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C Spire Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

C Spire Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$617k
Granted FY2025still arriving
41
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$2.4MArts & Culture$706kHealth$248kEmployment$240kPhilanthropy$109kReligion$97kHuman Services$84kCommunity Improvement$84kOther$0
02FY2025 · 41 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k23 grants · $108k
  • $10k–50k15 grants · $283k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $225k
$7,500
Median grant
4
States reached
$364k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Friends of Russell C Davis Planetarium$100,000
Base Camp Academy$75,000
Pinola Community Center$50,000
Eudora Welty Foundation$40,000
Bean Path$30,000
Mississippi Childrens Museum$26,328
Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi$25,000
American Red Cross$25,000
Community Foundation for Mississippi$20,000
University of MS Foundation$15,000
Jackson State University$15,000
University of Southern Mississippi$15,000
Troy University Foundation$15,000
Mississippi State University$15,000
Alcorn State University Foundation$12,000
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 (FY24–24, $40k) land where the poverty rate runs at 24%, 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%Mississippi State University Foundation: $40k → 24%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.
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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.6M · 47 repeat orgs$435k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.

47 repeat relationships: 28 still active in FY2025, 19 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

47
49

Total granted

$3.6M
$359k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+5%

Still filing today

38%
45%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $76k 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
EducationArts & CultureReligionHealthPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI FOUNDATION
    6× · 2020–2025 · $168k · revenue +41%
  • MC
    MISSISSIPPI CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
    6× · 2020–2025 · $151k · revenue +31%
  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR MISSISSIPPI HISTORY
    2× · 2020–2023 · $105k · revenue +23%

Funded once

  • MS
    Mississippi State University Foundation Incgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $40k · revenue +82%
  • CLEVELAND MUSIC FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2023 · $30k · revenue +5%
  • OM
    Ole Miss Womens Council for Philanthropy
    one grant, 2024 · $30k
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
Mission Mississippi

To encourage and demonstrate grace in the body of christ across racial lines, so that communities throughout mississippi can see practical evidence of the gospel message.

Civil Rights
2
Methodist Foundation of Mississippi Inc

The foundation exists to cultivate and administer current and deferred gifts for the benefit of ms united methodist related institutions, agencies, local churches, and other ministries for charitable purposes and support and to educate…

Religion
3
Jobs for Mississippi Graduates Inc

Jmg's mission is to keep young people in school through graduation and provide work-based learning experiences that will lead to career advancement opportunities or to enroll in a postsecondary institution that leads to a rewarding career.

—
4
Ms Museum of Natural Science Foundation

The foundation was established to support the mississippi museum of natural science though receiving, maintaining and distributing funds exclusively for the benefit of the museum.

Arts & Culture
5
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Foundation Inc

The foundation's purpose is to promote, encourage, and assist in all forms of education and research in the MS gulf coast community college's districts, campuses, and activities.

Education
6
Memphis Academy of Science and Engineeri

To produce lifelong learners, critical thinkers, effective communicators, and productive members of the global community

Education
7
Mississippi State Medical Association Foundation Inc

The organization provides funding for medical research, educational programs for physicians and others as well as educational assistance for medical students. in addition, the organization provides grants to medical professionals whose…

—
8
Mississippi College

Mississippi college is a private, co-educational, comprehensive university of liberal arts and sciences and professional studies dedicated to the pursuit of academic excellence. founded in 1826, mississippi college is the oldest…

Education
9
Our Mississippi Foundation
Community Improvement
10
University of Southern Mississippi Foundation

To build relationships with alumni and friends in order to secure private funds and other resources for the benefit of the university of southern mississippi (usm). the foundation receives, invests and distributes private gifts in support…

Education
11
The Northern Michigan University Foundation

The nmu foundation will establish and foster relationships to generate resources that benefit the strategic goals of northern michigan university.

Education
12
Mississippi Journalism and Education Group

To publish deep public-interest reporting into causes of and solutions to the social, political, and systemic challenges facing all mississipians and their communities.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Mississippi Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Samaritan's Purse. 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

49 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. 49 of the 107 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
48/49
Grantees still filing
27/49
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY: $1,090,000 · OtherMISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITYBase Camp Academy: $225,000 · OtherBase Camp AcademyUniv of MS Medical Center: $200,000 · OtherUniv of MS Medical CenterFriends of Russell C Davis Planetarium: $200,000 · OtherFriends of Russell C Davis PlanetariumMississippi State University Center for Cyber Education: $193,000 · OtherMississippi State University Center for Cyber Education+66 more: $959,297 · Other+66 moreBASE CAMP CODING ACADEMY: $225,000 · EducationBASE CAMP CODING…UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI FOUNDATION: $167,500 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF MI…Jackson State University Development Foundation Inc: $57,500 · EducationJackson State Un…ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $43,500 · EducationALCORN STATE UNI…TROY UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $31,000 · EducationTougaloo College: $24,600 · Education+9 more: $49,100 · Education+9 moreMISSISSIPPI CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $151,328 · Arts & CultureMISSISSIP…Eudora Welty Foundation Inc: $120,000 · Arts & CultureEudora We…CLEVELAND MUSIC FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureCLEVELAND…+6 more: $32,000 · Arts & Culture+6 moreFOUNDATION FOR MISSISSIPPI HISTORY: $105,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI: $30,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR MISSISSIPPI: $20,000 · PhilanthropyGULF COAST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · Philanthropy+2 more: $3,500 · PhilanthropyWE WILL GO: $37,350 · ReligionCOMMON GROUND TROY INC: $15,000 · ReligionSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $12,500 · ReligionBUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL OUTREACH INTERNATIONAL: $5,000 · ReligionBEAN PATH: $60,000 · Community ImprovementMississippi State University Foundation Inc: $40,000 · Human Services
Other$2,867,297Education$598,200Arts & Culture$333,328Philanthropy$168,500Religion$69,850Community Improvement$60,000Human Services$40,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBASE CAMP CODING ACADEMY: $225,000 over 3y, 17% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI FOUNDATION: $167,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetMISSISSIPPI CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $151,328 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetEudora Welty Foundation Inc: $120,000 over 5y, 14% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR MISSISSIPPI HISTORY: $105,000 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetBEAN PATH: $60,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetJackson State University Development Foundation Inc: $57,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $43,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetMississippi State University Foundation Inc: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWE WILL GO: $37,350 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetMISSION FIRST INC: $34,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetTROY UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $31,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCLEVELAND MUSIC FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTHE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTougaloo College: $24,600 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR MISSISSIPPI: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget2ND CHANCE MS: $15,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetCOMMON GROUND TROY INC: $15,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $12,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGULF COAST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCORNERSTONE SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMISSISSIPPI MUSEUM OF ART INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetIBMA TRUST FUND: $7,500 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetMISSISSIPPI ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT CENTER INC: $7,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMAGNOLIA SPEECH SCHOOL: $7,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF MIDDLE TN: $6,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCOPIAH-LINCOLN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $6,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPINE GROVE ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetGLENWOOD INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Mustard Seed Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAUTISM CENTER OF NORTH MISSISSIPPI INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBALLAD HEALTH FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVALIANT CROSS ACADEMY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFrom The Heart Productions: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMISSISSIPPI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHOMEWOOD CITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetMISSISSIPPI CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL OUTREACH INTERNATIONAL: $5,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetCraftsmans Guild of Mississippi Inc: $3,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetSt Augustine School: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED GIVERS OF SOUTHWEST MISSISSI: $2,500 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMADISON MIDDLE SCHOOL PTO INC: $2,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetGreenwood Leflore Educational Foundation Inc D/B/A Pillow Academy: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMISSISSIPPI SPORTS FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetREAL CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

  • Who funds BASE CAMP CODING ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MISSISSIPPI CHILDREN'S MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds Eudora Welty Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds FOUNDATION FOR MISSISSIPPI HISTORY ↗
  • Who funds BEAN PATH ↗
  • Who funds Jackson State University Development Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Mississippi State University Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds WE WILL GO ↗
  • Who funds MISSION FIRST INC ↗
  • Who funds TROY UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI ↗
  • Who funds CLEVELAND MUSIC FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Tougaloo College ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR MISSISSIPPI ↗
  • Who funds 2ND CHANCE MS ↗
  • Who funds COMMON GROUND TROY INC ↗

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.

Community Foundation …Walker FoundationVan Devender Family F…Ergon Foundation IncPhil Hardin FoundationFeild Co-Operative As…Mississippi Humanitie…Selby and Richard McR…Sam E & Burnice C Wit…Mississippi Power Fou…Community Foundation …WK Kellogg Foundation
Community Foundation for MississippiMS40× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Mississippi · Walker Foundation · Van Devender Family Foundation William Van Devender Trustee · Ergon Foundation Inc · Phil Hardin Foundation · Feild Co-Operative Association · Mississippi Humanities Council Inc · Selby and Richard McRae Foundation · Sam E & Burnice C Wittel Foundation · Mississippi Power Foundation Inc · Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi · WK Kellogg Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    17report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    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.

    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 107 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 C Spire’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