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Earlane & Sam Croom Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Earlane & Sam Croom Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$168k
Granted FY2024still arriving
13
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$24k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Religion$698kPublic Benefit$205kArts & Culture$95kHuman Services$87kEducation$82kAnimals$36kFood & Nutrition$25kYouth Development$20kOther$0
02FY2024 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $3k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $166k
$11,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$5.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
VISION AFRICA MINISTRIES$23,500
KIDS MATTER$20,000
CONSERVATIVE PARTNERSHIP INSTITUTE$20,000
INGRAM WARRIOR HOMES$15,000
FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN$15,000
GATEHOUSE$11,000
DAY SPRING SENIOR LIVING$11,000
STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION$10,000
MOBILIZE THE CHURCH$10,000
MEALS ON WHEELS$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
WEST DALLAS SCHOOL$10,000
SENT CHURCH$2,500
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 (FY21–21, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%PATRIOT PAWS SERVICE DOGS: $5k → 9%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.
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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.0M · 10 repeat orgs$209k to everyone else

10 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
9

Total granted

$1.0M
$77k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
+129%

Still filing today

60%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 21% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $132k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationReligionPublic BenefitAnimalsArts & CultureRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • MT
    Mobilize the Church
    5× · 2020–2024 · $580k · revenue +32% · 33% of their budget
  • VA
    VISION AFRICA MINISTRIES INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $84k · revenue +46%
  • THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION
    3× · 2020–2022 · $65k · revenue +12%

Funded once

  • DT
    DELTA TAU DELTA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $25k
  • HP
    HUNT PRESERVATION SOCIETY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue +379% · 48% of their budget
  • BC
    BLUEPRINT COMMUNITY CHURCH
    one grant, 2020 · $10k
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
International Leadership Institute

The international leadership institute (ili) changes history by accelerating the spread of the gospel through training and mobilizing leaders of leaders to reach their nations. ili accomplishes this purpose through cutting edge leadership…

Religion
2
Dallas International University

As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.

Education
3
Partnership for Public Service Inc

Making our government work better is a daunting task, and we are a small organization seeking to transform a government that employs millions of civilians and manages trillions of dollars in taxpayer revenue needed to protect public…

Employment
4
Leadership Revolution Inc

Leadership Revolution is a ministry founded to develop leaders globally who will spread the gospel and make disciples in their arena of influence.

Religion
5
Global Media Outreach

Leveraging technology to invite all people to know jesus christ as savior and grow in a personal relationship with him.

Religion
6
Lifewater Inc

Lifewater international is a non-profit christian water development organization dedicated to effectively serving vulnerable children and families by partnering with underserved communities to overcome water poverty.

Environment
7
Worldwide Vets Incorporated

Our goal is to sustainably improve animal welfare, provide veterinary care, and improve veterinary education globally. in order to achieve this goal, we work in over 10 countries, across 5 continents, supporting local people and animals,…

Animals
8
The Liberal Patriot Inc

The liberal patriot (tlp) is a digital newsletter focused on american politics and public policy. tlp aims to provide readers with honest analysis and original commentary to help advance a vital center perspective in american life.

Civil Rights
9
Leadership Austin

Leadership austin connects and develops leaders to courageously engage and transform our communities.

Youth Development
10
Texas Tribune Inc

The texas tribune promotes civic engagement and public education across the state by producing and sharing for free public data interactives, statewide events and intensive and daily reporting on texas public policy, politics and current…

Education
11
Liberty Guard Inc

To identify policies that infringe, restrict, reduce or otherwise diminish the personal freedoms and individual liberty of u.s. citizens and residents and to educate/motivate the public to engage in the public policy process to protect…

Civil Rights
12
Fdd Action

FDD Action is a non-profit, non-partisan 504(c)4 organization established to advocate for effective policies to promote U.S. National Security and defend free nations.

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Stepping Stones Foundation. 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 30 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
11/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Mobilize the Church: $580,000 · ReligionMobilize the ChurchVISION AFRICA MINISTRIES INC: $83,500 · ReligionVISION AFRICA MINISTRIES INCCOLLIN CREEK ASSISTED LIVING CENTER INC: $60,000 · OtherCOLLIN CREEK ASSISTED …DELTA TAU DELTA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $25,000 · OtherDELTA TAU DELTA EDUCAT…UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LAW SCHOOL: $20,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LA…KIDS MATTER: $20,000 · OtherKIDS MATTERSENT CHURCH: $12,500 · OtherDAY SPRING SENIOR LIVING: $11,000 · OtherTHE GATEHOUSE CORPORATION: $11,000 · OtherTHE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherBLUEPRINT COMMUNITY CHURCH: $10,000 · OtherMEALS ON WHEELS INC: $10,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $10,000 · OtherWEST DALLAS SCHOOL: $10,000 · OtherPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDAITON CO JOHN STROUT: $10,000 · OtherFEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC: $15,000 · OtherFEED MY STARVING CHILD…+4 more: $20,000 · Other+4 moreTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $65,000 · Public BenefitTHE HERITAGE FOU…Leadership Institute: $60,000 · Public BenefitLeadership Insti…JUDICIAL WATCH INC: $60,000 · Public BenefitJUDICIAL WATCH I…MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER: $90,000 · Arts & CultureConservative Partnership Institute: $20,000 · EducationINGRAM WARRIOR HOMES INC: $15,000 · EducationLAMAR HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATIO: $2,000 · EducationDALLASFORT WORTH LABRADOR RETRIEVER RESCUE CLUB INC: $31,000 · AnimalsOPERATION KINDNESS: $5,000 · AnimalsHUNT PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $15,000 · Recreation & Sports
Religion$663,500Other$254,500Public Benefit$185,000Arts & Culture$90,000Education$37,000Animals$36,000Recreation & Sports$15,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMobilize the Church: $580,000 over 5y, 33% of budgetMEDIA RESEARCH CENTER: $90,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetVISION AFRICA MINISTRIES INC: $83,500 over 4y, 5.5% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $65,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLeadership Institute: $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJUDICIAL WATCH INC: $60,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDALLASFORT WORTH LABRADOR RETRIEVER RESCUE CLUB INC: $31,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetConservative Partnership Institute: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHUNT PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $15,000 over 1y, 48% of budgetFEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINGRAM WARRIOR HOMES INC: $15,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetTHE GATEHOUSE CORPORATION: $11,000 over 1y, 30% of budgetTHE STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetOPERATION KINDNESS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPATRIOT PAWS SERVICE DOGS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLAMAR HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATIO: $2,000 over 1y, 0.9% 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.

Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO4× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Earlane & Sam Croom Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Earlane & Sam Croom Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report 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, 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.

    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 30 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Earlane & Sam Croom’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