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Plinth

· Public charity

Cortex

Founded in 2002, CORTEX mission is the creation of the midwest's premier innovation hub of bioscience and technology research, development and commercialization, serving as the anchor of st.

$2.3M
Granted FY2023
10
Grants FY2023
2
States reached
$1.2M
Largest
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 FY20182023.

Employment$2.1MArts & Culture$508kFood & Nutrition$150kCommunity Improvement$105kHuman Services$8kEnvironment$6k
02FY2023 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 10 grants below total $2,167,492 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $2,273,404 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $105,912 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k3 grants · $21k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $54k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $410k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.7M
$110,290
Median grant
2
States reached
$82M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PER SCHOLAS$1,206,735
LAUNCHCODE$475,000
CYBERUP$150,000
PROPEL KITCHENS$150,000
NPOWER$110,290
TECH STL$37,500
GLOBAL INSTITUTE ON INNOVATION DISTRICTS$16,667
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ST LOUIS$8,000
PARK CENTRAL DEVELOPMENT$7,000
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDENS$6,300
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 (FY23–23, $8k) land where the poverty rate runs at 21%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ST LOUIS: $8k → 21%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.

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.

23%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$646k · 3 repeat orgs$2.2M to everyone else

3 repeat relationships — 1 still active in FY2023, 2 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
2

Total granted

$646k
$508k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-59%
+25%

Still filing today

67%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 22% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.7M went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’23
Community ImprovementArts & CultureEmploymentFood & NutritionScience & TechHuman ServicesOther

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

  • TL
    THE LAUNCHCODE FOUNDATION
    3× · 2019–2024 · $603k · revenue -14%
  • VC
    VENTURE CAFE ST LOUIS
    3× · 2018–2020 · $30k · revenue -99%
  • VF
    VENTURE FOR AMERICA INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $14k · revenue -59%

Funded once

  • TM
    THE MAGIC HOUSEgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $500k · revenue +25%
  • CO
    CENTER OF CREATIVE ARTS
    one grant, 2018 · $8k · revenue -46%

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
Api Innovation Center

Drive national health security and economic growth through u.s.-based production of medicines so that every patient, health care system and pharmacy retailer has access to critical medicines.

Human Services
2
St Louis Economic Development Partnership

Economic development.

3
Cortex

Founded in 2002, cortex mission is the creation of the midwest's premier innovation hub of bioscience and technology research, development and commercialization, serving as the anchor of st. louis' growing ecosystem for innovative startup…

Community Improvement
4
St Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association

Greater st. louis, inc. brings together business and civic leaders to create jobs, drive inclusive economic growth, and increase the st. louis metro area's global competitiveness. we speak with a unified voice, lead with a bold agenda, and…

5
Biogenerator

To advance st. louis' regional prosperity by cultivating a thriving biosciences sector. biogenerator pursues this mission by producing for the region a robust pipeline of successful bioscience companies and entrepreneurs.

Science & Tech
6
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

The chicagoland chamber of commerce combines the power of people, with our legacy of leadership and business advocacy, to drive a dynamic economy. we focus on delivering value for our members, making chicagoland a world-class place to live…

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
Teach St Louis

Founded In 2018, Teach St. Louis (formerly St. Louis Teacher Residency) launched to improve teacher quality and retention in St. Louis, a city where 40% of new teachers exit the classroom in their first three years. Teach St. Louis…

Education
9
P33

Tranform chicago into a tier one technology and innovation hub and promote inclusive economic growth.

Community Improvement
10
Global Technology Industry Association Inc

The organization is dedicated to advancing information technology industry growth through its educational programs, market research, networking events, professional certifications, and public policy advocacy.

11
Urban League of Louisiana

To empower communities and help change liver for african americans and other emerging communities and groups. the urban league seeks to eliminate barriers to opportunity and assist individuals in attaining economic self sufficiency.

Human Services
12
Missouri Cybersecurity Center of Excellence - Mccoe

Accelerating the springfield, mo cyber economy and positioning it as a state hub of cyber innovation.

Community Improvement

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater St Louis Inc and the most unlike its peers is Npower Inc. 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

19 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/19
Grantees still filing
8/19
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

PER SCHOLAS INC — $1,206,735 · EmploymentPER SCHOLAS INCTHE LAUNCHCODE FOUNDATION — $602,701 · EducationTHE LAUNCHCODE FOUNDATI…THE MAGIC HOUSE — $500,000 · Arts & CultureTHE MAGIC HOUSE+1 more — $7,500 · Arts & CultureNPOWER INC — $110,290 · Community ImprovementTECHSTL — $37,500 · Community ImprovementVENTURE CAFE ST LOUIS — $29,665 · Community ImprovementTHE GLOBAL INSTITUTE ON INNOVATION DISTRICTS INC — $16,667 · Community ImprovementVENTURE FOR AMERICA INC — $14,000 · Community Improvement+1 more — $7,000 · Community ImprovementPROPEL KITCHENS — $150,000 · Food & NutritionCyberUp — $150,000 · Science & TechINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF METROPOLITAN ST LOUIS — $8,000 · Human ServicesMISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES — $6,300 · Environment
Employment$1,206,735Education$602,701Arts & Culture$507,500Community Improvement$215,122Food & Nutrition$150,000Science & Tech$150,000Human Services$8,000Environment$6,300

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetPER SCHOLAS INC — $1,206,735 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetTHE LAUNCHCODE FOUNDATION — $602,701 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetTHE MAGIC HOUSE — $500,000 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetPROPEL KITCHENS — $150,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetCyberUp — $150,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetNPOWER INC — $110,290 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTECHSTL — $37,500 over 2y, 11% of budgetVENTURE CAFE ST LOUIS — $29,665 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetTHE GLOBAL INSTITUTE ON INNOVATION DISTRICTS INC — $16,667 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetVENTURE FOR AMERICA INC — $14,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF METROPOLITAN ST LOUIS — $8,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER OF CREATIVE ARTS — $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPARK CENTRAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $7,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetMISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES — $6,300 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.

St Louis Community Foundation IncMO17.3× affinity6 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: St Louis Community Foundation Inc · Regional Business Council · Commerce Bancshares Foundation · World Wide Technology Foundation · Washington University · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Cortex 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
202122232425
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%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
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 14 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports $4.0M of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

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