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Plinth

· Private foundation

Heller Foundation Inc

Its FY2018 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$261k
Granted FY2018
53
Grants FY2018
13
States reached
$26k
Largest
01What you fund
0196% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172018.

Health$168kArts & Culture$81kEducation$70kEnvironment$64kPhilanthropy$36kHuman Services$13kRecreation & Sports$12kInternational$12kOther$0
02FY2018 · 53 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2018

  • Under $10k46 grants · $129k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $132k
$2,500
Median grant
13
States reached
$2.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM$26,071
SCHWAB CHARITABLE$26,071
NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERV$26,071
THE GUNNERY$22,588
MAYO FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL RESEARC$11,000
KYLE'S KORNER INC$10,000
GUNN MEMORIAL LIBRARY INC$10,000
NATURE CONSERVANCY$7,589
ACLU FOUNDATION$7,500
Individual grant recipient$7,089
NORTH SUBURBAN SPECIAL OLYMPICS$7,000
NORTHBRIDGE$6,320
ST CHRISTOPHER'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH$6,000
CITIZENS' CLIMATE EDUCATION$5,000
GATES PHILANTHROPY PARTNERS$5,000
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:

Your human-services grants (FY18–18, $26k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM: $26k → 17%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
WA
MT
IL
WI
MI
NY
CT
CA
CO
WV
MD
AZ
DC
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.

72%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$328k · 25 repeat orgs$129k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +37% since the first grant, against +23% for the ones you funded once.

25 repeat relationships — 25 still active in FY2018, 0 since wound down; 21 grantees were first funded in FY2018 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
9

Total granted

$328k
$44k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+23%

Still filing today

52%
56%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2018, 62% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $86k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18
Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationHealthPhilanthropyInternationalOther

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

  • TF
    THE FREDERICK GUNN SCHOOL INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $44k · revenue +72%
  • RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION
    2× · 2017–2018 · $8k · revenue +54%
  • MA
    MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $8k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • SB
    SANTA BARBARA CHANNELKEEPER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +80%
  • PP
    PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF ATLANTA
    one grant, 2017 · $6k
  • PP
    PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF CENTRAL AND N
    one grant, 2017 · $6k

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
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

2
Native Plant Trust Inc

The organization's mission is to conserve and promote new england's native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes.

Environment
3
University of Minnesota Foundation Investment Advisors

To provide the highest level of stewardship for university donors through professional management and oversight of the university of minnesota foundation's assets by creating a focused investment environment with clarity of purpose,…

Education
4
The Water Research Foundation

The purpose of the water research foundation (wrf) is a definitive research organization to advance the science of all things water to better meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. to engage exclusively in…

Environment
5
National Public Radio Inc

National public radio, inc. ("npr") works collaboratively with member public radio station licensees ("member stations") to create a more informed public, one that is challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of…

Arts & Culture
6
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

7
Npr International Operations Inc

Npr international operations, inc. ("nprio") supports the international newsgathering activities of national public radio, inc. through bureaus and offices established locally in foreign countries.

8
African Parks Foundation of America

To engage the united states and its citizens in the work of african parks and to promote access to american experience and expertise in the african parks actiities by 1) raising funds for specific projects, activities, training, equipment…

Recreation & Sports
9
The Rand Corporation

Help improve policy and decision making through research and analysis.

Public Benefit
10
Eastern National

Eastern national promotes the public's understanding and support of america's national parks and other public trust partners by providing quality educational experiences, products and services.

Recreation & Sports
11
Museum of American Finance

Finance impacts everyone. as a socially relevant organization, the museum of american finance seeks to improve understanding of the influence of financial institutions and capital markets on the u.s. and global economies, and on…

12
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Park Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyCommunity Health CentersPregnancy Support ServicesEnvironmental Advocacy Orga…Government Accountability R…Food Pantries & AssistancePublic University Foundatio…Christian Missionary Organi…Wildlife Rehabilitation Cen…Classical Music EnsemblesPublic Library SupportCommunity Arts OrganizationsIndependent K-8 SchoolsFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Land Conservation Organizat…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 40 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%0%<5yr14%3%5–10yr19%11%10–20yr16%24%20–35yr13%32%35–55yr16%30%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%1%5–10yr19%13%10–20yr16%27%20–35yr13%20%35–55yr16%39%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 3% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
3%1/40
the rest of the field
13%
240,395/1,819,525

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

37 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. 37 of the 58 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/37
Grantees still filing
30/37
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

MAYO FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL RESEARC — $106,186 · OtherMAYO FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL RESEARCNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERV — $32,349 · OtherNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVGUNN MEMORIAL LIBRARY INC — $20,000 · OtherGUNN MEMORIAL LIBRARY INCTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $18,983 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYNORTH SUBURBAN SPECIAL OLYMPICS — $12,000 · OtherKYLES KORNER INC — $11,500 · Other+27 more — $112,230 · Other+27 moreTHE FREDERICK GUNN SCHOOL INC — $43,983 · EducationTHE FREDERIC…Trustees of Dartmouth College — $10,000 · EducationTrustees of …+2 more — $2,000 · EducationSANTA BARBARA CHANNELKEEPER INC — $10,000 · EnvironmentSENO KRLT CONSERVANCY INC — $7,700 · EnvironmentTHE WETLANDS INITIATIVE — $6,494 · EnvironmentCITIZENS CLIMATE EDUCATION CORP — $5,000 · EnvironmentSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION — $5,000 · EnvironmentCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY — $5,000 · EnvironmentDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC — $26,071 · PhilanthropyAURORA HEALTH CARE FOUNDATION INC — $6,094 · PhilanthropyGATES PHILANTHROPY PARTNERS — $5,000 · PhilanthropyRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION — $8,000 · Arts & CultureMILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC — $7,700 · Arts & CultureWriters Theatre Inc — $5,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF WISCONSIN ART INC — $2,500 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF BOERNER BOTANICAL GARDENS INC — $2,500 · Arts & CultureWalkers Pointe Center for the Arts — $2,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more — $1,000 · Arts & CultureMOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM INC — $26,071 · Human ServicesPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC — $5,500 · HealthBRADLEY FAMILY FOUNDATION INC — $4,000 · HealthPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION — $2,000 · Health
Other$313,248Education$55,983Environment$39,194Philanthropy$37,165Arts & Culture$28,700Human Services$26,071Health$11,500

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 budgetTHE FREDERICK GUNN SCHOOL INC — $43,983 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC — $26,071 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM INC — $26,071 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGUNN MEMORIAL LIBRARY INC — $20,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $18,983 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKYLES KORNER INC — $11,500 over 2y, 5.5% of budgetTrustees of Dartmouth College — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSANTA BARBARA CHANNELKEEPER INC — $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetOPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL INC D/B/A OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL-US — $9,900 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC — $9,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION — $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM INC — $7,700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WETLANDS INITIATIVE — $6,494 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAURORA HEALTH CARE FOUNDATION INC — $6,094 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHUNGER TASK FORCE INC — $5,849 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC — $5,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWriters Theatre Inc — $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCITIZENS CLIMATE EDUCATION CORP — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGATES PHILANTHROPY PARTNERS — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION INC — $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY — $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBRADLEY FAMILY FOUNDATION INC — $4,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC — $3,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSWIFT YOUTH FOUNDATION — $3,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF WISCONSIN ART INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF BOERNER BOTANICAL GARDENS INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWalkers Pointe Center for the Arts — $2,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetUniversity of Arizona Foundation — $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWILD SPACE INC — $500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPUBLIC BROADCASTING OF COLORADO INC — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHISTORIC MILWAUKEE INC — $500 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Greater Milwaukee Foundation IncWI19.1× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · Baird Foundation Inc · Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation Inc · Wisconsin Humanities Council Inc · United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County Inc · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Marcus Corporation Foundation Inc · Zurn Foundation Inc (Fka Rexnord Foundation Inc) · Milwaukee Jewish Federation Inc · AbbVie Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Ge Aerospace 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 Heller Foundation 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 or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 0%
  • Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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 58 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2018, released 2018. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph