Skip to content

· Public charity

Independent Order of Foresters

Foresters Common Bond informs its purpose is to champion the well-being of its members, their families and communities where they live, which it does through quality life insurance, unique member benefits, and inspiring community activities.

$9.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$2.4M
Largest
01What it funds
0173% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Recreation & Sports$4.6MHuman Services$3.0MMembership Benefit$2.3MPublic Safety & Disaster$273kFood & Nutrition$92kEducation$49kEnvironment$39kCommunity Improvement$29kOther$0
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 5 grants below total $3,088,604, the rows itemized in this filing. The $9,138,693 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $6,050,089 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $46k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $293k
  • $250k+2 grants · $2.8M
$242,708
Median grant
3
States reached
$5.2B
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$2,417,409
KaBOOM$332,987
Individual grant recipient$242,708
Marjaree Mason Center$50,000
US Hunger$45,500
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 (FY17–24, $275k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, 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%American Red Cross: $200k → 11%Marjaree Mason Center: $50k → 19%American Red Cross: $25k → 11%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

MN
IL
WI
MI
IA
CA
CO
AZ
NC
DC
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $3.8M on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 2 regions, $2.2M to organizations and $1.6M to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

North America (Canada and Mexico)$2.2M · 57% · 3 grants · 3202 people

Stated purpose: Grants to CA Branch Ntwk · Member Engagement · Charitable Support

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$1.6M · 43% · 3 grants · 1949 people

Stated purpose: Grants to UK Branch Ntwk · Member Engagement · Charitable Support

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$21M · 7 repeat orgs$2.2M to everyone else

7 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
9

Total granted

$21M
$2.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-11%
+82%

Still filing today

57%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $96k 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
Human ServicesEducationRecreation & SportsHealthFood & NutritionOther
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

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    5× · 2019–2024 · $10M
  • IO
    INDEPENDENT ORDER OF FORESTERS GROUP RETURN
    2× · 2017–2018 · $4.9M · revenue -100%
  • KI
    KABOOM INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $4.6M · revenue -19%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $1.8M
  • RM
    Ronald McDonald House Globalgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $101k · revenue +82%
  • LF
    LITTLE FREE LIBRARYgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $49k · revenue +132%
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
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
2
United States Fund for Unicef

The organization's mission is to relentlessly pursue a better world for every child. unicef usa advances the global mission of unicef by rallying the american public to support the world's most vulnerable children. through fundraising,…

International
3
Food Forward Inc

Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.

Food & Nutrition
4
Feed the Children Inc

We are a global movement working to end child hunger in the u.s. and around the world. together with communities, we provide food, essentials, and opportunities so every child can survive and thrive.

International
5
The Maryland Food Bank Inc

The maryland food bank is a nonprofit hunger-relief organization dedicated to feeding people, strengthening communities, and ending hunger for more marylanders.

—
6
The Global FoodBanking Network

To nourish the world's hungry through uniting and advancing food banks.

International
7
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

The mission of the global alliance for improved nutrition (gain) is to improve the consumption of healthier diets for all, especially the most vulnerable, by improving the availability, affordability, desirability, and sustainability of…

Food & Nutrition
8
Childfund International Usa

Childfund's mission is to help deprived, excluded and vulnerable children have the capacity to become young adults, parents and leaders who bring lasting and positive change to their communities, and to promote societies whose individuals…

International
9
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
10
Make-a-Wish Foundation International

None

Human Services
11
Whole Foods Market Foundation
Community Improvement
12
We Are Family Foundation

The we are family foundation celebrates the vision of a global family by creating and supporting programs that inspire and educate people about mutual respect, understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity.

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of America; the most unlike its peers is Whole Kids Foundation. 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

11 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 11 of the 19 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
6/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $10,305,712 · OtherIndividual grant recipientINDEPENDENT ORDER OF FORESTERS GROUP RETURN: $4,915,813 · OtherINDEPENDENT ORDER OF FORESTERS GROUP RETURNIndividual grant recipient: $1,828,108 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $673,239 · Other+7 more: $380,864 · OtherKABOOM INC: $4,586,227 · Recreation & SportsKABOOM INCAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $225,000 · Human ServicesMARJAREE MASON CENTER INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INC: $11,000 · Human ServicesRonald McDonald House Global: $101,375 · HealthLITTLE FREE LIBRARY: $49,142 · EducationFeeding Children Everywhere Inc: $45,500 · Food & NutritionAMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC: $12,800 · Philanthropy
Other$18,103,736Recreation & Sports$4,586,227Human Services$286,000Health$101,375Education$49,142Food & Nutrition$45,500Philanthropy$12,800

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetKABOOM INC: $4,586,227 over 7y, 4.7% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $225,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWhole Kids Foundation: $191,776 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetMARJAREE MASON CENTER INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLITTLE FREE LIBRARY: $49,142 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetFeeding Children Everywhere Inc: $45,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetAMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC: $12,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INC: $11,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $10,000 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.

American Online Giving Foundation IncDE5.8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile 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 Independent Order of Foresters funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Independent Order of Foresters. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get 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 · 0–30%
    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.

    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 19 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 Independent Order of Foresters’ filings →

    More from the funding graph