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Brick by Brick Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Brick by Brick Foundation

BRICK BY BRICK FOUNDATIONs mission is to increase civic participation, strengthen democratic institutions, and inform voters.

$132M
Granted FY2025still arriving
31
Grants FY2025still arriving
10
States reached
$86M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01FY2025 · 31 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $510k
  • $250k+24 grants · $132M
$940,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FUTURE FORWARD USA ACTION$86,000,000
MAJORITY FORWARD$5,500,000
PROMETHEUS$5,000,000
CLEAR CHOICE ACTION INC$5,000,000
FORWARD MAJORITY$5,000,000
HOUSE MAJORITY FORWARD$5,000,000
SIXTEEN THIRTY FUND$3,900,000
RAPID RESIST ACTION$3,500,000
AMERICA VOTES GENERAL FUND$2,150,000
THE VOTER PROJECT$1,370,000
TURNOUT ACTION FUND$1,350,000
ACCELERATE ACTION INC$1,100,000
THE VOTER PROJECT FUND$1,000,000
AMERICAN BRIDGE 21ST CENTURY FOUNDATION$1,000,000
WORKMONEY INC$1,000,000
02The need
02

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 (FY25–25, $1.1M) 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%ACCELERATE ACTION INC: $1.1M → 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
WI
NY
MA
OH
PA
DC
GA
TX
FL
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 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
All Americans Vote

All Americans Vote aims to motivate underrepresented Americans to engage in the most patriotic of exercises - voting!

Civil Rights
2
Send the Vote Inc

Conduct digital, direct mail and other public communication campaigns to support voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.

—
3
Fair Democracy

Fair democracy works to ensure that the roots of american democracy are healthy with strong voting rights and access, an engaged and informed electorate, an open and accountable government and trusted messengers engaging americans in civil…

Civil Rights
4
Team Democracy Action

Team Democracy Action (TDA) promotes social welfare by bringing together Americans of all political perspectives around our shared commitment to the core principles of our constitutional democracy.

—
5
Defend the Vote Action Fund

To sustain and support the prioritization of comprehensive voting rights and democracy reform legislation at all levels of government.

—
6
Guarantee Our Votes Project

Protect voting rights in the united states for all citizens and expand voting rights to citizens who have been historically disenfranchised or under-represented in the electoral process.

Civil Rights
7
The Act Now Project

To build innovative solutions to increase civic engagement, including through voter engagement and voter education initiativesamong voters abroad.

Civil Rights
8
America Votes Education Fund

America Votes Education Fund is dedicated to expanding all voters' access to the ballot through a grantmaking program.

Civil Rights
9
Right Vote Inc
Civil Rights
10
Us Vote Foundation Inc

Every citizen is a voter. the foundation executes its mission through the development and provision of voter services, information, and election data.

Civil Rights
11
Advance American Democracy Inc

To protect democracy by advocating for policies to strenghten democracy, educating the public about threats to our democracy, and highlighting the unpopularity of federal policies that places money and power over the rights and freedom of…

—
12
Vote for America

Our mission is to increase voting in elections across the United States by offering nonpartisan information primarily across social media and podcast platforms.

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Stand Up America Inc; the most unlike its peers is Individual Liberties Alliance. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
03the grantee network

27 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. 27 of the 31 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
27/27
Grantees still filing
9/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FUTURE FORWARD USA ACTION: $86,000,000 · Public BenefitFUTURE FORWARD USA ACTION+3 more: $1,850,000 · Public BenefitMAJORITY FORWARD: $5,500,000 · OtherMAJORITY FORWARDFORWARD MAJORITY ACTION: $5,000,000 · OtherFORWARD MAJORITY …Clear Choice Action Inc: $5,000,000 · OtherClear Choice Acti…The Voter Project: $1,370,000 · OtherThe Voter ProjectWORKMONEY INC: $1,000,000 · Other+9 more: $2,250,000 · Other+9 moreHOUSE MAJORITY FORWARD: $5,000,000 · Community ImprovementAmerica Votes: $2,150,000 · Community ImprovementRAPID RESIST ACTION: $3,500,000 · Civil RightsTURNOUT ACTION FUND: $1,350,000 · Civil RightsTHE VOTER PROJECT FUND: $1,000,000 · Civil Rights+1 more: $110,000 · Civil RightsPROMETHEUS: $5,000,000 · Arts & CultureSIXTEEN THIRTY FUND: $3,900,000 · EnvironmentWORKING AMERICA EDUCATION FUND: $940,000 · EducationCivic Nation: $250,000 · EducationFAIR FIGHT ACTION INC: $100,000 · Education+1 more: $25,000 · EducationACCELERATE ACTION INC: $1,100,000 · Human Services
Public Benefit$87,850,000Other$20,120,000Community Improvement$7,150,000Civil Rights$5,960,000Arts & Culture$5,000,000Environment$3,900,000Education$1,315,000Human Services$1,100,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMAJORITY FORWARD: $5,500,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetRAPID RESIST ACTION: $3,500,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetAmerica Votes: $2,150,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetACCELERATE ACTION INC: $1,100,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetWORKING AMERICA EDUCATION FUND: $940,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetGOOD NEIGHBOR FUND: $500,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetFUTURE NOW ACTION: $350,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetBRIDGE ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND: $25,000 over 1y, 1.9% 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.

Our American Future A…Sixteen Thirty FundAmerica VotesBright Future FundFuture Forward USA Ac…Hopewell FundGlobal Impact Social …Wellness Advocacy FundWay to Win Action Fun…Open Society Action F…Fund for a Better Fut…North Fund
Our American Future ActionDC34.5× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Our American Future Action · Sixteen Thirty Fund · America Votes · Bright Future Fund · Future Forward USA Action · Hopewell Fund · Global Impact Social Welfare Fund · Wellness Advocacy Fund · Way to Win Action Fund Inc · Open Society Action Fund Inc · Fund for a Better Future Inc · North Fund

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%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
    3get no government money at all
    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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Brick by Brick Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Brick by Brick 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 31 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 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 Brick by Brick’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