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· Private foundation

John & Martha Carter 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.

$50k
Granted FY2025still arriving
11
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$12k
Largest
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$193kYouth Development$51kRecreation & Sports$43kHealth$31kPublic Safety & Disaster$12kCommunity Improvement$10kHuman Services$7kEmployment$6kOther$0
02FY2025 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $38k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $12k
$3,500
Median grant
2
States reached
$438k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LAKE WALES CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATI$12,000
LAKE WALES PRAM FLEET$7,000
VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES$6,000
STIRRING WATERS$5,000
FLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION$5,000
Individual grant recipient$3,500
LAKE WALES LIBRARY ASSOCIATION$3,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
LAKE WALES HIGH SCHOOL BOOSTER CLUB$2,700
LAKE WALES CARE CENTER$2,000
SALVATION ARMY OF POLK COUNTY$500
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 92% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%CAMP JOY FLORIDA: $8k → 10%CASE FOR SMILES: $4k → 16%CAMP JOY FLORIDA: $3k → 10%CASE FOR SMILES: $4k → 16%CAMP JOY FLORIDA: $3k → 10%CASE FOR SMILES: $4k → 16%CASE FOR SMILES: $4k → 16%LW CHARTER SCHOOL FOUNDATION INC: $17k → 16%LAKE WALES CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATI: $16k → 16%LAKE WALES CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATI: $16k → 16%LAKE WALES CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATI: $16k → 16%LAKE WALES CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATI: $15k → 16%LAKE WALES CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATI: $15k → 16%LW CHARTER SCHOOLS: $12k → 16%LAKE WALES CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATI: $12k → 16%LW CHARTER SCHOOLS: $6k → 16%VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES: $6k → 16%VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES: $6k → 16%VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES: $6k → 16%VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES: $6k → 16%VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES: $6k → 16%VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES: $6k → 16%VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LW: $6k → 16%VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LW: $4k → 16%CASE FOR SMILES: $4k → 16%CASE FOR SMILES - ORLANDO CHAPTER: $4k → 16%CASE FOR SMILES: $4k → 16%LAKE WALES LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $3k → 16%CASE FOR SMILES - ORLANDO CHAPTER: $3k → 16%FFA TRAINING CENTER: $6k → 16%FLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION: $5k → 16%FLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION: $4k → 16%FLA FFA LEADERSHIP TRAINING CNTR: $4k → 16%FLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION: $4k → 16%FLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION: $4k → 16%FLA FFA LEADERSHIP TRAINING CNTR: $4k → 16%FLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION: $4k → 16%FLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION: $4k → 16%LAKE WALES PRAM FLEET: $7k → 16%LAKE WALES PRAM FLEET: $6k → 16%LAKE WALES PRAM FLEET: $6k → 16%LAKE WALES PRAM FLEET: $6k → 16%LAKE WALES PRAM FLEET: $5k → 16%STIRRING WATERS: $5k → 16%LAKE WALES HIGH SCHOOL BOOSTER CLUB: $4k → 16%LAKE WALES HIGH SCHOOL BOOSTER CLUB: $4k → 16%LAKE WALES HIGH SCHOOL BOOSTER CLUB: $3k → 16%LAKE WALES HIGH SCHOOL BOOSTER CLUB: $3k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$320k · 15 repeat orgs$32k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +14% since the first grant, against -1% for those funded once.

15 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
3

Total granted

$320k
$25k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
-1%

Still filing today

27%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $7k 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
EducationRecreation & SportsOther
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.

Backed again, and grew

  • LW
    LAKE WALES CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATI
    6× · 2020–2025 · $90k
  • VS
    VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES FLORIDA INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $35k · revenue +14%
  • LW
    LAKE WALES PRAM FLEET INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $30k · revenue +105% · 68% of their budget

Funded once

  • LC
    LW CHARTER SCHOOL FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2019 · $17k
  • FT
    FFA TRAINING CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $6k
  • SU
    SHORTER UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2018 · $2k · revenue -1%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field
04the grantee network

7 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 7 of the 21 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
7/7
Grantees still filing
4/7
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LAKE WALES CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATI: $90,000 · OtherLAKE WALES CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATIIndividual grant recipient: $25,900 · OtherIndividual grant recipientFLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · OtherFLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION INCIndividual grant recipient: $22,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientLW CHARTER SCHOOLS: $18,000 · OtherLW CHARTER SCHOOLSLW CHARTER SCHOOL FOUNDATION INC: $17,000 · OtherLW CHARTER SCHOOL FOUNDATION INCLAKE WALES LIBRARY ASSOCIATION INC: $13,000 · OtherLAKE WALES HIGH SCHOOL BOOSTER CLUB: $12,200 · OtherVANGUARD SCHOOL OF LW: $11,700 · OtherFLA FFA LEADERSHIP TRAINING CNTR: $10,000 · Other+7 more: $38,119 · Other+7 moreVANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES FLORIDA INC: $35,400 · EducationVANGUARD SCH…SHORTER UNIVERSITY: $2,400 · EducationSHORTER UNIV…LAKE WALES PRAM FLEET INC: $30,477 · Recreation & SportsLAKE WALE…WORLD VISION INC: $400 · International
Other$283,419Education$37,800Recreation & Sports$30,477International$400

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetVANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES FLORIDA INC: $35,400 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetLAKE WALES PRAM FLEET INC: $30,477 over 5y, 68% of budgetFLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetLAKE WALES LIBRARY ASSOCIATION INC: $13,000 over 6y, 2.2% of budgetSHORTER UNIVERSITY: $2,400 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD VISION INC: $400 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds VANGUARD SCHOOL OF LAKE WALES FLORIDA INC ↗
  • Who funds LAKE WALES PRAM FLEET INC ↗
  • Who funds FLORIDA FFA FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds LAKE WALES LIBRARY ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SHORTER UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds LAKE WALES CARE CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds WORLD VISION INC ↗

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.

The Jahna Foundation IncFL13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Jahna Foundation 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization John & Martha Carter Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from John & Martha Carter Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Lake Wales Care Center Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to John & Martha Carter Foundation?

Find your warmest path to John & Martha Carter 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 21 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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