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Helen B Sutherland Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Helen B Sutherland Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$13k
Granted FY2023
3
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$9k
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, FY2017 to 2023.

Education$75kArts & Culture$53kRecreation & Sports$17kHuman Services$15kEnvironment$5kFood & Nutrition$2kHousing & Shelter$1kInternational$1kOther$0
02FY2023 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$2,500
Median grant
1
States reached
$5k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHANCE TO BECOME - COLUMBIA LEARNING CENTER$8,815
OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY$2,500
CALDERA ARTS$1,500
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 (FY17–17, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%STREET ROOTS: $1k → 12%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.

74%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$127k · 10 repeat orgs$44k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +76% since the first grant, against +44% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2023, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
11

Total granted

$127k
$44k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+76%
+44%

Still filing today

80%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
Arts & CultureRecreation & SportsEnvironmentHousing & ShelterHuman 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

  • TOGETHER WE ARE GREATER THAN
    5× · 2018–2022 · $28k · revenue +20%
  • PM
    PORTLAND METRO ARTS
    4× · 2018–2021 · $21k · revenue +76%
  • CL
    COLUMBIA LEARNING CENTER
    2× · 2019–2023 · $19k · revenue ×31

Funded once

  • CU
    CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2018 · $25k · revenue -100%
  • WF
    WORLD FORESTRY CENTER
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue -22%
  • MI
    METROARTS INC DBA COGNIZART
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue -41%
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
Rainmaker Craft Initiative
Arts & Culture
2
Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & clark is a premier private higher education institution offering an exceptional education in an inclusive environment. by fostering critical thinking, innovation, creativity, civic engagement, and leadership, both inside and…

Education
3
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art

Pica acknowledges and advances the emerging ideas in art by fostering the creative explorations of contemporary artists.

Arts & Culture
4
Third Rail Repertory Theatre

The mission of third rail repertory theatre is to provide a dynamic artistic home for theatre audiences in portland by fostering a professional local company, which, through collaboration and discipline, brings to life exceptional stories…

Arts & Culture
5
Central Oregon Center for the Arts

The mission for the central oregon center for the arts is to champion an inclusive, vibrant center for the arts that brings transformative and diverse cultural performances and experiences to central oregon during all seasons

Arts & Culture
6
Southwest Washington Center for the Arts
Philanthropy
7
Future Prairie

Founded in January 2018, Future Prairie is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit queer artist collective in Portland, Oregon. We pay LGBTQIA+ Oregon-based artists to design, curate, and produce art projects that showcase new and better dreams of the…

—
8
Jubilee Hall Pdx
Employment
9
Artists Repertory Theatre

Artists repertory theatre's mission is to produce intimate, provacative theatre and provide a home for a diverse community of artists and audiences to take creative risks.

Arts & Culture
10
Portland Actors Conservatory

The Actors Conservatory provides rigorous actor training that engages the mind and the heart of the artist, while cultivating a spirit of lifelong investment in the arts.

Arts & Culture
11
Oregon Ballet Theatre

Oregon ballet theatre is committed to sharing our passion for the expressive power of ballet, inspiring an enduring appreciation of dance, and connecting in meaningful ways to our community through excellence in performance, training, and…

Arts & Culture
12
Oregon Children's Theatre Company

The mission of oregon children's theater is to create exceptional theater experiences that transform lives. we do this by producing professional stage plays for young audiences, and through arts education classes and programs.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Oregon Historical Society; the most unlike its peers is Concordia University. 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

17 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. 17 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/17
Grantees still filing
13/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TOGETHER WE ARE GREATER THAN: $28,166 · OtherTOGETHER WE ARE GREATER THANCONCORDIA UNIVERSITY: $25,000 · OtherCONCORDIA UNIVERSITYPORTLAND METRO ARTS: $20,828 · OtherPORTLAND METRO ARTSCALDERA ARTS: $20,600 · OtherCALDERA ARTSTHE DOUGY CENTER INC: $11,000 · OtherTHE DOUGY CENTER INCMETROARTS INC DBA COGNIZART: $5,000 · Other+4 more: $5,850 · OtherCOLUMBIA LEARNING CENTER: $19,448 · EducationCOLUMBIA LEA…PORTLAND TENNIS & EDUCATION: $15,518 · Recreation & SportsPORTLAND T…OREGON ADAPTIVE SPORTS: $1,000 · Recreation & SportsOREGON ADA…OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,500 · Arts & CultureGRABHORN INSTITUTE: $1,000 · Arts & CultureProfile Theatre Project: $500 · Arts & CultureWORLD FORESTRY CENTER: $5,000 · EnvironmentJAPANESE GARDEN SOCIETY OF OREGON: $2,000 · EnvironmentTRILLIUM FAMILY SERVICES: $2,000 · Housing & ShelterVITAL LIFE A MARQUIS AND CONSONUS FOUNDATION: $1,000 · PhilanthropySTREET ROOTS INC: $1,000 · Human Services
Other$116,444Education$19,448Recreation & Sports$16,518Arts & Culture$7,000Environment$7,000Housing & Shelter$2,000Philanthropy$1,000Human Services$1,000

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 budgetTOGETHER WE ARE GREATER THAN: $28,166 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetCONCORDIA UNIVERSITY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPORTLAND METRO ARTS: $20,828 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetCOLUMBIA LEARNING CENTER: $19,448 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetPORTLAND TENNIS & EDUCATION: $15,518 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetTHE DOUGY CENTER INC: $11,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetOREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD FORESTRY CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTRILLIUM FAMILY SERVICES: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJAPANESE GARDEN SOCIETY OF OREGON: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVITAL LIFE A MARQUIS AND CONSONUS FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSTREET ROOTS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOREGON ADAPTIVE SPORTS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGRABHORN INSTITUTE: $1,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBraking Cycles: $500 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.

The Oregon Community …Rose E Tucker Charita…The Jackson FoundationMarie Lamfrom Charita…Maybelle Clark Macdon…OCF Joseph E Weston P…The Swigert FoundationThe Collins FoundationM J Murdock Charitabl…Juan Young TrustMeyer Memorial TrustDonald N McGregor Fou…
The Oregon Community FoundationOR30.3× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Oregon Community Foundation · Rose E Tucker Charitable Trust · The Jackson Foundation · Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Trust · Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund · OCF Joseph E Weston Public Foundation · The Swigert Foundation · The Collins Foundation · M J Murdock Charitable Trust · Juan Young Trust · Meyer Memorial Trust · Donald N McGregor 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 Helen B Sutherland Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Helen B Sutherland Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 80%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Oregon Historical Society: 10% of income from government
  • Together We Are Greater Than: 5% of income from government
  • Profile Theatre Project: 2% of income from government
  • Trillium Family Services: 2% of income from government
  • The Dougy Center Inc: 1% of income from government
  • World Forestry Center: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
8get 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
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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 Helen B Sutherland Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Helen B Sutherland 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 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder made grants.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Helen B Sutherland’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