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Excellence in Investing for Childrens Causes

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$265k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$85k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$519kYouth Development$454kHealth$298kHuman Services$249kFood & Nutrition$220kPublic Benefit$33k
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 3 grants below total $255,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $265,000 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $10,000 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.
$85,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$13k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
EatLearnPlay Foundation$85,000
SMART$85,000
The Posse Foundation$85,000
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 (FY18–22, $249k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Community Education: $64k → 10%Community Education: $54k → 10%Community Education: $52k → 10%Community Education: $44k → 10%Community Education: $35k → 10%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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 9 repeat orgs$66k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +24% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

9 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
2

Total granted

$1.7M
$66k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+24%
+17%

Still filing today

100%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthHousing & ShelterCrime & LegalHuman ServicesPhilanthropyOther
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

  • CE
    Community Education Partnerships
    5× · 2018–2022 · $249k · revenue +128% · 27% of their budget
  • EL
    EAT LEARN PLAY FOUNDATION
    3× · 2023–2025 · $220k · revenue +12%
  • SM
    SCHOOLS MENTORING AND RESOURCES TEAM INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $220k · revenue +24%

Funded once

  • MC
    Meritus College Fund
    one grant, 2017 · $33k
  • AA
    Alive and Free
    one grant, 2017 · $33k · revenue +17%
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
Emerge Fellowship

Fellows persist through graduation and into careers that build long-term economic mobility for themselves & their communities.

Education
2
Collegespring Inc

In partnership with educators, CollegeSpring helps students impacted by poverty demonstrate their full potential on college and career readiness assessments that unlock better opportunities after high school. Our vision is that every…

Education
3
Northbridge College Success Program

To provide support, resources, and guidance to students with learning differences as they transition to, persist, and succeed in their educational and vocational endeavors.

Education
4
Berkeley Community Scholars Dba Berkeley Community Fund

Berkeley Community Scholars empowers Berkeley youth who face racial, economic, and other barriers to achieving their college dreams by providing a unique experience of scholarships, advising, mentoring, and a community of support.

Philanthropy
5
Student Global Ambassador Project

SGAP Leaders empowers teens to become agents of change in their communities and beyond by thinking critically, applying STEM, and championing social impact. Our students 1) brainstorm about projects that they would like to lead (all…

Education
6
Stem Advantage

Talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. STEM Advantage mentors, prepares, and inspires first-generation, low-income, and underserved college students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). We level…

Youth Development
7
Building Bridges Education

Building Bridges Education (BBE) is a non-profit organization at the forefront of creating transformative, high-impact programming. BBE is committed to equity-driven initiatives that empower students to embark on journeys of…

Education
8
Alameda Education Foundation

AEF serves as a critical bridge toward equitable and inclusive educational outcomes for Alameda TK-12 public school students.

—
9
Compass High School

At Compass, social and emotional learning is as important as academic achievement. We teach to students strengths, ensuring academic growth and success with self-advocacy and learning skills, meeting students where they are while…

Education
10
Partnership Scholars Program

Our services include mentoring, educational & cultural enrichment activities, and college access guidance. Partnership Scholars Program offers students the skills, knowledge and support they need to prepare for, enter, and graduate from…

—
11
College Success Foundation - District of Columbia

Prepare low-income students to finish high school, graduate college and succeed in life.

Education
12
The College Preparatory School

At college prep we believe in the foundational importance of scholarship, the value of dialogue, and the need for academically curious young people to belong to a kind, creative, diverse and joyful community. we challenge our students to…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Schools Mentoring and Resources Team Inc (Smart); the most unlike its peers is Ira Sohn Conference Foundation 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

12 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/12
Grantees still filing
8/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SCHOOLS MENTORING AND RESOURCES TEAM INC (SMART): $220,000 · EducationSCHOOLS MENTORING AND RESOURCES TEAM IN…THE POSSE FOUNDATION INC: $160,000 · EducationTHE POSSE FOUNDATION INC826 Valencia: $139,000 · Education826 ValenciaLife Learning Academy: $106,000 · EducationLife Learning AcademyIra Sohn Conference Foundation Inc: $297,956 · HealthIra Sohn Conference…Community Education Partnerships: $249,000 · Human ServicesCommunity Educa…Bridge the Gap College Prep: $197,000 · Youth DevelopmentBridge the Gap…GENERATION CITIZEN INC: $33,000 · Youth DevelopmentGENERATION CIT…EAT LEARN PLAY FOUNDATION: $220,000 · PhilanthropyEAT LEARN PLAY…NEW DOOR VENTURES FKA GOLDEN GATE COMMUNITY INC: $85,000 · Housing & ShelterMeritus College Fund: $33,000 · OtherAlive and Free: $33,000 · Crime & Legal
Education$625,000Health$297,956Human Services$249,000Youth Development$230,000Philanthropy$220,000Housing & Shelter$85,000Other$33,000Crime & Legal$33,000

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 budgetIra Sohn Conference Foundation Inc: $297,956 over 6y, 9.8% of budgetCommunity Education Partnerships: $249,000 over 5y, 27% of budgetEAT LEARN PLAY FOUNDATION: $220,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetSCHOOLS MENTORING AND RESOURCES TEAM INC (SMART): $220,000 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetBridge the Gap College Prep: $197,000 over 4y, 4.0% of budgetTHE POSSE FOUNDATION INC: $160,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budget826 Valencia: $139,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetLife Learning Academy: $106,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetNEW DOOR VENTURES FKA GOLDEN GATE COMMUNITY INC: $85,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetGENERATION CITIZEN INC: $33,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetMeritus College Fund: $33,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetAlive and Free: $33,000 over 1y, 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.

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.

Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA19.1× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · Tipping Point Community · The James Irvine Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · American Endowment Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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 Excellence in Investing for Childrens Causes funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Excellence in Investing for Childrens Causes. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%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
    8report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Excellence in Investing for Childrens Causes?

    Find your warmest path to Excellence in Investing for Childrens Causes 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 12 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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