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Plinth

· Private foundation

Joe Lee Griffin 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.

$239k
Granted FY2025still arriving
33
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$45k
Largest
01What you fund
0198% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Religion$914kHealth$404kHuman Services$209kEducation$113kInternational$111kRecreation & Sports$76kYouth Development$63kArts & Culture$35kOther$0
02FY2025 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k28 grants · $104k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $135k
$5,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$2.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHURCH OF THE HIGHLANDS$45,000
VESTAVIA HILLS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH$30,000
UNITED STATES ISRAEL ASSOCIATION$25,000
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY$25,000
UAB O'NEAL COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER$10,000
THE GLADNEY FUND$7,500
EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS$5,000
NAMI$5,000
ONWARD$5,000
MIRACLE ACADEMY PRIVATE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL$5,000
ROBERT E REED FOUNDATION$5,000
FORGOTTEN CHILDRENS MINISTRIES$5,000
THE LOVELADY CENTER$5,000
FOOD BANK OF EAST ALABAMA$5,000
NASHVILLE COACHING COALITION$5,000
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 (FY17–25, $114k) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 93% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $1k → 14%BIG OAK RANCH: $5k → 13%RAINBOW OMEGA INC: $1k → 18%EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS: $5k → 18%UNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME: $6k → 33%BIG OAK RANCH: $5k → 13%EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS: $5k → 18%UNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME: $6k → 33%BIG OAK RANCH: $3k → 13%EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS: $5k → 18%BIG OAK RANCH: $2k → 13%EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS: $5k → 18%UNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME: $1k → 33%EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS: $5k → 18%OAK MOUNTAIN MISSION MINISTRIES INC: $3k → 7%OAK MOUNTAIN MISSION MINISTRIES INC: $2k → 7%OAK MOUNTAIN MISSION MINISTRIES INC: $1k → 7%OAK MOUNTAIN MISSION MINISTRIES INC: $1k → 7%OAK MOUNTAIN MISSION MINISTRIES INC: $1k → 7%THE LOVELADY CENTER: $5k → 16%THE LOVELADY CENTER: $2k → 16%THE LOVELADY CENTER: $2k → 16%THE LOVELADY CENTER: $2k → 16%THE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES: $3k → 16%THE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES: $2k → 16%THE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES: $2k → 16%THE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES: $2k → 16%THE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES: $1k → 16%THE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES: $500 → 16%THE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES: $500 → 16%UNLESS U: $10k → 16%UNLESS U: $5k → 16%UNLESS U: $5k → 16%UNLESS U: $5k → 16%UNLESS U: $5k → 16%BROTHER BRYAN MISSION: $500 → 16%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

MT
OH
PA
CA
CO
MO
VA
TN
NC
AL
GA
TX
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.9M · 53 repeat orgs$82k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +46% since the first grant, against +29% for the ones you funded once.

53 repeat relationships — 32 still active in FY2025, 21 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

53
33

Total granted

$1.9M
$81k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+29%

Still filing today

42%
42%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k 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
Human ServicesHealthReligionEducationYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureOther

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

  • Samford University
    8× · 2018–2025 · $41k · revenue +61%
  • FC
    FORGOTTEN CHILDREN MINISTRIES
    8× · 2018–2025 · $40k · revenue +15%
  • UM
    UNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME
    8× · 2017–2025 · $38k · revenue +13%

Funded once

  • VH
    VESTAVIA HILLS CITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $20k · revenue +67%
  • AU
    AUBURN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF HUMAN SCIENCES
    one grant, 2017 · $8k
  • AG
    Alabama Game Changers
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue 0%

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
African Children's Mission Inc

Reaching out to children in east africa living in destitute circumstances, both physically and with the gospel of jesus christ, to enable them to grow and develop in a secure environment.

Religion
2
Agape of Central Alabama Inc

As a ministry of jesus christ, agape's mission is that vulnerable and orphaned children find permanency in safe, nurturing families.

Human Services
3
Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County Inc

Habitat for humanity of baldwin county, inc. is an ecumenical, christian housing ministry that seeks to eliminate poverty housing by partnering with the community to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.

4
Christian Services for Children in Alabama

The mission of christian services for children in alabama is to show the love of christ by providing counseling and other related services to children and their families.

5
Refuge 1212 Inc

Red mountain grace is a not-for-profit organization dedicated as a place of refuge for out-of-town patients and caregivers that are receiving extended medical treatment. our foundation is in christ, our heart is for birmingham.

Health
6
Mission Mississippi

To encourage and demonstrate grace in the body of christ across racial lines, so that communities throughout mississippi can see practical evidence of the gospel message.

Civil Rights
7
Christian Healthcare Ministries Inc

To glorify god, show christian love, and experience god's presence as christians share each other's medical bills.

Religion
8
Nami Alabama Inc

Encourage and enhance advocacy and family support services on behalf of individuals suffering from mental illness.

Health
9
Reaching Avery Ministry

Provide support to families in need.

Human Services
10
Alabama Partnership for Children

To work in partnership with families and organizations to ensure that all alabama children (birth to five) get everything they need to develop to their fullest potential.

Education
11
Community Food Bank of Central Alabama

To feed people in need today and foster collaborative solutions to end hunger tomorrow.

Food & Nutrition
12
Bless the Children Ministries Inc

To be the love of christ to uganda's orphaned and vulnerable children, equipping them to become authentic godly leaders that transform generations

International

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Brother Bryan Mission and the most unlike its peers is Inland Empire Community Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 28 years old; the field is 15. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number23%5%<5yr14%5%5–10yr19%19%10–20yr15%43%20–35yr12%14%35–55yr17%14%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value23%2%<5yr14%3%5–10yr19%14%10–20yr15%51%20–35yr12%10%35–55yr17%21%55yr+

The field is 23% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 2% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 0.0% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/51
the rest of the field
14%
3,157/22,728

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

42 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. 42 of the 90 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
40/42
Grantees still filing
31/42
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

VESTAVIA HILLS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH — $356,000 · OtherVESTAVIA HILLS UNITED METHODIST CHURCHTRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH — $173,500 · OtherTRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCHAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY — $166,000 · OtherAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETYEAST LAKE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH — $146,000 · OtherEAST LAKE UNITED METHODIST CHURCHCHURCH OF THE HIGHLANDS INC — $145,000 · OtherCHURCH OF THE HIGHLANDS INCUAB O'NEAL COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER — $63,000 · OtherTHE GLADNEY FUND — $60,500 · OtherBANKS ACADENY — $60,000 · OtherUNITED STATES ISRAEL ASSOCIATION — $55,000 · Other+52 more — $391,000 · Other+52 moreUNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME — $38,000 · Human ServicesUNLESS U INC — $30,000 · Human ServicesBIG OAK RANCH INC — $14,500 · Human ServicesFREEDOM RAIN INC — $11,000 · Human ServicesTHE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES INC — $10,500 · Human ServicesOAK MOUNTAIN MISSION MINISTRIES INC — $7,500 · Human Services+3 more — $2,500 · Human ServicesCHILDREN'S HARBOR INC — $29,000 · HealthSMILE-A-MILE — $25,000 · HealthKENYARELIEFORG — $10,000 · HealthHOLCOMB MINISTRIES — $5,000 · HealthAlabama Game Changers — $5,000 · Health+3 more — $3,000 · HealthSamford University — $40,750 · EducationNASHVILLE COACHING COALITION — $27,500 · EducationAUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $3,000 · EducationFELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES — $28,850 · Youth DevelopmentFRIENDS OF WINNATASKA INC — $17,500 · Youth DevelopmentFORGOTTEN CHILDREN MINISTRIES — $40,000 · ReligionSAMARITAN'S PURSE — $2,000 · ReligionWill Bright Foundation Inc — $2,000 · Religion+1 more — $750 · ReligionVESTAVIA HILLS CITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATION — $20,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF EAST ALABAMA INC — $3,000 · PhilanthropyInland Empire Community Foundation — $1,000 · Philanthropy
Other$1,616,000Human Services$114,000Health$77,000Education$71,250Youth Development$46,350Religion$44,750Philanthropy$24,000

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 budgetTHE GLADNEY FUND — $60,500 over 8y, 16% of budgetSamford University — $40,750 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetFORGOTTEN CHILDREN MINISTRIES — $40,000 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetUNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME — $38,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetUNLESS U INC — $30,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S HARBOR INC — $29,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetFELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES — $28,850 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE COACHING COALITION — $27,500 over 7y, 3.0% of budgetSMILE-A-MILE — $25,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetVESTAVIA HILLS CITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 1y, 8.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF WINNATASKA INC — $17,500 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetFOOD BANK OF EAST ALABAMA INC — $16,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBIG OAK RANCH INC — $14,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCORNERSTONE SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA INC — $12,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetFREEDOM RAIN INC — $11,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES INC — $10,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetKENYARELIEFORG — $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetOAK MOUNTAIN MISSION MINISTRIES INC — $7,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetBundles of Hope Inc — $7,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetDOWNTOWN JIMMIE HALE MISSION — $6,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSIBYL TEMPLE FOUNDATION — $6,400 over 9y, 3.6% of budgetHOLCOMB MINISTRIES — $5,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetAlabama Game Changers — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF EAST ALABAMA INC — $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetALZHEIMERS OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetVESTAVIA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL PTO — $2,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEMPOWER MINISTRIES — $2,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetBirmingham Zoo Inc — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWill Bright Foundation Inc — $2,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetRED MOUNTAIN PARK FOUNDATION — $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE HUNTSVILLE HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONINC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInland Empire Community Foundation — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRAINBOW OMEGA INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE FOUNDATION INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKEVIN DERRYBERRY MINISTRIES INC — $750 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBROTHER BRYAN MISSION — $500 over 1y, 0.1% 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 GLADNEY FUND
  • Who funds Samford University
  • Who funds FORGOTTEN CHILDREN MINISTRIES
  • Who funds UNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME
  • Who funds UNLESS U INC
  • Who funds CHILDREN'S HARBOR INC
  • Who funds FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES
  • Who funds NASHVILLE COACHING COALITION
  • Who funds SMILE-A-MILE
  • Who funds VESTAVIA HILLS CITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF WINNATASKA INC
  • Who funds FOOD BANK OF EAST ALABAMA INC
  • Who funds BIG OAK RANCH INC
  • Who funds CORNERSTONE SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA INC
  • Who funds FREEDOM RAIN INC
  • Who funds THE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES INC
  • Who funds KENYARELIEFORG
  • Who funds OAK MOUNTAIN MISSION MINISTRIES INC
  • Who funds Bundles of Hope 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 Daniel Foundation of AlabamaAL38.9× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Daniel Foundation of Alabama · Alabama Power Foundation Inc · Hill Crest Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham · Susan Mott Webb Charitable Trust · Dunn-French Foundation · Altecstyslinger Foundation · Robert R Meyer Foundation · Protective Life Foundation · Walker Area Community Foundation Inc · The Long Lewis Foundation · The Hackney 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 Joe Lee Griffin 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%1%5%11%20%your share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 0%
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
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 90 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