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· Public charity

Equis Institute

EQUIS INSTITUTE's mission is to create a better understanding of latinx communities, invest in innovative approaches to reach and engage them, and convene latinx leaders for the growth and long-term sustainability of the sector.

$1.6M
Granted FY2024still arriving
13
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$670k
Largest
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2024.

Public Benefit$2.2MCivil Rights$1.7MEmployment$435kPhilanthropy$266kArts & Culture$150kHuman Services$120kEducation$35kEnvironment$35kOther$0
02FY2024 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 13 grants below total $1,545,636, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,580,636 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $35,000 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–50k9 grants · $320k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.2M
$35,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$8.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SOMOS VOTANTES EDUCATION FUND$670,000
DIGITAL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE OF THE AMERICAS$255,636
PRIORITIES USA FOUNDATION$250,000
PODERISTAS COMMUNITY FUND$50,000
INCLUDUS FUND$40,000
DOLORES C HUERTA FOUNDATION$35,000
THE SEMILLA PROJECT$35,000
COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY OF SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO$35,000
CENTRAL VALLEY WORKERS CENTER$35,000
NM COMUNIDADES EN ACCION Y DE FE$35,000
NUESTRA TIERRA CONSERVATION$35,000
VALLEY VOICES$35,000
MAKE THE ROAD PA$35,000
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 (FY24–24, $195k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 54% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%PODERISTAS COMMUNITY FUND: $50k → 10%MAKE THE ROAD PA: $35k → 20%NM COMUNIDADES EN ACCION Y DE FE: $35k → 23%INCLUDUS FUND: $40k → 6%COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY OF SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO: $35k → 23%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.

27%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.4M · 4 repeat orgs$3.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +73% since the first grant, against -23% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 1 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
7

Total granted

$1.4M
$2.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+73%
-23%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 21% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.2M went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24
Civil RightsHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyPublic BenefitEmploymentOther
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

  • PU
    PRIORITIES USA FOUNDATION
    2× · 2022–2024 · $530k · revenue +82%
  • CV
    CENTRAL VALLEY WORKERS CENTER
    2× · 2022–2024 · $435k · revenue -80%
  • VV
    VALLEY VOICES
    2× · 2022–2024 · $235k · revenue +73%

Funded once

  • CA
    Cafe Accion
    one grant, 2022 · $1.1M · revenue -30%
  • CE
    CIVIC EMPOWERMENT COALITION
    one grant, 2022 · $631k · revenue -23% · 54% of their budget
  • CA
    COMMUNITY ALLIANCE OF FRESNO
    one grant, 2022 · $344k · revenue -75% · 44% of their budget
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
California Donor Table

California Donor Table anchors a hub of donors, foundations, and community leaders. We pool together our resources to shape California into a truly democratic state that works for the people, not the powerful. Rooted in our commitment to…

Civil Rights
2
Fuerza LaboralPower of Workers

Fuerza Laboral is a workers' rights center whose mission is to shift the balance of power in our economy in favor of workers by educating, training, and organizing workers to become community leaders; taking direct action to recover unpaid…

Education
3
Latino Media Collaborative

Latino Media Collaborative's mission is to leverage the power of Latino and community news media to impact policy, change narratives, and promote civic engagement, while also supporting advancement of the sector through capacity building,…

Arts & Culture
4
Latinas Usa
Community Improvement
5
Colectiva Legal Del Pueblo

Colectiva Legal del Pueblo is a non-hierarchal collective organization founded for and by undocumented immigrants working to build community leadership and power for migrant justice through legal services, advocacy and education.

Civil Rights
6
Central Valley Journalism Collaborative

We grow local news for and from the Valley to help you live a healthy and informed life. We connect Central Valley communities with the support needed to grow and sustain local journalism.

Philanthropy
7
Center for Community Advocacy

Provide Educational Programs, Health Services and Legal Services to Farm Workers at housing sites and throughout the Salinas Valley and promote improved living conditions.

—
8
Central Valley Partnership

The Central Valley Partnership (CVP) conducts and collaborates in training initiatives, including community organizer training, education on labor history and issues, messaging workshops, etc., aimed at fostering the establishment of new…

Civil Rights
9
Latino Political Network
—
10
Mijente

We are latinx and chicanx people who want to see our entire community thrive, brought together by a shared consciousness of the challenges we face and a deep seated need for co-development and kinship across identity, generation, language…

Community Improvement
11
Mujeres Unidas y Activas

MUAis an organization of Latina and Indigenous immigrant women with the mission of growing our personal and community power to achieve social and economic justice. Personal transformation and civic-political participation go hand in hand.

Human Services
12
Climate Equity Action Fund

The climate equity action fund (ceaf) works hand-in-hand with community-based partners in critical states across the country to secure and sustain policy wins for climate and clean energy. building on over a decade of trust with leading…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Dolores C Huerta Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Central Valley Workers Center. 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

21 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
21/21
Grantees still filing
7/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Cafe Accion: $1,130,000 · Civil RightsCafe AccionPRIORITIES USA FOUNDATION: $530,000 · Civil RightsPRIORITIES USA FOUNDATIONCOMMUNITY ALLIANCE OF FRESNO: $343,714 · Civil RightsCOMMUNITY ALLIANCE OF FRESNOVALLEY VOICES: $235,000 · Civil RightsVALLEY VOICESHARNESS COMMUNITY: $150,000 · Civil RightsHARNESS COMMUNITY+2 more: $32,500 · Civil RightsNORTH MAIN STREET FUND: $670,000 · Community ImprovementNORTH MAIN STREET FUN…DIGITAL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE OF THE AMERICAS: $255,636 · Community ImprovementDIGITAL DEMOCRACY INS…DOLORES C HUERTA FOUNDATION: $35,000 · Community ImprovementCIVIC EMPOWERMENT COALITION: $630,680 · Public BenefitCIVIC EMPOWERM…CENTRAL VALLEY WORKERS CENTER: $435,000 · EmploymentCENTRAL V…COMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $258,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $7,500 · PhilanthropyPODERISTAS COMMUNITY FUND: $50,000 · Human ServicesINCLUDUS FUND: $40,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY OF SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO INC: $35,000 · Human ServicesMake The Road States Inc: $35,000 · Human ServicesNM Comunidades En Accion Y De Fe: $35,000 · Human ServicesNUESTRA TIERRA CONSERVATION PROJECT: $35,000 · OtherTHE SEMILLA PROJECT: $35,000 · Education
Civil Rights$2,421,214Community Improvement$960,636Public Benefit$630,680Employment$435,000Philanthropy$265,500Human Services$195,000Other$35,000Education$35,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNORTH MAIN STREET FUND: $670,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetCIVIC EMPOWERMENT COALITION: $630,680 over 1y, 54% of budgetPRIORITIES USA FOUNDATION: $530,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetCENTRAL VALLEY WORKERS CENTER: $435,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetCOMMUNITY ALLIANCE OF FRESNO: $343,714 over 1y, 44% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $258,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetDIGITAL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE OF THE AMERICAS: $255,636 over 1y, 42% of budgetVALLEY VOICES: $235,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetHARNESS COMMUNITY: $150,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetPODERISTAS COMMUNITY FUND: $50,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetINCLUDUS FUND: $40,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY OF SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO INC: $35,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMake The Road States Inc: $35,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNUESTRA TIERRA CONSERVATION PROJECT: $35,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetNM Comunidades En Accion Y De Fe: $35,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetTHE SEMILLA PROJECT: $35,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetDOLORES C HUERTA FOUNDATION: $35,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDolores Huerta Action Fund: $25,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetMOMSRISING EDUCATION FUND: $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WE DREAM NETWORK INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

NEO Philanthropy IncNY19.2× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: NEO Philanthropy Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · WK Kellogg Foundation · Western Conservation Foundation · Tides Foundation · New Venture Fund · The Ford Foundation · Equislabs · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Tides Center · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Impactassetsinc

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 Equis Institute funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Equis Institute. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    typical government reliance, FY20–24
    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 Equis Institute?

    Find your warmest path to Equis Institute 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 21 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

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