 11%JEWISH FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICE: $5k → 11%JEWISH FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICE: $5k → 11%GLADE RUN LUTHERAN SERVICES: $5k → 11%RUTH'S WAY INC: $5k → 11%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.

Which US states your grants reach

WA
MN
IL
NY
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
MO
KY
WV
VA
AR
FL

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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$2.6M · 26 repeat orgs$447k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +41% since the first grant, against +29% for the ones you funded once.

26 repeat relationships — 17 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
31

Total granted

$2.6M
$363k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+29%

Still filing today

81%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $84k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureHealthInternationalYouth DevelopmentOther

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

  • AY
    AGAHOZO-SHALOM YOUTH VILLAGE INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $467k · revenue +109%
  • PH
    PERUVIAN HEARTS
    8× · 2017–2024 · $382k · revenue +7%
  • AP
    Angels Place Inc
    8× · 2017–2024 · $246k · revenue +110%

Funded once

  • HP
    HEKIMA PLACE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $56k · revenue +59%
  • NM
    NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $40k
  • HH
    HAMBURGER HOME
    one grant, 2022 · $20k · revenue +18%

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
Point Park University

Provides innovative education in a dynamic urban setting. dedicated to academic excellence and community engagement,we prepare students of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skill,and experience to lead meaningful lives as informed…

—
2
La Roche University

La roche university advances learning informed by ethical and service-oriented values, reflecting its catholic heritage and the charism of the sisters of divine providence.

Education
3
University of Pittsburgh

The university of pittsburgh, founded in 1787, is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the united states and one of the nation's top public research universities. for more than two centuries, the university of pittsburgh…

Education
4
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
5
Pittsburgh Council On Higher Education

To provide a means for sharing resources and information among members, engage in joint projects, and offer a common voice on educational matters.

Education
6
Personal Care Products Council Foundation Inc

The foundation is set up to deliver one program - look good feel better. the mission of this nationwide program is to improve the quality of life of women, men, and teens undergoing cancer treatment by offering advice on how to cope with…

Health
7
Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium Inc

To support education and research at college, university, and research libraries.

Education
8
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The children's hospital of philadelphia, the oldest hospital in the united states dedicated exclusively to pediatrics, strives to be the world leader in the advancement of health care for children by integrating excellent patient care,…

Health
9
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
10
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
11
The Agnes Irwin School

The agnes irwin school empowers girls to learn, to lead, and to live a legacy. agnes irwin provides girls with a deep foundation in the humanities, mathematics and science, wellness and athletics. in an inclusive setting that values…

Education
12
Highlands Hospital

Highlands hospital is committed to providing health care to the community in a competent, nurturing and healing environment. our staff will provide support in times of crisis and furnish the resources necessary to promote a healthy…

Health

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Zebra Youth Inc and the most unlike its peers is Peru Champs Association. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyChristian Missionary Organi…Community FoundationsSenior Support ServicesCancer Support ServicesImmigrant Worker SupportFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Food Banks and Pantries
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 34 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%0%<5yr14%4%5–10yr19%18%10–20yr16%32%20–35yr13%20%35–55yr16%26%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%2%5–10yr19%28%10–20yr16%42%20–35yr13%17%35–55yr16%11%55yr+

The field is 22% 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 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/50
the rest of the field
13%
240,396/1,819,515

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

47 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. 47 of the 64 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
47/47
Grantees still filing
36/47
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Angels Place Inc — $246,000 · OtherAngels Place IncPERU CHAMPS ASSOCIATION — $175,000 · OtherPERU CHAMPS ASSOCIATIONJAMES CONNECTION — $83,000 · OtherJAMES CONNECTIONCOMMUNITY PARK ASSOCIATION — $74,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY PARK ASSOCIATIONTHE SOCIETY FOR ART IN CRAFTS — $50,500 · OtherNORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION — $40,000 · OtherCANCER BRIDGES — $45,000 · OtherGREATER PITTSBURGH COMMUNITY FOOD BANK — $37,500 · Other+28 more — $312,960 · Other+28 moreAGAHOZO-SHALOM YOUTH VILLAGE INC — $467,265 · EducationAGAHOZO-SHALOM YOUTH V…PERU CHAMPS ASSOCIATION — $50,000 · EducationPERU CHAMPS ASSOCIATIO…+6 more — $89,000 · Education+6 morePEOPLE OF PERU PROJECT — $247,000 · InternationalPEOPLE OF PERU PR…LUZ DE VIDA FORMERLY CORAZON DE ESPERANZA INC — $207,000 · InternationalLUZ DE VIDA FORME…HEIFER PROJECT INTERNATIONAL — $20,000 · International+1 more — $10,000 · InternationalPERUVIAN HEARTS — $382,200 · Youth DevelopmentPERUVIAN HEARTSZEBRA YOUTH INC — $20,000 · Youth Development+1 more — $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentJEWISH FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF PITTSBURGH — $75,000 · Human ServicesSarah's Place Women's Resource Center Inc — $70,000 · Human ServicesHEKIMA PLACE INC — $55,767 · Human ServicesBROAD STREET MINISTRY — $10,000 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF LOS ANGELES INC — $10,000 · Human Services+2 more — $10,000 · Human ServicesPITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC — $111,000 · Arts & CulturePITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST — $55,000 · Arts & CultureINDUSTRIAL ARTS WORKSHOP INC — $30,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $2,000 · Arts & CultureHOMELESS CHILDREN'S EDUCATION FUND — $80,000 · PhilanthropyROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION — $20,000 · Philanthropy
Other$1,063,960Education$606,265International$484,000Youth Development$412,200Human Services$230,767Arts & Culture$198,000Philanthropy$100,000

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 budgetAGAHOZO-SHALOM YOUTH VILLAGE INC — $467,265 over 8y, 2.0% of budgetPERUVIAN HEARTS — $382,200 over 8y, 16% of budgetPEOPLE OF PERU PROJECT — $247,000 over 7y, 16% of budgetAngels Place Inc — $246,000 over 8y, 2.5% of budgetLUZ DE VIDA FORMERLY CORAZON DE ESPERANZA INC — $207,000 over 7y, 16% of budgetPITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC — $111,000 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetHOMELESS CHILDREN'S EDUCATION FUND — $80,000 over 7y, 1.9% of budgetJEWISH FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S SERVICE OF PITTSBURGH — $75,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARK ASSOCIATION — $74,000 over 8y, 26% of budgetSarah's Place Women's Resource Center Inc — $70,000 over 4y, 19% of budgetPITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST — $55,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SOCIETY FOR ART IN CRAFTS — $50,500 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetPERU CHAMPS ASSOCIATION — $50,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetCANCER BRIDGES — $45,000 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetGREATER PITTSBURGH COMMUNITY FOOD BANK — $37,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetINDUSTRIAL ARTS WORKSHOP INC — $30,000 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetYORK STREET PROJECT — $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHAMBURGER HOME — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHERITAGE COMMUNITY INITIATIVES — $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetDREXEL UNIVERSITY — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHEIFER PROJECT INTERNATIONAL — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetZEBRA YOUTH INC — $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEDUCATION MATTERS AFRICA FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetTRYING TOGETHER — $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHOSANNA HOUSE INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetAPPALACHIAN REGIONAL HEALTHCARE — $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ARH FOUNDATION FOR HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES INC — $12,500 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetBROTHER'S BROTHER FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF METRO RICHMOND — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetIMANI CHRISTIAN ACADEMY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBROAD STREET MINISTRY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWonderspring — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Virginia — $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF LOS ANGELES INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ABLEGAMERS FOUNDATION INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWESTMINSTER COLLEGE — $9,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPITTSBURGH FILMMAKERS INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGLADE RUN LUTHERAN SERVICES — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRUTHS WAY INC — $5,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetCarnegie Mellon University — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetZERO PROSTATE CANCER — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

The Pittsburgh Founda…Hillman Family Founda…The Grable FoundationThe Heinz EndowmentsThe Jack Buncher Foun…Richard King Mellon F…The United Way of Sou…The Fine FoundationOpportunity FoundationMcCune Foundation Pnc…The Buhl FoundationWi Patterson Charitab…
The Pittsburgh FoundationPA31.6× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Pittsburgh Foundation · Hillman Family Foundations · The Grable Foundation · The Heinz Endowments · The Jack Buncher Foundation · Richard King Mellon Foundation · The United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania · The Fine Foundation · Opportunity Foundation · McCune Foundation Pnc Bank Na · The Buhl Foundation · Wi Patterson Charitable Fund

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 Ayers 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 · 10%2%8%17%30%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 32%
  • York Street Project — 32% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
19report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Ayers Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Ayers 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 64 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 2024, released 2024. 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