Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

James Ludke Charitable Trust

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.

$122k
Granted FY2025still arriving
23
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$21k
Largest
01What you fund
0189% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172025.

Public Benefit$146kHuman Services$123kArts & Culture$115kEducation$109kHealth$33kEnvironment$32kAnimals$27kInternational$16kOther$0
02FY2025 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k19 grants · $65k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $57k
$4,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$2.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SIGLER WESTERN MUSEUM$21,000
HILLSDALE COLLEGE$13,000
GOLDWATER INSTITUTE$12,500
DEL WEBB CENTER$10,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
TURNING POINT USA$5,000
PHOENIX CHAMBER MUSIC SOC$5,000
STRATFORD HALL$5,000
STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY$5,000
YMCA OF THE ROCKIES$5,000
Individual grant recipient$4,000
FRIENDS OF CAVE CREEK CANYON$4,000
DALLAS ARBORETUM$3,500
SWAZISERVE$3,500
BREAD OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL$3,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 94% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%YMCA PHOENIX: $4k → 11%FRIENDS OF CAVE CREEK CANYON: $4k → 18%SOUTH COAST BOTANICAL GARDEN FDN: $5k → 14%LUNDER RESEARCH CENTER: $5k → 18%CATO INSTITUTE: $5k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $13k → 14%STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY: $5k → 6%DARDEN FOUNDATION: $4k → 8%PALOS VERDES HIGH SCHOOL: $4k → 14%THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $13k → 14%STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY: $5k → 6%TURNING POINT USA: $5k → 11%HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $8k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $8k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $8k → 14%DESERT CABELLEROS: $110k → 11%DESERT CABELLEROS: $76k → 11%DESERT CABELLEROS: $23k → 11%SIGLER WESTERN MUSEUM: $21k → 11%WICKENBURG HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $20k → 11%WEBB CENTER: $18k → 11%WEBB CENTER: $18k → 11%DESERT CABELLEROS: $13k → 11%CLAREMONT INSTITUTE: $5k → 14%DESERT CABELLEROS: $13k → 11%DESERT CABELLEROS: $12k → 11%DESERT CABELLEROS: $12k → 11%DESERT CABELLEROS: $12k → 11%DEL WEBB CENTER: $10k → 11%WEBB CENTER: $10k → 11%WEBB CENTER: $10k → 11%DEL WEBB CENTER: $5k → 11%WEBB CENTER: $5k → 11%WEBB CENTER: $5k → 11%WICKENBURG COMMUNITY HOSPITAL FDN: $5k → 11%WEBB CENTER: $5k → 11%GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: $15k → 11%GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: $15k → 11%GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: $15k → 11%GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: $15k → 11%GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: $15k → 11%GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: $13k → 11%GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: $11k → 11%GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: $10k → 11%GOLDWATER INSTITUTE: $10k → 11%ARIZONA LIBERTY NETWORK: $5k → 11%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

NH
WA
WI
MI
OR
CA
CO
VA
MD
AZ
NM
DC
TX

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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$760k · 29 repeat orgs$102k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +38% since the first grant, against +32% for the ones you funded once.

29 repeat relationships — 12 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

29
25

Total granted

$760k
$51k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+32%

Still filing today

48%
48%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 53% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $51k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationPublic BenefitEnvironmentReligionInternationalOther

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

  • BG
    BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
    9× · 2017–2025 · $118k · revenue +97%
  • YMCA OF THE ROCKIES
    3× · 2017–2025 · $15k · revenue +80%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF CAVE CREEK CANYON
    7× · 2019–2025 · $14k · revenue +45%

Funded once

  • LR
    LUNDER RESEARCH CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
  • CI
    CATO INSTITUTEgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +70%
  • WC
    Wickenburg Community Hospital Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue +179%

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
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

2
California College of the Arts

California college of the arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. benefitting from its san francisco bay area location, the college prepares…

Education
3
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
4
Witte Museum

The witte museum inspires people to shape the future of texas through transformative and relevant experiences in nature, science and culture.

Arts & Culture
5
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
6
International School of Arizona

Our mission is to provide a progressive international education and advanced multilingual academics in a safe, diverse, and nurturing environment. our innovative and individualized approach to learning prepares highly motivated students…

Education
7
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

8
Rhode Island School of Design

The mission of rhode island school of design, through its college and museum,is to educate its students and the public in the creation and (see schedule o)appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to…

Education
9
Arizona Christian University

Arizona christian university provides a biblically-integrated, liberal arts education equipping graduates to serve the lord jesus christ in all aspects of life, as leaders of influence and excellence.

Education
10
California Academy of Sciences

The academy is a renowned scientific and educational institution with a mission to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration. based in san francisco's golden gate park, it is home to a world-class aquarium,…

Arts & Culture
11
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

See schedule o for the organization's mission statement.please see description for part i, line 1, above.

Arts & Culture
12
Fountain Valley School of Colorado

Fountain valley school of colorado provides a transformative curriculum in a supportive environment where students are challenged to think critically, become leaders, and live by our core values: courage, compassion, curiosity,…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Bread of Life International Inc. 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 backsteadyCommunity Arts OrganizationsLand Conservation Organizat…Christian Missionary Organi…Faith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Independent K-8 SchoolsClassical Music EnsemblesPublic School District Foun…Community Health CentersYmca Community CentersGovernment Accountability R…
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 46 years old; the field is 12. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number28%3%<5yr17%3%5–10yr19%16%10–20yr15%13%20–35yr10%34%35–55yr12%31%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value28%4%<5yr17%1%5–10yr19%14%10–20yr15%3%20–35yr10%45%35–55yr12%34%55yr+

The field is 28% startups (under 5 years old) — 3% of your grantees by number, and just 4% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 0.0% lost their exemption, against 16% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/37
the rest of the field
16%
4,465/28,448

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

35 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. 35 of the 65 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
34/35
Grantees still filing
23/35
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Individual grant recipient — $269,700 · OtherIndividual grant recipientWEBB CENTER — $70,000 · OtherWEBB CENTERPHOENIX CHAMBER MUSIC SOC — $44,100 · OtherPHOENIX CHAMBER MUSIC SOCWICKENBURG HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $25,000 · OtherOREGON ZOO — $24,000 · OtherDESERT CABALLEROS WESTERN MUSEUM — $21,000 · Other+38 more — $159,100 · Other+38 moreBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH — $118,000 · Public BenefitBARRY GOLDWATER …THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION — $10,000 · Public BenefitTHE HERITAGE FOU…CATO INSTITUTE — $5,000 · Public BenefitHILLSDALE COLLEGE — $62,000 · EducationHILLSDALE …STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INC — $14,000 · EducationSTUDENTS F…PALOS VERDES PENINSULA EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $3,200 · EducationSHE-CAN GLOBAL INC — $3,000 · Education+1 more — $100 · EducationOREGON SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $16,500 · Arts & CultureSTRATFORD HALL — $5,000 · Arts & CultureDallas Museum of Art — $2,500 · Arts & CulturePEROT MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE — $2,500 · Arts & CulturePORTLAND ART MUSEUM — $2,000 · Arts & CulturePHOENIX ART MUSEUM — $1,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $200 · Arts & CultureSWAZISERVE INC — $23,000 · InternationalBREAD OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC — $3,500 · InternationalFRIENDS OF CAVE CREEK CANYON — $14,150 · EnvironmentSOUTH COAST BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC — $7,000 · EnvironmentDALLAS ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC — $3,500 · EnvironmentYMCA OF THE ROCKIES — $15,000 · Human Services
Other$612,900Public Benefit$133,000Education$82,300Arts & Culture$29,700International$26,500Environment$24,650Human Services$15,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH — $118,000 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE — $62,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetSWAZISERVE INC — $23,000 over 8y, 5.0% of budgetOREGON SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION — $16,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetYMCA OF THE ROCKIES — $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF CAVE CREEK CANYON — $14,150 over 7y, 4.5% of budgetSTUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INC — $14,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetIN TOUCH MISSION INTERNATIONAL INC — $13,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER LOS ANGELES AREA COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA — $8,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTURNING POINT USA INC — $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTH COAST BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC — $7,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWickenburg Community Hospital Foundation — $5,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTHE CLAREMONT INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF STATESMANSHIP & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSTRATFORD HALL — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBREAD OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC — $3,500 over 1y, 22% of budgetPALOS VERDES PENINSULA EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $3,200 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSHE-CAN GLOBAL INC — $3,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM — $3,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOURTS FOR KIDS — $2,800 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetDallas Museum of Art — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPORTLAND ART MUSEUM — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSA — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetISSAQUAH SCHOOLS FOUNDATION — $1,400 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWickenburg Christian Academy Inc — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPHOENIX ART MUSEUM — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWICKENBURG COMMUNITY SERVICES CORPORATION — $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN MUSEUM OF CERAMIC ART — $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPOMONA COLLEGE — $100 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 BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
  • Who funds HILLSDALE COLLEGE
  • Who funds SWAZISERVE INC
  • Who funds DESERT CABALLEROS WESTERN MUSEUM
  • Who funds OREGON SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
  • Who funds YMCA OF THE ROCKIES
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF CAVE CREEK CANYON
  • Who funds STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INC
  • Who funds IN TOUCH MISSION INTERNATIONAL INC
  • Who funds THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION
  • Who funds GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
  • Who funds TURNING POINT USA INC
  • Who funds SOUTH COAST BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds CATO INSTITUTE
  • Who funds Wickenburg Community Hospital Foundation
  • Who funds THE CLAREMONT INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF STATESMANSHIP & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
  • Who funds STRATFORD HALL
  • Who funds BREAD OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC
  • Who funds BREAD OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC
  • Who funds DALLAS ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC
  • Who funds PALOS VERDES PENINSULA EDUCATION FOUNDATION
  • Who funds SHE-CAN GLOBAL 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 Wellik FoundationAZ13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Wellik Foundation · Julie and Ray Craemer Family Foundation · Pikes Peak Community Foundation · California Community Foundation · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Endowment Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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 James Ludke Charitable Trust 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 · 10%2%6%14%25%your share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 1%
  • Portland Art Museum1% of income from government
  • Oregon Symphony Association0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
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 James Ludke Charitable Trust?

Find your warmest path to James Ludke Charitable Trust 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 65 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