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Plinth

· Private foundation

Darlene M and Reuben T Swanson Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$231k
Granted FY2025still arriving
24
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What you fund
0193% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20202025.

Religion$246kHuman Services$135kEducation$105kInternational$105kHousing & Shelter$80kPublic Safety & Disaster$66kFood & Nutrition$65kHealth$60kOther$0
02FY2025 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k11 grants · $56k
  • $10k–50k13 grants · $175k
$10,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$954k
Total assets

Anchored by a single position — about 100% of reported assets are held in Berkshire Hathaway A&B.

Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GLOBAL REFUGE$20,000
MOSIAC$20,000
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$15,000
Individual grant recipient$15,000
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF$15,000
FOOD BANK OF LARIMER COUNTY$15,000
LUTHERAN FAMILY SERVICES ROCKY MOUN$15,000
LUTHERAN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AT CHIC$10,000
ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION$10,000
MOSIAC OF NORTHERN COLORADO$10,000
LUTHERAN FAMILY SERVICES OF NEBRASK$10,000
NEBRASKA LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRY$10,000
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$10,000
PHELPS COUNTY COMM FNDTN$6,000
KRFC 889FM$5,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 72% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%NEBRASKA LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRY: $50k → 7%PHELPS COUNTY COMM FNDTN: $10k → 10%LUTHERAN FAMILY SERVICES OF NEBRASK: $10k → 12%THE LUTHERAN CENTER: $10k → 13%SEAFARER'S INTERNATIONAL: $15k → 17%WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: $10k → 14%LUTHERAN FAMILY SERVICES ROCKY MOUN: $15k → 7%FOOD BANK OF LARIMER COUNTY: $15k → 11%LUTHERAN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AT CHIC: $10k → 14%GLOBAL REFUGE: $20k → 19%NEBRASKA LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRY: $25k → 7%MOSAIC: $25k → 12%SEAFARER'S INTERNATIONAL: $15k → 17%WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: $10k → 14%LUTHERAN FAMILY SERVICES ROCKY MOUN: $15k → 7%FOOD BANK OF LARIMER COUNTY: $15k → 11%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: $10k → 12%LUTHERAN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AT CHIC: $10k → 14%LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF: $15k → 19%NEBRASKA LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRY: $10k → 7%MOSAIC: $20k → 12%SEAFARER'S INTERNATIONAL: $15k → 17%LUTHERAN FAMILY SERVICES ROCKY MOUN: $10k → 7%FOOD BANK OF LARIMER COUNTY: $15k → 11%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: $10k → 12%GLOBAL REFUGE: $10k → 19%NEBRASKA LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRY: $10k → 7%MOSAIC: $20k → 12%SEAFARER'S INTERNATIONAL: $10k → 17%LUTHERAN FAMILY SERVICES ROCKY MOUN: $10k → 7%FOOD BANK OF LARIMER COUNTY: $10k → 11%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: $10k → 12%NEBRASKA LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRY: $10k → 7%MOSIAC: $20k → 12%SEAFARER'S INTERNATIONAL: $10k → 17%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: $10k → 12%NEBRASKA LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRY: $10k → 7%MOSAIC: $20k → 12%SEAFARER'S INTERNATIONAL: $10k → 17%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: $10k → 12%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: $10k → 12%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $20k → 11%LUTHERAN FAMILY SERVICES ROCKY MOUN: $15k → 12%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $15k → 11%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $15k → 11%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $10k → 11%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $15k → 11%MOSIAC OF NORTHERN COLORADO: $10k → 11%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

MN
IL
NY
SD
CO
NE
MD
DC

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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$972k · 21 repeat orgs$61k to everyone else

21 repeat relationships — 19 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

21
5

Total granted

$972k
$31k

Still filing today

48%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationInternationalArts & CultureHousing & ShelterFood & NutritionAnimalsOther

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

  • M
    MOSAIC
    5× · 2020–2025 · $105k · revenue +52%
  • LW
    LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $75k · revenue +4%
  • TF
    The Food Bank for Larimer County
    6× · 2020–2025 · $65k · revenue +21%

Funded once

  • TL
    THE LUTHERAN CENTER
    one grant, 2021 · $10k
  • OS
    OUR SAVIORS LUTHERAN CHURCH
    one grant, 2024 · $6k
  • MI
    MOSAIC IN NORTHERN COLORADI
    one grant, 2020 · $5k

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
Luther Classical College

Luther classical college educates lutherans in the classical, lutheran tradition and prepares them for godly vocations within family, church, and society, fostering christian culture through study of the best of our western heritage.

Education
2
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota

Lutheran social service of minnesota expresses the love of christ for all people through service that inspires hope, changes lives and builds community. lutheran social service of minnesota and affiliates is one of minnesota's largest and…

Human Services
3
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
4
Colorado Legal Services

To provide meaningful access to high quality, civil legal services in the pursuit of justice for as many low income persons and members of vulnerable populations throughout colorado as possible.

Crime & Legal
5
Los Angeles Pacific University

Los angeles pacific university exists to deliver high quality, accessible christ-centered education to learners everywhere.

Education
6
Columbia College

Columbia college improves lives by providing quality education to both traditional and nontraditional students, helping them achieve their true potential.

Education
7
Association of Legal Administrators

Ala is the catalyst for growth by providing: diverse educational experiences, engaged peer communities, strategic solutions, dynamic resources, and trusted networks.

8
Grand View University

Engages, equips and empowers learners to explore their vocations, fulfill their potential and serve the world.

Education
9
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

10
Ashland University

Ashland university, guided by our christian heritage, is a comprehensive, private university that provides a transformative learning experience, shaping graduates who work, serve and lead with integrity in their local, national, and global…

Education
11
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.

12
Wartburg College

Wartburg college is dedicated to challenging and nurturing students for lives of leadership and service as a spirited expression of their faith and learning.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Lutheran World Relief Inc and the most unlike its peers is Public Radio for the Front Range. 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

13 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. 13 of the 32 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
10/13
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

NEBRASKA LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRY — $115,000 · OtherNEBRASKA LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRYHABITAT FOR HUMANITY — $80,000 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITYIndividual grant recipient — $75,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientLUTHERAN FAMILY SERVICES ROCKY MOUN — $70,000 · OtherLUTHERAN FAMILY SERVICES ROCKY MOUNALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION — $60,000 · OtherALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATIONSKY RANCH LUTHERAN CAMP — $30,000 · OtherLUTHERAN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AT CHIC — $30,000 · OtherLUTHERAN IMMIGRATION AND REFUGE SER — $30,000 · OtherLUTHERAN IMMIGRATION & REFUGEE SERVICE INC DBA GLOBAL REFUGE — $30,000 · OtherEVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA — $25,000 · OtherMOSIAC OF NORTHERN COLORADO — $25,000 · Other+10 more — $82,000 · Other+10 moreLUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF INC — $75,000 · InternationalLUTHERAN WOR…WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC — $36,000 · InternationalWORLD CENTRA…MOSAIC — $105,000 · Housing & ShelterMOSAICAUGUSTANA COLLEGE — $25,000 · EducationMIDLAND UNIVERSITY — $25,000 · EducationAUGUSTANA UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATION — $25,000 · EducationThe Food Bank for Larimer County — $65,000 · Food & NutritionANIMAL FRIENDS ALLIANCE — $15,000 · AnimalsNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC — $5,000 · Arts & CulturePublic Radio for the Front Range — $5,000 · Arts & CulturePHELPS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $6,000 · Philanthropy
Other$652,000International$111,000Housing & Shelter$105,000Education$75,000Food & Nutrition$65,000Animals$15,000Arts & Culture$10,000Philanthropy$6,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMOSAIC — $105,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF INC — $75,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe Food Bank for Larimer County — $65,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC — $36,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLUTHERAN IMMIGRATION & REFUGEE SERVICE INC DBA GLOBAL REFUGE — $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAUGUSTANA COLLEGE — $25,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMIDLAND UNIVERSITY — $25,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetAUGUSTANA UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATION — $25,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetANIMAL FRIENDS ALLIANCE — $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLUTHERAN MUSIC PROGRAM — $15,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetPHELPS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $6,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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.

  • Who funds MOSAIC
  • Who funds LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF INC
  • Who funds The Food Bank for Larimer County
  • Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC
  • Who funds LUTHERAN IMMIGRATION & REFUGEE SERVICE INC DBA GLOBAL REFUGE
  • Who funds AUGUSTANA COLLEGE
  • Who funds MIDLAND UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds AUGUSTANA UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATION
  • Who funds ANIMAL FRIENDS ALLIANCE
  • Who funds LUTHERAN MUSIC PROGRAM
  • Who funds PHELPS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC
  • Who funds Public Radio for the Front Range

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.

American Online Giving Foundation IncDE6.7× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Darlene M and Reuben T Swanson 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
202122232425
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 100%
  • Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service Inc Dba Global Refuge100% of income from government
  • Lutheran World Relief Inc47% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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 32 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph