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Black Benjamin a Char at a glance

· Private foundation

Black Benjamin a Char

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$20k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Human Services$73kEducation$35kPhilanthropy$15kHealth$10kReligion$3kPublic Benefit$1k
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$415k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BUILDING BLOCKS FOR COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT$10,000
CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC$5,000
GRACE FOUNDATION INC$5,000
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 (FY20–25, $54k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 96% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%GRAND ISLAND YOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSO: $2k → 12%BUILDING BLOCKS FOR COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT: $12k → 13%BUILDING BLOCKS FOR COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT: $10k → 13%BUILDING BLOCKS FOR COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT: $10k → 13%BUILDING BLOCKS FOR COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT: $10k → 13%BUILDING BLOCKS FOR COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT: $5k → 13%BUILDING BLOCKS FOR COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT: $5k → 13%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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$117k · 5 repeat orgs$21k to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
6

Total granted

$117k
$21k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+51%
+54%

Still filing today

80%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesPhilanthropyEducationReligionOther
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

  • BB
    Building Blocks for Community Enrichment
    6× · 2020–2025 · $52k · revenue +51%
  • CC
    CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $30k · revenue +103%
  • HU
    HEARTLAND UNITED WAY INC
    3× · 2020–2023 · $15k · revenue -16%

Funded once

  • SW
    SANTAS WORKSHOP
    one grant, 2023 · $8k
  • GI
    GRAND ISLAND EDUCATION FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $5k
  • OC
    Oasis Counseling Internationalgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $3k · revenue +26%
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
Greater Grand Island Community Foundation

Empowering people to turn their passion into purpose by creating legacies that strengthen the future of the communities we serve.

Philanthropy
2
Great Lakes Community Action Partnership

The mission of great lakes community action partnership is to create partnerships and opportunites to help individuals, families and communities thrive.

Human Services
3
Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce Inc

To provide membership and benefits to the local business community and to promote community development and education.

—
4
United Way of North Central Iowa

Seeking to build a stronger, more caring community by forming partnerships with businesses, community experts, education & health & human service agencies to achieve targeted outcomes & sustained changes in community conditions which will…

Philanthropy
5
Gateway Community Health Center Inc

Quality care for everyone

Health
6
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

To administer intercollegiate athletic programs for colleges and universities

Recreation & Sports
7
Islesboro Community Center

The ICC supports and nurtures our island community by fostering health, wellness, enrichment, and social interaction for all ages.

Recreation & Sports
8
Guidance Center of Lea County Inc

To provide a variety of mental health and substance abuse services to adults, children, and families in lea county.

Health
9
Greater Lansing Youth for Christ

To communicate the relevance of the life-changing message of jesus christ to youth by example and word and challenging them to trust christ and to live for him.

—
10
Hall County Community Collaborative

To see safe, healthy and thriving communities and families

—
11
Grand Island Public Library Foundation

Assist city library

—
12
Crossroads Christian Counseling

Crossroads combines innovative clinical counseling with a redemptive worldview to restore people to emotional health, relational unity, and a hopeful future.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Grand Island Young Women's Christian Association; the most unlike its peers is Oasis Counseling International. 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

8 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. 8 of the 11 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
6/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Building Blocks for Community Enrichment: $52,000 · Human ServicesBuilding Blocks for Community EnrichmentGRAND ISLAND YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $2,000 · Human ServicesCENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 · EducationCENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEG…THE SALVATION ARMY: $10,000 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMYSANTAS WORKSHOP: $8,000 · OtherSANTAS WORKSHOPGRAND ISLAND EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $5,000 · OtherGRAND ISLAND EDUCATIO…YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GRAND ISLAND NE: $1,350 · OtherHALL COUNTY LEADERSHIP UNLIMITED INC: $1,225 · OtherHEARTLAND UNITED WAY INC: $15,000 · PhilanthropyHEARTLAND UNITED WAY…GRACE FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · PhilanthropyGRACE FOUNDATION INCOasis Counseling International: $3,000 · Religion
Human Services$54,000Education$30,000Other$25,575Philanthropy$25,000Religion$3,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBuilding Blocks for Community Enrichment: $52,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetCENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetHEARTLAND UNITED WAY INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetGRACE FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetOasis Counseling International: $3,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGRAND ISLAND YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GRAND ISLAND NE: $1,350 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHALL COUNTY LEADERSHIP UNLIMITED INC: $1,225 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

Sn Bud and Gloria Wol…Claussen E & M Charit…Taylor Vern & Esther …Greater Grand Island …The Sherwood Foundati…Amazonsmile Foundation
Sn Bud and Gloria Wolbach Charitable FoundatiNE15.8× affinity5 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sn Bud and Gloria Wolbach Charitable Foundati · Claussen E & M Charitable Tuw · Taylor Vern & Esther Char Trust · Greater Grand Island Community Foundation · The Sherwood Foundation · 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 Black Benjamin a Char funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Black Benjamin a Char. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 11 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 Black Benjamin a Char’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