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New Jersey · Private foundation

James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$56k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
15
Grants FY2025
24
Organizations funded FY2024
25%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$3,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$10,000
Organizations funded a year
14 to 24
FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
7
Total assets, FY2025
$1.6M
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 25% of the organizations James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 24% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $21k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
ReligionEducationHuman ServicesFood & NutritionArts & CultureAnimalsOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving14$56k21%
FY202424$87k25%
FY202321$86k43%
FY202214$59k21%
FY202123$88k26%
FY202020$54k55%
FY201921$80k0%
FY201821$80k24%
92% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Human Services$120kHealth$117kFood & Nutrition$89kEducation$88kReligion$61kArts & Culture$56kHousing & Shelter$21kCrime & Legal$15kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

NH
MN
WI
MI
NY
MA
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
VA
MD
NC
DC
HI
TX
FL

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Show all 26 grantees
All grantees of James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Franklin Township Food Bank$78,00090%
The Center for Great Expectations Inc$71,00090%
Zarephath Health Center Inc$32,500610%
Safe & Sound$19,00030%
Loyola University Maryland Inc$15,00030%
Safe & Sound Inc$15,00030%
Navy Seal Foundation Inc$15,00030%
Elijahs Promise Inc$11,00020%
Walking With Purpose Inc$10,00020%
Fellowship for Performing Arts Inc$10,00010%
Smile Train Inc$7,00040%
Christian Research Institute Inc$6,50050%
St Josephs High School$6,0002n/a
Samaritan's Purse$4,50010%
Saint Joseph's University$4,00020%
Mass General Brigham Incorporated$4,0003n/a
Campus Crusade for Christ Inc$4,0003n/a
Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation$3,50030%
Second Chance Animal Sanctuaries Inc$3,00021%
Wounded Warrior Project Inc$3,00020%
Covenant House New Jersey Inc$3,00020%
Center for Faithjustice Inc$3,00030%
Bible Study Fellowship$2,00010%
Market Street Mission Inc$1,0001n/a
New Jersey State Policemens Benevolent Franklin Township Pba Local #154$1,00011%
American Bible Society$10010%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 35 recipients with no EIN on record ($334k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFranklin Township Food Bank: $78,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetThe Center for Great Expectations Inc: $71,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetZarephath Health Center Inc: $32,500 over 6y, 10.0% of budgetSafe & Sound: $19,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLoyola University Maryland Inc: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSafe & Sound Inc: $15,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetNavy Seal Foundation Inc: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetElijahs Promise Inc: $11,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWalking With Purpose Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFellowship for Performing Arts Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSmile Train Inc: $7,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetChristian Research Institute Inc: $6,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSamaritan's Purse: $4,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSaint Joseph's University: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetStephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation: $3,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSecond Chance Animal Sanctuaries Inc: $3,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetWounded Warrior Project Inc: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCovenant House New Jersey Inc: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCenter for Faithjustice Inc: $3,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetBible Study Fellowship: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNew Jersey State Policemens Benevolent Franklin Township Pba Local #154: $1,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetAmerican Bible Society: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 22.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation IncNJ15.4× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation Inc · Citizens Philanthropic Foundation Inc · Investors Foundation Inc · Verizon Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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.

Compare James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to James and Melanie McNamara Family 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.

About James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation

How much does James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation give?
James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation reported 15 grants totaling $56,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 14 and 24 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Human Services (18%), Health (18%), Food & Nutrition (13%).
Who are James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Franklin Township Food Bank ($78k), The Center for Great Expectations Inc ($71k), Zarephath Health Center Inc ($33k).
Does James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 25% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation Inc, Citizens Philanthropic Foundation Inc, Investors Foundation Inc.
Where is James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation based?
James and Melanie McNamara Family Foundation is based in NJ.

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 61 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-PF 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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