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Colbert Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Colbert Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$10k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$10k
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.

Religion$352kEducation$280kPublic Benefit$13kHousing & Shelter$2kCivil Rights$800International$500Human Services$100
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$222k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LAKESIDE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH$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 (FY18–18, $100) land where the poverty rate runs at 20%, 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%GRAHAM WINDHAM: $100 → 20%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.
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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$534k · 8 repeat orgs$115k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +41% since the first grant, against +39% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
9

Total granted

$534k
$115k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+39%

Still filing today

63%
78%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’25
EducationHuman ServicesReligionPublic BenefitOther
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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI FOUNDATION
    2× · 2020–2021 · $200k · revenue +41%
  • HA
    HARTFIELD ACADEMY INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $80k · revenue +41%
  • GR
    GATEWAY RESCUE MISSION INC
    4× · 2017–2021 · $2k · revenue +9%

Funded once

  • RT
    REFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
    one grant, 2018 · $100k · revenue +19%
  • Conservative Partnership Institutegraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $13k · revenue +548%
  • TC
    THE CRU FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $1k
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
Northeastern Seminary

Northeastern seminary strives to be a vibrant source for christian theological formation whose students are formed in a biblical vision of gracious christianity and impact wholeness to the world in an expansive array of vocations and…

Education
2
Erskine College and Theological Seminary

Erskine College exists to glorify God as a Christian academic community where students are equipped to flourish as whole persons for lives of service through the pursuit of undergraduate liberal arts and graduate theological education.

Education
3
Regent University

Regent University serves as a center of Christian thought and action to provide excellent education through a Biblical perspective and global context equipping Christian leaders to change the world.

—
4
Greenville College

Greenville college d/b/a greenville university empowers students for lives of character and service through a transforming christ-centered education in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies.

Education
5
Reformed University Inc

Provide education in theology, divinity, religious education, ministerial training, business and organizational leadership.

Education
6
Jewish Voice Ministries Intl

To proclaim the gospel, grow the messianic jewish community and engage the church concerning israel and the jewish people. this is done through education, evangelism and being a movement leader, all with excellence in order to transform…

—
7
Welch College

Welch college is a christian higher education institution that educates leaders to serve christ, his church, and his world through biblical thought and life

Education
8
Union University

Union university provides christ-centered education that promotes excellence and character development in service to church and society.

Education
9
Criswell College

The mission of criswell college is to provide ministerial and professional higher education for men and women preparing to serve as christian leaders throughout society, while maintaining an institutional commitment to biblical inerrancy.

Education
10
Spartanburg Methodist College

SMC Delivers an exceptional education that fuses the empowerment of the liberal arts with crucial career skills. Our mission is to equip our students with the knowledge, skills, virtues, and mindset needed to thrive personally, create…

Education
11
Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

To prepare students to serve christ and his church through biblical, experiential and practical ministry. prts provides theological training and instruction in accordance with the scriptures and the historic reformed creeds for promotion…

Education
12
Freed-Hardeman University

Freed-hardeman university is a private school associated with churches of christ which emphasize physical and spiritual development of its students to prepare them for lives of service to their communities.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Judicial Watch Inc; the most unlike its peers is Samaritan's Purse. 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 17 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
11/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LAKELAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $178,500 · OtherLAKELAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHHARTFIELD ACADEMY INC: $79,620 · OtherHARTFIELD ACADEMY INCLAKESIDE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $72,000 · OtherLAKESIDE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH+5 more: $2,300 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI FOUNDATION: $200,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI FOUNDATIONREFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $100,000 · EducationREFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARYConservative Partnership Institute: $12,500 · Education+2 more: $900 · EducationGATEWAY RESCUE MISSION INC: $1,952 · Human ServicesGRAHAM WINDHAM: $100 · Human ServicesJUDICIAL WATCH INC: $500 · Public BenefitSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $500 · Religion
Other$332,420Education$313,400Human Services$2,052Public Benefit$500Religion$500

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetREFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHARTFIELD ACADEMY INC: $79,620 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetGATEWAY RESCUE MISSION INC: $1,952 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFRENCH CAMP ACADEMY: $700 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetYoung America's Foundation: $700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJUDICIAL WATCH INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAFRICAN BIBLE COLLEGES INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PRO-LIFE ALLIANCE INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGRAHAM WINDHAM: $100 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.

Ergon Foundation IncRaymond James Charita…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Ergon Foundation IncMS15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ergon Foundation Inc · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Colbert Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Colbert Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Colbert Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Colbert 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 17 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 Colbert’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