Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

Christensen Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$14k
Granted FY2024still arriving
2
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$8k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
0197% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.

Environment$65kReligion$64kArts & Culture$36kSocial Science$22kEducation$21kCivil Rights$7kHealth$5kHousing & Shelter$4kOther$0
02FY2024 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$8,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$512k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LIGHT ON THE MOUNTAIN$8,000
Individual grant recipient$6,200
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 (FY17–18, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%SUN VALLEY INSTITUTE FOR RESILENCE: $7k → 7%SUN VALLEY INSTITUTE FOR RESILENCE: $3k → 7%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

ID
MT
NY
MA
OR
IA
PA
NJ
CA
UT
CO
DC
AL
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$210k · 34 repeat orgs$20k to everyone else

34 repeat relationships — 1 still active in FY2024, 33 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

34
17

Total granted

$210k
$14k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+43%

Still filing today

85%
35%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 56% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k 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
EnvironmentEducationAnimalsHuman ServicesCivil RightsHousing & ShelterOther

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

  • SUN VALLEY WRITERS' CONFERENCE INC
    5× · 2017–2022 · $30k · revenue +32%
  • AF
    ADVOCATES FOR THE WEST INC
    3× · 2019–2022 · $21k · revenue +169%
  • IR
    IDAHO RIVERS UNITED
    4× · 2017–2022 · $12k · revenue +85%

Funded once

  • TF
    THE FUND FOR IDAHO
    one grant, 2017 · $7k · revenue -47%
  • BS
    BOISE STATE U FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2019 · $3k
  • WW
    WESTERN WATERSHED PROJECT
    one grant, 2019 · $1k

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
Idaho Wildlife Federation

The Idaho Wildlife Federation (IWF) promotes the conservation of Idaho's wildlife heritage and legacy of sporting opportunities for the current and future generations.

Animals
2
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
3
Swan Valley Connections

Maintain the swan valley's unique natural resources and ensure that a vibrant human community can sustain itself through stewardship, education, economic viability, and conservation on public and private lands.

Environment
4
Ecosystem Sciences Foundation Inc

River and watershed restoration

Environment
5
Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership
Environment
6
Cascadia Wildlands

Cascadia wildlands defends and restores cacasia's wild ecosystems in the forests,in the courts, and in the streets. we envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, a stable climate, and…

Environment
7
Project Big Wood a Nonprofit Corporation

Project big wood is organized to improve the environmental health and ecology of the big wood river basin in central idaho by protecting, enhancing, sustaining and reconnecting the big wood river, its tributaries and its watershed.

Environment
8
Washington Water Trust

Wwt's mission is to protect and restore water in rivers and streams across washington state. washington water trust restores and protects water in rivers and streams and promotes sustainable freshwater management in washington, and, more…

Environment
9
Wyoming Wildlife Advocates

To promote science-based wildlife management that fosters ecosystem health and dynamic equilibrium between species throughout the state of wyoming.

Animals
10
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
11
Western Rivers Conservancy

Western rivers conservancy's mission is to protect outstanding river ecosystems in the western united states. continued on schedule o.we acquire land to conserve critical habitat, provide public access for compatible use and enjoyment, and…

Environment
12
Wild Salmon Rivers

To conserve functioning salmon/steelhead eco-system at watershed levels, integrate angling activities with basic scientific research, collect raw data, monitor environmental functions, salmon/steelhead population dynamics, public…

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Western Watersheds Projects Inc and the most unlike its peers is Idaho Rivers United. 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 backsteadyEnvironmental Conservation …Community College Foundatio…Health Access Advocacy and …Community FoundationsLocal History MuseumsAffordable Housing Developm…
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 33 years old; the field is 13. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number25%0%<5yr15%3%5–10yr18%17%10–20yr15%35%20–35yr11%31%35–55yr17%14%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value25%0%<5yr15%0%5–10yr18%18%10–20yr15%49%20–35yr11%5%35–55yr17%28%55yr+

The field is 25% 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 18% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/35
the rest of the field
18%
1,676/9,385

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

35 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. 35 of the 52 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
35/35
Grantees still filing
24/35
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

LIGHT ON THE MOUNTAIN — $64,000 · OtherLIGHT ON THE MOUNTAINSUN VALLEY INSTITUTE — $21,500 · OtherSUN VALLEY INSTITUTESIERRA CLUB — $10,000 · OtherSIERRA CLUBIndividual grant recipient — $6,200 · Other+27 more — $19,170 · Other+27 moreSUN VALLEY WRITERS' CONFERENCE INC — $30,000 · EducationSUN VALLEY WRITERS' CON…THE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE — $11,500 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMI…SUN VALLEY WELLNESS INSTITUTE — $2,750 · EducationSUN VALLEY WELLNESS INS…FARWISE INC — $2,000 · EducationBoise State University Foundation Inc — $2,000 · Education+2 more — $200 · EducationADVOCATES FOR THE WEST INC — $21,000 · EnvironmentADVOCATES FOR THE…IDAHO RIVERS UNITED — $12,000 · EnvironmentIDAHO RIVERS UNIT…+8 more — $3,250 · Environment+8 moreSUN VALLEY INSTITUTE FOR RESILIENCE — $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE FUND FOR IDAHO — $7,000 · Civil RightsARCH COMMUNITY HOUSING TRUST INC — $4,000 · Housing & ShelterBLAINE COUNTY HUNGER COALITION INC — $3,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$120,870Education$48,450Environment$36,250Human Services$10,000Civil Rights$7,000Housing & Shelter$4,000Food & Nutrition$3,000

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 budgetSUN VALLEY WRITERS' CONFERENCE INC — $30,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetADVOCATES FOR THE WEST INC — $21,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetIDAHO RIVERS UNITED — $12,000 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE — $11,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSUN VALLEY INSTITUTE FOR RESILIENCE — $10,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetSIERRA CLUB — $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FUND FOR IDAHO — $7,000 over 1y, 7.4% of budgetIDAHO CONSERVATION LEAGUE INC — $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetARCH COMMUNITY HOUSING TRUST INC — $4,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE CENTER — $3,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetBLAINE COUNTY HUNGER COALITION INC — $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetST LUKE'S WOOD RIVER FOUNDATION INC — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFARWISE INC — $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBoise State University Foundation Inc — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECTS INC — $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBeyond Pesticides — $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetYELLOWSTONE TO YUKON — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC — $400 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHWEST CENTER FOR ALTERNATIVES TO PESTICIDES — $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetXERCES SOCIETY INC — $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAWTOOTH BOTANICAL GARDEN — $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRESOURCE RENEWAL INSTITUTE — $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLY ASSOCIATION INC — $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE IN POLITICS — $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLIVING WITH WOLVES LTD — $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSawtooth Interpretive and Historical Association — $200 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWESTERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER — $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREEN AMERICA — $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSouthern Utah Wilderness Alliance — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLEE PESKY LEARNING CENTER INC — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREEF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND — $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATION FUND FOR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISMINC — $75 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWATERKEEPER ALLIANCE INC — $50 over 2y, 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.

Spur Community Founda…Idaho Community Found…Marin Community Found…The Pesky Family Foun…Boswell Family Founda…PatagoniaorgThe Nalen FoundationHead & Heart Foundati…Elizabeth a Lynn Foun…Swig FoundationThe Oregon Community …SK2 Fund
Spur Community Foundation IncID19.9× affinity7 shared granteesties to 9 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Spur Community Foundation Inc · Idaho Community Foundation Inc · Marin Community Foundation · The Pesky Family Foundation Inc · Boswell Family Foundation · Patagoniaorg · The Nalen Foundation · Head & Heart Foundation Tr 12319 · Elizabeth a Lynn Foundation · Swig Foundation · The Oregon Community Foundation · SK2 Fund

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 Christensen 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 or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Xerces Society Inc — 22% of income from government
  • Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides — 5% of income from government
  • The Trustees of the Smith College — 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 52 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

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