Skip to content
Plinth

· Public charity

Groundwork USA Inc

The mission of groundwork usa (the organization) is to bring about the sustained regeneration, improvement, and management of the physical environment by developing community-based partnerships that empower people, businesses, and organizations to promote environmental, economic, and social well-being.

$2.6M
Granted FY2024still arriving
23
Grants FY2024still arriving
19
States reached
$308k
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 FY20172024.

Community Improvement$7.7MEnvironment$4.9MPhilanthropy$180kEmployment$127kAnimals$69kArts & Culture$9k
02FY2024 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $9k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $235k
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $1.5M
  • $250k+3 grants · $839k
$82,993
Median grant
19
States reached
$9.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GROUNDWORK SAN DIEGO$307,654
GROUNDWORK LAWRENCE$278,463
GROUNDWORK HUDSON VALLEY$252,596
GROUNDWORK KANSAS CITY$219,366
GROUNDWORK SOUTHCOAST$167,241
GROUNDWORK OHIO RIVER VALLEY$163,789
GROUNDWORK NEW ORLEANS$146,600
GROUNDWORK RHODE ISLAND$136,296
GROUNDWORK ELIZABETH$133,214
GROUNDWORK MILWAUKEE$126,233
GROUNDWORK JACKSONVILLE$85,419
GROUNDWORK ERIE$82,993
GROUNDWORK RVA$80,000
RIVER NETWORK$71,973
GROUNDWORK BRIDGEPORT$61,515
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 84% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%GROUNDWORK SOMERVILLE: $86k → 8%GROUNDWORK LAWRENCE: $278k → 10%GROUNDWORK SOUTHCOAST: $256k → 11%GROUNDWORK ERIE: $83k → 15%GROUNDWORK SAN DIEGO: $308k → 11%GROUNDWORK HUDSON VALLEY: $290k → 9%GROUNDWORK DC: $87k → 14%GROUNDWORK JACKSONVILLE: $205k → 14%GROUNDWORK KANSAS CITY: $219k → 15%GROUNDWORK MILWAUKEE: $329k → 17%RIVER NETWORK: $148k → 12%GROUNDWORK BRIDGEPORT: $95k → 9%GROUNDWORK RHODE ISLAND: $204k → 14%GROUNDWORK OHIO RIVER VALLEY: $387k → 16%GROUNDWORK ELIZABETH: $256k → 10%GROUNDWORK RVA: $151k → 22%GROUNDWORK NEW ORLEANS: $427k → 23%GROUNDWORK SOMERVILLE: $85k → 8%GROUNDWORK LAWRENCE: $252k → 10%GROUNDWORK SOUTHCOAST: $227k → 11%GROUNDWORK SAN DIEGO: $256k → 11%GROUNDWORK HUDSON VALLEY: $253k → 9%GROUNDWORK JACKSONVILLE: $192k → 14%GROUNDWORK MILWAUKEE: $126k → 17%RIVER NETWORK: $147k → 12%GROUNDWORK RHODE ISLAND: $167k → 14%GROUNDWORK OHIO RIVER VALLEY: $200k → 16%GROUNDWORK ELIZABETH: $147k → 10%GROUNDWORK RVA: $80k → 22%GROUNDWORK NEW ORLEANS: $195k → 23%GROUNDWORK SOUTHCOAST: $167k → 11%GROUNDWORK SAN DIEGO: $95k → 11%GROUNDWORK HUDSON VALLEY: $144k → 9%GROUNDWORK JACKSONVILLE: $85k → 14%GROUNDWORK MILWAUKEE: $111k → 17%RIVER NETWORK: $141k → 12%GROUNDWORK RHODE ISLAND: $136k → 14%GROUNDWORK OHIO RIVER VALLEY: $164k → 16%GROUNDWORK ELIZABETH: $137k → 10%GROUNDWORK NEW ORLEANS: $147k → 23%GROUNDWORK HUDSON VALLEY: $143k → 9%RIVER NETWORK: $141k → 12%GROUNDWORK ELIZABETH: $133k → 10%RIVER NETWORK: $113k → 12%GROUNDWORK ELIZABETH: $116k → 10%RIVER NETWORK: $110k → 12%GROUNDWORK ELIZABETH: $98k → 10%RIVER NETWORK: $102k → 12%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

NH
WI
NY
MA
OR
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
VA
KS
DC
LA
AL
GA
TX
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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$13M · 23 repeat orgs$307k to everyone else

23 repeat relationships — 20 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

23
2

Total granted

$13M
$79k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+98%
+110%

Still filing today

87%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $228k 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
Community ImprovementEnvironmentPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsAnimalsEducationOther

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

  • Groundwork Lawrence Inc
    8× · 2017–2024 · $1.5M · revenue +115%
  • RIVER NETWORK
    8× · 2017–2024 · $974k · revenue +44%
  • GE
    GROUNDWORK ELIZABETH INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $970k · revenue +121% · 37% of their budget

Funded once

  • NW
    NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $69k · revenue +72%
  • GD
    Greenspace Dallasgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +110%

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
Groundwork Southcoast Inc

To bring about the sustained regeneration, improvement, and management of the physical environment by developing community-based partnerships that empower people, businesses, and organizations to promote environmental, economic, and social…

2
Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities Inc

Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities partners to create enduring and equitable local solutions that preserve the environment, strengthen the economy, and create healthy, thriving communities that people cherish, protect, and nuture.

3
Earthworks

The Corporation is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. Earthworks is dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the impacts of irresponsible mineral and energy development while seeking…

Public Benefit
4
Green Roots

To transform blighted underserved areas into green spaces

Community Improvement
5
Asheville GreenWorks

Asheville GreenWorks inspires, equips and mobilizes communities to create an equitable climate-resilient future.

6
Groundwork Cincinnatimill Creek

To serve as catalyst for developing sustainability in the mill creek watershed through community-based planning and empowerment, environmental education, and economically sound ecological restoration.

7
Fresh Coast Communities dba Greenprint Communities

To get the most good out of green infrastructure. Every community deserves the full benefits of green infrastructure, so Greenprint Communities helps local organizations build capacity and secure grant funding for programs that maximize…

Environment
8
Workin Rootz

Our mission is to revitalize and re-engage the community by reconnecting to the Earth through land stewardship, food sovereignty, sustainability, and herbalism.

Environment
9
Global Envirotech Initiative
Philanthropy
10
Renew Richmond

Renew Richmond strives to build healthier, more self-empowered communities by involving local youth in agriculture and environmental sustainability. We do this by partnering with local public schools.

Environment
11
Grassroots Gardens of Western New York Inc

Grassroots Gardens of Western New York, Inc.'s mission is to share knowledge, power and resources to grow healthy food, heal systemic harm, and strengthen neighborhood connections through community gardens.

Environment
12
Green Interchange Inc

18,000 native trees planted and public education about the positive impact on air and water quality, community health, and the local economy.

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Groundwork Ohio River Valley Inc and the most unlike its peers is National Wildlife Federation. 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 19 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%13%<5yr14%4%5–10yr19%38%10–20yr16%38%20–35yr13%4%35–55yr16%4%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%11%<5yr14%2%5–10yr19%30%10–20yr16%50%20–35yr13%7%35–55yr16%1%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 13% of your grantees by number, and just 11% 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

25 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. 25 of the 27 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.

11
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/25
Grantees still filing
21/25
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Groundwork Lawrence Inc — $1,543,292 · Community ImprovementGroundwork Lawrence IncGROUNDWORK OHIO RIVER VALLEY INC — $879,088 · Community ImprovementGROUNDWORK OHIO RIVER VALLEY INCGROUNDWORK BRIDGEPORT INC — $622,897 · Community ImprovementGROUNDWORK BRIDGEPORT INCNORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION ORGANIZATION INC — $605,776 · Community ImprovementNORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION ORGANIZAT…GROUNDWORK RVA INC — $496,985 · Community ImprovementGROUNDWORK RVA INCGROUNDWORK SOMERVILLE INC — $368,137 · Community ImprovementGROUNDWORK SOMERVILLE INCGROUNDWORK DENVER INC — $237,959 · Community ImprovementGroundwork Richmond Inc — $206,355 · Community ImprovementGroundwork Indy Inc — $196,108 · Community Improvement+2 more — $264,120 · Community ImprovementRIVER NETWORK — $973,620 · EnvironmentRIVER NETWORKGROUNDWORK NEW ORLEANS — $846,235 · EnvironmentGROUNDWORK NEW ORLEANSGROUNDWORK MILWAUKEE INC — $755,717 · EnvironmentGROUNDWORK MILWAUKEE INCGroundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek — $748,654 · EnvironmentGroundwork San Diego-Chollas CreekGROUNDWORK RHODE ISLAND — $716,562 · EnvironmentGROUNDWORK RHODE ISLANDGROUNDWORK JACKSONVILLE INC — $614,529 · EnvironmentGROUNDWORK JACKSONVILLE INCGROUNDWORK ATLANTA INC — $203,537 · Environment+2 more — $107,460 · EnvironmentGROUNDWORK HUDSON VALLEY INC — $1,043,011 · PhilanthropyGROUNDWOR…GROUNDWORK ELIZABETH INC — $970,392 · Recreation & SportsCOMMUNITY CANOPY INITIATIVE — $180,092 · OtherGROUNDWORK DC — $127,403 · OtherGreen Works In Kansas City — $219,366 · EducationNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $68,996 · AnimalsLEBANON OPERA HOUSE IMPROVEMENT CORP — $8,655 · Arts & Culture
Community Improvement$5,420,717Environment$4,966,314Philanthropy$1,043,011Recreation & Sports$970,392Other$307,495Education$219,366Animals$68,996Arts & Culture$8,655

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 budgetGroundwork Lawrence Inc — $1,543,292 over 8y, 12% of budgetGROUNDWORK HUDSON VALLEY INC — $1,043,011 over 8y, 19% of budgetRIVER NETWORK — $973,620 over 8y, 5.8% of budgetGROUNDWORK ELIZABETH INC — $970,392 over 8y, 37% of budgetGROUNDWORK OHIO RIVER VALLEY INC — $879,088 over 6y, 47% of budgetGROUNDWORK NEW ORLEANS — $846,235 over 7y, 26% of budgetGROUNDWORK MILWAUKEE INC — $755,717 over 8y, 52% of budgetGroundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek — $748,654 over 5y, 27% of budgetGROUNDWORK RHODE ISLAND — $716,562 over 8y, 17% of budgetGROUNDWORK BRIDGEPORT INC — $622,897 over 7y, 45% of budgetGROUNDWORK JACKSONVILLE INC — $614,529 over 8y, 14% of budgetNORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION ORGANIZATION INC — $605,776 over 4y, 64% of budgetGROUNDWORK RVA INC — $496,985 over 7y, 15% of budgetGROUNDWORK SOMERVILLE INC — $368,137 over 8y, 27% of budgetGROUNDWORK DENVER INC — $237,959 over 6y, 4.0% of budgetGroundwork Richmond Inc — $206,355 over 6y, 7.7% of budgetGROUNDWORK ATLANTA INC — $203,537 over 6y, 67% of budgetGroundwork Indy Inc — $196,108 over 7y, 12% of budgetGROUNDWORK ERIE INC — $156,059 over 2y, 65% of budgetGROUNDWORK BUFFALO INC — $108,061 over 4y, 41% of budgetCenter for Creative Land Recycling — $97,460 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $68,996 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGreenspace Dallas — $10,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetLEBANON OPERA HOUSE IMPROVEMENT CORP — $8,655 over 1y, 0.2% 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 Groundwork Lawrence Inc
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK HUDSON VALLEY INC
  • Who funds RIVER NETWORK
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK ELIZABETH INC
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK OHIO RIVER VALLEY INC
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK NEW ORLEANS
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK MILWAUKEE INC
  • Who funds Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK RHODE ISLAND
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK BRIDGEPORT INC
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK JACKSONVILLE INC
  • Who funds NORTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION ORGANIZATION INC
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK RVA INC
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK SOMERVILLE INC
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK DENVER INC
  • Who funds Green Works In Kansas City
  • Who funds Groundwork Richmond Inc
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK ATLANTA INC
  • Who funds Groundwork Indy Inc
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK ERIE INC
  • Who funds GROUNDWORK BUFFALO INC
  • Who funds Center for Creative Land Recycling
  • Who funds NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION
  • Who funds Greenspace Dallas
  • Who funds LEBANON OPERA HOUSE IMPROVEMENT CORP

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.

National Fish and Wildlife FoundationDC23.5× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · Patagoniaorg · River Network · Rei Cooperative Action Fund · Surdna Foundation Inc · The Nature Conservancy · Local Initiatives Support Corporation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Network for Good · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Groundwork USA 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 · 00%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 12%
  • Groundwork Bridgeport Inc100% of income from government
  • Groundwork Somerville Inc12% of income from government
  • Groundwork Elizabeth Inc9% of income from government
  • Groundwork Jacksonville Inc3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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.

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 27 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph