Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

Franklin W & Helen S Bowen Charitable Trust

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.

$242k
Granted FY2024still arriving
65
Grants FY2024still arriving
8
States reached
$74k
Largest
01What you fund
01

What you funded, over time

By grantee IRS cause code (NTEE).

A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 70% of FRANKLIN W & HELEN S BOWEN CHARITABLE TRUST’s grantee dollars fall outside its nine largest cause areas, whether because the recipient carries no IRS cause code or because its cause sits in the long tail. A chart would be mostly one residual band and misrepresent the portfolio.

02FY2024 · 65 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k64 grants · $168k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $74k
$2,847
Median grant
8
States reached
$5.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WEST VIRIGINIA BAPTIST CONVENTION$73,950
DEVIN FREEMAN CO EASTERN UNIVERSITY$7,800
MATT EASTER CO MT VERNON NAZARENE UNIV$6,000
ALEX DESHELTER CO CEDARVILLE UNIV$6,000
CASEY DAWSON CO EASTERN UNIVERSITY$5,507
Individual grant recipient$5,450
Individual grant recipient$5,407
OLIVIA TUNNELL CO EASTERN UNIVERSITY$4,568
JORDAN CASTO CO EASTERN UNIVERISTY$4,232
Individual grant recipient$4,200
COLE LINDER CO EASTERN UNIVERSITY$4,122
SCOTT MCCLURE CO EASTERN UNIVERSITY$4,020
CLAIRE COTTRILL CO EASTERN UNIVERSITY$3,987
JASON MARSHALL CO EASTERN UNIVERSITY$3,541
CHARLES K HINZMAN CO EASTERN UNIVERSIT$3,439
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 (FY22–23, $40k) 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%BAPTIST HOMES FOUNDATION: $20k → 11%BAPTIST HOMES FOUNDATION: $20k → 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

MT
IL
MI
MA
OH
PA
NJ
CA
MO
KY
WV
VA
AZ
NC
SC
AL
GA
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.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.4M · 86 repeat orgs$422k to everyone else

86 repeat relationships — 35 still active in FY2024, 51 since wound down; 30 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

86
101

Total granted

$1.4M
$273k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+15%
+60%

Still filing today

13%
4%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 39% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $149k 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
EducationHuman ServicesOther

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

  • EU
    EASTERN UNIVERSITY
    4× · 2017–2020 · $328k · revenue +75%
  • BU
    BIOLA UNIVERSITY INC
    4× · 2017–2020 · $70k · revenue +15%
  • GT
    Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Inc
    2× · 2019–2020 · $24k · revenue +12%

Funded once

  • WV
    WEST VIRGINIA BAPTIST CONVENTION
    one grant, 2021 · $23k
  • PT
    PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
    one grant, 2018 · $8k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $7k

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
Regent University

Regent University serves as a center of Christian thought and action to provide excellent education through a Biblical perspective and global context equipping Christian leaders to change the world.

2
John Brown University

John brown university (jbu) provides christ-centered education that prepares students to honor god and serve others by developing their intellectual, spiritual, and professional lives. (continued on schedule o)jbu serves traditional…

Education
3
Union University

Union university provides christ-centered education that promotes excellence and character development in service to church and society.

Education
4
Asbury Theological Seminary

Asbury Theological Seminary is a community called to prepare theologically educated, sanctified, Spirit-filled men and women to evangelize and to spread scriptural holiness throughout the world through the love of Jesus Christ, in the…

Education
5
Belhaven University

Belhaven university prepares students academically and spiritually to serve jesus christ in their careers, in human relationships, and in the world of ideas.

Education
6
Excelsior University

Excelsior University provides educational opportunity to adult learners with an emphasis on those historically underrepresented in higher education. The University meets students where they are - academically and geographically, offering…

Education
7
Greenville College

Greenville college d/b/a greenville university empowers students for lives of character and service through a transforming christ-centered education in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies.

Education
8
Spartanburg Methodist College

SMC Delivers an exceptional education that fuses the empowerment of the liberal arts with crucial career skills. Our mission is to equip our students with the knowledge, skills, virtues, and mindset needed to thrive personally, create…

Education
9
East Texas Baptist University

East texas baptist university (etbu) was founded in 1912 as a fully accredited institution of higher education. affiliated with the baptist general convention of texas, etbu educates students by integrating biblical faith and learning to…

Education
10
Benedictine University

Benedictine University is an inclusive academic community dedicated to teaching and learning, scholarship and service, truth and justice, as inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition, the social teaching of the Church, and the…

Education
11
University of the South

The College of Arts and Sciences is committed to the development of the whole person through a liberal arts education of the highest quality. The School of Theology educates women and men to serve the broad whole of the Episcopal Church in…

Education
12
Roberts Wesleyan University

As new york's leading university for character education, rwu is a community of learners committed to historic christianity which seeks to prepare thoughtful, spiritually mature, service-oriented people who will transform society.

Education

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

Your grantees are a median of 71 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%4%<5yr14%8%5–10yr19%12%10–20yr16%4%20–35yr13%4%35–55yr16%69%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%9%5–10yr19%1%10–20yr16%1%20–35yr13%3%35–55yr16%86%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 4% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 0.0% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/27
the rest of the field
13%
240,396/1,819,538

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

17 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 20172026, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 219 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
15/17
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Individual grant recipient — $222,159 · OtherIndividual grant recipientWEST VIRIGINIA BAPTIST CONVENTION — $73,950 · OtherWEST VIRIGINIA BAPTIST CONVENTIONIndividual grant recipient — $59,850 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $59,100 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $46,000 · Other+181 more — $843,689 · Other+181 moreEASTERN UNIVERSITY — $328,430 · EducationEASTERN UNIVERSITYBIOLA UNIVERSITY INC — $70,000 · EducationBIOLA UNIVERSITY INCGordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Inc — $24,000 · EducationALDERSON BROADDUS UNIVERSITY INC — $22,690 · EducationLIBERTY UNIVERSITY INC — $20,072 · Education+8 more — $55,000 · Education+8 moreBAPTIST HOMES FOUNDATION — $40,000 · Human Services
Other$1,304,748Education$520,192Human Services$40,000

Showing your 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetEASTERN UNIVERSITY — $328,430 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBIOLA UNIVERSITY INC — $70,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBAPTIST HOMES FOUNDATION — $40,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetGordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Inc — $24,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetALDERSON BROADDUS UNIVERSITY INC — $22,690 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLIBERTY UNIVERSITY INC — $20,072 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCOLUMBIA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY — $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetASHLAND UNIVERSITY — $10,715 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCedarville University — $10,102 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF CHARLESTON INC — $9,183 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN EVANGELICAL SEMINARY — $3,600 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAPPALACHIAN BIBLE COLLEGE INC — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Moody Bible Institute of Chicago — $2,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSamford University — $2,000 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 EASTERN UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds BIOLA UNIVERSITY INC
  • Who funds BAPTIST HOMES FOUNDATION
  • Who funds Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Inc
  • Who funds ALDERSON BROADDUS UNIVERSITY INC
  • Who funds LIBERTY UNIVERSITY INC
  • Who funds COLUMBIA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds ASHLAND UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds Cedarville University
  • Who funds THE UNIVERSITY OF CHARLESTON 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.

Lilly Endowment IncIN16.3× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lilly Endowment Inc · Ibm International Foundation · Carter Family Foundation · Foundation for the Carolinas · Servant Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · United Way Worldwide · Verizon Foundation · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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 Franklin W & Helen S Bowen Charitable Trust 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.

2025
202122232425
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get 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
    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 Franklin W & Helen S Bowen Charitable Trust?

    Find your warmest path to Franklin W & Helen S Bowen Charitable Trust 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 219 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