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· Private foundation

Better Natures Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$688k
Granted FY2024still arriving
29
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What you fund
0194% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20222024.

Environment$411kAnimals$329kEducation$140kPhilanthropy$140kInternational$57kScience & Tech$50kFood & Nutrition$40kHuman Services$40kOther$0
02FY2024 · 29 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k27 grants · $588k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
$25,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$15M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ROCK HILL COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL$50,000
WILDAID$50,000
EMPOWERS AFRICIA$40,000
OCEAN CONSERVANCY$40,000
FOUNDERS PLEDGE$40,000
Individual grant recipient$30,000
NATURE CONSERVANCY (RHODE ISLAND)$30,000
THE CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT$25,000
OCEANA$25,000
CORAL REEF ALLIANCE$25,000
AFRICIAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION$25,000
UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS$25,000
REEF ENVIROMENTAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION$25,000
DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE$25,000
ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND$25,000
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 (FY23–24, $40k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%CHILDRENS FRIEND: $20k → 14%INN0CENCE PROJECT: $10k → 17%INN0CENCE PROJECT: $10k → 17%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
IL
WI
NY
MA
RI
CA
CO
VA
DC
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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.0M · 23 repeat orgs$196k to everyone else

23 repeat relationships — 23 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
10

Total granted

$1.0M
$93k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
+40%

Still filing today

87%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $103k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24
AnimalsEnvironmentInternationalEducationHuman ServicesYouth 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

  • WI
    WILDAID INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $106k · revenue +203%
  • RH
    ROCKY HILL COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
    2× · 2023–2024 · $100k · revenue +2%
  • OC
    OCEAN CONSERVANCY
    2× · 2023–2024 · $90k · revenue +0%

Funded once

  • CF
    CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +40%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $25k
  • RC
    RIVMA COMPANION ANIMAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue -7%

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
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
2
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
3
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
4
Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente

To strenghten people's ability to guarantee their individual and collective right to a healthy environment, via the development, implementation, and effective enforcement of national and international law.

Crime & Legal
5
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
6
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
7
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…

International
8
Wildlife Conservation Network Inc

Connect conservationists and supporters, deploy resources to the field, provide conservationists with tools and support they need to succeed.

Animals
9
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
10
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide

Educational & charitable. to provide legal and scientific information to public interest attorneys and scientists in numerous countries.

11
Fauna & Flora International Usa Inc

Our mission is to act to conserve threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take into account human needs.

Philanthropy
12
Conservation Law Foundation Inc

Conservation law foundation, inc. (clf) protects new england's environment for the benefit of all people and future generations. we use the law, science, and markets to create solutions that preserve and restore our natural resources,…

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wildaid Inc and the most unlike its peers is Children's Friend and Service. 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 backsteadyEducation Equity LeadershipAnimal Rescue and AdoptionUrban Agriculture & Food Ac…Legal Aid & Immigration Ser…Community Arts OrganizationsLand Conservation Organizat…Environmental Advocacy Orga…Wildlife Rehabilitation Cen…
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 32 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%0%<5yr14%7%5–10yr19%17%10–20yr16%31%20–35yr13%24%35–55yr16%21%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%13%5–10yr19%10%10–20yr16%30%20–35yr13%24%35–55yr16%23%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%0/30
the rest of the field
13%
240,396/1,819,535

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

30 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. 30 of the 39 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
30/30
Grantees still filing
20/30
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

WILDAID INC — $106,000 · AnimalsWILDAID INCDefenders of Wildlife — $55,000 · AnimalsDefenders of WildlifeAFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION INC — $50,000 · AnimalsAFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDAT…ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC — $40,000 · AnimalsANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUN…AMICI CANNIS — $20,000 · AnimalsAMICI CANNISCREATURE CONSERVE INC — $18,000 · AnimalsCREATURE CONSERVE INC+2 more — $15,000 · AnimalsROCKY HILL COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL — $100,000 · OtherROCKY HILL COUNTRY DAY SCHOOLIndividual grant recipient — $55,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientRI COMMUNITY FOOD BANK — $40,000 · OtherRI COMMUNITY FOOD BANKNATURE CONSERVANCY (RHODE ISLAND) — $30,000 · OtherNATURE CONSERVANCY (RHODE ISLAND)Individual grant recipient — $25,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientPETS IN NEED VETERINARY CLINIC — $20,000 · OtherONEGOAL — $30,000 · OtherONEGOALFREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION INC — $25,000 · OtherFREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION …REEF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $25,000 · OtherREEF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOUN…Physicians Committee for Responsible Med — $25,000 · OtherPhysicians Committee for Responsi…PROVIDENCE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM — $20,000 · Other+5 more — $17,500 · OtherOCEAN CONSERVANCY — $90,000 · EnvironmentOCEAN CONSERVANCYTHE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE — $50,000 · EnvironmentTHE CORAL REEF ALLIANC…THE ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE PROTECTION — $50,000 · EnvironmentTHE ALLIANCE FOR CLIMA…OCEANA INC — $50,000 · EnvironmentOCEANA INCENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $35,000 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE …EMPOWERS AFRICA INC — $56,500 · InternationalEMPOWERS AFRIC…THE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC — $50,000 · InternationalTHE UNION OF C…RAINFOREST TRUST — $40,000 · InternationalRAINFOREST TRU…CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INC — $25,000 · InternationalCENTER FOR INT…FOUNDERS PLEDGE INC — $140,000 · PhilanthropyFOUNDERS PL…CHILDREN'S FRIEND AND SERVICE — $20,000 · Human ServicesTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC — $20,000 · Human ServicesMY STUFF BAGS FOUNDATION — $20,000 · EducationHETERODOX ACADEMY — $10,000 · EducationMARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGY INSTITUTE — $10,000 · Education
Animals$304,000Other$412,500Environment$275,000International$171,500Philanthropy$140,000Human Services$40,000Education$40,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetFOUNDERS PLEDGE INC — $140,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWILDAID INC — $106,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetROCKY HILL COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL — $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetOCEAN CONSERVANCY — $90,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetEMPOWERS AFRICA INC — $56,500 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetDefenders of Wildlife — $55,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC — $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE — $50,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTHE ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE PROTECTION — $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOCEANA INC — $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION INC — $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC — $40,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetRAINFOREST TRUST — $40,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $35,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetONEGOAL — $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION INC — $25,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetREEF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPhysicians Committee for Responsible Med — $25,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDREN'S FRIEND AND SERVICE — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPROVIDENCE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM — $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMICI CANNIS — $20,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetMY STUFF BAGS FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCREATURE CONSERVE INC — $18,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetHETERODOX ACADEMY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRIVMA COMPANION ANIMAL FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetMARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGY INSTITUTE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetPROVIDENCE ANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetGREAT PLAINS CONSERVATION FOUNDATION — $5,000 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.

The Rhode Island Community FoundationRI15.1× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Rhode Island Community Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Shell USA Company Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Paypal Charitable Giving 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 Better Natures 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 · 30%2%8%17%30%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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 Better Natures Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Better Natures 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 39 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