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Plinth

· Private foundation

Carlson Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$68k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$30k
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 FY20172025.

Education$374kPhilanthropy$78kHuman Services$39kHealth$38kAnimals$31kArts & Culture$23kEnvironment$17kHousing & Shelter$13kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k5 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $51k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MITCHELL COLLEGE$30,000
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY$11,000
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLESEX$10,000
COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL$5,000
CONNECTICUT AUDUBON SOCIETY$5,000
ESSEX LAND TRUST$3,000
THE CONN FDN FOR DENTAL OUTREACH$3,000
IVORYTON PLAYHOUSE$754
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.

None of your grants could be placed against low income need for this view.

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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$528k · 11 repeat orgs$22k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +47% since the first grant, against 0% for the ones you funded once.

11 repeat relationships — 6 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
7

Total granted

$528k
$22k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
0%

Still filing today

82%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $754 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesEnvironmentArts & CultureHealthInternationalOther

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

  • Vanderbilt University
    8× · 2018–2025 · $49k · revenue +65%
  • CA
    CHILD AND FAMILY AGENCY OF SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT INC
    5× · 2017–2021 · $33k · revenue +50%
  • CA
    CONNECTICUT AUDUBON SOCIETY INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $31k · revenue +107%

Funded once

  • EH
    ESSEX HISTORICAL SOCIETY
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue -17%
  • MH
    MIDDLESEX HEALTH
    one grant, 2021 · $5k
  • OP
    OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVES INC
    one grant, 2024 · $4k · revenue 0%

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
Connecticut Humane Society

The connecticut humane society is the leading resource in the state for companion animal welfare, enriching the lives of families and communities through adoption services, medical care, education, and prevention of cruelty.

Animals
2
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
3
Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities Inc

The association is the leader in providing services to and advocating for, the state's providers of long-term, subacute, rehabilitative, and assisted living care. additionally, the association serves as a clearing house for information…

4
Connecticut Housing Coalition Inc

The connecticut housing coalition works to expand housing opportunity and to increase the quantity and quality of affordable housing available to people with low and moderate incomes in connecticut through advocacy, education and…

5
Community Health Services Inc

To provide medical services for the residents of the greater hartford connecticut area. to provide quality health care services to low and moderate income individuals in the greater hartford connecticut area regardless of ability to pay.

Health
6
Connecticut Farmland Trust Inc

Protect Connecticuts farmland for agricultural use by purchasing and accepting donations of agricultural conservation easements

Food & Nutrition
7
Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc

Connecticut public broadcasting, inc. will inform, educate and inspire the people of connecticut, connecting and empowering the people of ct through outstanding journalism, storytelling, education and experiences, to make our state a more…

Arts & Culture
8
Eastern Connecticut Housing Opportunities Inc

Eastern connecticut housing opportunities, inc. is a non-profit organization organized to provide affordable housing to low-income families of southeastern connecticut.

Housing & Shelter
9
Connecticut Aeronautical Historical Association Inc

The new england air museum's mission is to preserve and present the story of aviation and aerospace, with an emphasis on new england's role, and the genius and inspiration that made it possible. the museum also seeks to inspire young…

Arts & Culture
10
Middlesex County Historical Society

To maintain middlesex county's historical integrity and to educate and provide programs to the public to increase their understanding of the area's past.

Arts & Culture
11
Central Maine Healthcare Corporation

To provide exceptional healthcare services in a safe and trustful environment through the expertise, committment, and compassion of our family of caregivers.

Health
12
Community Residences Inc

Housing and programs for persons with intellectual disabilities.

Human Services

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Middlesex Hospital and the most unlike its peers is Outside Perspectives Inc. 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

16 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. 16 of the 20 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
12/16
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

MITCHELL COLLEGE — $325,000 · EducationMITCHELL COLLEGEVanderbilt University — $48,750 · EducationVanderbilt University+1 more — $4,000 · EducationCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY INC — $78,220 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUN…CONNECTICUT AUDUBON SOCIETY INC — $31,000 · EnvironmentESSEX LAND TRUST INC — $17,000 · EnvironmentCHILD AND FAMILY AGENCY OF SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT INC — $33,000 · Human ServicesNEW HORIZONS INC — $2,500 · Human Services+1 more — $1,000 · Human ServicesTHE CONN FDN FOR DENTAL OUTREACH — $8,000 · OtherMIDDLESEX HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF CONNECTICUT INC — $7,500 · OtherESSEX HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $5,000 · OtherMIDDLESEX HEALTH — $5,000 · OtherMIDDLESEX HABITAT FOR HUMANITY — $5,000 · OtherJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT — $2,000 · OtherCHILDREN IN PLACEMENT INC — $2,000 · OtherMIDDLESEX HOSPITAL — $25,000 · HealthTHE COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL INC — $17,500 · Arts & CultureIVORYTON PLAYHOUSE FOUNDATION INC — $754 · Arts & CultureSISTER CITIES ESSEX HAITI INC — $10,000 · International
Education$377,750Philanthropy$78,220Environment$48,000Human Services$36,500Other$34,500Health$25,000Arts & Culture$18,254International$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMITCHELL COLLEGE — $325,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY INC — $78,220 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetVanderbilt University — $48,750 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCHILD AND FAMILY AGENCY OF SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT INC — $33,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCONNECTICUT AUDUBON SOCIETY INC — $31,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetMIDDLESEX HOSPITAL — $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL INC — $17,500 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetESSEX LAND TRUST INC — $17,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetSISTER CITIES ESSEX HAITI INC — $10,000 over 3y, 8.7% of budgetMIDDLESEX HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF CONNECTICUT INC — $7,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetESSEX HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $5,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetOUTSIDE PERSPECTIVES INC — $4,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetNEW HORIZONS INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN IN PLACEMENT INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSafe Futures Inc — $1,000 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.

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 Middlesex County IncCT20× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Middlesex County Inc · Parkinson Family Foundation Inc · The Joanne E Masin Foundation · Kitchings Family Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · The Maximilian E and Marion O Hoffman Foundation Inc · William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund · S & H Foundation Inc · The Foxboro Foundation Inc · The Edward E Hood Jr Foundation · Peach Pit Foundation · The Bauman Family Foundation Inc

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 Carlson 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 60%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 4%
  • Child and Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut Inc55% of income from government
  • Children in Placement Inc47% of income from government
  • Safe Futures Inc15% of income from government
  • New Horizons Inc4% of income from government
  • Mitchell College2% of income from government
  • The Community Music School Inc1% of income from government
  • Connecticut Audubon Society Inc1% of income from government
  • Middlesex Hospital0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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.

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 20 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph