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· Private foundation

Black Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$60k
Granted FY2023
3
Grants FY2023
3
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2023.

Environment$490kPhilanthropy$316kEducation$301kInternational$75kArts & Culture$14kYouth Development$13kHousing & Shelter$5kHuman Services$5kOther$0
02FY2023 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$20,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$580k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ASSOCIATION OF SMALL FOUNDATIONS DBA EXPONENT PHILANTHROPY$30,000
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA FOUNDATION-AWCIM$20,000
ARCHITECTURE 2030$10,000
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 (FY22–22, $25k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%IDEA'S FOR US: $25k → 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

VT
WA
WI
PA
CA
CO
VA
AZ
NM
NC
DC
LA
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.

04

Where the work is directed

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

About 15% of Black Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another. Read by recipient address, 50% of the giving stays in PA; read by stated purpose it is 39% — less of the work is directed home than the recipients' locations suggest.

Black Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.0% directed abroad (not shown)

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 foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

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.

35%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$385k · 6 repeat orgs$699k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +39% since the first grant, against -1% for the ones you funded once.

6 repeat relationships — 2 still active in FY2023, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
29

Total granted

$385k
$689k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
-1%

Still filing today

50%
72%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
EnvironmentEducationPhilanthropyArts & CultureScience & TechPublic BenefitOther

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

  • AO
    ASSOCIATION OF SMALL FOUNDATIONS
    3× · 2019–2023 · $64k · revenue +4%
  • UW
    United Way of Erie County
    2× · 2017–2018 · $47k · revenue +39%
  • EP
    Erie Philharmonic Inc
    2× · 2018–2019 · $9k · revenue +48%

Funded once

  • PS
    PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2022 · $100k
  • S
    Stand
    one grant, 2017 · $60k
  • RC
    RAINFOREST CONNECTION
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue -65%

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
NatureServe

NatureServe's mission is to leverage the power of science, data, and technology to guide biodiversity conservation and stewardship. We activate our mission by working with a network of 60+ partners located in states and provinces across…

Environment
2
Partnership for Policy Integrity

Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI) uses data-driven advocacy and litigation to fight for forests, communities and the climate.

Environment
3
Environmental Council of States Inc

Improve the environment of the United States by providing for the exchange of ideas, views & experiences among the states, fostering cooperation & coordination in environmental management & articulating state positions to Congress & the…

—
4
Environment Next Inc

Environment next supports individuals, nonprofits and businesses around the world on solutions to complex climate issues. we provide leadership, outreach and communication support, grants, and investments to empower leaders and their ideas…

Environment
5
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
6
E3G Third Generation Environmentalism

E3g is a leading international not-for-profit think tank specialising in climate diplomacy harnessing expertise in the politics and economics of climate change.

Environment
7
Institute for State Effectiveness

The institute for state effectiveness seeks to close the governance gap and advance inclusive growth so that states and markets deliver to citizens. ise advances practical approaches to strengthen capacity for transformation, through…

International
8
One Earth Philanthropy

One Earth's mission is to empower everyone, everywhere, with the knowledge, inspiration, and opportunity to heal the Earth and reclaim our future.

Environment
9
Sustainable Pittsburgh

Provide information to decision maker in the pittsburgh region to promote economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental quality for sustainable solutions for communities and businesses.

Environment
10
Earth Innovation Institute

Earth innovation institute works to advance climate-friendly rural devlopement through innovative approaches to sustainable farming, forestry and fisheries in tropical regions around the world.

Philanthropy
11
Ie New York College

(see schedule o)

Education
12
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Institute for Sustainable Communities and the most unlike its peers is Jessica's Love Foundation. 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 backsteadyPublic University Foundatio…Faith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Land Conservation Organizat…Child and Family ServicesCommunity Arts OrganizationsClassical Music EnsemblesEnvironmental Advocacy Orga…United Way FederationsCommunity Foundations
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 25 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%0%<5yr14%17%5–10yr19%26%10–20yr16%22%20–35yr13%4%35–55yr16%30%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%12%5–10yr19%29%10–20yr16%14%20–35yr13%9%35–55yr16%37%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 — 7% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
7%
2/30
the rest of the field
13%
240,394/1,819,535

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.

05the grantee network

29 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 29 of the 38 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/29
Grantees still filing
16/29
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

INNOVATION COLLABORATIVE INC — $125,000 · OtherINNOVATION COLLABORATIVE INCPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY — $100,000 · OtherPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITYPenn State University — $90,000 · OtherPenn State UniversityStand — $60,000 · OtherStandUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA FOUNDATION-AWCIM — $50,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA FOUNDATION-AWCIMIDEA FUND ERIE — $40,000 · OtherIDEA FUND ERIEEARTH COUNCIL FOUNDATION - US — $25,000 · OtherPerception International — $25,000 · OtherIDEAS FOR US INC — $25,000 · OtherCommunity Environmental Legal Defense Fund — $25,000 · Other+11 more — $103,000 · Other+11 moreERIE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $130,000 · PhilanthropyERIE COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONASSOCIATION OF SMALL FOUNDATIONS — $63,500 · PhilanthropyASSOCIATION OF SMALL FOUN…United Way of Erie County — $47,000 · PhilanthropyUnited Way of Erie CountyJessica's Love Foundation — $25,000 · PhilanthropyJessica's Love FoundationTHE GREATER NEW ORLEANS FOUNDATION — $10,000 · PhilanthropyURBAN SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTORS NETWORK — $30,000 · EnvironmentSTAND — $20,000 · EnvironmentHOWELL CONSERVATION FUND INC — $20,000 · EnvironmentGROUP AGAINST SMOG AND POLLUTION INC — $5,000 · EnvironmentWESTERN LANDOWNERS ALLIANCE — $5,000 · EnvironmentRAINFOREST CONNECTION — $50,000 · Science & TechCENTER FOR EMERGENT DIPLOMACY — $50,000 · Public BenefitINSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES — $50,000 · InternationalCOLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $20,000 · EducationBiomimicry for Social Innovation — $15,000 · EducationEAGLES NEST LEADERSHIP CORPORATION — $10,000 · EducationMERCYHURST UNIVERSITY — $5,000 · Education
Other$668,000Philanthropy$275,500Environment$80,000Science & Tech$50,000Public Benefit$50,000International$50,000Education$50,000

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 budgetERIE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $130,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetINNOVATION COLLABORATIVE INC — $125,000 over 2y, 55% of budgetASSOCIATION OF SMALL FOUNDATIONS — $63,500 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetRAINFOREST CONNECTION — $50,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetCENTER FOR EMERGENT DIPLOMACY — $50,000 over 1y, 45% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES — $50,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetUnited Way of Erie County — $47,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetURBAN SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTORS NETWORK — $30,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetJessica's Love Foundation — $25,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetIDEAS FOR US INC — $25,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetSTAND — $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPRESIDIO GRADUATE SCHOOL — $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetHOWELL CONSERVATION FUND INC — $20,000 over 1y, 26% of budgetCOLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSUSTAINABILITY INSTITUTE INC — $20,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetSAVING SPECIES INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetBiomimicry for Social Innovation — $15,000 over 1y, 8.0% of budgetTHE GREATER NEW ORLEANS FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMERCYHURST UNIVERSITY — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSERVERIE — $5,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetSt Patrick's Haven Inc — $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetSARAH A REED CHILDREN'S CENTER — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWESTERN LANDOWNERS ALLIANCE — $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

Erie Community Founda…M J Surgala TrGreater Erie Economic…Wabtec FoundationMerwin FoundationHamot Health Foundati…Rsf Social Finance IncGe Aerospace Foundati…ImpactassetsincTides FoundationSilicon Valley Commun…Charities Aid Foundat…
Erie Community FoundationPA21.5× affinity8 shared granteesties to 10 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Erie Community Foundation · M J Surgala Tr · Greater Erie Economic Development Corporation · Wabtec Foundation · Merwin Foundation · Hamot Health Foundation · Rsf Social Finance Inc · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Tides Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America

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 Black Family 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
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%2%8%17%30%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 100%
  • Institute for Sustainable Communities — 100% of income from government
  • Ideas for Us Inc — 35% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25

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 Black Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Black Family 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 38 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder made grants.

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines