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Gardner Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Gardner Family Foundation

Its FY2019 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$283k
Granted FY2019
11
Grants FY2019
2
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0190% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2019.

Religion$110kPhilanthropy$65kArts & Culture$63kHuman Services$20kEducation$10kHealth$100Housing & Shelter$100Other$0
02FY2019 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2019

  • Under $10k5 grants · $25k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $59k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $200k
$18,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE CHURCH BY THE SEA$50,000
Individual grant recipient$50,000
CUMBERLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY$50,000
FIRST UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST$50,000
UNITED WAY OF CARLISLE AND CUMBERLAND COUNTY$40,500
CASAC$18,000
SON POWER MINISTRIES$8,500
CARLISLE TOOL LIBRARY$7,500
CARLISLE THEATRE$4,000
Individual grant recipient$2,500
THE CHARLES BRUCE FOUNDATION$2,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–19) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 16% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CARLISLE TOWN BAND: $50k → 8%AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN GROWTH FUND: $100 → 14%THE CHURCH BY THE SEA: $50k → 13%AMERICAN PRINTING HOUSE FOR THE BLIND: $100 → 15%FIRST UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: $50k → 8%CUMBERLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $50k → 8%UNITED WAY OF CARLISLE AND CUMBERLAND COUNTY: $41k → 8%CASAC: $18k → 8%UNITED WAY OF CARLISLE AND CUMBERLAND COUNTY: $13k → 8%UNITED WAY OF CARLISLE AND CUMBERLAND COUNTY: $11k → 8%CUMBERLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $9k → 8%SON POWER MINISTRIES: $9k → 8%CARLISLE TOOL LIBRARY: $8k → 8%CARLISLE THEATRE: $4k → 8%CARLISLE KIWANIS: $3k → 8%THE CHARLES BRUCE FOUNDATION: $2k → 8%CARLISLE TOOL LIBRARY: $2k → 8%SON POWER MINISTRIES: $500 → 8%SON POWER MINISTRIES: $500 → 8%CARLISLE AREA FAMILY LIFE CENTER: $100 → 8%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

45%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$143k · 4 repeat orgs$177k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2019, 0 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
4

Total granted

$143k
$400

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+75%
+114%

Still filing today

50%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2019, 38% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $177k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19
PhilanthropyEducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF CARLISLE & CUMBERLAND COUNTY
    3× · 2017–2019 · $65k · revenue +5%
  • CC
    CUMBERLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND HAMILTON LIBRARY ASSOC
    2× · 2018–2019 · $59k · revenue +75%
  • SM
    SONPOWER MINISTRIES
    3× · 2017–2019 · $10k

Funded once

  • AF
    AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN GROWTH FUND INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $100 · revenue +59%
  • CH
    COVENANT HOUSEgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $100 · revenue +34%
  • AP
    AMERICAN PRINTING HOUSE FOR THE BLIND INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $100 · revenue +119%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field
04the grantee network

6 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 6 of the 15 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
6/6
Grantees still filing
6/6
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CUMBERLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND HAMILTON LIBRARY ASSOC: $59,129 · OtherCUMBERLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND HAMILTON LIBRARY ASSOCIndividual grant recipient: $50,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientFIRST UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: $50,000 · OtherFIRST UNITED CHURCH OF CHRISTTHE CHURCH BY THE SEA: $50,000 · OtherTHE CHURCH BY THE SEACASAC: $18,000 · OtherCASACSONPOWER MINISTRIES: $9,500 · OtherCARLISLE TOOL LIBRARY INC: $9,467 · Other+4 more: $8,600 · OtherUNITED WAY OF CARLISLE & CUMBERLAND COUNTY: $64,500 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF CARLISLE…AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN GROWTH FUND INC: $100 · EducationCOVENANT HOUSE: $100 · Human ServicesAMERICAN PRINTING HOUSE FOR THE BLIND INC: $100 · Arts & Culture
Other$254,696Philanthropy$64,500Education$100Human Services$100Arts & Culture$100

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNITED WAY OF CARLISLE & CUMBERLAND COUNTY: $64,500 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetCUMBERLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND HAMILTON LIBRARY ASSOC: $59,129 over 2y, 6.9% of budgetAMERICAN FEDERATION FOR CHILDREN GROWTH FUND INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN PRINTING HOUSE FOR THE BLIND INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCARLISLE AREA FAMILY LIFE CENTER: $100 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Gardner Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gardner Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Gardner Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Gardner Family 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 15 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2019, released 2019. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Gardner Family’s filings →

    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 endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home