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Blue Heron Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Blue Heron Family 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.

$139k
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$35k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% 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$236kHealth$100kPhilanthropy$72kYouth Development$55kArts & Culture$50kEducation$34kHousing & Shelter$18kReligion$17kOther$0
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $25k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $114k
$5,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$5.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GIRLS INC OF INDIANAPOLIS$35,000
BISHOP CHATARD HIGH SCHOOL$33,600
Individual grant recipient$15,025
OUTREACH INDIANA$10,500
WILDWOOD RUNNING$10,000
TRINITY HAVEN$10,000
ISAIAH 117 HOUSE$6,000
DAMIEN CENTER$5,000
SOUTHEAST COMMUNITY SERVICES INC$5,000
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CHURCH$3,600
BAHATI FOUNDATION$2,430
DONATION TO LEUK&LYMPHOMA SOCIETY$1,250
ISF FOUNDATION (INDIANA STATE FAIR)$500
DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY INC (ST L UNIVERSITY)$500
ABILITY EXPERIENCE GEAR UP FLORIDA$250
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 (FY22–25, $57k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%INSTITUTE FOR AFFORDABLE TRANSPORTATION INC (BUV): $10k → 16%INSTITUTE FOR AFFORDABLE TRANSPORTATION INC (BUV): $9k → 16%OUTREACH INDIANA: $11k → 16%DAMIEN CENTER: $5k → 16%TRINITY HAVEN: $10k → 16%OUTREACH INDIANA: $5k → 16%TRINITY HAVEN: $5k → 16%TRINITY HAVEN: $3k → 16%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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
OR
IN
CA
UT
CO
MO
TN
NC
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.

71%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$430k · 10 repeat orgs$179k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +26% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
11

Total granted

$430k
$106k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+12%

Still filing today

60%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $74k 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 ServicesHealthEmploymentYouth DevelopmentEducationCrime & 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

  • ISAIAH 117 HOUSE
    5× · 2021–2025 · $144k · revenue +142%
  • GI
    GIRLS INCORPORATED OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS
    2× · 2024–2025 · $55k · revenue +20%
  • IF
    INSTITUTE FOR AFFORDABLE TRANSPORTATION
    2× · 2023–2024 · $19k · revenue +48%

Funded once

  • SG
    STAR GUIDES FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $68k
  • MD
    MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY FAMILY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $25k · revenue 0%
  • WI
    WORKFORCE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +100%
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
Leadership Indianapolis Inc

Educate, Inspire, Connect and Mobilize Community Leaders to serve and strengthen greater Indianapolis.

Public Benefit
2
The Indianapolis Foundation Inc

To mobilize people, ideas, and investments to make this a community where all individuals have equitable opportunity to reach their full potential - no matter place, race or identity.

Community Improvement
3
Indiana Statewide Independent Living Council Inc

To empower its peers with disabilities to lead and control their own lives.

Human Services
4
Indiana Center for Prevention of Youth Abuse and Suicide

Child advocacy organization that focuses on the prevention of child sexual abuse and youth suicide.

Youth Development
5
Enroll Indy Inc

Enroll indy helps families choose schools that meet their children's needs by providing a one-stop enrollment process, school information that is relevant and easy to understand, and data to inform school improvement in indianapolis,…

Education
6
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
7
Indiana University Alumni Association Inc

The indiana university alumni association activates and supports the global alumni network- encouraging alumni to grow a lifelong connection with indiana university, and inspiring their ongoing generosity toward each other and the…

—
8
Indiana Health Information Exchange Inc

Through information exchange, we improve health and healthcare.

Health
9
Union Health System

To serve our communities by provding innovative and compassionate healthcare.

Health
10
Indiana Association of United Ways Inc

Indiana united way is the leading voice to advocate, engage, and partner with a strong united way network and key stakeholders to advance human well-being throughout indiana.

Philanthropy
11
Central Indiana Community Foundation Inc

To mobilize people, ideas and investments to make this a community where all individuals have equitable opportunity to reach their full potential - no matter place, race or identity.

Philanthropy
12
Union Hospital Inc

We exist to serve our patients with compassionate health care of the highest quality.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Outreach Inc; the most unlike its peers is Girls Incorporated of Greater Indianapolis. 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

18 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. 18 of the 32 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
13/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

STAR GUIDES FOUNDATION: $68,000 · OtherSTAR GUIDES FOUNDATIONCHATARD ANNUAL FUND: $56,900 · OtherCHATARD ANNUAL FUNDINDIANAPOLIS CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $50,000 · OtherINDIANAPOLIS CHILDREN'S MUSEUMBISHOP CHATARD HIGH SCHOOL INC: $33,600 · OtherBISHOP CHATARD HIGH SCHOOL INCIndividual grant recipient: $15,025 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CHURCH: $14,100 · OtherIMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CHURCHWORKFORCE INC: $10,000 · Other+12 more: $13,458 · OtherISAIAH 117 HOUSE: $144,100 · Human ServicesISAIAH 117 HOUSEINSTITUTE FOR AFFORDABLE TRANSPORTATION: $19,000 · Human ServicesINSTITUTE FOR AFFORDABLE TRANSPORTAT…TRINITY HAVEN INC: $17,500 · Human ServicesTRINITY HAVEN INCOUTREACH INC: $15,500 · Human ServicesOUTREACH INC+1 more: $5,000 · Human ServicesLasting Change INC: $57,147 · Crime & LegalLasting Ch…GIRLS INCORPORATED OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS: $55,000 · Youth DevelopmentGIRLS INC…MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY FAMILY FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Health+2 more: $450 · HealthCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BLOOMINGTON AND MONROE COUNTY INC: $15,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $100 · PhilanthropyWildwood Running: $10,000 · Recreation & Sports
Other$261,083Human Services$201,100Crime & Legal$57,147Youth Development$55,000Health$25,450Philanthropy$15,100Recreation & Sports$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetISAIAH 117 HOUSE: $144,100 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetLasting Change INC: $57,147 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGIRLS INCORPORATED OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS: $55,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetMUSCULAR DYSTROPHY FAMILY FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR AFFORDABLE TRANSPORTATION: $19,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetTRINITY HAVEN INC: $17,500 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetOUTREACH INC: $15,500 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BLOOMINGTON AND MONROE COUNTY INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetWORKFORCE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTERRE HAUTE SOUTH ATHLETIC BOOSTER CLUB INC: $500 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMERIDIAN KESSLER NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOC: $500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetST VINCENT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF INDIANAPOLIS: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLITTLE RED DOOR CANCER AGENCY INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST BALDRICK'S FOUNDATION INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Lilly Endowment IncCentral Indiana Commu…Richard M Fairbanks F…United Way of Central…The Indianapolis Foun…The Brave Heart Found…Nicholas H Noyes Jr M…Second Helpings IncHoover Family Foundat…Hamilton County Commu…Nina Mason Pulliam Ch…Maurer Family Foundat…
Lilly Endowment IncIN24.5× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lilly Endowment Inc · Central Indiana Community Foundation Inc · Richard M Fairbanks Foundation Inc · United Way of Central Indiana Inc · The Indianapolis Foundation Inc · The Brave Heart Foundation Inc · Nicholas H Noyes Jr Memorial Foundation · Second Helpings Inc · Hoover Family Foundation · Hamilton County Community Foundation Inc · Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust · Maurer Family Foundation Inc

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 Blue Heron Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Blue Heron Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 Blue Heron Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Blue Heron 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 32 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 Blue Heron 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