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· Private foundation

Can Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$185k
Granted FY2024still arriving
7
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$80k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172024.

Environment$930kAnimals$808kArts & Culture$125kInternational$105kEducation$80k
02FY2024 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $100k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $80k
$20,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$4.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WILD ORCA$80,000
THE ORANGUTAN PROJECT - USA$20,000
CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY$20,000
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY$20,000
EARTH JUSTICE$20,000
AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY$20,000
DOUBLE EDGE THEATER$5,000
02The need
03

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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 88% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Sierra Club: $30k → 10%EARTH JUSTICE: $35k → 10%THE ORANGUTAN PROJECT - USA: $25k → 14%CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY: $25k → 16%Natural Resources Defense Council: $30k → 17%THE ORANGUTAN PROJECT - USA: $25k → 10%HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES: $25k → 14%WILD ORCA: $130k → 9%AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY: $25k → 6%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%EARTH JUSTICE: $35k → 10%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $25k → 16%Natural Resources Defense Council: $25k → 17%THE ORANGUTAN PROJECT - USA: $25k → 10%WILD ORCA: $90k → 9%AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY: $25k → 6%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%EARTH JUSTICE: $35k → 10%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $25k → 16%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $20k → 17%THE ORANGUTAN PROJECT - USA: $25k → 10%NPR: $30k → 14%WILD ORCA: $80k → 9%AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY: $25k → 6%Sierra Club: $20k → 10%EARTH JUSTICE: $35k → 10%CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY: $25k → 16%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $20k → 17%THE ORANGUTAN PROJECT - USA: $20k → 10%Greenpeace: $30k → 14%AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY: $25k → 6%Earth Justice: $30k → 10%CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY: $25k → 16%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $20k → 17%GREENPEACE: $25k → 14%AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY: $25k → 6%EARTH JUSTICE: $25k → 10%CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY: $20k → 16%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $20k → 17%GREENPEACE: $25k → 14%American Bird Conservancy: $20k → 6%EARTH JUSTICE: $20k → 10%Cornell University: $20k → 16%GREENPEACE: $25k → 14%AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY: $20k → 6%GREENPEACE: $25k → 14%NPR: $25k → 14%GREENPEACE: $25k → 14%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

WA
NY
MA
NV
IA
PA
CA
VA
MD
AZ
NC
DC
TX
FL

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 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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$2.0M · 20 repeat orgs$60k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +54% since the first grant, against +13% for the ones you funded once.

20 repeat relationships — 7 still active in FY2024, 13 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
6

Total granted

$2.0M
$60k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+54%
+13%

Still filing today

70%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
AnimalsEnvironmentInternationalEducationHealthArts & 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

  • WO
    Wild Orca
    3× · 2022–2024 · $300k · revenue +27% · 46% of their budget
  • CF
    CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $285k · revenue +127%
  • EARTHJUSTICE
    8× · 2017–2024 · $225k · revenue +82%

Funded once

  • NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC
    one grant, 2021 · $20k · revenue +13%
  • AB
    ARCHBOLD BIOLOGICAL STATION
    one grant, 2019 · $10k
  • NA
    National Audubon Society
    one grant, 2017 · $10k

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
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
2
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
3
Property and Environment Research Center

Perc is dedicated to advancing conservation through markets, incentives, property rights, and partnerships.

Public Benefit
4
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
5
Ocean Conservancy

Ocean conservancy unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.

Environment
6
National Audubon Society Inc

We work towards a future where birds thrive across the americas because audubon is a powerful, diverse, and ever-growing force for conservation. (continued on schedule o).

Environment
7
Wild Earth Society Incorporated

Wildlands Network works to reconnect, restore and rewild North America so that life-in all its diversity-can thrive.

Arts & Culture
8
Western Environmental Law Center

Public interest law firm - the western environmental law center uses the power of the law to foster thriving, resilient western u.s. lands, waters, wildlife, and communities in the face of a changing climate. we envision a thriving west,…

9
Washington Forest Law Center

Dedicated to protecting the world's natural environment on behalf of the public by serving as a public interest law firm. refer to schedule o, part iii, line 4a, for list of litigated cases or advocacy work.

10
Environment Now
11
Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources

The organization pursues higher standards of news coverage of natural resources and the environment -- standards of accuracy, fairness, balance, depth and context.

Arts & Culture
12
The International Dark-Sky Association Inc

Darksky international restores the nighttime environment and protects communities from the harmful effects of light pollution through outreach, advocacy, and conservation.

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Sierra Club Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation. 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

17 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. 17 of the 26 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
12/17
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Wild Orca — $300,000 · AnimalsWild OrcaCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC — $285,000 · AnimalsCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INCAmerican Bird Conservancy — $175,000 · AnimalsAmerican Bird ConservancyHumane World for Animals Inc — $45,000 · AnimalsHumane World for Animals Inc+2 more — $8,000 · AnimalsGREENPEACE INC — $165,000 · OtherGREENPEACE INCTHE ORANGUTAN PROJECT - USA — $120,000 · OtherTHE ORANGUTAN PROJECT - USACORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY — $95,000 · OtherCORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGYNPR — $75,000 · OtherNPRSIERRA CLUB — $50,000 · OtherSIERRA CLUBAUDUBON SOCIETY — $40,000 · OtherAUDUBON SOCIETY+5 more — $58,500 · Other+5 moreEARTHJUSTICE — $225,000 · EnvironmentEARTHJUSTICENATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC — $135,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFEN…SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION — $50,000 · EnvironmentSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION+1 more — $10,000 · EnvironmentCornell University — $80,000 · EducationMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $50,000 · InternationalTHE AJA PROJECT — $11,000 · InternationalPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION — $50,000 · HealthNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC — $20,000 · Arts & Culture
Animals$813,000Other$603,500Environment$420,000Education$80,000International$61,000Health$50,000Arts & Culture$20,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetWild Orca — $300,000 over 3y, 46% of budgetCENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC — $285,000 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetEARTHJUSTICE — $225,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Bird Conservancy — $175,000 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetGREENPEACE INC — $165,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC — $135,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University — $80,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION — $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSIERRA CLUB — $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHumane World for Animals Inc — $45,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AJA PROJECT — $11,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetRED CREEK WILDLIFE CENTER INC — $5,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetFlorida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center Inc — $3,000 over 3y, 0.2% 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 Wild Orca
  • Who funds CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC
  • Who funds EARTHJUSTICE
  • Who funds American Bird Conservancy
  • Who funds GREENPEACE INC
  • Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC
  • Who funds Cornell University
  • Who funds SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC
  • Who funds PARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION
  • Who funds SIERRA CLUB
  • Who funds Humane World for Animals Inc
  • Who funds NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC
  • Who funds THE AJA PROJECT
  • Who funds SUSTAINABLE IOWA LAND TRUST
  • Who funds RED CREEK WILDLIFE CENTER INC
  • Who funds Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center Inc

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.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO6.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Can 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%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 0%
  • Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report 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, 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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Can Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Can 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 26 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph