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Darden Restaurants Inc Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Darden Restaurants Inc Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$6.6M
Granted FY2025still arriving
27
Grants FY2025still arriving
12
States reached
$4.0M
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, FY2021 to 2025.

Food & Nutrition$12MYouth Development$2.8MPublic Safety & Disaster$2.3MPhilanthropy$1.6MArts & Culture$1.2MEducation$961kAnimals$500kHuman Services$150kOther$0
02FY2025 · 27 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k13 grants · $28k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $76k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $210k
  • $250k+7 grants · $6.3M
$10,000
Median grant
12
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FEEDING AMERICA$4,000,000
BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA$750,000
AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS & ITS CONSTITUENT CHAPTERS AND BRANCHES$500,000
SCHOLARSHIP AMERICA INC$328,000
HEART OF FLORIDA UNITED WAY$250,000
NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$250,000
UNITED ARTS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC$250,000
SENIORS FIRST INC$110,000
SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK$100,000
THE MONARCH LEARNING ACADEMY INC$23,000
THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA$20,000
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY$13,000
COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS OF CENTRAL FL INC$10,000
MEALS ON WHEELS INC$10,000
SAINT ANSELM COLLEGE$7,000
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 (FY21–25, $150k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SENIORS FIRST INC: $110k → 13%SENIORS FIRST INC: $10k → 13%SENIORS FIRST INC: $10k → 13%SENIORS FIRST INC: $10k → 13%SENIORS FIRST INC: $10k → 13%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

NH
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
IA
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
GA
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$20M · 28 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +25% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

28 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
19

Total granted

$20M
$1.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+14%

Still filing today

82%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $27k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24’25
EducationPhilanthropyFood & NutritionYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureHuman ServicesOther
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

  • Feeding America
    4× · 2021–2025 · $11M · revenue +23%
  • BG
    BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA
    4× · 2021–2025 · $2.3M · revenue +5%
  • UA
    UNITED ARTS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $1.2M · revenue +97%

Funded once

  • BG
    BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC
    one grant, 2021 · $500k · revenue +7%
  • NF
    NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $500k · revenue +22%
  • AN
    AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS & ITS CONSTITUENT CHAP
    one grant, 2021 · $250k
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
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
2
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
3
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
4
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
5
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
6
Point Park University

Provides innovative education in a dynamic urban setting. dedicated to academic excellence and community engagement,we prepare students of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skill,and experience to lead meaningful lives as informed…

—
7
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
8
Barton College

Founded in 1902, barton college is a four-year, private, liberal arts college located in wilson, n.c. the barton experience focuses on academic excellence within a wide range of professional and liberal arts programs leading to…

Education
9
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Inc

Embry-riddle is the world leader in aviation and aerospace higher education. its mission is to teach the science, practice and business of aviation and aerospace, preparing students for productive careers and leadership roles in business,…

Education
10
Carleton College

See schedule o.founded in 1866, carleton college is a private, coeducational liberal arts college of 2,007 students located in the historic river town of northfield, minnesota. nationally recognized as the nation's top college for…

Education
11
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
12
Fielding Graduate University

We provide exemplary interdisciplinary programs for a community of scholar-practitioners within a distributed learning model grounded in student-driven inquiry and leading to enhanced knowledge.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Lake Highland Preparatory School Inc; the most unlike its peers is Wake Forest University. 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

39 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. 39 of the 55 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
38/39
Grantees still filing
28/39
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Feeding America: $10,500,000 · Food & NutritionFeeding AmericaThe National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation: $1,000,000 · Food & NutritionThe National Restaurant Association Educational FoundationAMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS & ITS CONSTITUENT CHAPTERS AND BRANCHES: $2,000,000 · OtherAMERICAN NATIONAL …SCHOLARSHIP AMERICA INC: $685,000 · OtherSCHOLARSHIP AMERIC…AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS & ITS CONSTITUENT CHAP: $250,000 · OtherAMERICAN NATIONAL …SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC: $240,000 · OtherSECOND HARVEST FOO…NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDA: $200,000 · OtherNATIONAL RESTAURAN…+15 more: $180,778 · OtherBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA: $2,250,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS C…BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC: $500,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS C…HEART OF FLORIDA UNITED WAY INC: $1,250,000 · PhilanthropyVOLUNTEER FLORIDA FOUNDATION INC: $200,000 · PhilanthropyROUND IT UP AMERICA INC: $165,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED ARTS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC: $1,215,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: $500,000 · AnimalsSUFFOLK UNIVERSITY: $43,000 · EducationJOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY: $30,000 · EducationSAINT ANSELM COLLEGE: $27,000 · EducationTAMPA PREPARATORY SCHOOL INC: $24,584 · EducationCULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA: $20,000 · EducationROLLINS COLLEGE: $15,250 · EducationCONDUCTIVE EDUCATION CENTER OF ORLANDO INC: $15,200 · EducationLAKE HIGHLAND PREPARATORY SCHOOL INC: $12,553 · EducationSEACOAST CHARTER SCHOOL: $11,500 · EducationFOUNDATION ACADEMY OF WINTER GARDEN INC: $11,097 · Education+15 more: $33,884 · EducationSeniors First Inc: $150,000 · Human Services
Food & Nutrition$11,500,000Other$3,555,778Youth Development$2,750,000Philanthropy$1,615,000Arts & Culture$1,215,000Animals$500,000Education$244,068Human Services$150,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFeeding America: $10,500,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA: $2,250,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetHEART OF FLORIDA UNITED WAY INC: $1,250,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetUNITED ARTS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC: $1,215,000 over 5y, 2.2% of budgetThe National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation: $1,000,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC: $500,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetNATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC: $240,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetVOLUNTEER FLORIDA FOUNDATION INC: $200,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetROUND IT UP AMERICA INC: $165,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetSeniors First Inc: $150,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE MONARCH LEARNING ACADEMY INC: $55,500 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetCOALITION FOR THE HOMELESS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA INC: $50,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSUFFOLK UNIVERSITY: $43,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSAINT ANSELM COLLEGE: $27,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTAMPA PREPARATORY SCHOOL INC: $24,584 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetROLLINS COLLEGE: $15,250 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCONDUCTIVE EDUCATION CENTER OF ORLANDO INC: $15,200 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetLAKE HIGHLAND PREPARATORY SCHOOL INC: $12,553 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSEACOAST CHARTER SCHOOL: $11,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFOUNDATION ACADEMY OF WINTER GARDEN INC: $11,097 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetA GIFT FOR TEACHING INC: $8,024 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE FOREST ACADEMY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: $4,150 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA FOUNDATION INC: $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMarietta College: $3,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWESTOVER SCHOOL INC: $1,770 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFURMAN UNIVERSITY: $1,650 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA FOUNDATION INC: $1,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMOREHOUSE COLLEGE: $1,040 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPULASKI ACADEMY: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPTA FLORIDA CONGRESS Blankner PTSA: $158 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHOPE COLLEGE: $150 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.

Publix Super Markets …Elizabeth Morse Geniu…Universal Orlando Fou…Duke Energy FoundationSynchrony FoundationCharities Aid Foundat…Orlando Magic Youth F…Magruder Chesley G Fd…The Dr P Phillips Fou…Central Florida Found…Raymond James Charita…The Bank of America C…
Publix Super Markets Charities IncFL16.3× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Publix Super Markets Charities Inc · Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation · Universal Orlando Foundation Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · Synchrony Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Orlando Magic Youth Foundation Inc · Magruder Chesley G Fdn Im · The Dr P Phillips Foundation · Central Florida Foundation · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation 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 Darden Restaurants Inc Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Darden Restaurants Inc Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 90%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Volunteer Florida Foundation Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Suffolk University: 1% of income from government
  • United Arts of Central Florida Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Heart of Florida United Way Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Rollins College: 0% of income from government
  • Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
9get no government money at all
4report 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 Darden Restaurants Inc Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Darden Restaurants Inc 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 55 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 Darden Restaurants’ 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