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Donald Danforth Plant Science Center at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Improve the human condition through plant science/research: feed the hungry and improve human health, preserve and renew our environment and enhance our region's economy.

$8.7M
Granted FY2024still arriving
28
Grants FY2024still arriving
15
States reached
$882k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Science & Tech$37MEducation$12MHealth$3.7MEnvironment$1.3MCommunity Improvement$191kYouth Development$127kFood & Nutrition$125kAnimals$40k
02FY2024 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 28 grants below total $6,423,011, the rows itemized in this filing. The $8,684,217 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $2,261,206 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k7 grants · $200k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $1.0M
  • $250k+12 grants · $5.2M
$178,661
Median grant
15
States reached
$626M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS$881,742
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY$796,710
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS$477,329
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY$468,409
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND$388,146
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY$363,364
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA$353,564
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA$339,011
ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS$312,137
PURDUE UNIVERSITY$300,800
CURATORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI$265,431
CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY$254,985
THE LAND INSTITUTE$223,299
ST LOUIS UNIVERSITY$178,661
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII$147,480
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 72% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS: $1.2M → 15%UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: $821k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: $454k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $1.5M → 10%CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: $449k → 14%HUDSONALPHA INSTITUTE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY: $380k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS: $882k → 15%KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY: $480k → 20%UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND: $512k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: $390k → 12%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $301k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $1.4M → 19%ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS: $1.2M → 15%UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: $339k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $1.3M → 10%CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: $432k → 14%MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $468k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS: $522k → 15%KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY: $412k → 20%UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND: $436k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: $296k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $1.4M → 19%ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS: $788k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $1.3M → 10%CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: $427k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CENTER FOR RESEARCH: $501k → 15%WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $295k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND: $394k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $1.2M → 19%ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS: $312k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $1.0M → 10%CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: $378k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND: $388k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $802k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $523k → 10%CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: $369k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $711k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $1.6M → 15%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $354k → 10%CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: $326k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF ILINOIS: $650k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $1.2M → 15%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $270k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $528k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $602k → 15%GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $329k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $477k → 19%ST LOUIS UNIVERSITY: $263k → 21%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

VT
WA
MN
IL
MI
NY
IA
IN
OH
PA
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
DE
AZ
KS
SC
DC
HI
AL
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $2.3M on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 2 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Sub-Saharan Africa$2.1M · 93% · 4 grants

Stated purpose: RESEARCH

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$164k · 7% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: RESEARCH

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$47M · 40 repeat orgs$320k to everyone else

40 repeat relationships: 27 still active in FY2024, 13 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

40
3

Total granted

$47M
$320k

Still filing today

38%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationScience & TechAnimalsEnvironmentCommunity ImprovementYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • UO
    University of Kansas Center for Research Inc
    4× · 2021–2024 · $1.9M · revenue +34%
  • UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
    7× · 2017–2023 · $1.8M · revenue +37%
  • SL
    ST LOUIS UNIVERSITY
    7× · 2018–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +16%

Funded once

  • WS
    WEXFORD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    one grant, 2018 · $175k
  • WU
    WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2020 · $106k
  • IS
    IMPOSSIBLE SENSING LLC
    one grant, 2023 · $39k
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
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
2
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
3
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
4
Drexel University

Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…

Education
5
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
6
Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is an independent, research-oriented university with broadly based strengths in health, including medicine, nursing and dentistry; in engineering; in the arts and sciences; and in law, management and social…

Education
7
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
8
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
9
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
10
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

—
11
Trustees of Clark University

Clark university's mission is to educate undergraduate and graduate students to be imaginative and contributing citizens of the world, and to advance the frontiers of knowledge and understanding through rigorous scholarship and creative…

Education
12
The Catholic University of America

As the national university of the catholic church in the united states, founded and sponsored by the bishops of the country with the approval of the holy see, the catholic university of america is committed to being a comprehensive…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Delaware; the most unlike its peers is Widecast Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network 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

17 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. 17 of the 45 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
12/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $7,173,091 · OtherTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOISUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $7,045,828 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONAREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY: $6,145,364 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEYUNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND: $2,326,987 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLANDWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY: $2,296,495 · OtherWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: $1,936,547 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: $1,750,226 · Other+23 more: $9,093,360 · Other+23 moreTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $6,520,644 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES …ST LOUIS UNIVERSITY: $1,283,069 · EducationST LOUIS UNIVERSITYThe George Washington University: $1,221,071 · EducationThe George Washington …WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $1,031,272 · EducationWASHINGTON UNIVERSITYCornell University: $456,246 · Education+3 more: $497,296 · EducationCARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: $2,513,045 · Science & TechCARNEGIE …University of Kansas Center for Research Inc: $1,917,425 · Science & TechUniversit…+1 more: $151,551 · Science & TechCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $675,548 · EnvironmentTECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEUR CENTER INC: $191,033 · Community ImprovementJACKIE JOYNER KERSEE FOUNDATION: $127,188 · Youth DevelopmentWIDECAST Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network Inc: $40,109 · Animals
Other$37,767,898Education$11,009,598Science & Tech$4,582,021Environment$675,548Community Improvement$191,033Youth Development$127,188Animals$40,109

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $6,520,644 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: $2,513,045 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetUniversity of Kansas Center for Research Inc: $1,917,425 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: $1,750,226 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetST LOUIS UNIVERSITY: $1,283,069 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetThe George Washington University: $1,221,071 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $1,031,272 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $675,548 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetThe Land Institute: $627,522 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetCornell University: $456,246 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetBIOSTL: $299,759 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetTECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEUR CENTER INC: $191,033 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetBOYCE THOMPSON INSTITUTE FOR PLANT RESEARCH INC: $151,551 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $133,539 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJACKIE JOYNER KERSEE FOUNDATION: $127,188 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE HAMLINE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: $63,998 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWIDECAST Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network Inc: $40,109 over 3y, 1.8% 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.

  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON ↗
  • Who funds University of Kansas Center for Research Inc ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE ↗
  • Who funds ST LOUIS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds The George Washington University ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds The Land Institute ↗
  • Who funds Cornell University ↗
  • Who funds BIOSTL ↗
  • Who funds TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEUR CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds BOYCE THOMPSON INSTITUTE FOR PLANT RESEARCH INC ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
  • Who funds JACKIE JOYNER KERSEE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE HAMLINE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ↗

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.

Foundation for Food a…Cornell UniversityWashington UniversityNational Fish and Wil…Morgan Stanley Global…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…
Foundation for Food and Agriculture ResearchDC13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research · Cornell University · Washington University · National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Donald Danforth Plant Science Center funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 30%
  • University of Delaware: 30% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get 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 · 0–90%
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 Donald Danforth Plant Science Center?

Find your warmest path to Donald Danforth Plant Science Center 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 45 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Donald Danforth Plant Science Center’s 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