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Institute for Local Self Reliance at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Institute for Local Self Reliance

To provide the conceptual framework, strategies, and information to aid the creation of ecologically-sound and equitable communities.

$1.4M
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$625k
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, FY2022 to 2025.

Public Benefit$1.4MEnvironment$1.3MCommunity Improvement$769kEmployment$487kCivil Rights$280kPhilanthropy$210kArts & Culture$167kEducation$150kOther$0
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 13 grants below total $1,302,424, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,357,821 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $55,397 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 · FY2025

  • $10k–50k5 grants · $90k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $587k
  • $250k+1 grant · $625k
$52,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$9.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
POWERSWITCH ACTION$625,000
RECAST CITY LLC$183,918
COMMUNITY POWER$125,000
UNITED FOR RESPECT EDUCATION FUND$67,506
PHILADELPHIA JOBS WITH JUSTICE$55,000
THE AWOOD CENTER$52,000
DEMAND PROGRESS EDUCATION FUND$52,000
MAKE THE ROAD STATES INC$52,000
GOOD JOBS FIRST$25,000
BK ROT INC$20,000
PENOBSCOT TRIBAL FARM$20,000
BUSINESS EDUCATION FUND$15,000
350 SEATTLE$10,000
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 (FY22–25, $297k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 26% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%TIDES CENTER: $160k → 10%MAKE THE ROAD STATES INC: $52k → 20%BACKBONE CAMPAIGN: $10k → 9%TIDES CENTER: $50k → 10%MAKE THE ROAD STATES INC: $25k → 20%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

ME
WA
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
MO
MD
AZ
DC
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.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.6M · 13 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

13 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
24

Total granted

$3.6M
$883k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
0%

Still filing today

92%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $215k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentCivil RightsEmploymentEducationCrime & LegalFood & 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

  • SU
    Solar United Neighbors Inc
    3× · 2022–2024 · $534k · revenue +123%
  • MW
    Missouri Workers Center
    2× · 2023–2024 · $224k · revenue +178%
  • SA
    SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $217k · revenue +53%

Funded once

  • NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2023 · $150k · revenue +22%
  • FF
    FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE EDUCATION FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $120k · revenue +189%
  • WW
    Warehouse Workers Justice Center Incgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue +478%
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
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
2
Climate Jobs National Resource Center Inc

To educate workers and the public about policies that will build a clean energy economy at the scale climate science demands, create good union jobs, and create more equitable communities.

Environment
3
Jobs With Justice Education Fund

The organization serves as a coalition of labor organizations, community groups, faith-based organizations, and student groups dedicated to protecting the rights of working people. To this end, the corporation shall engage in organizing…

—
4
Fair Work Center

We are workers, united across different industries to improve our working conditions and our lives. We come together as working people to build power through education, organizing, and enforcement. We work to raise and uphold standards in…

Employment
5
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
6
Taproot Earth

Taproot Earth works with communities to support strategies around the use of water, energy and land.

Environment
7
Fund for Justice

Fund for Justice is a nationally connected social impact research and advocacy organization that works to achieve fundamental, systemic reform by addressing policies and practicies that prevent individuals from reaching their full…

Crime & Legal
8
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
9
Partnership for Policy Integrity

Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI) uses data-driven advocacy and litigation to fight for forests, communities and the climate.

Environment
10
Nature for Justice

To empower frontline communities to lead nature-based solutions that advance climate justice, ecosystem restoration, and resilient livelihoods through connecting locally-led initiatives to funding, markets, and technical support.

Environment
11
Center for Racial and Gender E Nfp

Workers Rights

Civil Rights
12
Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Southern coalition for social justice partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities across the south to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights. through an intersectional and…

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc; the most unlike its peers is Warehouse Workers Justice Center Inc. 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

34 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. 34 of the 43 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/34
Grantees still filing
14/34
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Solar United Neighbors Inc: $534,018 · EnvironmentSolar United Neighbors IncCOMMUNITY POWER: $451,000 · EnvironmentCOMMUNITY POWERSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $217,000 · EnvironmentSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTR…+4 more: $95,000 · Environment+4 morePOWERSWITCH ACTION: $1,250,000 · Community ImprovementPOWERSWITCH ACTIONRECAST CITY LLC: $317,408 · OtherRECAST CITY LLCCOMPOST POWER: $92,500 · OtherCOMPOST POWERNEW YORK MAIN STREET ALLIANCE INC: $60,000 · OtherTHE AWOOD CENTER: $166,500 · OtherTHE AWOOD CENTERFIGHT FOR THE FUTURE EDUCATION FUND: $120,000 · OtherFIGHT FOR THE FUTURE EDUCATION…DEMAND PROGRESS EDUCATION FUND: $52,000 · OtherDEFENDING RIGHTS AND DISSENT INC: $45,400 · OtherWarehouse Workers Justice Center Inc: $100,000 · OtherWarehouse Workers Justice Cent…BUSINESS EDUCATION FUND: $100,000 · OtherBUSINESS EDUCATION FUND+15 more: $250,107 · Other+15 moreMissouri Workers Center: $224,000 · EmploymentPHILADELPHIA AREA JOBS WITH JUSTICE: $55,000 · EmploymentALIGN THE ALLIANCE FOR A GREATER NEW YORK INC: $40,000 · EmploymentTIDES CENTER: $210,000 · Human ServicesMake The Road States Inc: $77,000 · Human ServicesBackbone Campaign: $10,000 · Human ServicesNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $150,000 · EducationUnited for Respect Education Fund: $67,506 · EducationGOOD JOBS FIRST: $55,000 · EducationAlliance for Global Justice Corp: $155,000 · InternationalWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: $25,000 · International
Environment$1,297,018Community Improvement$1,250,000Other$1,303,915Employment$319,000Human Services$297,000Education$272,506International$180,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPOWERSWITCH ACTION: $1,250,000 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetSolar United Neighbors Inc: $534,018 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetCOMMUNITY POWER: $451,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetMissouri Workers Center: $224,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $217,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $210,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AWOOD CENTER: $166,500 over 3y, 14% of budgetAlliance for Global Justice Corp: $155,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $150,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFIGHT FOR THE FUTURE EDUCATION FUND: $120,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetBUSINESS EDUCATION FUND: $100,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetMake The Road States Inc: $77,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUnited for Respect Education Fund: $67,506 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetGOOD JOBS FIRST: $55,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetDEFENDING RIGHTS AND DISSENT INC: $45,400 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetALIGN THE ALLIANCE FOR A GREATER NEW YORK INC: $40,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetCLEAN WATER FUND: $40,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE EQUAL RIGHTS CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGarden Time Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budget350 Seattle: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetThe Center for Media Justice DBA MediaJustice: $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNEW HAVEN ECOLOGY PROJECT INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPEOPLE'S SOLAR ENERGY FUND: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetBK ROT INC: $20,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetPOCASSET POKANOKET LAND TRUST INC: $15,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetSURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY OVERSIGHT PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetCEEDS4CHANGE: $10,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetBackbone Campaign: $10,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetCONGREGATIONS CARING FOR CREATION: $7,000 over 1y, 0.8% 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.

New Venture FundAmalgamated Charitabl…Rockefeller Philanthr…Tides FoundationWindward FundProteus Fund IncUnited States Energy …Powerswitch ActionJobs with Justice Edu…ImpactassetsincOmidyar Network Fund …Freedom Together Foun…
New Venture FundDC30.5× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: New Venture Fund · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Tides Foundation · Windward Fund · Proteus Fund Inc · United States Energy Foundation · Powerswitch Action · Jobs with Justice Education Fund · Impactassetsinc · Omidyar Network Fund Inc · Freedom Together 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 Institute for Local Self Reliance funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Institute for Local Self Reliance. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • New Haven Ecology Project Inc: 9% of income from government
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 Institute for Local Self Reliance?

Find your warmest path to Institute for Local Self Reliance 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 43 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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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