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Bedford Family Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Bedford Family Charitable Trust

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$97k
Granted FY2024still arriving
10
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0188% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Recreation & Sports$331kEducation$157kAnimals$50kArts & Culture$38kEnvironment$30kHealth$15kInternational$10kYouth Development$8kOther$0
02FY2024 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k6 grants · $32k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $65k
$8,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$1.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
US ROWING$25,000
SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS$15,000
CHARLOTTE HUNGERFORD HOSPITAL$15,000
PEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION$10,000
Individual grant recipient$8,000
THACHER SCHOOL$5,000
RIANDA HOUSE$5,000
BRIDGES TO PROSPERITY$5,000
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY ROWING ASSOC$5,000
BARRINGTON LIBRARY ASSOCIATION$4,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY18–18, $8k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, 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%GIRLS INC OF ALAMEDA COUNTY: $8k → 10%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

ME
NH
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
IN
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
AR
DC
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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$542k · 14 repeat orgs$168k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +26% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
15

Total granted

$542k
$139k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+25%

Still filing today

57%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 70% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $29k 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
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesEnvironmentInternationalRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • LH
    LITCHFIELD HILLS ROWING CLUB
    5× · 2018–2022 · $153k · revenue +204%
  • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
    3× · 2018–2020 · $45k · revenue +25%
  • SP
    ST PAUL'S SCHOOL
    2× · 2018–2019 · $37k · revenue +111%

Funded once

  • SP
    ST PAUL'S ENGINEERING HONORS PROGRAM
    one grant, 2017 · $20k
  • CS
    CRANBROOK SCHOOLS
    one grant, 2019 · $15k
  • SM
    SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA
    one grant, 2017 · $15k · revenue -3%
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
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
2
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
3
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
4
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
5
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
6
Boston Architectural College

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

—
7
Phillips Exeter Academy

Unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives. [text in quotations is taken from the academy's deed of gift, drafted in 1781] knowledge and goodness "above all, it is expected that the attention…

Education
8
Seton Hall University

Seton hall university is a catholic institution of higher education

—
9
Fairleigh Dickinson University

Fairleigh dickinson university is a center of academic excellence dedicated to the preparation of world citizens through global education. the university strives to provide students with the multi-disciplinary, intercultural, and ethical…

Education
10
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
11
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
12
Masters School

The masters school celebrates active participation, deep understanding, and meaningful connection. a community of diverse individuals, we gather to learn, to strive, to dare, to do - to be a power for good in the world.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is St Paul's School; the most unlike its peers is Barrington Library Foundation. 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

19 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. 19 of the 34 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/19
Grantees still filing
16/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LITCHFIELD HILLS ROWING CLUB: $153,100 · OtherLITCHFIELD HILLS ROWING CLUBUS ROWING: $85,000 · OtherUS ROWINGIndividual grant recipient: $41,600 · OtherIndividual grant recipientPRINCETON UNIVERSITY ROWING ASSOCIATION: $37,500 · OtherPRINCETON UNIVERSITY ROWING ASSOCIATIONST PAUL'S ENGINEERING HONORS PROGRAM: $20,000 · Other+14 more: $121,500 · Other+14 moreRensselaer Polytechnic Institute: $45,170 · EducationRensselaer Polytec…ST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $36,750 · EducationST PAUL'S SCHOOLSAINT MARY'S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA: $15,000 · EducationSAINT MARY'S COLLE…The Corporation of Saint Mary's College Notre Dame: $6,750 · EducationThe Corporation of…BARRINGTON LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $6,000 · EducationThe Thacher School Inc: $5,000 · Education+1 more: $3,000 · EducationSOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS: $20,000 · Arts & CultureSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $9,999 · Arts & CultureDiablo Regional Arts Association: $7,500 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $1,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL ROWING FOUNDATION INC: $32,500 · Recreation & SportsPEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EnvironmentMUTTVILLE: $20,000 · AnimalsThe Charlotte Hungerford Hospital: $15,000 · Health
Other$458,700Education$117,670Arts & Culture$38,499Recreation & Sports$32,500Environment$30,000Animals$20,000Health$15,000

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 budgetLITCHFIELD HILLS ROWING CLUB: $153,100 over 5y, 17% of budgetRensselaer Polytechnic Institute: $45,170 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPRINCETON UNIVERSITY ROWING ASSOCIATION: $37,500 over 5y, 83% of budgetST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $36,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL ROWING FOUNDATION INC: $32,500 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetPEPPERWOOD FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetMUTTVILLE: $20,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetSOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS: $20,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetThe Charlotte Hungerford Hospital: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAINT MARY'S COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBRIDGES TO PROSPERITY INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $9,999 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDiablo Regional Arts Association: $7,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGIRLS INCORPORATED OF ALAMEDA COUNTY: $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Corporation of Saint Mary's College Notre Dame: $6,750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBARRINGTON LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetThe Thacher School Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $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.

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.

National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
National Philanthropic TrustPA10.4× affinity6 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Bedford Family Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bedford Family Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
6report 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
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 Bedford Family Charitable Trust?

Find your warmest path to Bedford Family Charitable Trust 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 34 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 Bedford Family’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