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Churchill Downs Incorporated Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Churchill Downs Incorporated Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$63k
Granted FY2025still arriving
51
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Animals$343kRecreation & Sports$333kArts & Culture$278kInternational$101kPhilanthropy$70kReligion$61kHealth$27kScience & Tech$25kOther$0
02FY2025 · 51 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$500
Median grant
3
States reached
$241k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
KIDS CANCER ALLIANCE INC$2,500
JUNIOR LEAGUE OF LOUISVILLE INC$2,500
WHITNEYSTRONG INC$2,500
ST VINCENT DE PAUL LOUISVILLE$2,500
MENTAL HEALTH LOU & YOU INC$2,500
FRIENDS OF NICOLE 5050 MARKETING COLLABORATIVE$2,500
ELEVATE LOUISVILLE$2,500
DAY SPRING INC$2,500
LUCE INC$2,500
DRESS FOR SUCCESS LOUISVILLE$2,500
FEAT OF LOUISVILLE$2,500
TREESLOUISVILLE INC$2,500
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN INDIANA$2,500
IMAGINATION LIBRARY OF LOUISVILLE INC$2,500
ST ELIZABETH CATHOLIC CHARITIES$2,500
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 (FY20–25, $14k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 88% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THIS OLD HORSE: $2k → 6%LUCE INC: $3k → 15%DAY SPRING INC: $3k → 15%JEWISH FAMILY AND CAREER SERVICES OF LOUISVILLE INC: $500 → 15%TRAVEL TO HOPE INC: $2k → 15%THE CENTER FOR WOMEN & FAMILIES INC: $2k → 15%DRESS FOR SUCCESS LOUISVILLE: $3k → 15%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

MN
IL
NY
IN
OH
PA
CT
CA
KY
VA
MD
SC
DC
OK
LA
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.

57%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$748k · 19 repeat orgs$564k to everyone else

19 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 38 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
34

Total granted

$748k
$509k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+15%
+28%

Still filing today

89%
74%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 8% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $56k 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
AnimalsHealthArts & CultureHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterEducationOther
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

  • KD
    KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC
    2× · 2022–2023 · $250k · revenue +5%
  • TB
    THE BACKSIDE LEARNING CENTER INC
    6× · 2019–2025 · $128k · revenue +233%
  • NV
    NEW VOCATIONS RACEHORSE ADOPTION
    6× · 2019–2025 · $40k · revenue +153%

Funded once

  • TK
    TEAM KENTUCKY FUND
    one grant, 2020 · $100k
  • DIRECT RELIEF
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +20%
  • LF
    LEE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $50k
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
Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund Inc

To provide exclusively for the benefit, aid, relief, and assistance of the racing personnel employed in connection with horse racing who can demonstrate their need for financial assistance.

—
2
Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Foundation Inc

Kentucky thoroughbred owners & breeders foundation, inc. (ktob foundation) supports and funds equine research, in particular research to study and find a prevention or cure to the condition in horses commonly known as mare reproductive…

Animals
3
Healing Reins of Kentucky Inc

To assist individuals with special needs in meeting their full potential through interaction with horses.

Health
4
Equine Advocacy of Louisiana
—
5
Pastures of Point Lookout Inc
Animals
6
Horse Country Inc

Horse country, inc. is a coordinated equine industry initiative to connect guests to the horse, land, and people of kentucky's signature equine industry through immerserive experiences at unique member locations. horse country, inc.…

Membership Benefit
7
Second Call Thoroughbred Adoption and Placement in

The mission is to help ex racehorses find a second career when they are finished racing. Each horse is evaluated and rehabilitated as needed and placed with qualified adopters.

Animals
8
Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Inc

To advertise, foster and promote the thoroughbred horse industry in the commonwealth of kentucky

—
9
Hidden Acres Rescue for Thoroughbreds

Giving retired Thoroughbreds opportunities for a second career while improving the lives of those in out community as each connect.

Animals
10
Kentucky Thoroughbred Association Inc

To advertise, foster and promote the thoroughbred horse industry in the commonwealth of kentucky

—
11
Take 2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program Inc

The take2 second career thoroughbred program inc is committed to promoting and developing second careers for racehorses when they have retired from racing.

Animals
12
Equine Encore Performance at Charles Town Inc

Equine Encore Performance is dedicated to the rehoming, repurposing, and retirement of thoroughbred race horses that have raced and trained at Hollywood Casino and Racetrack located in Charles Town, WV.

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is National Parkinsons Institute. 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

78 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. 78 of the 92 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)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
78/78
Grantees still filing
36/78
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC: $250,000 · OtherKENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INCTHE BACKSIDE LEARNING CENTER INC: $128,000 · OtherTHE BACKSIDE LEARNING CENTER INCTEAM KENTUCKY FUND: $100,000 · OtherTEAM KENTUCKY FUNDLEE FOUNDATION: $50,000 · OtherLEE FOUNDATIONRELIEF FOR EQUINE INDUSTRY NEEDS (REIN) FUND: $24,907 · Other+51 more: $179,038 · Other+51 moreRETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT LTD: $80,000 · AnimalsRETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT …NEW VOCATIONS RACEHORSE ADOPTION: $40,452 · AnimalsNEW VOCATIONS RACEHORSE AD…RERUN INC: $25,150 · AnimalsRERUN INCTHOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT FOUNDATION INC: $21,702 · AnimalsTHOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT FO…KENTUCKY EQUINE HUMANE CENTER INC: $20,232 · AnimalsKENTUCKY EQUINE HUMANE CEN…THOROUGHBRED CHARITIES OF AMERICA INC: $20,067 · AnimalsTHOROUGHBRED CHARITIES OF …KENTUCKY HUMANE SOCIETY - ANIMAL RESCUE: $17,000 · AnimalsKENTUCKY HUMANE SOCIETY - …THOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT NETWORK OF LOUISIANA: $10,880 · AnimalsTHOROUGHBRED AFTERCARE ALLIANCE FOUNDATI DBA THOROUGHBRED AFTERCARE ALLIANCE: $10,212 · Animals+14 more: $57,402 · Animals+14 moreDIRECT RELIEF: $100,000 · InternationalKentucky Race Track Chaplaincy Inc: $61,400 · ReligionTHE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureLOUISVILLE STORY PROGRAM: $10,000 · Arts & CultureSPEED ART MUSEUM: $4,000 · Arts & CulturePANDORA PRODUCTIONS INC: $2,500 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $1,500 · Arts & CulturePARKS ALLIANCE OF LOUISVILLE INC: $40,000 · EnvironmentSECOND STRIDE INC: $17,902 · PhilanthropyMISS KENTUCKY SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN INDIANA INC: $2,500 · Philanthropy
Other$731,945Animals$303,097International$100,000Religion$61,400Arts & Culture$43,000Environment$40,000Philanthropy$35,402

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetKENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC: $250,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetTHE BACKSIDE LEARNING CENTER INC: $128,000 over 6y, 5.4% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT LTD: $80,000 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetKentucky Race Track Chaplaincy Inc: $61,400 over 4y, 4.0% of budgetNEW VOCATIONS RACEHORSE ADOPTION: $40,452 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetRERUN INC: $25,150 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetTHE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT FOUNDATION INC: $21,702 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetKENTUCKY EQUINE HUMANE CENTER INC: $20,232 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetTHOROUGHBRED CHARITIES OF AMERICA INC: $20,067 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetAMPLIFY HORSE RACING: $20,000 over 2y, 5.2% of budgetSECOND STRIDE INC: $17,902 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetKENTUCKY HUMANE SOCIETY - ANIMAL RESCUE: $17,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSECRETARIAT CENTER INC: $15,177 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetMISS KENTUCKY SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 1y, 9.6% of budgetTHOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT NETWORK OF LOUISIANA: $10,880 over 2y, 9.9% of budgetTHOROUGHBRED AFTERCARE ALLIANCE FOUNDATI DBA THOROUGHBRED AFTERCARE ALLIANCE: $10,212 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLOUISVILLE STORY PROGRAM: $10,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetGALLOPING OUT: $7,540 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetJames River Horse Foundation: $6,045 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetOld Friends Inc: $5,937 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAFTER THE RACES INC: $5,265 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetRACEHORSE REMEMBER ME RESCUE FOUNDA: $5,180 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetWIN PLACE HOME INC: $5,100 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetHORSE & HOUND RESCUE FOUNDATION: $5,090 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetVirginia Thoroughbred Project: $5,075 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetUNITED PEGASUS FOUNDATION: $5,050 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetMIDATLANTIC HORSE RESCUE INC: $5,050 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetRACING FOR HOME INC: $5,050 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetSPEED ART MUSEUM: $4,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUSA CARES INC: $3,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUPSIDE THERAPEUTIC RIDING INC: $3,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTREESLOUISVILLE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFEEDING SOUTH FLORIDA INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDAY SPRING INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKIDS CANCER ALLIANCE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSt Elizabeth Catholic Charities Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPANDORA PRODUCTIONS INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN INDIANA INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJUNIOR LEAGUE OF LOUISVILLE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetIMAGINATION LIBRARY OF LOUISVILLE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLUCE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetFEAT OF LOUISVILLE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetDRESS FOR SUCCESS LOUISVILLE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL COUNCIL OF LOUISVILLE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFinger Lakes Thoroughbred Adoption Program Inc: $2,080 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTravel to Hope Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 1.0% 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.

The Community Foundat…Honorable Order of Ke…Thoroughbred Aftercar…The Gheens Foundation…Thoroughbred Charitie…Snowy Owl Foundation …LG&E and Ku Foundatio…W L Lyons Brown Found…Cralle Foundation IncThe Community Foundat…The Community Foundat…Kosair Charities Comm…
The Community Foundation of Louisville IncKY59.9× affinity31 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Louisville Inc · Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels Inc · Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Foundati Dba Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance · The Gheens Foundation Inc · Thoroughbred Charities of America Inc · Snowy Owl Foundation Inc · LG&E and Ku Foundation Inc · W L Lyons Brown Foundation · Cralle Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Louisville Depository Inc · The Community Foundation of Louisville Corporate Depository Inc · Kosair Charities Committee Inc

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 Churchill Downs Incorporated Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Churchill Downs Incorporated Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Feeding South Florida Inc: 5% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
16report 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
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 Churchill Downs Incorporated Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Churchill Downs Incorporated 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 92 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 Churchill Downs’ 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