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· Private foundation
BLUE WATERS FOUNDATION
This foundation does not accept unsolicited requests — it funds preselected organizations.
$230k
Granted FY2024
9
Grants
5
Communities
$75k
Largest
01What you fund
0162% classified
What you funded, over time
Every grant clustered by its grantee’s IRS cause code (NTEE), by year — across FY2018–2024.
Philanthropy$310kFood & Nutrition$290kHousing & Shelter$270kCivil Rights$180kArts & Culture$15kOther$648k
02beneath the categories
Past the labels — and the year it shifted
Beneath the NTEE codes, this is what the grant descriptions actually say.
…and in their own words, year by year
2019
habitat humanity
2020
habitat humanity
2021
habitat humanity
2022
habitat humanity
2023
food bank
2024
food bank
Words distinctive to each year’s grant purposes (TF-IDF) · event-driven terms in cyan.
03FY2024 · 9 grants
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- $10k–50k8 grants · $155k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $75k
$20,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$5.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
- SOUTHEAST ALASKA FOOD BANK$75,000
- HOSPICE OF THE CHESAPEAKE FOUNDATION$30,000
- FRIENDS OF THE LIGHT HOUSE$25,000
- INFINITE HERO FOUNDATION$20,000
- ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY FOOD BANK$20,000
- THE HELPING UP MISSION INC$20,000
- STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWER FOUNDATION$15,000
- GARY SINISE FOUNDATION$15,000
- ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY CASA INC$10,000
02The need
04
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:
Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY18–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11% — the area typically sits at 11%. 50% of your dollars reach neighborhoods with above-average need. Your grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.
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 line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
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, United Way ALICE — 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.
77%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.3M · 17 repeat orgs$395k to everyone else
17 repeat relationships — 9 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Re-uppedFunded once
Organizations
17
8
Total granted
$1.3M
$395k
Median revenue growth · since first grant
+72%
+117%
Still filing today
65%
13%
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
RenewedFirst-time
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
PhilanthropyHousing & ShelterFood & NutritionCivil RightsArts & CultureOther
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
- AAANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY CASA INC5× · 2019–2024 · $180k · revenue +72%
- HFHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF THE CHESAPEAKE6× · 2018–2023 · $165k · revenue +28%
- SASOUTHEAST ALASKA FOOD BANK2× · 2023–2024 · $150k · revenue +836%
Funded once
- TUTHE UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL MARYLAND INC FBO MARYLAND THERAPEUTIC RIDINGone grant, 2018 · $175k
- JCJUNEAU COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2022 · $60k · revenue +117%
- VWVIRTUOUS WOMAN PROJECTone grant, 2019 · $50k · 89% of their budget
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
United Food Bank
Uniting communities to alleviate hunger.
Food & Nutrition
2
Central Pennsylvania Food Bank
Fighting hunger, improving lives, strengthening communities.
Food & Nutrition
3
The Maryland Food Bank Inc
The maryland food bank is a nonprofit hunger-relief organization dedicated to feeding people, strengthening communities, and ending hunger for more marylanders.
—
4
Chesapeake Charities Inc
The mission of chesapeake charities, inc. is to provide innovative leadership and quality services that encourage charitable giving, build community resources, and enable donors continued on schedule o
Philanthropy
5
Housing Unlimited Inc
To address the housing crisis for adults in mental health recovery in montgomery county, md.
Housing & Shelter
6
Habitat for Humanity of Carroll County
To provide homeownership opportunities and home repairs to lower income families in carroll county, maryland
Housing & Shelter
7
Coastal Hospice
Coastal hospice provides hospice and palliative care services in the four lower counties of the eastern shore of maryland to individuals facing life-limiting conditions.
Human Services
8
Arundel Community Development
To administer, plan and implement housing and community development activities principally benefitting low to moderate income residents of the the state of maryland, especially anne arundel county.
Housing & Shelter
9
Fauquier Community Food Bank & Thrift Store
To fight hunger in fauquier county by providing our neighbors in need with nourishing food and encouraging self-sufficiency through vibrant community partnerships
Food & Nutrition
10
Port Angeles Food Bank
Nourishing our community. the port angeles food bank is the main food bank in clallam county, providing food to 13 other area pantries and meal programs as well as providing food to over 5,000 individuals per month.
Food & Nutrition
11
The Community Foundation of Howard
(see schedule o)the foundation's mission is to improve the quality of life in howard county by inspiring lifelong giving, connecting people, places, and organizations to worthy causes, reaching every demographic in the county, and…
—
12
Community Health Center of
To provide our diverse community with access to high quality, affordable primary health care
Health
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hospice of the Chesapeake Foundation Inc and the most unlike its peers is All Children's Chorus of Annapolis. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network
13 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue.
1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/13
Grantees still filing
9/13
Grew since you first funded
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Other$648,100Philanthropy$310,000Food & Nutrition$290,000Housing & Shelter$270,000Civil Rights$180,000Arts & Culture$15,000
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
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.
- Who funds ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY CASA INC ↗
- Who funds HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF THE CHESAPEAKE ↗
- Who funds SOUTHEAST ALASKA FOOD BANK ↗
- Who funds ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY FOOD BANK ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE LIGHT HOUSE ↗
- Who funds GARY SINISE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds THE UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL MARYLAND INC ↗
- Who funds THE HELPING UP MISSION INC ↗
- Who funds HOSPICE OF THE CHESAPEAKE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds JUNEAU COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds VIRTUOUS WOMAN PROJECT ↗
- Who funds INFINITE HERO FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ALL CHILDREN'S CHORUS OF ANNAPOLIS ↗
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.
Community Foundation of Anne Arundel CoMD15.9× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →
Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Anne Arundel Co · The United Way of Central Maryland Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Network for Good · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
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 organisation BLUE WATERS 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.
2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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. 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
Through Plinth
Your grantmaking, live and operational
This dossier was generated cold from public filings. In Plinth it’s a working system — every applicant assessed and every grant monitored. Here’s a taste, run on one of your grantees: ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY CASA INC.
Agentic due diligence · confidence × risk
Financial management
low risk
~25 months of operating runway; revenue grew over 8 filed years.
Track record & reputation
low risk
8 years of Form 990 filings, still active; revenue up +72% since.
Legal standing
low risk
US 501(c)(3); EIN 521885500 on file with current IRS Form 990 filings.
Governance
Live in Plinth
Board composition & governance documents — verified live in Plinth from the applicant.
Compliance & sanctions
Live in Plinth
OFAC / UN sanctions screening — run live in Plinth at assessment.
Program capacity
Live in Plinth
Staffing, M&E and activity alignment — assessed live in Plinth from submitted proposals.
Live · Plinth’s real DD engine
Run the actual assessment on ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY CASA INC, cold from public data.
Generated live from public IRS filings + open web sources by Plinth’s agentic engine. Shown as an illustration of the product, not a formal assessment.
Post-award monitoring · continuous checks
- On trackFinancial stability— Roughly 25 months of cash on hand.
- On trackSustained operations— Filing through 2025; revenue grew over the period.
- On trackReliance on your funding— Your grants peaked at 10% of their budget — diversified.
- Awaiting reportEvidence of delivery— Plinth collects the grantee's own monitoring reports post-award.
What you see here is static and public. In Plinth it’s operational — the full six-pillar framework on every applicant (with their own documents + live registry and sanctions checks), monitoring dashboards on every award, custom board reports, and eligibility routing for intake.
Agentic due diligenceMonitoring dashboardsCustom board reportsEligibility routing
Preview generated from this grantee’s public IRS filings and independent reporting. Pillars marked “live in Plinth” require the applicant’s submitted documents. Shown as illustration, not a formal assessment.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPro
How do I get to Blue Waters Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Blue Waters Foundation through people who sit on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the introduction across shared trustees and officers.
Every link is a documented governance overlap in public IRS 990 filings — not a personal network — and each hop carries its own confidence tier. Low-confidence or distant paths are held back rather than guessed.
More from the funding graph
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars pass through an intermediary
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
Strange bedfellows
the named clusters of US funding
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