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Bill and Sharon Allen Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bill and Sharon Allen Family 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.

$1.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
29
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$270k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Human Services$975kRecreation & Sports$875kArts & Culture$608kEducation$502kHealth$468kScience & Tech$450kYouth Development$361kHousing & Shelter$215kOther$0
02FY2024 · 29 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k3 grants · $5k
  • $10k–50k23 grants · $496k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $300k
  • $250k+1 grant · $270k
$20,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$22M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Arts Plus$270,000
Paramount Institute of Cosmetic Arts$200,000
Knothole Foundation$100,000
Carolina Thread Trail$35,500
PHILIPS ACADEMY OF NORTH CAROLINA INC$30,000
Good Samaritan Haven$30,000
RIGHT MOVES FOR YOUTH INC$30,000
PIRATES CHARITIES$30,000
YMCA OF GREATER CHARLOTTE$30,000
CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS CHARITIES$30,000
Least of These Carolinas$25,000
LIFESPAN INC$25,000
charlotte speech and hearing center$20,000
CLASSROOM CENTRAL$20,000
FURNISH FOR GOOD$20,000
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 (FY20–24, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Least of These Carolinas: $25k → 12%Least of These Carolinas: $25k → 12%LEAST OF THESE CAROLINAS: $15k → 12%LEAST OF THESE CAROLINAS: $4k → 12%YMCA OF GREATER CHARLOTTE: $330k → 10%YMCA OF GREATER CHARLOTTE: $180k → 10%YMCA OF GREATER CHARLOTTE: $80k → 10%YMCA OF GREATER CHARLOTTE: $30k → 10%YMCA OF GREATER CHARLOTTE: $30k → 10%The Bradley Center: $3k → 11%THE BRADLEY CENTER: $3k → 11%THE BRADLEY CENTER: $3k → 11%RIGHT MOVES FOR YOUTH INC: $40k → 10%RIGHT MOVES FOR YOUTH INC: $30k → 10%RIGHT MOVES FOR YOUTH INC: $30k → 10%RIGHT MOVES FOR YOUTH INC: $30k → 10%RIGHT MOVES FOR YOUTH INC: $30k → 10%BRIGHT BLESSINGS: $20k → 10%BRIGHT BLESSINGS: $20k → 10%BRIGHT BLESSINGS: $20k → 10%BRIGHT BLESSINGS: $15k → 10%BRIGHT BLESSINGS: $15k → 10%ALEXANDER YOUTH NETWORK: $35k → 10%ALEXANDER YOUTH NETWORK: $24k → 10%ALEXANDER YOUTH NETWORK: $20k → 10%ALEXANDER YOUTH NETWORK: $20k → 10%ALEXANDER YOUTH NETWORK: $15k → 10%Spokes Group: $15k → 10%Spokes Group: $15k → 10%SPOKES GROUP: $10k → 10%SPOKES GROUP: $8k → 10%SPOKES GROUP: $5k → 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.
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.6M · 33 repeat orgs$255k to everyone else

33 repeat relationships: 27 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
5

Total granted

$4.6M
$54k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+54%

Still filing today

70%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $201k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationRecreation & SportsArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyOther
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

  • YM
    YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER CHARLOTTE
    5× · 2020–2024 · $650k · revenue +12%
  • A
    ArtsPlus
    5× · 2020–2024 · $600k · revenue +151%
  • KF
    KNOTHOLE FOUNDATION KNOTHOLE FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $529k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • TR
    TEXAS RANGERS BASEBALL FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $20k · revenue +54%
  • MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION INC
    one grant, 2020 · $20k · revenue +1%
  • MC
    MUSTAND CLUB
    one grant, 2022 · $6k
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
Autism Charlotte

Autism Charlotte's misison is to embrace and empower children and families affected by autism. We envision a community where every family navigation autism is supported with knowledge, resources, warmth, and understanding.

Health
2
Carolina Ballet Inc

Carolina ballet's mission is to perform world-class professional ballet, entertaining and enlightening audiences in raleigh, the triangle region, the state of north carolina, and beyond. carolina ballet works to accomplish this mission by…

Arts & Culture
3
Carolina Collaborative Prep

Carolina collaborative prep (ccp) is a non-profit academic center that serves students in grades 3-12 with learning differences, empowering them to thrive in school and in life.

Education
4
Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence Found ation
Health
5
Carolina Teen Center

Carolina Teen Center is a prevention and education year-round after-school and summer program that services youth and their families. Literacy programs, tutoring, life skills, mentoring, positive peer groups, conflict resolution skills,…

Health
6
Christopher Kids

Christopher Kids is a nonprofit corporation that serves children by fostering hope and imagination through specialized, accessible, and personalized spaces. We are dedicated to serving children ages two to twelve in the Southeast facing…

Health
7
The Carolina Trust
Philanthropy
8
Alliance Center for Education Inc

Our mission is to provide high-quality education and support for children in need through partnership with their families. our vision is to positively affect the future of children at risk by improving economic mobility through education.…

Education
9
Thompson Child & Family Focus Inc

Founded in 1886, thompson child & family focus is called to strengthen children, families, and communitiesdelivering measurable outcomes through healing, teaching, worship, and play. for more than a century, thompson has transformed lives…

—
10
Carolina Children's Charity Inc

To provide support to lowcountry children with birth defects and/or childhood diseases.

Health
11
Share Charlotte

SHARE Charlotte is building a better Charlotte by empowering nonprofits and helping people invest in their communities in ways that matter most to them.

Community Improvement
12
Charlotte Pride Inc

Charlotte pride creates programs and activites to enrich, empower, strengthen and make visable the unique lives and experiences of lgbtq people in charlotte.

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Girls On the Run International Inc; the most unlike its peers is Muscular Dystrophy Association Inc. 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

31 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. 31 of the 40 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
29/31
Grantees still filing
26/31
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ArtsPlus: $600,000 · OtherArtsPlusLIFESPAN INC: $145,000 · OtherLIFESPAN INCTHE IVEY: $120,000 · OtherTHE IVEYCAROLINA THREAD TRAIL: $115,500 · OtherCAROLINA THREAD TRAILGOOD SAMARITAN HAVEN INC: $100,000 · OtherGOOD SAMARITAN HAVEN INCIndividual grant recipient: $80,000 · OtherPAT'S PLACE: $75,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $75,000 · OtherRangers Foundation: $60,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $60,000 · OtherFREEDOM COMMUNITIES: $100,000 · OtherFREEDOM COMMUNITIESGIRLS ON THE RUN INTERNATIONAL INC: $100,000 · OtherGIRLS ON THE RUN INTERNATIONAL INC+6 more: $91,500 · OtherYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER CHARLOTTE: $650,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCI…Right Moves for Youth Inc: $160,000 · Human ServicesRight Moves for Youth IncALEXANDER YOUTH NETWORK: $114,000 · Human ServicesALEXANDER YOUTH NETWORKBRIGHT BLESSINGS: $90,000 · Human ServicesBRIGHT BLESSINGSLOWCOUNTRY ORPHAN RELIEF: $70,000 · Human ServicesLOWCOUNTRY ORPHAN RELIEFLeast of These Carolinas: $68,500 · Human ServicesLeast of These CarolinasThe Spokes Group Inc: $52,500 · Human Services+1 more: $7,500 · Human ServicesKNOTHOLE FOUNDATION KNOTHOLE FOUNDATION: $529,000 · Recreation & SportsKNOTHOLE FOUNDATI…PIRATES CHARITIES: $150,000 · Recreation & SportsPIRATES CHARITIESCAMP LUCK INC: $75,000 · Recreation & SportsCAMP LUCK INC+1 more: $1,000 · Recreation & SportsPARAMOUNT INSTITUTE OF COSMETIC ARTS INC: $200,000 · EducationPARAMOUNT I…Philips Academy of North Carolina Inc: $160,000 · EducationPhilips Aca…CLASSROOM CENTRAL INC: $105,000 · EducationCLASSROOM C…TEXAS RANGERS BASEBALL FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Education+1 more: $12,500 · EducationDISCOVERY PLACE INC: $450,000 · Arts & CultureDISCOVERY …+1 more: $5,000 · Arts & CultureCHARLOTTE KNIGHTS CHARITIES INC: $135,000 · PhilanthropyCharlotte Speech and Hearing Center Inc: $100,000 · HealthMUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION INC: $20,000 · Health
Other$1,722,000Human Services$1,212,500Recreation & Sports$755,000Education$497,500Arts & Culture$455,000Philanthropy$135,000Health$120,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER CHARLOTTE: $650,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetArtsPlus: $600,000 over 5y, 12% of budgetKNOTHOLE FOUNDATION KNOTHOLE FOUNDATION: $529,000 over 5y, 17% of budgetDISCOVERY PLACE INC: $450,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetPARAMOUNT INSTITUTE OF COSMETIC ARTS INC: $200,000 over 1y, 90% of budgetRight Moves for Youth Inc: $160,000 over 5y, 4.9% of budgetPhilips Academy of North Carolina Inc: $160,000 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetPIRATES CHARITIES: $150,000 over 5y, 3.0% of budgetLIFESPAN INC: $145,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCHARLOTTE KNIGHTS CHARITIES INC: $135,000 over 5y, 39% of budgetCAROLINA THREAD TRAIL: $115,500 over 3y, 12% of budgetALEXANDER YOUTH NETWORK: $114,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCLASSROOM CENTRAL INC: $105,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetFREEDOM COMMUNITIES: $100,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetGIRLS ON THE RUN INTERNATIONAL INC: $100,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetGOOD SAMARITAN HAVEN INC: $100,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetCharlotte Speech and Hearing Center Inc: $100,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetBRIGHT BLESSINGS: $90,000 over 5y, 2.7% of budgetCAMP LUCK INC: $75,000 over 5y, 6.3% of budgetLOWCOUNTRY ORPHAN RELIEF: $70,000 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetLeast of These Carolinas: $68,500 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetThe Spokes Group Inc: $52,500 over 5y, 10% of budgetFurnish For Good Inc: $40,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetTEXAS RANGERS BASEBALL FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEXTRA MILE EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $12,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTHE BRADLEY CENTER INC: $7,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHARLOTTE BALLET: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHARLOTTE'S FINEST LEGACY FOUNDATION: $4,000 over 4y, 7.3% of budgetTHE PRESTON BRADLEY CENTER: $2,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetMONTOUR TRAIL COUNCIL: $1,000 over 1y, 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.

  • Who funds YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER CHARLOTTE ↗
  • Who funds ArtsPlus ↗
  • Who funds KNOTHOLE FOUNDATION KNOTHOLE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds DISCOVERY PLACE INC ↗
  • Who funds PARAMOUNT INSTITUTE OF COSMETIC ARTS INC ↗
  • Who funds Right Moves for Youth Inc ↗
  • Who funds Philips Academy of North Carolina Inc ↗
  • Who funds PIRATES CHARITIES ↗
  • Who funds LIFESPAN INC ↗
  • Who funds CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS CHARITIES INC ↗
  • Who funds CAROLINA THREAD TRAIL ↗
  • Who funds ALEXANDER YOUTH NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds CLASSROOM CENTRAL INC ↗
  • Who funds FREEDOM COMMUNITIES ↗
  • Who funds GIRLS ON THE RUN INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
  • Who funds GOOD SAMARITAN HAVEN INC ↗
  • Who funds Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds BRIGHT BLESSINGS ↗
  • Who funds CAMP LUCK INC ↗
  • Who funds LOWCOUNTRY ORPHAN RELIEF ↗
  • Who funds Least of These Carolinas ↗
  • Who funds The Spokes Group Inc ↗
  • Who funds Furnish For Good Inc ↗
  • Who funds TEXAS RANGERS BASEBALL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds EXTRA MILE EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE BRADLEY CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds CHARLOTTE BALLET ↗
  • Who funds CHARLOTTE'S FINEST LEGACY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE PRESTON BRADLEY CENTER ↗
  • Who funds MONTOUR TRAIL COUNCIL ↗

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.

Foundation for the Ca…Duke Energy FoundationUnited Way of Greater…Merancas Foundation I…The Leon Levine Found…Speedway Children's C…Albemarle FoundationThe Winston-Salem Fou…Hooptee Charities IncWomens Impact FundThe Eleanor H Barnhar…Foundation for the Ch…
Foundation for the CarolinasNC28.1× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Foundation for the Carolinas · Duke Energy Foundation · United Way of Greater Charlotte Inc · Merancas Foundation Inc · The Leon Levine Foundation · Speedway Children's Charities · Albemarle Foundation · The Winston-Salem Foundation · Hooptee Charities Inc · Womens Impact Fund · The Eleanor H Barnhardt Charitable Trust · Foundation for the Charlotte Jewish Community

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 Bill and Sharon Allen Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bill and Sharon Allen Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 63%
  • Good Samaritan Haven Inc: 63% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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.

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 40 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 Bill and Sharon Allen 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