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Plinth

· Public charity

Friends of the Patapsco Valley Inc

To preserve, protect, interpret and restore the environment, history and culture of the patapsco river valley.

$19k
Granted FY2020
10
Grants FY2020
1
States reached
$5k
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 FY20172020.

Arts & Culture$27kRecreation & Sports$20kEnvironment$18kPublic Safety & Disaster$6kCommunity Improvement$4kPublic Benefit$4kEducation$1k
02FY2020 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$1,685
Median grant
1
States reached
$471k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CATONSVILLE RAILS TO TRAILS INC$4,700
CATONSVILLE TREE CANOPY PROJECT$3,750
HOWARD COUNTY RECREATION & PARKS$2,350
HOWARD COUNTY CONSERVANCY INC$2,000
HOWARD ECOWORKS INC$1,685
VISIT HOWARD COUNTY$1,665
BENJAMIN BANNEKER FOUNDATION$1,250
THE GREATER PATAPSCO COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INC$875
HOWARD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY$500
OELLA HISTORICAL SOCIETY$250
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–20) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 54% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 7%COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE: $3k → 6%CATONSVILLE RAILS TO TRAILS INC: $5k → 11%COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE: $3k → 6%CATONSVILLE RECREATION AND PARKS COUNCIL: $4k → 11%FRIENDS OF PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK: $7k → 6%CATONSVILLE RECREATION AND PARKS COUNCIL: $4k → 11%HOWARD COUNTY GOVERNMENT: $4k → 6%CATONSVILLE TREE CANOPY PROJECT: $4k → 11%OELLA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $3k → 6%BENJAMIN BANNEKER FOUNDATION: $3k → 11%OELLA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $3k → 6%BENJAMIN BANNEKER FOUNDATION: $3k → 11%FRIENDS OF PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK: $2k → 6%CATONSVILLE RECREATION AND PARKS COUNCIL: $3k → 11%HOWARD COUNTY TOURISM COUNCIL INC: $2k → 6%CATONSVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: $2k → 11%VISIT HOWARD COUNTY: $2k → 6%COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE COUNTY FOUNDATION: $1k → 11%HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL: $500 → 6%BENJAMIN BANNEKER FOUNDATION: $1k → 11%OELLA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $250 → 6%HOWARD COUNTY CONSERVANCY INC: $2k → 11%UPPER PATUXENT ARCHAEOLOGY GROUP: $1k → 6%HOWARD COUNTY CONSERVANCY INC: $2k → 11%HOWARD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $500 → 6%HOWARD COUNTY CONSERVANCY INC: $2k → 11%HOWARD COUNTY RECREATION & PARKS: $2k → 6%HOWARD COUNTY CONSERVANCY INC: $1k → 11%HOWARD ECOWORKS INC: $2k → 6%THE GREATER PATAPSCO COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INC: $875 → 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.

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.
$60k · 8 repeat orgs$18k to everyone else

8 repeat relationships — 5 still active in FY2020, 3 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
5

Total granted

$60k
$8k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+162%

Still filing today

75%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20
EnvironmentArts & CulturePublic BenefitEducationOther

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

  • CR
    CATONSVILLE RECREATION & PARKS COUNCIL INC
    4× · 2017–2020 · $14k · revenue +41%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF THE PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK LTD
    2× · 2018–2019 · $9k · revenue +497%
  • TH
    THE HOWARD COUNTY CONSERVANCY INC
    4× · 2017–2020 · $7k · revenue +35%

Funded once

  • HC
    HOWARD COUNTY GOVERNMENT
    one grant, 2018 · $4k
  • TG
    THE GREATER CATONSVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $2k · revenue +79%
  • UP
    UPPER PATUXENT ARCHAEOLOGY GROUP
    one grant, 2019 · $1k

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
Howard County Chamber of Commerce

To represent the business community of howard county, maryland

2
Howard County Historical Society

To collect, preserve and share the diverse history of all the peoples of howard county

Arts & Culture
3
Historical Society Harford Cou

Preserve the history of Harford County, Maryland

4
Hyattsville Community Development Corporation

To develop arts and public spaces in the community; to spur economic development and the quality of community life in hyattsville; to encourage widespread community leadership for community revitalization; to promote educational activities…

Community Improvement
5
Developing Howard County

Promote economic developement

Community Improvement
6
Howard County Association of Realtors Inc

To unite those engaged in the recognized branches of the real estate profession for the purposes of exerting a beneficial influence upon the profession and related interests.

7
Baltimore County Historical Society Inc

The Historical Society of Baltimore County Collects, Preserves and Interprets the Rich History of Baltimore County for the Education and Enjoyment of Present and Future Generations.

8
Allegheny County Conservation District

The Allegheny County Conservation District is an urban conservation district that engages and leads through partnerships, innovation, and implementation to conserve, promote, and improve Allegheny Countys natural resources.

Environment
9
Historic Virginia Land Conservancy

Promoting for the benefit of the general public, the preservation, protection and enjoyment of our natural resources, principally in the lower james, york, rappahannock and chowan rivers and surrounding watersheds.

Environment
10
Washington County Historical Society Inc

The organization is charged with fostering an interest in the history of washington county, maryland and the vicinity.

Arts & Culture
11
Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce Inc

The Chamber engages in promotional activities for the commercial welfare of Georgetown County serving hundreds of members through business promotion, networking, leadership development, business training, tourism promotion, destination…

Community Improvement
12
Oregon Ridge Nature Center Council

Oregon Ridge Nature Center Council was created to advise, recommend, promote, conduct and develop, in cooperation with the Department of Recreation and Parks and its Board, nature interpretation and conservation programs and projects…

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Howard County Conservancy Inc and the most unlike its peers is Catonsville Rails to Trail 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 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. 12 of the 18 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
9/12
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CATONSVILLE RECREATION & PARKS COUNCIL INC — $14,250 · OtherCATONSVILLE RECREATION & PARKS COUNCIL INCEllicott City Historic District Partnership LLC — $9,000 · OtherEllicott City Historic District Partnership LLCBENJAMIN BANNEKER FOUNDATION — $6,825 · OtherBENJAMIN BANNEKER FOUNDATIONOELLA HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $5,250 · OtherOELLA HISTORICAL SOCIETYHOWARD COUNTY TOURISM COUNCIL INC — $3,665 · OtherHOWARD COUNTY TOURISM COUNCIL INCHOWARD COUNTY GOVERNMENT — $3,626 · OtherHOWARD COUNTY GOVERNMENTDIRECTOR OF FINANCE HOWARD COUNTY — $2,350 · OtherTHE GREATER CATONSVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC — $2,000 · Other+3 more — $2,375 · OtherTHE HOWARD COUNTY CONSERVANCY INC — $7,425 · EnvironmentTHE HOWARD COUNTY CO…CATONSVILLE RAILS TO TRAIL INC — $4,700 · EnvironmentCATONSVILLE RAILS TO…HOWARD ECOWORKS INC — $1,685 · EnvironmentHOWARD ECOWORKS INCFRIENDS OF THE PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK LTD — $8,500 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF TH…HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL — $500 · Arts & CultureHOWARD COUNTY…THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE — $5,000 · Public BenefitTHE COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE COUNTY FOUNDATION INC — $1,000 · Education
Other$49,341Environment$13,810Arts & Culture$9,000Public Benefit$5,000Education$1,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetEllicott City Historic District Partnership LLC — $9,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK LTD — $8,500 over 2y, 8.2% of budgetTHE HOWARD COUNTY CONSERVANCY INC — $7,425 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY INSTITUTE — $5,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetHOWARD COUNTY TOURISM COUNCIL INC — $3,665 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE GREATER CATONSVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetHOWARD ECOWORKS INC — $1,685 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE COUNTY FOUNDATION INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOWARD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC — $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL — $500 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.

The Community Foundation of Howard County IncMD19.9× affinity7 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Howard County Inc · Chesapeake Bay Trust · The Horizon Foundation of Howard County Inc · The United Way of Central Maryland Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Friends of the Patapsco Valley Inc 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 9%
  • The Greater Catonsville Chamber of Commerce Inc50% of income from government
  • Howard County Tourism Council Inc20% of income from government
  • Howard County Arts Council9% of income from government
  • Howard Ecoworks Inc7% of income from government
  • The Howard County Conservancy Inc5% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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.

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 18 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 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $26k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2020, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

Source object · view filing

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