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· Private foundation

Brier Family Foundation

Its FY2017 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$16k
Granted FY2017
24
Grants FY2017
8
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What you fund
01FY2017 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$500
Median grant
8
States reached
$6k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BEYOND DIFFERENCES$3,350
ST VICENTS DE PAUL$2,000
JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES$1,250
SF FOOD BANK$1,000
JEWISH BIG BROTHERS OF LA SCHOLARSH$1,000
Individual grant recipient$773
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS$750
MARIN THEATER$500
HOUSTON FOOD BANK$500
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$500
Individual grant recipient$500
REDWOOD CREDIT UNION COMMUNITY FUND$500
142 THROCKMORTON THEATRE$500
PUERTO RICO RECOVERY FUND$500
Individual grant recipient$500
02The need
02

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 (FY17–17, $350) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%MARIN VILLAGES: $100 → 8%HOSPICE BY THE BAY: $250 → 8%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

NY
OH
CA
AZ
AR
GA
TX

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.

03Your 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
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley

To realize our vision of a hunger free community we will provide more food, healthy food and better access to food. we will leverage our own resources and also work with partners in the community.

Food & Nutrition
2
Foodbank of Santa Barbara County Inc

To end hunger and transform the health of our community by providing nourishment to those in need by acquiring and distributing safe nutritious food via local agencies and by providing education to solve hunger and nutritional problems in…

Food & Nutrition
3
Marin General Hospital

To be the destination for health and healing in the north bay.

Health
4
Sutter Bay Medical Foundation

Mission statement: mission: caring for our patients first and our people always. vision: to be the most comprehensive, integrated and connected health system for getting and staying well. values: excellence - we deliver high-quality,…

Health
5
Transportation Alternatives for Marin
Public Benefit
6
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.

7
Sutter Bay Hospitals

MISSION STATEMENT: MISSION: CARING FOR OUR PATIENTS FIRST AND OUR PEOPLE ALWAYS. VISION: TO BE THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, INTEGRATED AND CONNECTED HEALTH SYSTEM FOR GETTING AND STAYING WELL. VALUES: EXCELLENCE - We deliver high-quality,…

Health
8
Extrafood

Food Rescue - The Organization rescues excess fresh food from Bay Area businesses, schools and non-profits and immediately delivers the food to safety net partners - such as senior housing centers, after-school programs, and homeless…

Food & Nutrition
9
Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County

Second harvest food bank's mission is to end hunger and malnutrition by educating and involving the community.

Food & Nutrition
10
Alameda County Community Food Bank

Alameda county community food bank passionately pursues a hunger-free community.

11
Marin Community Foundation

Mobilizing the power of community and the resources of philanthropy to advance equity for people, places and the planet.

Philanthropy
12
Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services

Dedicated to assisting those in need by alleviating their immediate pain and problems and moving them toward self-sufficiency and financial independence.

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is By the Bay Health and the most unlike its peers is Beyond Differences. 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

8 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 8 of the 24 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
6/8
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Beyond Differences — $3,350 · OtherBeyond DifferencesST VICENTS DE PAUL — $2,000 · OtherST VICENTS DE PAULJEWISH FAMILY SERVICES — $1,250 · OtherJEWISH FAMILY SERVICESSAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK — $1,000 · OtherSAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANKJEWISH BIG BROTHERS OF LA SCHOLARSH — $1,000 · OtherJEWISH BIG BROTHERS OF LA SCHOLARSHIndividual grant recipient — $773 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient — $500 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $500 · OtherMARIN THEATER — $500 · OtherPUERTO RICO RECOVERY FUND — $500 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITY — $500 · Other142 THROCKMORTON THEATRE — $500 · OtherThe Houston Food Bank — $500 · Other+6 more — $1,150 · Other+6 moreMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $750 · InternationalREDWOOD CREDIT UNION COMMUNITY FUND INC — $500 · PhilanthropyBY THE BAY HEALTH — $250 · Human ServicesMarin Villages — $100 · Human ServicesMARIN SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $250 · Arts & Culture
Other$14,023International$750Philanthropy$500Human Services$350Arts & Culture$250

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetBeyond Differences — $3,350 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREDWOOD CREDIT UNION COMMUNITY FUND INC — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Houston Food Bank — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBY THE BAY HEALTH — $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMARIN SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $250 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

  • Who funds Beyond Differences
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC
  • Who funds REDWOOD CREDIT UNION COMMUNITY FUND INC
  • Who funds The Houston Food Bank
  • Who funds BY THE BAY HEALTH
  • Who funds MARIN SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
  • Who funds Marin Villages

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.

McNabb FoundationDE13.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: McNabb Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 organization Brier 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
202122232425
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%your 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
    3report 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, FY2025

    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.

    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Brier Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Brier 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 24 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 2017, released 2017. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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