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Plinth

· Private foundation

Howard and Geraldine Knaack Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$90k
Granted FY2024still arriving
36
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$4k
Largest
01What you fund
0195% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172024.

Human Services$128kHealth$99kRecreation & Sports$82kFood & Nutrition$73kHousing & Shelter$59kYouth Development$44kAnimals$40kEducation$35kOther$0
02FY2024 · 36 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$2,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$1.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
VETERAN'S PATH TO HOPE$4,000
THE GIVING CLOSET OF MCHENRY COUNTY$4,000
FOLDS OF HONOR FOUNDATION$4,000
THE ROAD HOME PROGRAM$4,000
FAMILY HEALTH PARTNERSHIP CLINIC$4,000
M-BAR-C RANCH$4,000
SOUL HARBOR RANCH$3,000
MARQUETTE WOMEN'S CENTER$3,000
KIDS IN NEED OF MCHENRY CO$3,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
CASA OF MCHENRY COUNTY$3,000
WAR HORSES FOR VETERANS$3,000
TEACHING FAMILY HOMES$3,000
ILLINOIS GIVENKIND CENTER$3,000
COSI$3,000
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 (FY17–24, $54k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 96% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%THE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA: $2k → 15%THE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA: $2k → 15%TEACHING FAMILY HOMES: $3k → 11%THE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA: $2k → 15%TEACHING FAMILY HOMES: $3k → 11%THE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA: $2k → 15%TEACHING FAMILY HOMES: $3k → 11%THE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA: $2k → 15%THE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA: $2k → 15%SUNSHINE ACRES CHILDREN'S HOME: $3k → 11%TEACHING FAMILY HOMES: $3k → 11%THE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA: $2k → 15%SUNSHINE ACRES CHILDREN'S HOME: $2k → 11%THE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA: $2k → 15%SUNSHINE ACRES CHILDREN'S HOME: $2k → 11%TEACHING FAMILY HOMES: $3k → 11%SUNSHINE ACRES CHILDREN'S HOME: $2k → 11%SUNSHINE ACRES CHILDREN'S HOME: $2k → 11%SUNSHINE ACRES CHILDREN'S HOME: $2k → 11%SUNSHINE ACRES CHILDREN'S HOME: $2k → 11%TEACHING FAMILY HOMES: $2k → 11%TEACHING FAMILY HOMES: $2k → 11%TEACHING FAMILY HOMES: $2k → 11%SENIOR CARE VOLUNTEER NETWORK: $2k → 6%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

WA
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
IA
CA
UT
CO
VA
AZ
KS
NC
OK
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$704k · 52 repeat orgs$31k to everyone else

52 repeat relationships — 28 still active in FY2024, 24 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

52
7

Total granted

$704k
$13k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+82%
+213%

Still filing today

54%
29%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $18k 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
HealthEducationHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterFood & NutritionRecreation & SportsOther

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

  • FH
    Family Health Partnership Clinic
    8× · 2017–2024 · $31k · revenue +82%
  • WH
    WAR HORSES FOR VETERANS INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $22k · revenue +330%
  • TF
    TEACHING FAMILY HOMES UPPER MICHIGAN INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $21k · revenue +25%

Funded once

  • J4
    JULY 4TH HIGHLAND PARK SHOOTING RESPONSE FUND
    one grant, 2022 · $2k
  • NS
    NDARSORG SOBER LIVING SCHOLARSHIP
    one grant, 2017 · $2k
  • GN
    GIVE N KINDgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $2k · revenue +213%

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
Garden Center Services

Advancing lives of connection, contribution and meaning for persons with developmental disabilities and the individuals that support them.

2
New Hope of Indiana Inc

New hope of indiana, inc. is a leader in providing holistic services and resources to persons with disabilities and their families while advocating to advance the opportunities for those in need of support.

3
Cares of Farmington Hills Inc

To provide comprehensive support services for individuals and families that are in need of everyday necessities due to insufficient financial resources or family instabilty. c.a.r.e.s. will offer food, clothing, job education and training…

Food & Nutrition
4
New Hope Services Inc

Provide services in response to individual need

Human Services
5
Renaissance Social Services Inc

Renaissance Social Services (RSSI) is a unique organization that connects those in need with housing that is safe, quality and affordable. After helping clients attain housing RSSI provides them with comprehensive, flexible, client focused…

Human Services
6
Nourishing Hope

Nourishing hope provides food, mental health support, and social services to help all our neighbors thrive.

7
Children's Home & Aid Society of Ill

Founded in 1883, brightpoint (formerly known as children's home & aid) is a leading statewide organization supporting families so children can thrive.

Human Services
8
Sinnissippi Centers Inc

It is the mission of sinnissippi centers, inc. to provide quality, coordinated and responsive behavioral healthcare services to individuals, families and the communities we serve.

Health
9
Dions Chicago Dream Inc Nfp

To provide food, information and resources to the west englewood community on the south side of chicago, il. our goal is to also increase financial and emotional stability to its residents while combating food insecurity, hunger and…

Food & Nutrition
10
Chicago House & Social Service Agency

Provides housing and support services to individuals and families impacted by hiv/aids

Health
11
The Veterans Exchange

Employment support and exchange for veterans

12
Our Children's Homestead

To insure safe and secure homes for abused, neglected and troubled children; committed to a continuim of professional care that provides parental training, support and services to maximize the growth and development of each child in a…

Human Services

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Northern Illinois Food Bank and the most unlike its peers is Joshua Mission Inc. 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 23 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%5%<5yr13%14%5–10yr18%24%10–20yr15%30%20–35yr14%19%35–55yr22%8%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%1%<5yr13%7%5–10yr18%32%10–20yr15%30%20–35yr14%20%35–55yr22%9%55yr+

The field is 18% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 3% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
3%1/38
the rest of the field
12%
8,891/72,321

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

33 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. 33 of the 67 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)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/33
Grantees still filing
29/33
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

M-BAR-C RANCH — $27,000 · OtherM-BAR-C RANCHTHE ROAD HOME PROGRAM — $26,000 · OtherTHE ROAD HOME PROGRAMGIGI'S PLAYHOUSE MCHENRY — $25,000 · OtherGIGI'S PLAYHOUSE MCHENRYCOSI — $23,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $21,500 · OtherLOVE FAMILY CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION INC — $20,500 · OtherCARY GROVE FOOD PANTRY — $20,000 · OtherTHE PERIOD COLLECTIVE INC — $19,000 · OtherPIONEER CENTER — $18,000 · OtherCAMP ELIM MINISTRIES — $17,000 · OtherFeeding Dreams Inc — $16,000 · OtherVICTORY JUNCTION GANG CAMP INC — $19,000 · Other+33 more — $192,500 · Other+33 moreFamily Health Partnership Clinic — $31,000 · HealthWAR HORSES FOR VETERANS INC — $21,500 · HealthEveryone Reading Illinois — $2,000 · HealthJOSHUA MISSION INC — $2,000 · Health+1 more — $1,000 · HealthFOLDS OF HONOR FOUNDATION — $19,000 · EducationGIRLS ON THE RUN OF NORTHWEST ILLINOIS — $18,000 · EducationPOINT FOUNDATION — $8,000 · EducationSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION — $6,000 · EducationALEXANDER LEIGH CENTER FOR AUTISM — $6,000 · EducationTEACHING FAMILY HOMES UPPER MICHIGAN INC — $21,000 · Human ServicesTHE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA — $16,000 · Human ServicesSUNSHINE ACRES CHILDREN'S HOME INC — $15,000 · Human ServicesSENIOR CARE VOLUNTEER NETWORK — $2,000 · Human ServicesHome of the Sparrow Inc — $20,000 · Housing & ShelterTransitional Living Services Inc — $10,000 · Housing & ShelterROOM AT THE INN — $9,000 · Housing & ShelterDEBORAH'S PLACE — $4,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE URBAN FARM — $21,000 · Crime & LegalCASA OF MCHENRY COUNTY INC — $20,500 · Crime & LegalNATIONAL ABILITY CENTER — $26,000 · Recreation & SportsSPECIAL OLYMPICS MICHIGAN INC — $11,900 · Recreation & Sports
Other$444,500Health$57,500Education$57,000Human Services$54,000Housing & Shelter$43,000Crime & Legal$41,500Recreation & Sports$37,900

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 budgetFamily Health Partnership Clinic — $31,000 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetNATIONAL ABILITY CENTER — $26,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetWAR HORSES FOR VETERANS INC — $21,500 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetTEACHING FAMILY HOMES UPPER MICHIGAN INC — $21,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetTHE URBAN FARM — $21,000 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetCASA OF MCHENRY COUNTY INC — $20,500 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetCARY GROVE FOOD PANTRY — $20,000 over 8y, 5.3% of budgetHome of the Sparrow Inc — $20,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetFOLDS OF HONOR FOUNDATION — $19,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetVICTORY JUNCTION GANG CAMP INC — $19,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetGIRLS ON THE RUN OF NORTHWEST ILLINOIS — $18,000 over 8y, 1.4% of budgetTHE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA — $16,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding Dreams Inc — $16,000 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetSUNSHINE ACRES CHILDREN'S HOME INC — $15,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSoul Harbour Ranch Animal Therapy Program — $13,000 over 6y, 2.2% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS MICHIGAN INC — $11,900 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTransitional Living Services Inc — $10,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetROOM AT THE INN — $9,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetJK COMMUNITY FARM — $9,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetPOINT FOUNDATION — $8,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY — $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION — $6,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetALEXANDER LEIGH CENTER FOR AUTISM — $6,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK — $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDEBORAH'S PLACE — $4,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSENIOR CARE VOLUNTEER NETWORK — $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetEveryone Reading Illinois — $2,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetGIVE N KIND — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSMILE TRAIN INC — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetIllinois Nurses Foundation — $1,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetURBAN GROWERS COLLECTIVE INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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 Family Health Partnership Clinic
  • Who funds NATIONAL ABILITY CENTER
  • Who funds WAR HORSES FOR VETERANS INC
  • Who funds TEACHING FAMILY HOMES UPPER MICHIGAN INC
  • Who funds THE URBAN FARM
  • Who funds CASA OF MCHENRY COUNTY INC
  • Who funds CARY GROVE FOOD PANTRY
  • Who funds Home of the Sparrow Inc
  • Who funds FOLDS OF HONOR FOUNDATION
  • Who funds VICTORY JUNCTION GANG CAMP INC
  • Who funds GIRLS ON THE RUN OF NORTHWEST ILLINOIS
  • Who funds THE ARC OF THE QUAD CITIES AREA
  • Who funds Feeding Dreams Inc
  • Who funds SUNSHINE ACRES CHILDREN'S HOME INC
  • Who funds Soul Harbour Ranch Animal Therapy Program
  • Who funds SPECIAL OLYMPICS MICHIGAN INC
  • Who funds Transitional Living Services Inc
  • Who funds ROOM AT THE INN
  • Who funds JK COMMUNITY FARM
  • Who funds POINT FOUNDATION
  • Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

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.

Aptargroup Charitable FoundationIL22× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Aptargroup Charitable Foundation · The Community Foundation for McHenry County · The Chicago Community Trust · AbbVie Foundation · Full Circle Foundation · Foglia Family Foundation · Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Group · UNITED WAY OF GREATER McHENRY COUNTY INC · The Bersted Foundation · Northwestern Memorial HealthCare · Baxter International Foundation · Arthur J Gallagher 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 Howard and Geraldine Knaack Foundation 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 · 20%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get 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 · 0–75%
    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 67 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph