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Plinth

· Private foundation

James J Ludwig Foundation

$39k
Granted FY2018
72
Grants FY2018
12
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What you fund
01FY2018 · 72 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2018

  • Under $10k71 grants · $29k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$35
Median grant
12
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$10,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
SF SPCA$5,000
FAMSF$3,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
PARKS CONSERVANCY$2,500
SFMOMA$2,500
Yale Alumni Fund$1,000
MONTEREY BAY AQ$1,000
EXPLORATORIUM$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
Individual grant recipient$600
SAVE THE CHILDREN$300
Individual grant recipient$250
SAVE THE CHILDREN$200
02The need
02

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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY18–18) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%INTERNATIONAL RESCUE: $25 → 12%ST FRANCIS CNTR: $100 → 7%POST: $25 → 8%MARINE MAMMAL CNTR: $25 → 8%PP OF NO CA: $35 → 9%OAKLAND MUSEUM: $95 → 10%MEALS ON WHEELS: $25 → 10%MONTEREY BAY AQ: $1k → 12%CONSUMER REPORTS: $55 → 9%NATIONAL AUD SOC: $25 → 17%HORACE MANN: $100 → 28%NATIONAL TRUST: $25 → 14%VOTE SMART: $45 → 10%SAVE THE CHILDREN: $300 → 9%Yale Alumni Fund: $1k → 12%ELEPHANT SANCTUARY: $25 → 14%BEST FRIENDS: $25 → 9%HABITAT FOR HUMAN: $25 → 22%PEACEABLE PRIMATE: $25 → 14%JANE GOODALL INST: $25 → 6%SMCPF: $50 → 7%SEMPERVIRONS FUND: $25 → 8%MARINE MAMMAL SOC: $25 → 8%SAVE THE BAY: $25 → 10%FAMSF: $3k → 10%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $25 → 17%NAT PK FDTN: $25 → 14%SAVE THE CHILDREN: $200 → 9%JANE GOODALL INST: $25 → 6%PENINSULA SYMPH: $600 → 7%CAL ACAD SCI: $1k → 10%STANFORD UNI: $100 → 7%SF BALLET: $3k → 10%THE MET: $110 → 17%UCSF FDTN: $250 → 10%MOMA: $70 → 17%MT SINAI HOSP: $50 → 17%YBCA: $85 → 10%SFMOMA: $3k → 10%EXPLORATORIUM: $1k → 10%SF OPERA ASSOC: $100 → 10%SF SYMPHONY: $90 → 10%SF SPCA: $5k → 10%SF ZOO: $10k → 10%SF ZOO: $5k → 10%PARKS CONSERVANCY: $3k → 10%SFGH FDTN: $100 → 10%PETS ARE WONDERFUL: $50 → 10%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

MN
NY
OR
IA
IN
CT
CA
UT
VA
TN
DC
GA

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 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
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
2
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
3
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
4
Earth & Space Research

Increase societal understanding of the earth system through scientific research and education.

Science & Tech
5
World Animal Protection

World animal protection is a global organization working to end factory farming and wildlife exploitation. we expose cruel systems, promote animal-friendly alternatives, and influence policy change. for over 75 years, we've been rewriting…

Animals
6
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
7
Oceana Inc

To advocate for policy changes by governments and corporations in order to preserve ocean life and return the oceans to their former abundance.

Environment
8
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
9
For the Fishes

To address, educate, coordinate, and enhance enforcement capacity to end teh trade in coral reef wildlife for household and other small display aquariums. our supply and demand side strategies are directed locally and globally to…

Animals
10
The 5 Gyres Institute

The 5 Gyres Institute (5 Gyres) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, with a global network of supporters united in the pursuit of a planet free of plastic pollution. 5 Gyres' mission is to empower action against the…

11
Wildlife Conservation Society

The wildlife conservation society (wcs) saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature.

Animals
12
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Friends of the Earth and the most unlike its peers is San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

03the grantee network

15 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. 15 of the 69 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/15
Grantees still filing
13/15
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Individual grant recipient — $15,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient — $3,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientFAMSF — $3,000 · OtherFAMSFPARKS CONSERVANCY — $2,500 · OtherPARKS CONSERVANCYIndividual grant recipient — $1,000 · OtherMONTEREY BAY AI — $1,000 · OtherYale Alumni Fund — $1,000 · Other+48 more — $2,955 · Other+48 moreTHE SAN FRANCISCO SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $5,000 · AnimalsTHE SAN FRANCI…+3 more — $100 · AnimalsSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART — $2,500 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCI…THE EXPLORATORIUM — $1,000 · Arts & CultureTHE EXPLOR…Save The Children Federation Inc — $500 · InternationalTECHNOSERVE INC — $20 · InternationalCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC — $20 · InternationalSave The Bay — $25 · EnvironmentSEMPERVIRENS FUND — $25 · EnvironmentOCEAN CONSERVANCY — $25 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF THE EARTH — $20 · EnvironmentCONSUMER REPORTS INC — $55 · Public Benefit
Other$29,455Animals$5,100Arts & Culture$3,500International$540Environment$95Public Benefit$55

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTHE SAN FRANCISCO SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE EXPLORATORIUM — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCONSUMER REPORTS INC — $55 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION — $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Bay — $25 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSEMPERVIRENS FUND — $25 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOCEAN CONSERVANCY — $25 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ELEPHANT SANCTUARY IN TENNESSEE — $25 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER — $25 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTECHNOSERVE INC — $20 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE EARTH — $20 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 THE SAN FRANCISCO SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
  • Who funds THE EXPLORATORIUM
  • Who funds Save The Children Federation Inc
  • Who funds CONSUMER REPORTS INC
  • Who funds JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION
  • Who funds CENTER FOR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE IN POLITICS

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization James J Ludwig 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 · 00%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 30%
  • Save the Children Federation Inc30% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get 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
⤢ 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 69 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 2018, released 2018. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2019) is on record but names no grant recipient in the published copy, so the figures above are from FY2018, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

Source object · view filing

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