Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

Frank B and Virginia V Fehsenfeld Charitable Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$110k
Granted FY2023
15
Grants FY2023
5
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

100% of Frank B and Virginia V Fehsenfeld Charitable Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Grand Rapids Community Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2023, the last year Frank B and Virginia V Fehsenfeld Charitable Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 13 organizations, $110k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

16
’17
20
’18
18
’19
19
’20
12
’21
14
’22
13
’23
0
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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.

Philanthropy$1.5MCrime & Legal$116kHuman Services$103kHousing & Shelter$102kArts & Culture$88kCommunity Improvement$65kHealth$61kEducation$46kOther$0
02FY2023 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k8 grants · $30k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $80k
$5,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OPERA GRAND RAPIDS$15,000
NC EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP CENTER$15,000
PISGAH LEGAL SERVICES$10,000
CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER$10,000
BAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER$10,000
PLYMOUTH HEALING COMMUNITIES$10,000
STEEPLETOWN NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES$10,000
MOCKINGBIRD SOCIETY$5,000
HB POLICE & COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$5,000
CAROLINA ABORTION FUND$5,000
TRANSLATIN COALITION$5,000
CHICAGO COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS$2,500
BELOVED ASHVILLE$2,500
WE GIVE A SHARE INC$2,500
CHICAGO FREEDOM SCHOOL$2,500
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 (FY17–23, $118k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 69% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%HOSPICE OF MICHIGAN: $2k → 11%BAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER: $20k → 11%BAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 11%BAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 11%BAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 11%BAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 11%BAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 11%MOCKINGBIRD SOCIETY: $5k → 9%MOCKINGBIRD SOCIETY: $3k → 9%BAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 11%MOCKINGBIRD SOCIETY: $3k → 9%MOCKINGBIRD SOCIETY: $3k → 9%MOCKINGBIRD SOCIETY: $3k → 9%YOUTH CARE: $5k → 9%YOUTH CARE: $3k → 9%CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE: $5k → 9%YOUTH CARE: $3k → 9%YOUTH CARE: $3k → 9%YOUTH CARE: $3k → 9%CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE: $1k → 9%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

WA
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
OH
CA
VA
DE
AR
NC
DC

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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$648k · 30 repeat orgs$85k to everyone else

30 repeat relationships — 10 still active in FY2023, 20 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call). Read against FY2023, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

30
22

Total granted

$648k
$68k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+67%

Still filing today

83%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $18k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
Human ServicesHealthEducationCivil RightsArts & CultureHousing & 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

  • BC
    BAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER
    7× · 2017–2023 · $80k · revenue +29%
  • PH
    PLYMOUTH HEALING COMMUNITIES
    7× · 2017–2023 · $70k · revenue +6%
  • SN
    STEEPLETOWN NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES INC
    6× · 2017–2023 · $60k · revenue +38%

Funded once

  • CA
    CHILDREN'S ASSESSMENT CENTER
    one grant, 2017 · $10k
  • RF
    REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue -100%
  • J
    JUSTDANE
    one grant, 2022 · $8k · revenue -28%

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
Liberty Justice Center

To advance economic and social liberties and a free enterprise society through strategic litigation, training, communication, activism and research. in addition, the center will train law students, lawyers and policy activists in the…

Crime & Legal
2
Center for American Progress

The center for american progress (cap) is an independent nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. our aim is…

Civil Rights
3
Coop Careers Inc

Building a movement of diverse, upwardly mobile college grads overcoming underemployment through digital skills and peer connections.

Education
4
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
5
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Iowa

The foundation works to defend and promote the constitution of the united states, focusing especially on the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and 14th amendments. the foundation also works to defend and promote the constitution of the…

Civil Rights
6
Colorado Center On Law and Policy

Colorado center on law and policy is an antipoverty organization advancing the rights of every coloradan.

Crime & Legal
7
Council for Court Excellence

Council for court excellence's (cce's) mission is to bring people together to conduct research, educate, and advocate to make d.c.'s unique legal systems more just, equitable, and accountable to the community.

—
8
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
9
R Street Institute

The r street institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public-policy research organization ("think tank"). our mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government. (continued on…

Education
10
Center for Constitutional Rights

Ccr is a non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the united states constitution the universal declaration of human rights. ccr stands with social justice movements…

Civil Rights
11
Institute for Public Accuracy

To teach and disseminate educational materials to the public.

Arts & Culture
12
The Campaign Legal Center Inc

The nonpartisan campaign legal center advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every american's rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic…

Crime & Legal

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Freedom School and the most unlike its peers is Reporters Without Borders 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 backsteadyCommunity FoundationsLgbtq+ Community CentersHomeless Services & ShelterFood Pantries & AssistancePregnancy Support ServicesHospice Care ServicesEducation Equity LeadershipFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Substance Abuse TreatmentChild and Family ServicesChristian Missionary Organi…Government Accountability R…Legal Aid & Immigration Ser…At-Risk Youth MentoringClassical Music Ensembles
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 40 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number20%0%<5yr13%13%5–10yr20%5%10–20yr15%21%20–35yr14%40%35–55yr18%21%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value20%0%<5yr13%5%5–10yr20%1%10–20yr15%5%20–35yr14%80%35–55yr18%9%55yr+

The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 2% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
2%1/46
the rest of the field
12%
6,510/53,810

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.

04the grantee network

46 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. 46 of the 59 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)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/46
Grantees still filing
35/46
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

GRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $1,470,914 · PhilanthropyGRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION+1 more — $2,500 · PhilanthropyCHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER — $60,000 · OtherCHILDREN'S ADVOCA…CHERRY HEALTH FOUNDATION — $30,000 · OtherCHERRY HEALTH FOU…GRAND RAPIDS CREATIVE YOUTH CENTER — $30,000 · OtherGRAND RAPIDS CREA…North Carolina Employee Ownership Center — $40,000 · OtherNorth Carolina Em…Downtown Emergency Service Center — $11,500 · OtherElizabeth Bowers Zambia Education Fund — $15,000 · Other+38 more — $145,500 · Other+38 moreBAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER — $80,000 · Human ServicesTHE MOCKINGBIRD SOCIETY — $15,000 · Human ServicesYOUTHCARE — $15,000 · Human ServicesCHILDREN'S ALLIANCE — $6,000 · Human Services+1 more — $2,000 · Human ServicesOpera Grand Rapids — $86,500 · Arts & CultureCENTER FOR URBAN RENEWAL & EDUCATION — $4,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $1,000 · Arts & CulturePLYMOUTH HEALING COMMUNITIES — $70,000 · Housing & ShelterCHICAGO COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS — $2,500 · Housing & ShelterBELOVED ASHEVILLE — $2,500 · Housing & ShelterSTEEPLETOWN NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES INC — $60,000 · Community ImprovementPISGAH LEGAL SERVICES — $56,000 · Crime & Legal
Philanthropy$1,473,414Other$332,000Human Services$118,000Arts & Culture$91,500Housing & Shelter$75,000Community Improvement$60,000Crime & Legal$56,000

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 budgetGRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $1,470,914 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetOpera Grand Rapids — $86,500 over 7y, 1.3% of budgetBAXTER COMMUNITY CENTER — $80,000 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetPLYMOUTH HEALING COMMUNITIES — $70,000 over 7y, 1.8% of budgetSTEEPLETOWN NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES INC — $60,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetPISGAH LEGAL SERVICES — $56,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetNorth Carolina Employee Ownership Center — $40,000 over 3y, 9.6% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS CREATIVE YOUTH CENTER — $30,000 over 2y, 22% of budgetTHE MOCKINGBIRD SOCIETY — $15,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetYOUTHCARE — $15,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetElizabeth Bowers Zambia Education Fund — $15,000 over 5y, 3.9% of budgetDowntown Emergency Service Center — $11,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCITY YEAR INC — $10,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetREPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHEALTH INTERVENTION SERVICES — $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE TRANSLATIN COALITION — $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJUSTDANE — $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHILDREN'S ALLIANCE — $6,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF NORTH CAROLINA LEGAL FOUNDATION INC — $5,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNATIONAL COALITION AGAINST CENSORSHIP INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCHICAGO FREEDOM SCHOOL — $5,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCAROLINA ABORTION FUND — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFREEDOM HOUSE — $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR URBAN RENEWAL & EDUCATION — $4,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetRECOVERY CAFE — $3,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetASHLAND UNIVERSITY — $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFARESTART — $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MICHIGAN — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS — $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBELOVED ASHEVILLE — $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAFFINITY MENTORING — $2,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMOSES - WISDOM OF MADISON INC — $2,500 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetWEGIVEASHARE Inc — $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHEARTBEAT INTERNATIONAL INC — $2,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetASHEVILLE CITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetINTERCOLLEGIATE STUDIES INSTITUTE INC — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCare Net — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHospice of Michigan Inc — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CLAREMONT INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF STATESMANSHIP & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLeadership Institute — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSTATE POLICY NETWORK — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCLARE BOOTHE LUCE CENTER FOR CONSERVATIVE WOMEN — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYoung America's Foundation — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetReporters Without Borders Inc — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetConservative Partnership Institute — $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.

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.

Grand Rapids Communit…WK Kellogg FoundationSeattle FoundationSteelcase FoundationCorewell Health Group…The Wege FoundationThe Mercantile Bank F…Medina FoundationAmalgamated Charitabl…Krw FoundationThe Sebastian Foundat…The J E Fehsenfeld Fa…
Grand Rapids Community FoundationMI21.3× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Grand Rapids Community Foundation · WK Kellogg Foundation · Seattle Foundation · Steelcase Foundation · Corewell Health Group Return · The Wege Foundation · The Mercantile Bank Foundation · Medina Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Krw Foundation · The Sebastian Foundation · The J E Fehsenfeld Family Foundation Inc

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 Frank B and Virginia V Fehsenfeld Charitable 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 · 20%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • City Year Inc — 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
13report 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.

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 59 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 2023, released 2023. 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