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Plinth

· Public charity

Children's Defense Fund

CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND envisions a nation where marginalized children flourish, leaders prioritize their well-being, and communities wield the power to ensure they thrive.

$7.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
34
Grants FY2024still arriving
18
States reached
$1.4M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
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 FY2017–2024.

Public Benefit$4.4MEducation$3.6MHuman Services$2.2MCrime & Legal$1.9MCivil Rights$1.6MInternational$1.4MArts & Culture$701kCommunity Improvement$484kOther$0
02FY2024 · 34 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k6 grants · $43k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $284k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $868k
  • $250k+7 grants · $5.9M
$40,000
Median grant
18
States reached
$40M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES INSTITUTE$1,414,666
SAVE THE CHILDREN FEDERATION INC$1,044,666
UNIDOSUS$1,020,000
START EARLY$648,000
CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL POLICY$583,333
THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL POLICY$583,333
THE JAMES B HUNT INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY FOUNDATIO$556,666
ARTS FOR HEALING AND JUSTICE$125,949
TEXANS CARE FOR CHILDREN INC$114,500
THE CONNIE RICE INSTITUTE FOR URBAN PEACE$113,807
CLEAN AND HEALTHY NEW YORK$105,000
MISSISSIPPI CENTER FOR JUSTICE$100,000
EVERY TEXAN$94,500
YOUTH JUSTICE COALITION$94,040
THE ANTI-RECIDIVISM COALITION$70,199
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:

Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $384k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 78% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%PANHANDLE COMMUNITY SERVICES: $20k → 20%FOCUS HOPE: $95k → 21%KIDS WIN MISSOURI: $50k → 5%ADELANTE MUJERES: $25k → 8%FAYETTE COUNTY FAMILY RESOURCE NETWORK INC: $25k → 20%Panhandle Community Services: $20k → 20%EAST TEXAS HUMAN NEED NETWORK: $20k → 12%ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $25k → 14%East Texas Human Need Network: $20k → 12%Eliza Bryant Village: $6k → 17%Park Avenue Youth and Family Services: $7k → 14%DIVISION OF INDIAN WORK: $8k → 11%Park Avenue Youth and Family Services: $5k → 14%Lutheran Social Service of MN: $15k → 14%LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE OF MN: $7k → 14%Why Can't We Make a Difference Foundation Inc: $6k → 14%SUCCESS IN CHALLENGES INC: $5k → 14%CHILD DEVELOPMENT CONSORTIUM OF LOS ANGELES INC: $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
MN
IL
MI
NY
OR
OH
CT
CA
MO
KY
WV
KS
TN
NC
SC
DC
MS
AL
GA
TX

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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$14M · 29 repeat orgs$2.8M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +41% since the first grant, against +10% for the ones you funded once.

29 repeat relationships — 14 still active in FY2024, 15 since wound down; 19 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

29
44

Total granted

$14M
$2.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+10%

Still filing today

86%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $466k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationCrime & LegalCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyArts & 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

  • Save The Children Federation Inc
    2× · 2023–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +0%
  • U
    UNIDOSUS
    2× · 2023–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +38%
  • TA
    THE ANTI-RECIDIVISM COALITION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $678k · revenue +176%

Funded once

  • NY
    NEW YORKERS FOR CHILDREN INC
    one grant, 2022 · $1.3M · revenue +8% · 50% of their budget
  • MP
    MINNEAPOLIS PUBLIC SCHOOL
    one grant, 2017 · $155k
  • F
    FOCUSHOPEgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $95k · revenue +51%

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
Colorado Center On Law and Policy

Colorado center on law and policy is an antipoverty organization advancing the rights of every coloradan.

Crime & Legal
2
CommonHealth Action

CommonHealth ACTION develops people and organizations to produce health through equitable policies, programs, and practices.

Health
3
Collaborative for Children

The mission of Collaborative for Children is to meaningfully improve the quality of early childhood education and care for Greater Houston's children through those most influential in their lives.

Human Services
4
Alternatives Inc

Alternatives, inc.'s mission is to facilitate personal development,strengthen family relationships and enhance the community's well being. serving over 3,000 youth and families annually, the organization offers a range of counseling and…

Health
5
Choices Coordinated Care Solutions Inc

To strengthen youth and families while enhancing systems and communities.

Human Services
6
Council for Court Excellence

Council for court excellence's (cce's) mission is to bring people together to conduct research, educate, and advocate to make d.c.'s unique legal systems more just, equitable, and accountable to the community.

—
7
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
8
Community Education Commission

CEC works with diverse stakeholders across Detroit to develop critical resources and system-level solutions that address common challenges faced by Detroit families in accessing quality education.

Education
9
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey

United way's mission is to end intergenerational poverty in our region by harnessing, leveraging and strategically investing the collective power of donors, advocates and volunteers, to help individuals and families break the cycle of…

Philanthropy
10
Mid-City Community Advocacy Network

Mid-city community advocacy network works to build a safe, productive, and healthy community for the residents of city heights and greater san diego through collaboration, advocacy, and organizing.

Community Improvement
11
Partnership for Public Service Inc

Making our government work better is a daunting task, and we are a small organization seeking to transform a government that employs millions of civilians and manages trillions of dollars in taxpayer revenue needed to protect public…

Employment
12
Children and Youth Justice Center

The center for children & youth justice was founded in 2006 with one mission: reform the child welfare and juvenile justice systems to improve the lives of generations of children and youth in washington state. our focus is large-scale,…

Crime & Legal

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Center for the Study of Social Policy and the most unlike its peers is Success in Challenges Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyCommunity FoundationsEnvironmental Conservation …Local History MuseumsImmigrant Worker SupportWomen & Girls Leadership De…Health Access Advocacy and …Policy Research and AdvocacyUnited Way AffiliatesYouth Development ServicesSenior Support ServicesAffordable Housing Developm…Independent K-12 SchoolsChild Abuse Advocacy Servic…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 26 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%0%<5yr14%9%5–10yr19%19%10–20yr16%34%20–35yr13%15%35–55yr16%24%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%4%5–10yr19%15%10–20yr16%28%20–35yr13%17%35–55yr16%36%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/93
the rest of the field
13%
240,396/1,819,472

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

67 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 67 of the 93 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
17
Early backer (in before they grew)
65/67
Grantees still filing
41/67
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES INSTITUTE INC — $2,164,666 · EducationNATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES IN…JAMES B HUNT JR INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP & POLICY FDN — $856,666 · EducationJAMES B HUNT JR INSTITUTE FO…ACADEMIAS LA PAZ — $675,385 · EducationACADEMIAS LA PAZFRIENDSHIP ACADEMY OF THE ARTS — $565,633 · EducationFRIENDSHIP ACADEMY OF THE AR…+7 more — $121,467 · EducationNEW YORKERS FOR CHILDREN INC — $1,320,000 · Crime & LegalNEW YORKERS FOR CHILD…THE ANTI-RECIDIVISM COALITION — $677,680 · Crime & LegalTHE ANTI-RECIDIVISM C…Texans Care For Children Inc — $674,625 · Crime & LegalTexans Care For Child…THE CONNIE RICE INSTITUTE FOR URBAN PEACE — $440,145 · Crime & LegalTHE CONNIE RICE INSTI…BAMA KIDS INC — $113,400 · Crime & Legal+3 more — $117,000 · Crime & LegalUNIDOSUS — $1,320,000 · OtherUNIDOSUSSTART EARLY — $948,000 · OtherSTART EARLYVarious Hats Inc — $193,000 · OtherCLEAN AND HEALTHY NEW YORK — $363,834 · OtherCLEAN AND HEALTHY NEW YORKCHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND — $269,984 · OtherCHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND+62 more — $1,775,329 · Other+62 moreCENTER FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL POLICY — $1,488,166 · Public BenefitCENTER FOR THE…Center for Public Policy Priorities — $670,875 · Public BenefitCenter for Pub…Save The Children Federation Inc — $1,344,666 · InternationalYOUTH JUSTICE COALITION INC — $614,401 · Youth DevelopmentARTS FOR HEALING AND JUSTICE NETWORK — $410,909 · Arts & CultureSCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA — $97,556 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $5,988 · Arts & Culture
Education$4,383,817Crime & Legal$3,342,850Other$4,870,147Public Benefit$2,159,041International$1,344,666Youth Development$614,401Arts & Culture$514,453

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 budgetNATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES INSTITUTE INC — $2,164,666 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetCENTER FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL POLICY — $1,488,166 over 3y, 14% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc — $1,344,666 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUNIDOSUS — $1,320,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetNEW YORKERS FOR CHILDREN INC — $1,320,000 over 1y, 50% of budgetSTART EARLY — $948,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetJAMES B HUNT JR INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP & POLICY FDN — $856,666 over 2y, 6.0% of budgetTHE ANTI-RECIDIVISM COALITION — $677,680 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetACADEMIAS LA PAZ — $675,385 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetTexans Care For Children Inc — $674,625 over 6y, 15% of budgetCenter for Public Policy Priorities — $670,875 over 6y, 4.6% of budgetYOUTH JUSTICE COALITION INC — $614,401 over 5y, 8.0% of budgetFRIENDSHIP ACADEMY OF THE ARTS — $565,633 over 5y, 4.7% of budgetTHE CONNIE RICE INSTITUTE FOR URBAN PEACE — $440,145 over 3y, 12% of budgetARTS FOR HEALING AND JUSTICE NETWORK — $410,909 over 5y, 6.2% of budgetCLEAN AND HEALTHY NEW YORK — $363,834 over 4y, 31% of budgetCHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND — $269,984 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERS — $160,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBAMA KIDS INC — $113,400 over 2y, 35% of budgetPOLICY MATTERS OHIO — $110,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetMISSISSIPPI CENTER FOR JUSTICE — $100,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetSCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA — $97,556 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetFOCUSHOPE — $94,701 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSOUTHWEST GA PROJECT FOR COMMUNITY EDUCATION INC — $67,100 over 1y, 8.2% of budgetKIDS WIN MISSOURI — $50,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetPEOPLE UNITED FOR SUSTAINABLE HOUSING INC — $50,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetTEXAS IMPACT EDUCATION FUND — $43,000 over 2y, 8.4% of budgetUNITED WAY OF TARRANT COUNTY — $40,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetEAST TEXAS HUMAN NEEDS NETWORK — $40,000 over 2y, 9.9% of budgetPANHANDLE COMMUNITY SERVICES — $40,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMinnesota Council of Nonprofits Inc — $40,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetHOLA OHIO — $30,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY COALITION FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT — $27,300 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetInnovation Ohio Education Fund — $25,400 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetTHE OAKLAND PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFayette County Family Resource Network Inc — $25,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetChild Development Consortium of Los Angeles Inc — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetADELANTE MUJERES — $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED WAY OF GREATER KNOXVILLEINC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCHUCKANUT HEALTH FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE — $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE OF MINNESOTA — $22,246 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCausewave Community Partners Inc — $20,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetPROJECT VIDA HEALTH CENTER — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFAITH IN PUBLIC LIFE INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLA UNION DEL PUEBLO ENTERO — $20,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetOhio Womens Alliance — $19,285 over 1y, 4.6% 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.

New Venture FundUnidosusThe George Gund Found…Rockefeller Philanthr…Episcopal Health Foun…Community Catalyst IncThe Ford FoundationThe Cleveland Foundat…Windward FundOhio VoiceMt Sinai Health Care …Amalgamated Charitabl…
New Venture FundDC28.5× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: New Venture Fund · Unidosus · The George Gund Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Episcopal Health Foundation · Community Catalyst Inc · The Ford Foundation · The Cleveland Foundation · Windward Fund · Ohio Voice · Mt Sinai Health Care Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable 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 Children's Defense Fund 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
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 31%
  • Adelante Mujeres — 31% of income from government
  • Save the Children Federation Inc — 30% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
25report 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, FY20–25

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 93 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 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

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines