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· Public charity

Forward Action Fund

The FORWARD ACTION FUND is organized for the promotion of social welfare including but not limited to economic, gender, climate, racial, health and social justice by: 1) advocating for legislation, regulations, and government programs related to policies that deliver concrete outcomes for people in this country; 2) educating the public…

$26M
Granted FY2024still arriving
16
Grants FY2024still arriving
8
States reached
$8.8M
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 FY20202024.

Public Benefit$23MCivil Rights$7.0MHuman Services$2.2MCommunity Improvement$612kHealth$210k
02FY2024 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $12k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $473k
  • $250k+12 grants · $25M
$400,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$4.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MAJORITY FORWARD$8,800,000
SOMOS PAC$5,813,205
CAMPAIGN FOR A FAMILY FRIENDLY ECONOMY PAC$2,228,320
MAP USA$2,200,000
OHIO FAMILIES FOR DEMOCRACY$2,083,713
STOP POLITICAL CORRUPTION INC$1,500,000
PROMOTING AMERICAN VALUES FOR EVERYONE INC$1,000,000
MAKE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST$400,000
FREEDOM AND ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT$320,000
OHIO CITIZEN ACTION$310,000
COMMUNITIES UNITED ACTION FUND$300,000
FIGHT BIG PHARMA INC$250,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND$200,000
BLACK LEADERSHIP ORGANIZING COLLABORATIVE$150,000
NORTH MAIN STREET FUND$122,736
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 (FY20–20, $245k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%LIVING UNITED FOR CHANGE IN ARIZONA: $245k → 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
MT
MI
NY
NV
OH
UT
MD
DE
AZ
NC
DC
FL

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.

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.

32%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$10M · 3 repeat orgs$22M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +652% since the first grant, against +114% for the ones you funded once.

3 repeat relationships — 3 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
17

Total granted

$10M
$4.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+652%
+114%

Still filing today

33%
76%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 32% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $17M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Community ImprovementHealthCivil RightsPublic BenefitPhilanthropyHousing & ShelterOther

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

  • SP
    SOMOS PAC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $6.4M
  • FF
    FAMILY FRIENDLY ACTION PAC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $3.7M
  • CU
    COMMUNITIES UNITED ACTION FUND
    2× · 2023–2024 · $333k · 44% of their budget

Funded once

  • HM
    HOUSE MAJORITY FORWARDgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $1.0M · revenue +289%
  • BP
    BLACK PROGRESSIVE ACTION COALITION EDUCATION FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $816k · revenue +786%
  • AV
    America Votesgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $750k · revenue +53%

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
Fair Democracy

Fair democracy works to ensure that the roots of american democracy are healthy with strong voting rights and access, an engaged and informed electorate, an open and accountable government and trusted messengers engaging americans in civil…

Civil Rights
2
Colorado People's Action

Colorado people's action (cpa) is a member-driven, racial justice organization dedicated to winning long-lasting progressive public policies in colorado. cpa builds power by mobilizing voters, electing our own people to office, holding…

3
Make Elections Fair Inc

Advocacy and passage of initiatives to eliminate the partisan primary to allow all voters to vote in the primary for any candidate.

4
Democracy Forward

See schedule o.this organization seeks to build collective power to defend and advance a vibrant democracy that benefits all people.

5
Working for America Policy Inc

To advance pro-growth, pro-worker and pro-american public policy through rigorous policy research, advocacy, and public awareness campaigns.

6
Advance American Democracy Inc

To protect democracy by advocating for policies to strenghten democracy, educating the public about threats to our democracy, and highlighting the unpopularity of federal policies that places money and power over the rights and freedom of…

7
Progress Arizona

Progress arizona is an arizona nonprofit corporation located in phoenix, arizona. progress arizona is an organization founded in 2018 to educate the public about key policy issues using digital organizing and communications.

Civil Rights
8
People's Independent Commission

Supports Measure to Remove Lawmakers Power to Set Their Own Pay

9
Issue One

Issue one is the leading crosspartisan political reform organization that educates the public, engages capitol hill, and advocates for solutions to fix our broken political system.

Public Benefit
10
Center for Popular Democracy Inc

The center for popular democracy (cpd) and its affiliates know that everyday people have the power to change the world. we upend business and politics as usual to forge a representative, multiracial government and society where we all…

Public Benefit
11
Missouri Jobs With Justice Voter Action

To develop and advocate for legislation, regulations, ballot initiatives, and government programs as a voice of the working class, to promote social justice, and to stimulate the economy; and, to conduct research, educate the public, and…

Civil Rights
12
Take Back Our Republic Action

Take back action fund is a section 501(c)(4) organization that educates the public about, and lobbies for, restoring the united states election system to a republic as envisioned by our founders by changing our system of campaign financing…

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ohio Citizen Action and the most unlike its peers is Fight Big Pharma Inc. 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 backsteadyWomen & Girls Leadership De…Pregnancy Support ServicesHealth Access Advocacy and …Environmental Conservation …Policy Research and Advocacy
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.

04the grantee network

25 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. 25 of the 33 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
25/25
Grantees still filing
11/25
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

MAJORITY FORWARD — $8,800,000 · OtherMAJORITY FORWARDSOMOS PAC — $6,410,355 · OtherSOMOS PACFAMILY FRIENDLY ACTION PAC — $3,703,320 · OtherFAMILY FRIENDLY ACTION PACMAP USA — $2,200,000 · OtherMAP USAOHIO FAMILIES FOR DEMOCRACY — $2,083,713 · OtherOHIO FAMILIES FOR DEMOCRACYSTOP POLITICAL CORRUPTION INC — $1,500,000 · OtherPROMOTING AMERICAN VALUES FOR EVERYONE INC — $1,000,000 · Other+13 more — $3,271,075 · Other+13 moreHOUSE MAJORITY FORWARD — $1,000,000 · Community ImprovementAmerica Votes — $750,000 · Community ImprovementWORKER POWER — $200,000 · Community ImprovementMAINE PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE — $150,000 · Community ImprovementNORTH MAIN STREET FUND — $122,736 · Community ImprovementTHE FAIRNESS PROJECT — $500,000 · Housing & ShelterTIOGA FUND INC — $310,000 · Civil Rights+1 more — $10,000 · Civil RightsLIVING UNITED FOR CHANGE IN ARIZONA — $245,000 · Human ServicesPLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND INC — $200,000 · HealthCOMMITTEE TO PROTECT HEALTH CARE — $10,009 · HealthBLACK LEADERSHIP ORGANIZING COLLABORATIVE — $150,000 · Public BenefitBUSINESS EDUCATION FUND — $12,000 · Philanthropy
Other$28,968,463Community Improvement$2,222,736Housing & Shelter$500,000Civil Rights$320,000Human Services$245,000Health$210,009Public Benefit$150,000Philanthropy$12,000

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 budgetMAJORITY FORWARD — $8,800,000 over 1y, 6.9% of budgetMAP USA — $2,200,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetSTOP POLITICAL CORRUPTION INC — $1,500,000 over 1y, 39% of budgetHOUSE MAJORITY FORWARD — $1,000,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetAmerica Votes — $750,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE FAIRNESS PROJECT — $500,000 over 1y, 7.9% of budgetMake North Carolina First — $400,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetCOMMUNITIES UNITED ACTION FUND — $333,017 over 2y, 44% of budgetFreedom and Accountability Project — $320,000 over 1y, 36% of budgetTIOGA FUND INC — $310,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetOHIO CITIZEN ACTION — $310,000 over 1y, 9.3% of budgetFIGHT BIG PHARMA INC — $250,000 over 1y, 7.7% of budgetLIVING UNITED FOR CHANGE IN ARIZONA — $245,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND INC — $200,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetWORKER POWER — $200,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetMAINE PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE — $150,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetBLACK LEADERSHIP ORGANIZING COLLABORATIVE — $150,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetNORTH MAIN STREET FUND — $122,736 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWESTERN ORGANIZATION OF RESOURCE COUNCILS — $120,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetNEW DAY NEVADA — $100,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetFLORIDIANS PROTECTING FREEDOM — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBUSINESS EDUCATION FUND — $12,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetCOMMITTEE TO PROTECT HEALTH CARE — $10,009 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetFLORIDA RISING INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

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.

America VotesDC40.3× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: America Votes · Sixteen Thirty Fund · Tides Advocacy · Open Society Action Fund Inc · Tides Foundation · North Fund · Our American Future Action · Hopewell Fund · Way to Win Action Fund Inc · All Hands on Deck Network Inc · Wellness Advocacy Fund · Global Impact Social Welfare Fund

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 Forward Action Fund 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
202122232425
no gov · 30%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    1report 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, 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 Forward Action Fund?

    Find your warmest path to Forward Action Fund 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 33 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 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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