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Plinth

· Private foundation

Estate of Benjamin B Lewis

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.

$107k
Granted FY2024still arriving
19
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$18k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172024.

Human Services$258kPhilanthropy$135kHealth$133kFood & Nutrition$114kEducation$98kReligion$70kYouth Development$64kCrime & Legal$47kOther$0
02FY2024 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k15 grants · $58k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $49k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$938k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NOURISH BRIDGEPORT INC$18,000
YMCA - CAMP HI-ROCK$11,000
SUMMERFIELD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH$10,100
BRIDGEPORT CITADEL CORP SALVATION A$10,000
BRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$8,000
JAMES J CURIALE SCHOOL$7,000
Individual grant recipient$6,000
BURROUGHS COMMUNITY CENTER$6,000
CENTER FOR FAMILY JUSTICE$5,100
BRIDGEPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND$5,000
BRIDGEPORT RESCUE MISSION$4,000
LIFEBRIDGE COMMUNITY SERVICES (FSW$4,000
BRIDGEPORT LADIES CHARITABLE SOCIET$4,000
WAKEMAN BOYS & GIRLS CLUB$3,000
HARTFORD HEALTH CARE AT HOME (VNS)$2,000
02The need
03

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.

None of your grants could be placed against low income need for this view.

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.

04

Where the work is directed

The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.

About 100% of Estate of Benjamin B Lewis’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another.

Estate of Benjamin B Lewislessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address

Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

03Your edge
repeat funding

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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$931k · 24 repeat orgs$30k to everyone else

24 repeat relationships — 19 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
6

Total granted

$931k
$30k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+66%
+83%

Still filing today

50%
33%

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
Human ServicesHealthReligionRecreation & SportsPhilanthropyYouth DevelopmentOther

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

  • NB
    NOURISH BRIDGEPORT INC
    7× · 2018–2024 · $109k · revenue +768%
  • BC
    BURROUGHS COMMUNITY CENTER INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $50k · revenue +38%
  • BH
    BRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $45k · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • NF
    NORMA F PFRIEM URBAN OUTREACH INITI
    one grant, 2017 · $15k
  • HN
    HALL NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +83%
  • BC
    BRIDGEPORT CHILD ADVOCACY COALITION
    one grant, 2017 · $4k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

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.

1
Bridgeport Islamic Community Center

Provide religious,educational,and community services for the muslim community in the greater bridgeport area in connecticut. particpate in interfaith and all other community activties in the greater bridgeport area.

Religion
2
Bridgeport Volunteer Fire Department Inc
Public Safety & Disaster
3
The Bridge Academy Inc

The bridge academy, inc. was granted a charter to operate the bridge academy, a public school located in the city of bridgeport, ct. the school was founded in 1997 to provide college preparatory curriculum designed to overcome the…

Education
4
Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust

Founded in 1986, building neighborhoods together's (bnt) mission is to end housing insecurity, income inequality, and homelessness by creating safe, affordable housing, and providing comprehensive housing and financial counseling services…

Housing & Shelter
5
Bridgton Hospital

To provide exceptional healthcare services in a safe and trustfulenvironment through the expertise, commitment, and compassion ofour family of caregivers.

Health
6
The University of Bridgeport Inc

The university promotes academic excellence, personal responsibility and commitment to service. distinctive curricula in an international, culturally diverse supportive learning environment prepare graduates for life and leadership in an…

Education
7
Bridgeport Regional Business Council

To increase opportunities for the people of the bridgeport region by acting to create an environment for business expansion, retention and recruitment that will result in jobs and tax base growth.

8
Brookline Community Mental Health Center Inc Dba the Brookline Center

The brookline center for community mental health provides groundbreaking mental health services rooted in meaningful innovation and compassionate care. in response to today's mental health landscape and the ongoing mental health crisis,…

9
Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation

Brooklyn bridge park corporation's mission, d/b/a brooklyn bridge park ("bbp") mission is to provide an exceptional public space that connects people, nature, and the waterfront, through inclusive, innovative, and sustainable management…

Recreation & Sports
10
Bridgeport Generation Now Votes

Bridgeport Generation Now Votes is on a mission to increase voter turnout in Bridgeport elections. Key to that work is educating the public about political candidates public officials and what their public service record actually is not…

Community Improvement
11
Bridges Healthcare Inc

Bridges healthcare has provided a comprehensive range of mental health/substance abuse treatment (including serious mental illness, emotional disturbance, and co-occurring mental/substance use disorders) to children and adults in new haven…

Health
12
I Care Outreach Inc

I care outreach, inc. was founded in 2004 to identify and address the urgent needs of low-income, disadvantaged and at risk individuals and families within the brigeport, connecticut area and surrounding local communities. the…

Employment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Bridgeport Rescue Mission Inc and the most unlike its peers is Wakeman Boys and Girls Club Corp. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

05the grantee network

14 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 14 of the 30 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
12/14
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Individual grant recipient — $82,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientBRIDGEPORT CITADEL CORP SALVATION A — $75,000 · OtherBRIDGEPORT CITADEL CORP SALVATION ASUMMERFIELD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH — $69,800 · OtherSUMMERFIELD UNITED METHODIST CHURCHYMCA - CAMP HI-ROCK — $56,000 · OtherYMCA - CAMP HI-ROCKJAMES J CURIALE SCHOOL — $48,000 · OtherJAMES J CURIALE SCHOOLBRIDGEPORT LADIES CHARITABLE SOCIETY — $33,000 · OtherBRIDGEPORT LADIES CHARITABLE SOCIETYHARTFORD HEALTH CARE AT HOME (VNS) — $27,000 · OtherVISITING NURSES SERVICES OF CT — $26,000 · OtherSCHOOL VOLUNTEER ASSOCIATION OF BRI — $25,000 · OtherMERCY LERNING CENTER — $19,000 · OtherCOUNCIL OF CHURCHES OF GREATER BRID — $17,500 · Other+9 more — $40,800 · Other+9 moreTHE CENTER FOR FAMILY JUSTICE INC — $42,800 · Human ServicesTHE CENTER FOR…LIFEBRIDGE COMMUNITY SERVICES INC — $38,000 · Human ServicesLIFEBRIDGE COM…BRIDGEPORT RESCUE MISSION INC — $35,000 · Human ServicesBRIDGEPORT RES…HALL NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE INC — $5,000 · Human ServicesNOURISH BRIDGEPORT INC — $109,000 · ReligionNOURISH BRID…BRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC — $45,000 · HealthBRIDGEPOR…BRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL — $35,000 · HealthBRIDGEPOR…BURROUGHS COMMUNITY CENTER INC — $50,000 · Recreation & SportsBRIDGEPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND INC — $45,000 · PhilanthropyWAKEMAN BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB CORP — $37,000 · Youth Development
Other$519,100Human Services$120,800Religion$109,000Health$80,000Recreation & Sports$50,000Philanthropy$45,000Youth Development$37,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetNOURISH BRIDGEPORT INC — $109,000 over 7y, 6.3% of budgetBURROUGHS COMMUNITY CENTER INC — $50,000 over 8y, 2.9% of budgetBRIDGEPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND INC — $45,000 over 8y, 2.3% of budgetBRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC — $45,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR FAMILY JUSTICE INC — $42,800 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetLIFEBRIDGE COMMUNITY SERVICES INC — $38,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetWAKEMAN BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB CORP — $37,000 over 8y, 9.2% of budgetBRIDGEPORT RESCUE MISSION INC — $35,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetBRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL — $35,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBRIDGEPORT LADIES CHARITABLE SOCIETY — $33,000 over 8y, 5.3% of budgetSHEPHERDS INC — $5,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetHALL NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF GREATER FAIRFIELD COUNTY INC — $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOPERATION HOPE OF FAIRFIELD INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
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 NOURISH BRIDGEPORT INC
  • Who funds BURROUGHS COMMUNITY CENTER INC
  • Who funds BRIDGEPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND INC
  • Who funds BRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds THE CENTER FOR FAMILY JUSTICE INC
  • Who funds LIFEBRIDGE COMMUNITY SERVICES INC
  • Who funds WAKEMAN BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB CORP
  • Who funds BRIDGEPORT RESCUE MISSION INC
  • Who funds BRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL
  • Who funds BRIDGEPORT LADIES CHARITABLE SOCIETY
  • Who funds SHEPHERDS INC
  • Who funds HALL NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE INC
  • Who funds JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF GREATER FAIRFIELD COUNTY INC
  • Who funds OPERATION HOPE OF FAIRFIELD INC

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.

Fairfield County's Community Foundation IncCT29.8× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fairfield County's Community Foundation Inc · Peoples United Community Foundation · Tauck Family Foundation · The Near and Far Association Inc · The Bridgeport Rotary Club Foundation Inc · The Inner-City Foundation for Charity & Education Inc · Ernest and Joan Trefz Foundation · Synchrony Foundation · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Paloian Family Foundation Inc · The Demattia Charitable Foundation Inc · Quidditch Foundation Inc Sheila J Clancy Trustee

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 Estate of Benjamin B Lewis 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 50%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 19%
  • The Center for Family Justice Inc49% of income from government
  • Lifebridge Community Services Inc32% of income from government
  • Hall Neighborhood House Inc27% of income from government
  • Nourish Bridgeport Inc19% of income from government
  • Operation Hope of Fairfield Inc15% of income from government
  • Wakeman Boys and Girls Club Corp11% of income from government
  • Bridgeport Hospital0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get 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 · 0–90%
typical government reliance, FY2025

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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Estate of Benjamin B Lewis?

Find your warmest path to Estate of Benjamin B Lewis 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 30 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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