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Ground Game Fund at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Ground Game Fund

Ground Game Fund promotes democracy and social justice by engaging in community organizing and public education programs across Texas.

$597k
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$293k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Public Benefit$3.5MCivil Rights$1.1MEducation$320kArts & Culture$293kInternational$260kHousing & Shelter$221kCommunity Improvement$216kPhilanthropy$162kOther$0
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $12k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $288k
  • $250k+1 grant · $293k
$100,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Courier Newsroom Inc$292,658
Soul Food CDC$127,680
Ground Game Texas$100,000
WorkMoney Foundation$60,000
Working America Edu Fund$12,100
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:

Its human-services grants (FY24–24, $60k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%WorkMoney Foundation: $60k → 17%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.

Which US states its grants reach

WI
NY
MA
PA
CA
WV
VA
AR
DC
TX
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.

47%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.7M · 6 repeat orgs$3.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +9% since the first grant, against -22% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
9

Total granted

$2.7M
$2.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+9%
-22%

Still filing today

100%
78%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 40% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $353k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Public BenefitCommunity ImprovementHousing & ShelterCrime & LegalHuman ServicesEducationOther
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

  • SF
    Soul Food Community Development Corporation Inc
    3× · 2022–2024 · $371k · revenue +9% · 27% of their budget
  • WA
    WORKING AMERICA EDUCATION FUND
    2× · 2023–2024 · $120k · revenue +80%
  • WP
    WORKER POWER INSTITUTE
    2× · 2021–2022 · $66k · revenue +67%

Funded once

  • WF
    WV Freedom Alliance
    one grant, 2021 · $1.1M
  • FN
    FUTURE NOW ACTIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $1.0M · revenue +149%
  • CN
    COMMUNITY NEWS CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $275k · revenue -79%
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

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Fund for Justice

Fund for Justice is a nationally connected social impact research and advocacy organization that works to achieve fundamental, systemic reform by addressing policies and practicies that prevent individuals from reaching their full…

Crime & Legal
2
Powerswitch Action

Powerswitch action is a national network forging collective democracy and economies in our cities and states, together with our 21 grassroots affiliates.

Community Improvement
3
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
4
Partners for Public Good

PPG is a non-partisan, not-for-profit team of doers, coaches, and advisors focused on making government work for its people. We help state and local governments optimize and streamline the most important work that they do: deliver public…

Community Improvement
5
Wepower

We activate community power to redesign social systems to be just and equitable for all through (1) developing and supporting leaders and organizations and (2) leading campaigns, coalitions, and innovative initiatives.

Community Improvement
6
Network for Civic Action

Network for civic action advocates for the protection of democracy and encourages civic engagement. it evaluates programs and educates donors about how their donations can best serve those goals.

—
7
Center for Political Accountability

The Center's mission is to bring transparency and accountability to corporate political spending. The Center sees this as ending the pervasive secrecy that hides corporate political activity from shareholders and the public.

Public Benefit
8
New American Leaders Action Fund Inc

New american leaders action fund (nalaf) is building a democracy that represents and includes all people by engaging new voters, supporting new americans as they run for office, and expanding civic engagement.

Civil Rights
9
One for Democracy Action Fund

One for democracy unlocks resources to build a healthy democracy by fostering meaningful relationships between philanthropists and the democracy leaders of our time.

—
10
Center for Global Development

Reduce global poverty and improve lives through innovative economic research that drives better policy and practice by the world's top decision makers. we focus on the intersection of developing countries and the governments, institutions…

Human Services
11
Farmworker Justice Fund Inc

Farmworker justice fund, inc. is a non-profit corporation established under the laws of the district of columbia. its mission is to empower farmworkers to improve their wages, working conditions, occupational safety, health, immigration…

Civil Rights
12
Neighborhood Funders Group

Neighborhood Funders Group (NFG) is a network of national and local grantmakers throughout the U.S. Our mission is to organize philanthropy to support grassroots power building so that communities of color and low-income communities…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New Venture Fund; the most unlike its peers is Bridges to Empowerment. 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

18 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. 18 of the 21 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
8/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Ground Game Texas: $1,743,000 · Public BenefitGround Game TexasFUTURE NOW ACTION: $1,000,000 · Public BenefitFUTURE NOW ACTIONCOMMUNITY NEWS CENTER: $275,000 · Public BenefitCOMMUNITY NEWS CENTERCenter for Common Ground: $263,866 · Public BenefitCenter for Common Ground+3 more: $236,233 · Public Benefit+3 moreWV Freedom Alliance: $1,075,630 · OtherWV Freedom AllianceCOURIER NEWSROOM INC: $292,658 · OtherCOURIER NEWSROOM INCUN-PAC ACTION: $125,000 · OtherUN-PAC ACTIONCOMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $77,500 · OtherWORKER POWER INSTITUTE: $65,500 · OtherWORKMONEY FOUNDATION INC: $60,000 · Other+2 more: $47,645 · OtherSoul Food Community Development Corporation Inc: $371,080 · Housing & ShelterGlobal Impact: $135,000 · InternationalWORKING AMERICA EDUCATION FUND: $120,100 · EducationHOPEWELL FUND: $100,000 · PhilanthropyAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $7,500 · PhilanthropyNEW VENTURE FUND: $100,000 · Environment
Public Benefit$3,518,099Other$1,743,933Housing & Shelter$371,080International$135,000Education$120,100Philanthropy$107,500Environment$100,000

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 budgetGround Game Texas: $1,743,000 over 3y, 56% of budgetFUTURE NOW ACTION: $1,000,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetSoul Food Community Development Corporation Inc: $371,080 over 3y, 27% of budgetCOMMUNITY NEWS CENTER: $275,000 over 1y, 9.1% of budgetCenter for Common Ground: $263,866 over 2y, 7.4% of budgetGlobal Impact: $135,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUN-PAC ACTION: $125,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetWORKING AMERICA EDUCATION FUND: $120,100 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $116,233 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOPEWELL FUND: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPUBLIC POLICY AND EDUCATION FUND OF NEW YORK INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $77,500 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetWORKER POWER INSTITUTE: $65,500 over 2y, 7.2% of budgetWORKMONEY FOUNDATION INC: $60,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNETWORK EDUCATION PROGRAM NETWORK ADVOCATES FOR CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE: $20,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Sixteen Thirty FundHopewell FundTides FoundationRockefeller Family Fu…Amalgamated Charitabl…Silicon Valley Commun…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Sixteen Thirty FundDC17.5× affinity6 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sixteen Thirty Fund · Hopewell Fund · Tides Foundation · Rockefeller Family Fund Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Ground Game Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ground Game Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report 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, 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 Ground Game Fund?

    Find your warmest path to Ground Game 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 21 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Ground Game’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