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Plinth

· Private foundation

Irvin Stern Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$626k
Granted FY2025still arriving
31
Grants FY2025still arriving
11
States reached
$40k
Largest
01What you fund
0191% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20202025.

Philanthropy$816kEducation$585kHuman Services$417kFood & Nutrition$402kCrime & Legal$365kHealth$358kArts & Culture$330kHousing & Shelter$255kOther$0
02FY2025 · 31 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $11k
  • $10k–50k29 grants · $615k
$20,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$10M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FIGUEROA WU FAMILY FOUNDATION$40,000
BAY AREA HYBRID COLLEGE INITIATIVE$30,000
BONADFIDE INC$30,000
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF LATET HUMANITARIAN AID INC$30,000
HOUSING PLUS$30,000
INGLOBAL$30,000
JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTH PALM BEACH COUNTY$30,000
BROOKLYN BOATWORKS$30,000
AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE$25,000
PAPER FIG FOUNDATION$25,000
ANN AND ROBERT H LURIE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL$25,000
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN -JEWISH LIFE & ANTISEMITISM$25,000
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN$25,000
ACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE$25,000
INSIDE OUT NETWORK$25,000
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 (FY20–25, $303k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 82% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%FULFIILMENT FUND: $10k → 14%ELEANOR WHITMORE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER: $25k → 7%DENVER CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $15k → 12%BOYS TOWN NEVADA: $15k → 13%WOMEN IN NEED: $30k → 17%DENVER CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $15k → 12%WOMEN IN NEED: $30k → 17%BOYS TOWN NEVADA: $10k → 13%WOMEN IN NEED: $30k → 17%LC AND LITTLE LILLIE COX HAVEN OF HOPE: $15k → 9%PAPER FIG FOUNDATION: $25k → 17%BOYS TOWN NEVADA: $8k → 13%LC & LILLIE COX HAVEN OF HELP: $15k → 9%WOMEN IN NEED: $5k → 17%FIGUEROA WU FAMILY FOUNDATION: $40k → 14%SISTER HOUSE: $15k → 14%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

ME
VT
WA
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
NV
PA
CA
CO
MO
VA
MD
DE
AZ
AR
NC
SC
DC
AL
GA
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.

74%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$3.4M · 53 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +51% since the first grant, against +12% for the ones you funded once.

53 repeat relationships — 13 still active in FY2025, 40 since wound down; 17 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

53
58

Total granted

$3.4M
$858k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+51%
+12%

Still filing today

60%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $341k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesArts & CulturePhilanthropyCrime & LegalCivil RightsOther

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

  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    5× · 2020–2024 · $480k · revenue +13%
  • MF
    MILAGRO FOUNDATION INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $200k · revenue +51%
  • NH
    NOURISHING HOPE
    5× · 2020–2024 · $170k · revenue +107%

Funded once

  • TD
    THORN DIGITAL DEFENDERS OF CHILDREN
    one grant, 2020 · $30k
  • BC
    BRADY CENTER FOR GUN VIOLENCE
    one grant, 2021 · $30k
  • HO
    HAVEN OF HOPE
    one grant, 2022 · $30k

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
Jumpstart Labs Inc Dba Jewish Jumpstart Jslabs

To develop, strengthen, and learn from nonprofit, philanthropic, public, as well as other projects, organizations, and networks that benefit society by advancing civic engagement, community-building, culture, education, religion, service,…

2
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
3
The New York Opportunity Network Inc Dba the Opportunity Network

The opportunity network ignites the drive, curiosity, and agency of underrepresented students on their paths to and through college and into thriving careers, powered by our commitment to access and community.

Education
4
Better Food Foundation Inc

To promote dietary changes to build a healthy, equitable, humane, and environmentally-sustainable food system.

Food & Nutrition
5
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
6
Coop Careers Inc

Building a movement of diverse, upwardly mobile college grads overcoming underemployment through digital skills and peer connections.

Education
7
Jews of Color Initiative

The Jews of Color Initiatives mission is to advance racial equity in the U.S. Jewish community by centering the leadership of Jews of Color and ensuring that our communities and institutions reflect the multiracial reality of the Jewish…

Civil Rights
8
Avodah the Jewish Service Corps Inc

Avodah develops lifelong social justice leaders whose work is informed by jewish values and who inspire the jewish community to work toward a more just and equitable world.

Community Improvement
9
J Street

To organize pro-israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy americans to promote us policies that embody our deeply held jewish and democratic values and that help secure the state of israel as a democratic homeland for the jewish people.

International
10
Upwardly Global

Upwardly global removes employment barriers for immigrant, refugee, and asylee professionals while advancing the inclusion of their skills into the u.s. economy.

Employment
11
Xchange Chicago Inc

To realize a more equitable and inclusive economy by advancing innovative workforce solutions that equip local residents with the skills and resources to access high-growth employment opportunities in tech and other rapidly growing fields…

Employment
12
Immigrant Justice Corps Inc

Ijc's mission is to recruit, train, and populate the immigration field with the highest quality legal advocates to create a new generation of leaders with a lifelong commitment to immigrant justice.

Crime & Legal

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County Inc and the most unlike its peers is Hanley Foundation. 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 backsteadyJewish Community Organizati…Policy Research and AdvocacyLgbtq+ Community SupportCommunity FoundationsCancer Support ServicesChristian Youth CampsPregnancy Support ServicesFood Banks and PantriesChristian Missionary Organi…United Way AffiliatesHealth Access Advocacy and …Local Food System Organizat…Independent K-12 SchoolsSchool District FoundationsDomestic Violence Services
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 24 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%1%<5yr14%14%5–10yr19%29%10–20yr16%24%20–35yr13%17%35–55yr16%14%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%1%<5yr14%14%5–10yr19%21%10–20yr16%21%20–35yr13%18%35–55yr16%25%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 0.0% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/75
the rest of the field
13%
240,396/1,819,490

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

72 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. 72 of the 131 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)
19
Early backer (in before they grew)
71/72
Grantees still filing
49/72
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

NOURISHING HOPE — $170,000 · OtherNOURISHING HOPEUniversity of Michigan — $125,000 · OtherBONIFIDE — $90,000 · OtherHousing Plus Solutions Inc — $110,000 · Other+87 more — $2,028,919 · Other+87 moreJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO — $480,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND…JEWISH FEDERATION OF PALM BEACH COUNTY INC — $228,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION …JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTH PALM BEACH COUNTY INC — $40,000 · PhilanthropyHANLEY FOUNDATION — $27,500 · Philanthropy+3 more — $35,000 · PhilanthropyBay Area Hybrid College Initiative DBA Rivet School — $120,000 · EducationBay Area Hy…BROOKLYN BOATWORKS INC — $120,000 · EducationBROOKLYN BO…PROJECT MOST INC — $100,000 · EducationPROJECT MOS…EVANSTON SCHOLARS — $65,000 · EducationEVANSTON SC…INGLOBAL — $30,000 · EducationINGLOBALPRISON UNIVERSITY PROJECT INC DBA MOUNT TAMALPAIS COLLEGE — $20,000 · EducationCOLORADO UPLIFT INC — $20,000 · Education+3 more — $40,000 · Education+3 moreWOMEN IN NEED INC — $95,000 · Human ServicesFIGUEROA WU FAMILY FOUNDATION — $40,000 · Human ServicesBoys Town Nevada Inc — $32,500 · Human ServicesThe Denver Children's Foundation — $30,000 · Human ServicesELEANOR WHITMORE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER INC — $25,000 · Human ServicesOUT IN THE OPEN INC — $25,000 · Human ServicesPAPER FIG FOUNDATION INC — $25,000 · Human ServicesLC AND LILLIE COX HAVEN OF HOPE — $15,000 · Human ServicesSISTERHOUSE — $15,000 · Human Services+1 more — $10,000 · Human ServicesROOT & REBOUND — $150,000 · Crime & LegalInside Out Network Inc — $100,000 · Crime & LegalBONAFIDE INC — $30,000 · Crime & LegalJOHN HOWARD ASSOCIATION — $15,000 · Crime & LegalMILAGRO FOUNDATION INC — $200,000 · Arts & CultureOUR GENERATION SPEAKS INC — $20,000 · Arts & CultureTHE AMERICAN WRITERS MUSEUM — $15,000 · Arts & CultureBOCA RATON MUSEUM OF ART — $10,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $7,500 · Arts & CultureMIDWEST ACCESS COALITION — $65,000 · Civil RightsUNITE AMERICA INC — $50,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE — $35,000 · Civil RightsLEGAL AID CENTER OF SOUTHERN NEVADA — $20,000 · Civil Rights
Other$2,523,919Philanthropy$810,500Education$515,000Human Services$312,500Crime & Legal$295,000Arts & Culture$252,500Civil Rights$170,000

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 budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO — $480,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF PALM BEACH COUNTY INC — $228,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMILAGRO FOUNDATION INC — $200,000 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetNOURISHING HOPE — $170,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetROOT & REBOUND — $150,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetUniversity of Michigan — $125,000 over 5y, 7.7% of budgetBay Area Hybrid College Initiative DBA Rivet School — $120,000 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetBROOKLYN BOATWORKS INC — $120,000 over 5y, 4.0% of budgetHousing Plus Solutions Inc — $110,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetPROJECT MOST INC — $100,000 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetInside Out Network Inc — $100,000 over 4y, 14% of budgetWOMEN IN NEED INC — $95,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetEVANSTON SCHOLARS — $65,000 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetMIDWEST ACCESS COALITION — $65,000 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetUNITE AMERICA INC — $50,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetPediatric Brain Tumor Foundation of the United States Inc — $45,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetWE EVANSTON — $45,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetPILOT LIGHT — $45,000 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTH PALM BEACH COUNTY INC — $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetINNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION — $40,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetFIGUEROA WU FAMILY FOUNDATION — $40,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetPrison Yoga Project Inc — $40,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE — $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBoys Town Nevada Inc — $32,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetURBAN ALCHEMY — $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe Denver Children's Foundation — $30,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY — $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHANLEY FOUNDATION — $27,500 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetMeans Database Inc — $27,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetELEANOR WHITMORE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER INC — $25,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetOUT IN THE OPEN INC — $25,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE — $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetA JUST HARVEST — $25,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetPRISON UNIVERSITY PROJECT INC DBA MOUNT TAMALPAIS COLLEGE — $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCYBER CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE INC — $20,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetISRAEL TENNIS CENTERS FOUNDATION INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOUR GENERATION SPEAKS INC — $20,000 over 1y, 7.6% of budgetCOLORADO UPLIFT INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSPRINGS FOOD PANTRY INC — $20,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetFRIENDS OF HAGAL SHELI INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetLEGAL AID CENTER OF SOUTHERN NEVADA — $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetRISE AGAINST HUNGER INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGIRLFORWARD — $20,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetLC AND LILLIE COX HAVEN OF HOPE — $15,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetErie Family Health Center Inc — $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHICAGO DEBATE COMMISSION — $15,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetCollegespring Inc — $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSISTERHOUSE — $15,000 over 1y, 2.9% 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 JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
  • Who funds JEWISH FEDERATION OF PALM BEACH COUNTY INC
  • Who funds MILAGRO FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds NOURISHING HOPE
  • Who funds ROOT & REBOUND
  • Who funds University of Michigan
  • Who funds Bay Area Hybrid College Initiative DBA Rivet School
  • Who funds BROOKLYN BOATWORKS INC
  • Who funds Housing Plus Solutions Inc
  • Who funds PROJECT MOST INC
  • Who funds Inside Out Network Inc
  • Who funds WOMEN IN NEED INC
  • Who funds EVANSTON SCHOLARS
  • Who funds MIDWEST ACCESS COALITION
  • Who funds UNITE AMERICA INC
  • Who funds Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation of the United States Inc
  • Who funds WE EVANSTON
  • Who funds PILOT LIGHT
  • Who funds JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTH PALM BEACH COUNTY INC
  • Who funds INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION
  • Who funds FIGUEROA WU FAMILY FOUNDATION
  • Who funds Prison Yoga Project Inc
  • Who funds AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE
  • Who funds Boys Town Nevada Inc
  • Who funds URBAN ALCHEMY
  • Who funds BONAFIDE INC

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.

The Chicago Community TrustIL20.2× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Jewish Communal Fund · Helen V Brach Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Circle of Service Foundation · Tides Foundation · The Hyde and Watson Foundation · The James Irvine 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 Irvin Stern 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 · 50%2%6%14%25%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 25%
  • Out in the Open Inc25% of income from government
  • Boca Ballet Theatre Company0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
23report 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, 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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Irvin Stern Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Irvin Stern 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 131 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph