· Public charity
Desert Financial Foundation
To promote the financial health of our community through education, scholarships, grants to non-profit programs, and fundraising efforts.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2018–2024.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
The 11 grants below total $1,157,928 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,232,637 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $74,709 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 · FY2024
- Under $10k1 grant · $6k
- $10k–50k8 grants · $202k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $159k
- $250k+1 grant · $791k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| PHOENIX CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION | $791,423 |
| ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY | $159,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA | $47,000 |
| GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY | $33,000 |
| MARICOPA COMMUNITY COLLEGES | $28,000 |
| NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY | $27,505 |
| YAVAPAI COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC | $20,750 |
| COCONINO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION | $15,750 |
| EAST VALLEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC | $15,000 |
| WEST-MEC DISTRICT NO 402 | $15,000 |
| EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY | $5,500 |
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.
Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY18–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
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.
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.
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +52% since the first grant, against +6% for the ones you funded once.
15 repeat relationships — 11 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
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
- PCPhoenix Children's Hospital Foundation6× · 2018–2024 · $3.0M · revenue +52%
- NANORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION4× · 2021–2024 · $123k · revenue +269%
- GCGrand Canyon University4× · 2021–2024 · $120k · revenue +27%
Funded once
- COCITY OF PHOENIXone grant, 2021 · $750k
- IRInternational Rescue Committee INCgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $15k · revenue +80%
- FAFREE ARTS FOR ABUSED CHILDREN OF ARIZONAone grant, 2018 · $15k · revenue +6%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
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.
To lead, serve and collaborate to mobilize enduring philanthropy for a better arizona.
Bringing arizonans together to create a stronger and brighter future for our state.
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…
To support college students in innovative, affordable paths to in-demand careers and financial freedom.
To perform the functions of, or to carry out the purposes of the arizona community foundation, an az nonprofit corporation, so long as the arizona community foundation, inc. remains a qualified organization.
Arizona christian university provides a biblically-integrated, liberal arts education equipping graduates to serve the lord jesus christ in all aspects of life, as leaders of influence and excellence.
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities accredits institutions of higher education by applying evidence-informed standards and processes to support continuous improvements and promote equitable student achievement and success.
To bring arizona's community colleges together to share ideas, collaborate, and drive meaningful change. we act as a statewide hub providing colleges best practices, annual convenings, and professional development.
Arcadia university's pioneering, global, integrated, liberal arts, and professional learning experience cultivates leaders who are intellectually fearless and uniquely prepared for life and work. our highly regarded, values-based learning…
To deliver accessible world-class student experiences by providing quality programs and services that ensure student success through meaningful learning. to be an inclusive and innovative university serving life-long learners who…
Los angeles pacific university exists to deliver high quality, accessible christ-centered education to learners everywhere.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Native American Connections Inc and the most unlike its peers is International Rescue Committee Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
18 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 18 of the 23 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.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
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 Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation ↗
- Who funds NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Grand Canyon University ↗
- Who funds LAPTOPS 4 LEARNING ↗
- Who funds YAVAPAI COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds EAST VALLEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds MARICOPA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds COCONINO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds St Joseph the Worker ↗
- Who funds DESERT FINANCIAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds NATIVE AMERICAN CONNECTIONS INC ↗
- Who funds WEST-MEC ALLIANCE ↗
- Who funds International Rescue Committee INC ↗
- Who funds FREE ARTS FOR ABUSED CHILDREN OF ARIZONA ↗
- Who funds DUET PARTNERS IN HEALTH & AGING INC ↗
- Who funds LOCAL FIRST ARIZONA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC ↗
- Who funds New Pathways For Youth ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Arizona Community Foundation · Desert Financial Credit Union · Valley of the Sun United Way · Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust · Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust · American Express Foundation · The Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation · Phoenix Suns Charities Inc · Burton Family Foundation · Thunderbirds Charities · The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation · The Kemper & Ethel Marley Fdn
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 Desert Financial 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.
- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Inc — 3% of income from government
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.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Desert Financial Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Desert Financial 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.