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Champions for Literacy at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Champions for Literacy

Use the power of sports to raise awareness about the cause of literacy, generate funds for local literacy programs, and create volunteer activities for athletes to promote the power of reading to students pre-school through third grade.

$307k
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$48k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$1.7M
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 13 grants below total $252,689, the rows itemized in this filing. The $306,706 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $54,017 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$18,675
Median grant
9
States reached
$666k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNITED WAY OF PICKENS COUNTY CAMP IROCK$48,091
UNITED WAY OF THE PLAINS$25,142
MEMPHIS TEACHER RESIDENCY$23,829
KNOWLEDGE QUEST$23,077
THE 2ND & 7 FOUNDATION$20,000
READERS 2 LEADERS$20,000
SMART READING$18,675
HEART OF MISSOURI UNITED WAY$15,852
INDIAN PRAIRIE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$15,000
LITERACY MID-SOUTH$11,543
BELIEVE MEMPHIS ACADEMY$11,480
EARLY LEARNING COALITION OF THE BIG BEND$10,000
MEMPHIS ATHLETIC MINISTRIES$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 (FY17–24, $130k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, 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%LITERACY NOW: $21k → 16%RAISING READER IN STORY COUNTY: $5k → 17%THE CHILDREN'S CENTER: $6k → 12%LITERACY NOW: $16k → 16%RAISING READER IN STORY COUNTY: $5k → 17%ALBERTA HEADSTART: $10k → 17%LITERACY NOW: $16k → 16%LITERACY NOW: $14k → 16%ALBERTA HEADSTART: $6k → 17%STREETS MINISTRIES: $15k → 17%STREETS MINISTRIES: $9k → 17%STREETS MINISTRIES: $5k → 17%STREETS MINISTRIES INC: $603 → 17%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

IL
OR
IA
OH
MO
VA
MD
KS
TN
NC
SC
LA
MS
AL
GA
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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.5M · 30 repeat orgs$218k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +2% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

30 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 20 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

30
22

Total granted

$1.5M
$184k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+2%
+1%

Still filing today

77%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $33k 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 ServicesPhilanthropyYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF PICKENS COUNTY
    5× · 2021–2025 · $220k · revenue +90%
  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF THE PLAINS INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $151k · revenue +8%
  • MT
    MEMPHIS TEACHER RESIDENCY INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $133k · revenue +4%

Funded once

  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $22k · revenue +125%
  • LT
    LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $16k · revenue +27%
  • BE
    Book Em
    one grant, 2022 · $16k · revenue -14%
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
Reading Results

Reading results partners with schools to support students from systemically excluded communities in becoming successful readers. we believe that literacy is a basic human right, and we work to increase access and break down barriers…

—
2
Every Child a Reader in Escambia Inc Ecare

To maximize childrens potential through increased school readiness.

Education
3
Read to a Child Inc

Read to a child's mission is to foster a love of reading, improve literacy skills and support socio-emotional well-being in students from under-resourced communities.

Education
4
Team Read

Year-round, one-to-one tutoring program provided at Title 1 schools to students not at grade-level proficiency in reading. Tutors are area teens recruited and trained to deliver reading support.

Education
5
Read Alliance Inc

Read alliance, inc (read alliance) works to accelerate the educational trajectory of early elementary students through the power of teens who provide one-to-one literacy tutoring in under-resourced communities. read impacts two populations…

Education
6
Early Learning Coalition of Duval Inc

Create a coordinated and integrated system for school readiness services to better prepare children for entry into kindergarten, with an emphasis on literacy skills for children who may be at risk for future school failure.

Education
7
South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Board of Trustees

Per south carolina code section 59-152-30: "the goals for south carolina first steps to school readiness are to: (1) provide parents with access to the support they might seek and want to strengthen their families and to promote the…

Education
8
Ar Kids Read

The organization is a community volunteer-based program designed to provide struggling readers and their families with access to trained tutors who donate time on a regular basis. the focus of these volunteer tutors is children who need to…

Youth Development
9
Ready Readers

Ready readers expands literacy for young children in low- incomecommunities through high-quality books, strong relationships, andliteracy-related experiences.

Education
10
Governor's Early Literacy Foundation

The mission of governor's early literacy foundaion (gelf) is to strengthen early literacy in tennessee. gelf equips tennessee's children with books and innovative literacy tools that encourage lifelong learning for a brighter future. we do…

Education
11
Lancaster County First Steps to School Readiness Partnership

Section 59-152-10 of the south carolina code established the south carolina first steps to school readiness program, which is a comprehensive, results-oriented initiative for improving early childhood development by providing, through…

Education
12
Saluda County First Steps to School Readiness Partnership

Per south carolina code of laws section 59-152-10: there is established the south carolina first steps to school readiness, a comprehensive, results- oreiented initiative for improving early childhood development by providing, through…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Reading Partners; the most unlike its peers is Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Pto. 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

38 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 38 of the 56 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
38/38
Grantees still filing
20/38
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNITED WAY OF PICKENS COUNTY: $219,878 · OtherUNITED WAY OF PICKENS COUNTYHEART OF MISSOURI UNITED WAY INC: $53,927 · OtherHEART OF MISSOURI UNITED WAY INCWEBBER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: $45,986 · OtherWEBBER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLStarkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District: $33,319 · OtherStarkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School…BRANTLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: $30,575 · OtherAUBURN UNIVERSITY: $25,575 · OtherFOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $21,940 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $20,255 · Other+15 more: $154,466 · Other+15 moreMEMPHIS TEACHER RESIDENCY INC: $133,012 · EducationMEMPHIS TEACHER RESIDENCY …SMART READING: $50,005 · EducationSMART READINGESCAMBIA COUNTY SCHOOL READINESS COALITION INC: $44,931 · EducationESCAMBIA COUNTY SCHOOL REA…EARLY LEARNING COALITION OF THE BIG BEND REGION INC: $40,945 · EducationEARLY LEARNING COALITION O…INDIAN PRAIRIE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EducationINDIAN PRAIRIE EDUCATIONAL…CARE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL INC: $18,790 · EducationFREEDOM READERS INC: $17,375 · EducationLOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $16,434 · EducationBook Em: $16,167 · Education+6 more: $35,294 · Education+6 moreUNITED WAY OF THE PLAINS INC: $150,567 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF …TUSCALOOSA CITY SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC: $25,489 · PhilanthropyTUSCALOOSA CIT…UNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTESVILLE: $15,700 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF …UNITED WAY OF WEST CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI INC: $15,185 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF …+1 more: $5,000 · PhilanthropyREADERS 2 LEADERS: $72,594 · Youth DevelopmentREADERS 2 …KNOWLEDGE QUEST INC: $67,544 · Youth DevelopmentKNOWLEDGE …BIG BUDDY PROGRAM: $15,010 · Youth DevelopmentBIG BUDDY …Making It Better dba Literacy Now: $66,927 · Human ServicesMaking It…STREETS MINISTRIES INC: $40,679 · Human ServicesSTREETS M…COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS OF WEST ALABAMA INC: $16,531 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY…RAISING READERS IN STORY COUNTY: $10,579 · Human ServicesRAISING R…Love Works: $6,276 · Human ServicesTHE CHILDREN'S CENTER: $6,000 · Human ServicesTHE 2ND AND 7 FOUNDATION: $100,501 · Recreation & SportsGEORGIA FAMILY CONNECTION PARTNERSHIP INC: $58,838 · Arts & CultureMISSISSIPPI CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $3,000 · Arts & CultureMEMPHIS ATHLETIC MINISTRIES INC: $10,000 · Religion
Other$605,921Education$402,953Philanthropy$211,941Youth Development$155,148Human Services$146,992Recreation & Sports$100,501Arts & Culture$61,838Religion$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNITED WAY OF PICKENS COUNTY: $219,878 over 5y, 3.9% of budgetUNITED WAY OF THE PLAINS INC: $150,567 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMEMPHIS TEACHER RESIDENCY INC: $133,012 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetTHE 2ND AND 7 FOUNDATION: $100,501 over 5y, 3.5% of budgetREADERS 2 LEADERS: $72,594 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetKNOWLEDGE QUEST INC: $67,544 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetMaking It Better dba Literacy Now: $66,927 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetGEORGIA FAMILY CONNECTION PARTNERSHIP INC: $58,838 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetHEART OF MISSOURI UNITED WAY INC: $53,927 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetSMART READING: $50,005 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetESCAMBIA COUNTY SCHOOL READINESS COALITION INC: $44,931 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetEARLY LEARNING COALITION OF THE BIG BEND REGION INC: $40,945 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSTREETS MINISTRIES INC: $40,679 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetINDIAN PRAIRIE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 2y, 5.2% of budgetTUSCALOOSA CITY SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC: $25,489 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $21,940 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetUNITED WAY OF NORTHWEST LOUISIANA: $20,150 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetCARE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL INC: $18,790 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetFREEDOM READERS INC: $17,375 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetCOMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS OF WEST ALABAMA INC: $16,531 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $16,434 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBook Em: $16,167 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetUNITED WAY OF GREATER CHARLOTTESVILLE: $15,700 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUNITED WAY OF WEST CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI INC: $15,185 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetBIG BUDDY PROGRAM: $15,010 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTHE LEAP FROG PROGRAM INC: $11,700 over 2y, 7.9% of budgetLITERACY MID-SOUTH INC: $11,543 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetRAISING READERS IN STORY COUNTY: $10,579 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetREADY FOR SCHOOL READY FOR LIFE: $10,039 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMEMPHIS ATHLETIC MINISTRIES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCOLUMBUS COUNTY PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC: $6,200 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCRAVEN COUNTY PARTNERS IN EDUCATION INC: $6,200 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S CENTER: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTH TEXAS (TAX: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMISSISSIPPI CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

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.

Dollar General Litera…International Paper C…United Way WorldwideThe Kemmons Wilson Fa…AT&T FoundationLumen Clarke M Willia…Slingshot Memphis IncThomas W Briggs Found…United Way of the Mid…Community Foundation …Charities Aid Foundat…Dick's Sporting Goods…
Dollar General Literacy FoundationTN20.8× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dollar General Literacy Foundation · International Paper Company Foundation · United Way Worldwide · The Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation · AT&T Foundation · Lumen Clarke M Williams Foundation · Slingshot Memphis Inc · Thomas W Briggs Foundation Inc · United Way of the Mid South · Community Foundation of Greater Memphis Inc · Charities Aid Foundation America · Dick's Sporting Goods 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 Champions for Literacy funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Champions for Literacy. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 8%
  • Care Elementary School Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Smart Reading: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
19report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Champions for Literacy?

Find your warmest path to Champions for Literacy 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 56 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 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 Champions for Literacy’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