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Carson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Carson 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.

$78k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

International$369kEducation$167kRecreation & Sports$98kHealth$68kCivil Rights$30kReligion$10kHuman Services$9kPhilanthropy$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $28k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$18,220
Median grant
3
States reached
$1.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WOMENS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR GUATEMALAN SOLUTIONS (WINGS)$50,000
SPORTS VISION 20-20$18,220
DEL RAY ZEN COMMUNITY$10,000
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 (FY17–23, $50k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%HOSPICE AUSTIN: $10k → 10%NURSING HEART INC: $4k → 14%PEOPLE FOR GUATEMALA: $20k → 10%PEOPLE FOR GUATEMALA: $16k → 10%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

WA
ID
MN
IL
NY
MO
VA
KS
DC
OK
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 grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$647k · 9 repeat orgs$111k to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
11

Total granted

$647k
$101k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-24%
+17%

Still filing today

89%
36%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24’25
InternationalHuman ServicesPublic BenefitEducationCommunity 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

  • WI
    WOMENS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR GUATEMALAN SOLUTIONS INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $153k · revenue +91%
  • AD
    AMIGOS DE SANTA CRUZ FOUNDATION
    4× · 2017–2021 · $137k · revenue +184%
  • SN
    SEMILLA NUEVA
    3× · 2017–2021 · $60k · revenue +738%

Funded once

  • VL
    VIRGINIA LEAGUE FOR PLANNED
    one grant, 2021 · $30k
  • PA
    PAN AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $20k
  • PA
    PAN AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $10k
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
Health Poverty Action Usa

Health Poverty Action USA acts in solidarity with health workers, activists & communities worldwide to improve health & challenge the causes of poverty. We do this in 3 distinct ways: 1. We approach health as an issue of social justice. We…

International
2
Project Village Guatemala Foundation
Health
3
Global Pediatric Alliance

Global Pediatric Alliance's mission is to promote grassroots empowerment and community-based healthcare to reduce maternal and infant mortality, and improve the lives of women and children in poor, rural areas in Latin America.

Arts & Culture
4
Nisgua

NISGUA works for real democracy in Guatemala and in the US by building mutually beneficial grassroots ties between people in the US and Guatemala

—
5
Maya Relief Foundation
Philanthropy
6
Maia

MAIA is creating a generation of empowered leaders who have the knowledge and resources they need to lead choice-filled lives, break cycles of poverty, and ignite transformational change in their communities.

International
7
Good Neighbors Usa

Good neighbors usa is an international humanitarian and development organization committed to build a global community where people live together in health, harmony, and dignity.

International
8
Guatemala Village Health

Guatemala Village Health's mission is to improve health in rural Maya communities in Guatemala by working alongside village leaders and in collaboration with the Ministry of Health by facilitating the delivery of sustainable medical care,…

International
9
Nueva Generacion

Nueva Generacin supports low-income families in Guatemala through scholarships education and family support

—
10
A Better Life Guatemala
Health
11
New Dawn Guatemala

New Dawn Guatemala is a Seattle-based grassroots organization that works to promote equitable, ecologically friendly development and educational advancement in the rural Guatemalan community of Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn in English) and the…

International
12
Peoples Consultants

The mission of the Peoples Consultants is to provide material and intellectual support to communities organizations and individuals from developing countries to enable them to satisfy and protect their basic human rights such as good…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Nursing Heart Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Ripple Effect. 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

12 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. 12 of the 21 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)
12/12
Grantees still filing
5/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WOMENS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR GUATEMALAN SOLUTIONS INC: $153,000 · InternationalWOMENS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR GUATEMA…SEMILLA NUEVA: $60,000 · InternationalSEMILLA NUEVAMIRACLES IN ACTION INC: $55,000 · InternationalMIRACLES IN ACTION INC+1 more: $5,000 · InternationalSPORTS VISION 20-20: $98,220 · OtherSPORTS VISION 20-20VET TRIIP INC: $40,000 · OtherVET TRIIP INCVIRGINIA LEAGUE FOR PLANNED: $30,000 · OtherVIRGINIA LEAGUE FOR PLANNEDPAN AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $20,000 · OtherPAN AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONRAINBOW CONNECTION GALVESTON: $17,500 · OtherRAINBOW CONNECTION GALVESTONPAN AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherPAN AMERICAN EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherDEL RAY ZEN COMMUNITY: $10,000 · Other+3 more: $7,997 · OtherAMIGOS DE SANTA CRUZ FOUNDATION: $137,000 · EducationAMIGOS DE SANTA CRUZ…THE RIPPLE EFFECT: $50,000 · Community ImprovementPEOPLE FOR GUATEMALA INC: $36,380 · Human ServicesHOSPICE AUSTIN: $10,000 · Human ServicesNURSING HEART INC: $3,500 · Human ServicesNEO Philanthropy Inc: $5,000 · Public Benefit
International$273,000Other$243,717Education$137,000Community Improvement$50,000Human Services$49,880Public Benefit$5,000

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 budgetWOMENS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR GUATEMALAN SOLUTIONS INC: $153,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetAMIGOS DE SANTA CRUZ FOUNDATION: $137,000 over 4y, 9.1% of budgetSEMILLA NUEVA: $60,000 over 3y, 7.2% of budgetMIRACLES IN ACTION INC: $55,000 over 2y, 9.2% of budgetTHE RIPPLE EFFECT: $50,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetVET TRIIP INC: $40,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetRAINBOW CONNECTION GALVESTON: $17,500 over 4y, 11% of budgetHOSPICE AUSTIN: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOne Days Wages: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNURSING HEART INC: $3,500 over 1y, 0.8% 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 WOMENS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR GUATEMALAN SOLUTIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds AMIGOS DE SANTA CRUZ FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SEMILLA NUEVA ↗
  • Who funds MIRACLES IN ACTION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE RIPPLE EFFECT ↗
  • Who funds VET TRIIP INC ↗
  • Who funds PEOPLE FOR GUATEMALA INC ↗
  • Who funds RAINBOW CONNECTION GALVESTON ↗
  • Who funds HOSPICE AUSTIN ↗
  • Who funds NEO Philanthropy Inc ↗
  • Who funds One Days Wages ↗
  • Who funds NURSING HEART 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.

Eagle FoundationDonor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Eagle FoundationNE13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Eagle Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Carson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Carson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Carson Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Carson 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 21 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 Carson’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