Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

Firefly Scientists 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.

$3.6M
Granted FY2024still arriving
49
Grants FY2024still arriving
18
States reached
$450k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.

Arts & Culture$7.7MEducation$5.0MHealth$3.3MHuman Services$3.1MYouth Development$2.2MEmployment$2.1MEnvironment$2.1MFood & Nutrition$1.3MOther$0
02FY2024 · 49 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $3k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $533k
  • $50k–250k27 grants · $2.1M
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.0M
$50,000
Median grant
18
States reached
$75M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MINNESOTA OPERA$450,000
JEWISH NATIONAL FUND$300,000
DODGE NATURE CENTER$250,000
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY$200,000
CLASSICAL TAHOE$187,000
HUGS CAFE$125,000
WALKER WEST MUSIC ACADEMY$125,000
ACCESS ABILITY WI INC$121,000
FRIENDS OF THE ARAVA INSTITUTE$100,000
HIGHLAND FRIENDSHIP CLUB$85,000
ARTISTS BREAKING LIMITS & EXPECTATIONS$85,000
YOUNG DANCE$80,000
PARTNERSHIP RESOURCES INC$75,000
SPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS$70,000
MI WORK MATTERS$70,000
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.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $3.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%DISABILITY SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL: $19k → 9%MI WORK MATTERS: $70k → 21%SARAH BELLUM'S BAKERY & WORKSHOP: $50k → 12%DISABILITY BELONGS: $38k → 6%ELPIS ENTERPRISES: $120k → 14%MI WORK MATTERS: $50k → 21%CLASSICAL TAHOE: $275k → 10%CLASSICAL TAHOE: $190k → 10%ELPIS ENTERPRISES: $75k → 14%CLASSICAL TAHOE: $187k → 10%LAUGHING BEAR BAKERY: $90k → 21%CLASSICAL TAHOE: $187k → 10%EXODUS LENDING: $50k → 14%CLASSICAL TAHOE: $90k → 10%ELPIS ENTERPRISES: $27k → 14%VILLAGE OF ARTS & HUMANITIES: $250k → 22%CLASSICAL TAHOE: $50k → 10%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MN: $25k → 14%VILLAGE OF ARTS & HUMANITIES: $125k → 22%CLASSICAL TAHOE: $50k → 10%ELPIS ENTERPRISES: $10k → 14%SAFE TODDLES INC: $50k → 17%YOUTH FRONTIERS: $50k → 11%YOUTH FRONTIERS: $50k → 11%EQUALITY PATHWAYS TO POTENTIAL: $19k → 11%CENTRO TYRONE GUZMAN: $80k → 11%OPEN ARMS OF MINNESOTA: $75k → 11%OPEN ARMS OF MINNESOTA: $75k → 11%YOUTH FRONTIERS: $50k → 11%AVIVO: $60k → 11%YOUTH FRONTIERS: $50k → 11%OPEN ARMS OF MINNESOTA: $50k → 11%YOUTH FRONTIERS: $25k → 11%OPEN ARMS OF MINNESOTA: $25k → 11%CENTRO TYRONE GUZMAN: $25k → 11%URBAN STRATEGIES: $150k → 11%APPETITE FOR CHANGE: $50k → 11%APPETITE FOR CHANGE: $15k → 11%SHOLOM FOUNDATION: $48k → 11%SHOLOM FOUNDATION: $12k → 11%FRASER: $50k → 11%SPARK YOUTH: $40k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

ME
NH
WA
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
KS
AR
TN
NC
DC
LA
AL
GA
TX

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 7% of Firefly Scientists Foundation’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.

Firefly Scientists Foundationlessmore 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.

69%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$20M · 59 repeat orgs$8.9M to everyone else

59 repeat relationships — 19 still active in FY2024, 40 since wound down; 28 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

59
79

Total granted

$20M
$7.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
+26%

Still filing today

76%
66%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 56% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.4M 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
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationHealthEmploymentEnvironmentOther

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

  • CT
    CLASSICAL TAHOE
    7× · 2017–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +136%
  • WI
    WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $578k · revenue +150%
  • WW
    WALKER WEST MUSIC ACADEMY
    5× · 2019–2024 · $378k · revenue +882%

Funded once

  • MJ
    MINNESOTA JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $1.2M · revenue -1%
  • MM
    MEG MEMORIAL FUND FOR CREATIVE ARTS
    one grant, 2017 · $680k
  • MM
    MEG MEMORIAL DONOR ADVISED FUND - FIDELITY
    one grant, 2022 · $650k

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
Minnesota Fringe Festival

Minnesota fringe connects adventurous artists with adventurous audiences by creating open, supportive forums for free and diverse artistic expression.

Arts & Culture
2
Connectability of Mn Inc

Connectability of mn, inc. works to advance the independence, productivity, and full citizenship of people experiencing physical or invisible barriers.

—
3
Groves Academy

The mission of groves learning organization is to build confidence and success for learners, particularly those with learning differences such as dyslexia, adhd and executive function challenges. through research-based approaches and…

Education
4
Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts

Interact center for the visual and performing arts offers professionally rigorous visual and performing arts programs to adults with disabilities. in the spirit of radical inclusion, interact is a multi-cultural art center that embraces…

Human Services
5
Dakotabilities Inc

Together, we create a warm and welcoming community enriching the lives of those we support.

Human Services
6
Lifeworks Services Inc

Lifeworks' mission is to partner with people with disabilities to drive change by increasing opportunity and access in the community.

Human Services
7
Homeward Bound Inc

Providing innovative and life-enriching services for children, adolescents, and adults with disabilities.

Human Services
8
Minnesota Business Partnership

The minnesota business partnership's mission is to maintain a high quality of life for all minnesotans by ensuring that the state's economy remains strong, globally competitive and its prospects for growth bright by working with elected…

—
9
Abilitypath

Empower people with special needs to achieve their full potential through innovative, inclusive programs and community partnerships.

Employment
10
Reach for Resources Inc

Empowering people of all abilities to reach their full potential. we provide individualized services that maximize independence, boosts community engagement and improves physical and emotional well-being.

—
11
Arts Midwest Incorporated

Arts Midwest works collaboratively with private and public arts supporters to support, inform, and celebrate arts organizations and creative communities across the Midwest. Our mission is to build unprecedented opportunity across the…

Arts & Culture
12
Circus of the Star

A performing arts circus school dedicated to inspiring artistry and confidence.

Youth Development

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Upstream Arts Inc and the most unlike its peers is Citizenship Counts. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyOrchestra and Ensemble Perf…Developmental Disabilities …Equine Therapy ProgramsJewish Community Organizati…Youth Sports ProgramsDance Arts OrganizationsImmigrant Worker SupportAffordable Housing Developm…Policy Research and AdvocacyHealth Access Advocacy and …Local Food System Organizat…Youth Development ServicesPublic Library OperationsCommunity FoundationsChristian Missionary Organi…Faith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Independent K-12 SchoolsCommunity Arts CentersEnvironmental Conservation …
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 26 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number17%2%<5yr12%17%5–10yr20%23%10–20yr17%21%20–35yr16%18%35–55yr18%19%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value17%1%<5yr12%7%5–10yr20%15%10–20yr17%21%20–35yr16%18%35–55yr18%38%55yr+

The field is 17% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 10% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/128
the rest of the field
10%
3,829/38,861

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

05the grantee network

123 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 123 of the 169 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.

11
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
26
Early backer (in before they grew)
122/123
Grantees still filing
73/123
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

HEALTHPARTNERS CO REGIONS HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $2,250,000 · OtherHEALTHPARTNERS CO REGIONS HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONSAINT PAUL JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER — $1,685,000 · OtherSAINT PAUL JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERMINNESOTA JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER — $1,151,800 · OtherMINNESOTA JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERIndividual grant recipient — $1,100,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient — $1,050,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientREVE ACADEMY — $805,000 · OtherTHOMAS IRVINE DODGE NATURE CENTER — $765,000 · OtherMEG MEMORIAL FUND FOR CREATIVE ARTS — $680,000 · OtherMEG MEMORIAL DONOR ADVISED FUND - FIDELITY — $650,000 · Other+76 more — $6,656,300 · Other+76 moreThe Minnesota Opera — $2,730,320 · Arts & CultureThe Minnesota Ope…KAIROS ALIVE — $419,000 · Arts & CultureKAIROS ALIVESPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS — $180,000 · Arts & Culture+21 more — $1,267,000 · Arts & Culture+21 moreTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $968,000 · EducationTHE BOARD O…TRUSTEES OF THE HAMLINE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA — $800,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF…UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION — $300,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY …HIGHLAND FRIENDSHIP CLUB — $165,000 · EducationARETE ACADEMY — $140,000 · EducationCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC — $115,000 · Education+12 more — $695,000 · Education+12 moreCLASSICAL TAHOE — $1,029,000 · Human ServicesCLASSICAL T…THE VILLAGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES — $375,000 · Human ServicesTHE VILLAGE…Elpis Enterprises — $232,000 · Human ServicesElpis Enter…YOUTH FRONTIERS INC — $225,000 · Human ServicesYOUTH FRONT…OPEN ARMS OF MINNESOTA — $225,000 · Human ServicesOPEN ARMS O…URBAN STRATEGIES INC — $150,000 · Human ServicesMI WORK MATTERS — $120,000 · Human ServicesCENTRO TYRONE GUZMAN — $105,000 · Human Services+13 more — $615,500 · Human Services+13 moreWILDERNESS INQUIRY INC — $578,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF ARAVA THE INSTITUTE LTD — $375,000 · EnvironmentLAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT — $80,000 · EnvironmentISAAC W BERNHEIM FOUNDATION — $75,000 · Environment+1 more — $20,000 · EnvironmentJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC — $853,000 · InternationalTECHNOSERVE INC — $50,000 · International+2 more — $18,000 · InternationalRIVER VALLEY RIDERS — $300,000 · HealthFarmsteads of New England Inc — $150,000 · Health21 Roots Farm — $142,000 · HealthVETRI FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN — $67,400 · HealthCARRUSEL EN LA SEBASTIANA CORP — $65,000 · HealthAdaptive Adventures — $40,000 · HealthHANDS & HEARTS FOR HORSES INC — $35,000 · HealthWINTERS CENTER FOR AUTISM — $35,000 · Health+4 more — $78,000 · Health
Other$16,793,100Arts & Culture$4,596,320Education$3,183,000Human Services$3,076,500Environment$1,128,000International$921,000Health$912,400

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetThe Minnesota Opera — $2,730,320 over 7y, 5.6% of budgetMINNESOTA JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER — $1,151,800 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetCLASSICAL TAHOE — $1,029,000 over 7y, 20% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $968,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC — $853,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetREVE ACADEMY — $805,000 over 7y, 42% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE HAMLINE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA — $800,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTHOMAS IRVINE DODGE NATURE CENTER — $765,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetWILDERNESS INQUIRY INC — $578,000 over 5y, 7.5% of budgetJ-HAP INC — $500,000 over 1y, 48% of budgetKAIROS ALIVE — $419,000 over 8y, 31% of budgetWALKER WEST MUSIC ACADEMY — $378,000 over 5y, 4.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF ARAVA THE INSTITUTE LTD — $375,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetTHE VILLAGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES — $375,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetRIVER VALLEY RIDERS — $300,000 over 2y, 33% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION — $300,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBESTPREP — $291,000 over 6y, 4.7% of budgetElpis Enterprises — $232,000 over 4y, 23% of budgetYOUTH FRONTIERS INC — $225,000 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetOPEN ARMS OF MINNESOTA — $225,000 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetTHE CROWN CENTER INC — $220,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetMINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY — $220,000 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY — $185,000 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetSPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS — $180,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetHIGHLAND FRIENDSHIP CLUB — $165,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetURBAN STRATEGIES INC — $150,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetCHANNEL 5 PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC — $150,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetFarmsteads of New England Inc — $150,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budget21 Roots Farm — $142,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetARETE ACADEMY — $140,000 over 2y, 7.6% of budgetTHE GOLDEN SCOOP LLC — $136,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetUPSTREAM ARTS INC — $127,500 over 3y, 7.1% of budgetTen Thousand Things Theater — $125,000 over 3y, 9.6% of budgetHUGS CAFE INC — $125,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetMI WORK MATTERS — $120,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC — $115,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCENTRO TYRONE GUZMAN — $105,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetTHE WORKS — $100,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetTHE WILDFLOWER FOUNDATION — $100,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetMarnitas Table Inc — $100,000 over 2y, 6.6% of budgetKIMERA ORPHANAGE — $100,000 over 2y, 25% of budgetLAUGHING BEAR BAKERY — $90,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetALL SQUARE — $90,000 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetABLE - Artists Breaking Limits & Expectations — $85,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetCITIZENSHIP COUNTS — $82,000 over 4y, 53% of budgetLAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT — $80,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetYOUNG DANCE INC — $80,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetLIFT FOR LIFE ACADEMY INC — $77,000 over 2y, 0.3% 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 The Minnesota Opera ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER ↗
  • Who funds CLASSICAL TAHOE ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC ↗
  • Who funds REVE ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE HAMLINE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ↗
  • Who funds THOMAS IRVINE DODGE NATURE CENTER ↗
  • Who funds WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC ↗
  • Who funds J-HAP INC ↗
  • Who funds KAIROS ALIVE ↗
  • Who funds WALKER WEST MUSIC ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF ARAVA THE INSTITUTE LTD ↗
  • Who funds THE VILLAGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES ↗
  • Who funds RIVER VALLEY RIDERS ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BESTPREP ↗
  • Who funds Elpis Enterprises ↗
  • Who funds YOUTH FRONTIERS INC ↗
  • Who funds OPEN ARMS OF MINNESOTA ↗
  • Who funds THE CROWN CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds SPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds HIGHLAND FRIENDSHIP CLUB ↗
  • Who funds URBAN STRATEGIES INC ↗
  • Who funds CHANNEL 5 PUBLIC BROADCASTING 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.

Saint Paul & Minnesot…The Minneapolis Found…Otto Bremer TrustFr Bigelow FoundationThe Richard M Schulze…Mightycause Charitabl…Xcel Energy FoundationThe K FoundationHardenbergh FoundationHb Fuller Company Fou…The Walser FoundationPohlad Family Foundat…
Saint Paul & Minnesota FoundationMN50.9× affinity36 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The Minneapolis Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust · Fr Bigelow Foundation · The Richard M Schulze Family Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · The K Foundation · Hardenbergh Foundation · Hb Fuller Company Foundation · The Walser Foundation · Pohlad Family Foundation

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 Firefly Scientists Foundation 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 or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Sarah Bellums Bakery & Workshop — 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
40report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25

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 Firefly Scientists Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Firefly Scientists Foundation 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 169 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

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines