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· Private foundation

Ben Conley Charitable & Education Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$142k
Granted FY2025still arriving
28
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What you fund
01

What you funded, over time

By grantee IRS cause code (NTEE).

A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 86% of BEN CONLEY CHARITABLE & EDUCATION FOUNDATION’s grantee dollars fall outside its nine largest cause areas, whether because the recipient carries no IRS cause code or because its cause sits in the long tail. A chart would be mostly one residual band and misrepresent the portfolio.

02FY2025 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k25 grants · $107k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $36k
$3,500
Median grant
4
States reached
$2.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB$15,000
Individual grant recipient$10,500
Individual grant recipient$10,000
HEALTHY FOOD HARVEST$8,000
LANCASTER VA EDUCATION FD$8,000
LANCASTER COUNTY YOUTH CLUB$8,000
UNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG$7,000
VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIV$7,000
NORTHERN NECK FREE HEALTH CLINIC$5,000
LANCASTER COMMUNITY LIBRARY$5,000
LANCASTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY$4,000
CHARITIES 1000 AND BELOW$3,750
RANDOLPH MACON COLLEGE$3,500
MONTANA UNIVERSITY$3,500
CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY$3,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 89% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%RANDOLPH MACON COLLEGE: $7k → 5%COLLEGE OF WILLIAM MARY: $12k → 7%VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIV: $14k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG: $7k → 13%MACORP: $5k → 13%RADFORD UNIVERSITY: $8k → 14%HEALTHY FOOD HARVEST: $8k → 16%CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIV: $7k → 17%VIRGINIA TECH: $5k → 21%VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIV: $7k → 22%JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY: $21k → 29%JACOBS LADDER: $5k → 7%VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIV: $8k → 10%RADFORD UNIVERSITY: $7k → 14%HEALTHY HARVEST FOOD BANK: $8k → 16%CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIV: $7k → 17%JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY: $18k → 29%VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $7k → 10%RADFORD UNIVERSITY: $6k → 14%JAMES MADISON: $11k → 29%VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIV: $7k → 10%JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY: $11k → 29%DREAM FIELDS: $8k → 14%LANCASTER VA HISTORICAL SOC: $5k → 14%LANCASTER HISTORICAL SOC: $5k → 14%LANCASTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5k → 14%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $15k → 13%NORTHERN NECK YMCA: $15k → 13%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $15k → 13%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $15k → 13%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $15k → 13%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $12k → 13%NORTHERN NECK YMCA: $10k → 13%NORTHERN NECK YMCA: $10k → 13%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $10k → 13%LANCASTER VA EDUCATION FD: $10k → 13%NORTHERN NECK YMCA: $10k → 13%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $10k → 13%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $9k → 13%LANCASTER COUNTY YOUTH CLUB: $8k → 13%LANCASTER VA EDUCATION FD: $8k → 13%NORTHERN NECK YMCA: $8k → 13%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $7k → 13%NORTHERN NECK YMCA: $7k → 13%LANCASTER VA EDUCATION FD: $6k → 13%LANCASTER VA EDUCATION FD: $6k → 13%NORTHERN NECK YMCA: $6k → 13%LANCASTER VA EDUCATION FD: $5k → 13%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

MT
NY
MA
WV
VA
MD
NC
SC
DC
GA
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$884k · 50 repeat orgs$101k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +32% since the first grant, against +2% for the ones you funded once.

50 repeat relationships — 23 still active in FY2025, 27 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

50
21

Total granted

$884k
$76k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+2%

Still filing today

20%
24%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $24k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationYouth DevelopmentFood & NutritionHousing & ShelterHealthOther

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

  • RC
    RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE
    6× · 2020–2025 · $25k · revenue +32%
  • HP
    HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2020–2025 · $21k · revenue +70%
  • JL
    Jacob's Ladder Inc
    4× · 2020–2023 · $16k · revenue +78%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $8k
  • NN
    NORTHER NECK FREE HEALTH
    one grant, 2017 · $5k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $5k

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
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
2
Endicott College

Endicott college offers students a vibrant academic environment that remains true to its founding principle of integrating professional and liberal arts with experiential learning. for more information see schedule o.

Education
3
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
4
LaGrange College

Education - lagrange college challenges the minds and inspires the souls of its students. founded in 1831 and committed to its relationship with the united methodist church and its wesleyan and liberal arts traditions, the college supports…

Education
5
Mcdaniel College Inc

Mcdaniel college is a diverse student-centered community committed to excellence in the liberal arts & sciences and professional studies with careful mentoring and attention to the individual. mcdaniel changes lives. we challenge students…

Education
6
Albright College

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

Education
7
Barton College

Founded in 1902, barton college is a four-year, private, liberal arts college located in wilson, n.c. the barton experience focuses on academic excellence within a wide range of professional and liberal arts programs leading to…

Education
8
Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University, a 501(c)(3) institution of higher education, is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the liberal arts and in graduate and professional education. The organization is comprised of seven constituent parts: Wake…

Education
9
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
10
William Peace University

William peace university is a private four-year university in downtown raleigh, north carolina. the mission of the university is to prepare students for careers in the organizations of tomorrow. rooted in the liberal arts tradition, the…

Education
11
Greensboro College

Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.

Education
12
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

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Virginia Wesleyan University and the most unlike its peers is The Haven Inc. 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 62 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number23%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr18%10%10–20yr14%20%20–35yr15%0%35–55yr15%70%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value23%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr18%11%10–20yr14%17%20–35yr15%0%35–55yr15%72%55yr+

The field is 23% 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 5% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
5%
1/21
the rest of the field
13%
6,445/50,447

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

17 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 76 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/17
Grantees still filing
10/17
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB — $107,150 · OtherBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBIndividual grant recipient — $74,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientLANCASTER VA EDUCATION FD — $50,960 · OtherLANCASTER VA EDUCATION FDJAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY — $49,000 · OtherJAMES MADISON UNIVERSITYVIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY — $36,000 · OtherRADFORD UNIVERSITY — $31,000 · OtherCOLLEGE OF WILLIAM MARY — $28,500 · Other+56 more — $467,464 · Other+56 moreRANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE — $24,500 · EducationRANDOLPH-M…HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY — $21,000 · EducationHIGH POINT…CHOWAN UNIVERSITY — $14,500 · EducationCHOWAN UNI…UNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG — $14,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY…THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY — $3,500 · EducationSHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY — $3,500 · EducationBLUEFIELD UNIVERSITY — $3,000 · EducationEastern Nazarene College — $3,000 · EducationJacob's Ladder Inc — $15,849 · Youth DevelopmentYOUTH CLUB OF LANCASTER COUNTY INC — $15,500 · Youth DevelopmentTHE NORTHERN NECK-MIDDLESEX FREE HEALTH CLINIC INC — $10,000 · HealthHEALTHY HARVEST FOOD BANK INC — $9,000 · Food & NutritionTHE HAVEN INC — $3,000 · Housing & Shelter
Other$844,574Education$87,000Youth Development$31,349Health$10,000Food & Nutrition$9,000Housing & Shelter$3,000

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 budgetVIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY — $36,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetRANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE — $24,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetHIGH POINT UNIVERSITY — $21,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetJacob's Ladder Inc — $15,849 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetYOUTH CLUB OF LANCASTER COUNTY INC — $15,500 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetCHOWAN UNIVERSITY — $14,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG — $14,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLINK INCORPORATED — $12,500 over 5y, 2.1% of budgetTHE NORTHERN NECK-MIDDLESEX FREE HEALTH CLINIC INC — $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHEALTHY HARVEST FOOD BANK INC — $9,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY — $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMDA INC (AMERICAN MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC ACADEMY) — $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY — $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOFFORD COLLEGE — $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLUEFIELD UNIVERSITY — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEastern Nazarene College — $3,000 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.

  • Who funds VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE
  • Who funds HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds Jacob's Ladder Inc
  • Who funds YOUTH CLUB OF LANCASTER COUNTY INC
  • Who funds CHOWAN UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG
  • Who funds LINK INCORPORATED
  • Who funds THE NORTHERN NECK-MIDDLESEX FREE HEALTH CLINIC INC
  • Who funds HEALTHY HARVEST FOOD BANK INC

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 Mary Morton Parsons FoundationVA15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation · The Community Foundation Inc · The Nettie L and Charles L Wiley Foundation · Mason and Lula Cole Charitable Tua 600008015 · Jessie Ball duPont Religious Charitable & Educational Fund · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Ben Conley Charitable & Education 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
202122232425
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get 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 · 0–30%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 Ben Conley Charitable & Education Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Ben Conley Charitable & Education 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 76 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