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Edmund B Thornton Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Edmund B Thornton Foundation

Its FY2026 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$2k
Granted FY2026still arriving
4
Grants FY2026still arriving
1
States reached
$500
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0186% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2026.

Arts & Culture$27kHousing & Shelter$800Environment$241Food & Nutrition$50Other$0
02FY2026 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$500
Median grant
1
States reached
$23k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ILLINOIS VALLEY INTERTRIBAL$500
DICKINSON HOUSE FOUNDATION$500
MENDOTA MUSEUM & HISTORICAL SOCIETY$500
OTTAWA PADS SHELTER$300
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 (FY21–26) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION: $100 → 14%ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY: $25 → 11%THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $100 → 14%OTTAWA PADS SHELTER: $300 → 15%UNIVERSITY OF IL EXTENSION: $50 → 19%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $75 → 7%WORLD WILDLIFE FUND: $16 → 14%DICKINSON HOUSE FOUNDATION: $500 → 15%NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOC: $25 → 14%LA SALLE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $26k → 15%ILLINOIS VALLEY PADS: $100 → 15%ILLINOIS VALLEY INTERTRIBAL: $500 → 15%ILLINOIS VALLEY PADS: $50 → 15%MENDOTA MUSEUM & HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $500 → 15%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 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
National Council for Preservation Education
—
2
National Audubon Society Inc

We work towards a future where birds thrive across the americas because audubon is a powerful, diverse, and ever-growing force for conservation. (continued on schedule o).

Environment
3
Massachusetts Audubon Society Inc

To protect the nature of massachusetts for people and for wildlife through education, land conservation, advocacy, scientific research, and habitat stewardship/restoration.

Environment
4
The Wildlife Society

The wildlife society's mission is to inspire, empower, and enable wildlife professionals to sustain wildlife populations and habitats through science-based management and conservation.

Animals
5
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
6
Huron Pines Resource Conservation & Development Council Inc

It is our mission at huron pines to conserve and enhance northern michigan's natural resources to ensure healthy water, protected places and vibrant communities. for alomst 50 years, our work across the forests, lakes and streams of…

Environment
7
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
8
Washington Forest Law Center

Dedicated to protecting the world's natural environment on behalf of the public by serving as a public interest law firm. refer to schedule o, part iii, line 4a, for list of litigated cases or advocacy work.

—
9
American Humane Association

Founded in 1877, american humane association, dba american humane society (american humane) is committed to ensuring the safety, welfare and well-being of animals. our leadership programs are first to serve in promoting and nurturing the…

Animals
10
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
11
Heartlands Conservancy

The mission of heartlands conservancy is to empower and colaborate with the people of southern illinois to advance and protect the health of our distinctive communities and nationally significant natural and cultural resources.

Environment
12
Nature Collective

Nature collective's mission is to drive a passion for nature for all. we think inclusively and diversely when serving those devoid of nature those who remember nature and want to connect back to it and those who have an affinity with…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Parks Conservation Association; the most unlike its peers is Mendota Museum & Historical Society. 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

8 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 8 of the 13 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
5/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LASALLE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $26,000 · OtherLASALLE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY+6 more: $1,575 · Other+6 moreMendota Museum & Historical Society: $500 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES: $100 · Arts & CultureTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $100 · EnvironmentNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $25 · EnvironmentILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY: $25 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $16 · Environment
Other$27,575Arts & Culture$600Environment$166

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLASALLE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $26,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $75 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $25 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY: $25 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $16 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Edmund B Thornton Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Edmund B Thornton Foundation. 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%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 13 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 2026, released 2026. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    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