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Bessie Minor Swift Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bessie Minor Swift Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$84k
Granted FY2025still arriving
20
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$5k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$351kArts & Culture$73kEnvironment$62kHuman Services$58kYouth Development$46kHealth$20kFood & Nutrition$17kCrime & Legal$6kOther$0
02FY2025 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$5,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$2.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WORDS ALIVE$5,000
EDUCATION FOUNDATION OF JOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT #2 INC$5,000
SOCIAL GOOD FUND$5,000
INCLINE EDUCATION FUND$5,000
CLASSICS FOR KIDS INC$5,000
GIRAFFE LAUGH EARLY LEARNING CENTERS$5,000
JULIAN UNION HIGH SCHOOL$5,000
FRIENDS OF THE EAGLE PUBLIC LIBRARY$5,000
WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE$5,000
TAHOE INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL SCIENCE$5,000
AGUA HEDIONDA LAGOON FOUNDATION$5,000
TAHOE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION INC$5,000
DOUBLE PEAK SCHOOL$4,600
NORTH COUNTY EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC$3,620
MERIDIAN LIBRARY DISTRICT FOUNDATION INC$3,359
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 (FY18–25, $45k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 75% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%GIRAFFE LAUGH INC: $5k → 8%TAHOE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION INC: $5k → 10%GIRAFFE LAUGH EARLY LEARNING CENTERS: $5k → 8%HORIZONS SPECIALIZED SERVICES INC: $3k → 6%TAHOE CHILDRENS FOUNDATION INC: $2k → 10%HORIZONS SPECIALIZED SERVICES INC: $3k → 6%TAHOE CHILDRENS FOUNDATION INC: $1k → 10%WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE: $5k → 8%HORIZONS SPECIALIZED SERVICES INC: $2k → 6%HORIZONS SPECIALIZED SERVICES INC: $2k → 6%NORTH COUNTY COMMUNITY SERVICESGROWING MINDS: $5k → 11%HORIZONS SPECIALIZED SERVICES INC: $2k → 6%ADVOCATES TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: $500 → 13%TAHOE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%THE FRIENDSHIP CLUB: $1k → 11%THE FRIENDSHIP CLUB: $1k → 11%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 5% of Bessie Minor Swift Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Bessie Minor Swift Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 8.9% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

62%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$404k · 58 repeat orgs$253k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +53% since the first grant, against +49% for those funded once.

58 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 49 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

58
93

Total granted

$404k
$209k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+53%
+49%

Still filing today

53%
42%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 45% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $43k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’24’25
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesEnvironmentYouth DevelopmentCrime & LegalOther
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

  • TI
    TAHOE INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL SCIENCE
    3× · 2020–2025 · $13k · revenue +64%
  • GI
    GET IN THE ACT ARTS IN ACTION INC
    4× · 2017–2024 · $12k · revenue +116%
  • RF
    ROARING FORK CONSERVANCY
    4× · 2017–2022 · $12k · revenue +27%

Funded once

  • NC
    North County Community Services
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue +20%
  • IE
    INCLINE EDUCATIONAL FUND
    one grant, 2024 · $5k
  • GC
    GLOCAL COMMUNITY PARTNERSgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue +101%
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
High Rockies Community School

Our mission is to provide individualized educational options where students and teachers engage in playful, exploratory learning by creating a culture of collaboration in a safe, diverse, multi-age environment. Our students are encouraged…

Education
2
Pikes Peak School of Expeditionary Learning

Provide education for students in Pre-K through 8th grade, benefitting approximately 415 students.

Education
3
Community School Collaborative

To provide innovative career exploration and work-based learning opportunities that prepare youth to enter tomorrow's workforce and build fulfilling lives.

Education
4
Wild Rockies Field Institute Inc

To broaden the nature of a liberal arts education; teach critical thinking about social & environmental issues; foster understanding of & respect for natural & human communities; & cultivate a sense of place that encourages personal,…

Education
5
Canyons School District Education Foundation

Canyons School District Education Foundation works in tandem with community and business partners to build support for public schools and to advance Canyons School Districts mission to help every student become college- and career-ready…

Education
6
Stone Creek Elementary School

To provide a revolutionary learning experience for children grades K through 8.

Education
7
Colorado Learning Connections

Through individualized learning and responsive mentoring, we inspire, guide and empower students and families.

Education
8
Park City Education Foundation

Our mission is to fund and support educator-powered initiatives that inspire all Park City students to reach their academic and lifelong potential.

Education
9
Environmental Learning for Kids

Cultivating a diverse community of leaders and environmental stewards by increasing outdoor equity.

Youth Development
10
Incline Schools Academic Excellence Foundation
—
11
Carbon Valley Academy

To provide rich content and solid skills instruction in an environment that champions character and personal academic achievement. carbon valley provides a public eduction to students preschool through grade 8.

Education
12
Cal-Wood Education Center

Offer unique outdoor education experiences to youth and adults. Since 1982 the organization has inspired a greater apprecation for the natural world; offers unique educational opportuntities to those who would not otheriwise experience…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Colorado Aerolab Inc; the most unlike its peers is Glocal Community Partners. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

85 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. 85 of the 162 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)
38
Early backer (in before they grew)
79/85
Grantees still filing
56/85
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHICAGO PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: $12,000 · Other+96 more: $333,241 · Other+96 moreFRIENDS OF THE COLBY PUBLIC LIBRARY: $18,000 · EducationFRIENDS OF THE COLBY P…FRIENDS OF THE GRAND COUNTY LIBRARY INC: $11,450 · EducationFRIENDS OF THE GRAND C…COLORADO FOUNDATION FOR AGRICULTURE INC COLORADO AGRICULTURE IN THE CLASSROOM: $9,000 · EducationCOLORADO FOUNDATION FO…Summit Education Foundation: $8,440 · EducationSummit Education Found…GRASS VALLEY CHARTER SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $7,150 · EducationGRASS VALLEY CHARTER S…ROARING FORK VALLEY EARLY LEARNING FUND: $7,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO FOUNDATION: $5,300 · EducationLITERACY OUTREACH: $5,140 · EducationINCLINE EDUCATION FUND: $5,000 · EducationSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $5,000 · EducationNATIONAL OUTDOOR LEARNING ALLIANCE: $4,879 · Education+17 more: $46,193 · Education+17 moreHORIZONS SPECIALIZED SERVICES: $11,427 · Human ServicesHORIZONS …TAHOE CHILDRENS FOUNDATION: $10,966 · Human ServicesTAHOE CHI…INTEGRATED COMMUNITY: $10,600 · Human ServicesINTEGRATE…GIRAFFE LAUGH INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesGIRAFFE L…Women's and Children's Alliance: $5,000 · Human ServicesWomen's a…North County Community Services: $5,000 · Human ServicesNorth Cou…WOMEN OF WORTH: $2,680 · Human ServicesBRIGHT FUTURES FOR YOUTH: $2,125 · Human Services+1 more: $500 · Human ServicesGET IN THE ACT ARTS IN ACTION INC: $12,495 · Arts & CultureGET IN TH…ASPEN ART MUSEUM: $6,000 · Arts & CultureASPEN ART…MOUNTAIN TOP CHILDRENS MUSEUM INC: $5,750 · Arts & CultureMOUNTAIN …Tahoe School of Music: $5,500 · Arts & CultureTahoe Sch…Words Alive: $5,000 · Arts & CultureWords Ali…CLASSICS FOR KIDS INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureCLASSICS …TREAD OF PIONEERS HISTORICAL COMMISSION: $3,000 · Arts & CultureTREAD OF …SIERRA GOLD PARKS FOUNDATION: $3,000 · Arts & CultureSIERRA GO…CALIFORNIA HERITAGE INDIGENOUS RESEARCH PROJECT: $3,000 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNI…ANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER: $2,900 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $4,047 · Arts & Culture+4 moreTAHOE INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL SCIENCE: $12,500 · EnvironmentROARING FORK CONSERVANCY: $12,000 · EnvironmentASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: $6,000 · EnvironmentGRAND CO WATER INFORMATION NETWORK: $3,000 · EnvironmentPOUDRE LEARNING CENTER FOUNDATION I: $2,550 · EnvironmentYAMPATIKA: $2,500 · Environment+2 more: $1,665 · EnvironmentSIERRA NEVADA JOURNEYS: $11,028 · Youth DevelopmentADVENTURE RISK CHALLENGE: $4,600 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF NORTHWEST COLO: $3,000 · Youth DevelopmentArts-Kids Inc: $2,695 · Youth DevelopmentASPEN YOUTH CENTER: $1,000 · Youth DevelopmentSierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation: $7,000 · Health
Other$345,241Education$132,552Human Services$58,298Arts & Culture$55,692Environment$40,215Youth Development$22,323Health$7,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFRIENDS OF THE COLBY PUBLIC LIBRARY: $18,000 over 6y, 3.7% of budgetTAHOE INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL SCIENCE: $12,500 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetGET IN THE ACT ARTS IN ACTION INC: $12,495 over 4y, 5.1% of budgetROARING FORK CONSERVANCY: $12,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetBoys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe: $11,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE GRAND COUNTY LIBRARY INC: $11,450 over 4y, 5.2% of budgetHORIZONS SPECIALIZED SERVICES: $11,427 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSIERRA NEVADA JOURNEYS: $11,028 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTAHOE CHILDRENS FOUNDATION: $10,966 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetINTEGRATED COMMUNITY: $10,600 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetGIRAFFE LAUGH INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCOLORADO FOUNDATION FOR AGRICULTURE INC COLORADO AGRICULTURE IN THE CLASSROOM: $9,000 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetSummit Education Foundation: $8,440 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetGRASS VALLEY CHARTER SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $7,150 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetROARING FORK VALLEY EARLY LEARNING FUND: $7,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetSierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation: $7,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: $6,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFAMILY VISITOR PROGRAM OF GARFIELD COUNTY INC: $6,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetASPEN ART MUSEUM: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMOUNTAIN TOP CHILDRENS MUSEUM INC: $5,750 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetEL CAMINO CREEK PTA: $5,719 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetTahoe School of Music: $5,500 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetHEADWATERS SCIENCE INSTITUTE: $5,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO FOUNDATION: $5,300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSUMMIT HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,150 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetWomen's and Children's Alliance: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEducation Foundation For Joint School District #2 Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWords Alive: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetINCLINE EDUCATION FUND: $5,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCLASSICS FOR KIDS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetNorth County Community Services: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAGUA HEDIONDA LAGOON FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGLOCAL COMMUNITY PARTNERS: $5,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetNATIONAL OUTDOOR LEARNING ALLIANCE: $4,879 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetTHE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF WELD COUNTY INC: $4,820 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetADVENTURE RISK CHALLENGE: $4,600 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetLEARNING LAB INC: $4,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMOUNTAIN VILLAGE MONTESSORI CHARTER SCHOOL: $4,087 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPARK CITY READS: $4,050 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetNorth County Education Foundation Inc: $3,620 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMERIDIAN LIBRARY DISTRICT FOUNDATION INC: $3,359 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetJunior Achievement of Utah & Idaho: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTOGETHER WE RISE: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLORADO AEROLAB INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCollege Outreach: $3,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetTREAD OF PIONEERS HISTORICAL COMMISSION: $3,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSIERRA GOLD PARKS FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetASPEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 2y, 0.1% 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 loosely connected circle, clustered around a few shared anchors.

Colorado Gives Founda…Aspen Community Found…Anschutz Family Found…Tahoe Community Found…Teichert FoundationTahoe Truckee Communi…Yampa Valley Medical …Martis Camp Community…The Summit FoundationLaura Moore Cunningha…Temple Hoyne Buell Fo…Colorado Humanities
Colorado Gives FoundationCO37.2× affinity26 shared granteesties to 9 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Colorado Gives Foundation · Aspen Community Foundation · Anschutz Family Foundation · Tahoe Community Foundation · Teichert Foundation · Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation · Yampa Valley Medical Center Foundation · Martis Camp Community Foundation Dba Martis Camp Foundation · The Summit Foundation · Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation Inc · Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation · Colorado Humanities

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 Bessie Minor Swift Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bessie Minor Swift Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    38report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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 Bessie Minor Swift Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Bessie Minor Swift 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 162 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Bessie Minor Swift’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