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· Private foundation

David Ian Stern 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.

$561k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$520k
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 FY20202025.

Health$733kFood & Nutrition$44kCivil Rights$40kAnimals$10kInternational$8kPublic Safety & Disaster$4kYouth Development$500Human Services$500Other$0
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $1k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $40k
  • $250k+1 grant · $520k
$30,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$1.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FAMILY REACH FOUNDATION$520,000
DECRIMINALIZE SEX WORK INC$30,000
FOOD FINDERS INC$10,000
CALIFORNIA FIRE FOUNDATION$1,000
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:

Your human-services grants (FY20–20, $8k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 67% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SHELTER BOX USA: $5k → 10%FILLING IN THE BLANKS INC: $3k → 9%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

NY
MA
OR
CT
CA
MD
TX
FL

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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$815k · 4 repeat orgs$24k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships — 4 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
9

Total granted

$815k
$24k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+3%
+34%

Still filing today

100%
89%

New vs renewed · share of each year

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

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

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

’20’21’22’23’25
Human ServicesCommunity ImprovementAnimalsHealthFood & NutritionYouth DevelopmentOther

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

  • FR
    FAMILY REACH FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2025 · $730k · revenue +5%
  • FF
    FOOD FINDERS INC
    3× · 2020–2025 · $41k · revenue -51%
  • DS
    Decriminalize Sex Work
    3× · 2022–2025 · $40k · revenue +3%

Funded once

  • SU
    SHELTERBOX USA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +34%
  • TA
    THE AMANDA FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $5k · revenue +39%
  • TA
    THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
    one grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue +19%

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
Respond Inc

RESPOND partners with individuals, families and communities to end the serious public health issue of domestic violence. RESPOND strives to achieve its mission through prevention, intervention and education services that promote safe,…

Human Services
2
Animal Rescue Force Inc

Established in 1974, the organization's mission is to find responsible homes for dogs and cats and to encourage all dog and cat owners to spay and neuter their pets.

Animals
3
CAUSE4PAWS Pet Food Bank

Many seniors and veterans share their only meal of the day with their companion animals. we deliver pet food for these precious animals so they can remain at home or with their person and not have to be surrendered to shelters.

Animals
4
Fearless Kitty Rescue

As a no-kill cat rescue, serving our community of Fountain Hills, AZ and surrounding areas, we are dedicated to rescuing cats and kittens left homeless for whatever reason and placing them in a loving, responsible, permanent home.

Animals
5
Happy Paws Haven Co

Happy Paws Haven Co. is a foster based animal rescue agency that helps animals in need.

6
Pet Orphans of Southern California

In addition to rescue and adoption, pet orphans provides a wide range of services including education, medical/financial, spay/neuter, and training assistance.

Animals
7
Freedom for All Inc

Freedom for all (ffa) and our on the ground partners rescue, shelter, rehabilitate and reintegrate survivors of human trafficking.

Philanthropy
8
Animal Samaritans

At Animal Samaritans we champion compassion and respect for all living creatures, with a primary focus on dogs, cats, and the people who love them. We view pets not merely as animals, but as members of our families. As their guardians and…

Animals
9
Wedontwaste Inc

We Dont Waste increases food access and protects the planet by rescuing and repurposing food, while educating and advocating to increase food security and decrease food waste.

Food & Nutrition
10
Friends for Animal Rescue Ny Inc

Friends for animal rescue ny, inc. is a nonprofit organization that furthers the interest of animals in the new york state area and improves their quality of life by supporting medical care, enrichment activities, training and…

Animals
11
Food & Friends Inc

To improve the lives and health of people with hiv/aids, cancer, and other serious illnesses by preparing and delivering (free of charge) specialized meals and groceries, providing nutritional counseling, and reducing social isolation.

Health
12
Mercy for Animals Inc

Mercy for animals' mission is to construct a compassionate food system that is not just kind to animals but essential for the future of our planet and all who share it. our vision of a world where animals are respected, protected, and free…

Animals

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Food Finders Inc and the most unlike its peers is The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 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 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. 12 of the 13 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)
12/12
Grantees still filing
8/12
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

FAMILY REACH FOUNDATION — $730,000 · HealthFAMILY REACH FOUNDATIONFOOD FINDERS INC — $41,000 · Food & NutritionDecriminalize Sex Work — $40,000 · Civil RightsTHE AMANDA FOUNDATION — $5,000 · AnimalsTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $5,000 · AnimalsSHELTERBOX USA INC — $5,000 · Human ServicesFILLING IN THE BLANKS INC — $2,500 · Human ServicesCALIFORNIA FIRE FOUNDATION — $3,500 · OtherCEDR DIGITAL CORPS — $2,500 · OtherFREEDOM 4 U — $500 · OtherJUST TRYAN IT INC — $250 · OtherMAUREENS HAVEN INC — $2,500 · Community ImprovementHEARTS RESPOND — $500 · Community Improvement
Health$730,000Food & Nutrition$41,000Civil Rights$40,000Animals$10,000Human Services$7,500Other$6,750Community Improvement$3,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetFAMILY REACH FOUNDATION — $730,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetFOOD FINDERS INC — $41,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDecriminalize Sex Work — $40,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetSHELTERBOX USA INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMANDA FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA FIRE FOUNDATION — $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMAUREENS HAVEN INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetFILLING IN THE BLANKS INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJUST TRYAN IT INC — $250 over 1y, 0.1% 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through you, not between each other.

Amazonsmile FoundationWA2.7× affinity6 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 David Ian Stern 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
2021222324
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    3report 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, FY2024

    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.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to David Ian Stern Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to David Ian Stern 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 13 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

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