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Karsten Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Karsten Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$203k
Granted FY2024still arriving
21
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Public Benefit$236kCivil Rights$152kEducation$135kEnvironment$113kInternational$108kReligion$69kPhilanthropy$48kCrime & Legal$29kOther$0
02FY2024 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k5 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k16 grants · $188k
$10,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$1.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE$20,000
PROJECT SHEMA$15,000
TIDES FOUNDATION$15,000
ROCK THE VOTE$15,000
DOWN HOME NORTH CAROLINA$12,500
PUBLIC WISE INC$10,000
DEMOCRACY NORTH CAROLINA$10,000
T'RUAH$10,000
MICHIGAN VOICES$10,000
MI FAMILIA VOTA$10,000
FORWARD MONTANA FOUNDATION$10,000
MONTANA WOMEN VOTE$10,000
SPREAD THE VOTE$10,000
SOMOS SIEMBRA NC$10,000
VOTER PARTICIPATION PROJECT$10,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $41k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%DOWN HOME NORTH CAROLINA: $13k → 13%BLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK: $200 → 15%ALEXANDRIA HOUSE: $1k → 14%ASYLUM SEEKER ADVOCACY PROJECT: $4k → 17%ASYLUM SEEKER ADVOCACY PROJECT: $4k → 17%NARAL PRO CHOICE AMERICA: $3k → 14%BOWERY RESIDENTS' COMMITTEE: $5k → 17%ASYLUM SEEKER ADVOCACY PROJECT: $4k → 17%NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA: $3k → 14%NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA: $3k → 14%NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA: $3k → 14%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.

Which US states its grants reach

MT
MI
NY
MA
OR
OH
NJ
CT
CA
KY
VA
MD
AZ
NC
DC
LA
AL
TX
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 100% of Karsten Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 16% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 0%.

Karsten Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

71%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$735k · 28 repeat orgs$297k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +30% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

28 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 21 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
57

Total granted

$735k
$190k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
+16%

Still filing today

68%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $107k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Civil RightsInternationalEnvironmentHuman ServicesHealthArts & CultureOther
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

  • WILLIAM J BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $135k · revenue +206%
  • EI
    ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT
    6× · 2018–2023 · $82k · revenue +87%
  • JS
    J STREET EDUCATION FUND INC
    5× · 2019–2023 · $65k · revenue +30%

Funded once

  • JN
    JEWISH NATIONAL FUND
    one grant, 2023 · $15k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $13k
  • TV
    THE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTERgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $13k · revenue +120%
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

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
2
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
3
Indigenous Peoples Rights Inc

To lead and coordinate the global initiative to address and prevent criminalization, violence, and impunity against indigenous peoples towards strengthening their collectives, solidarity, and actions.

Human Services
4
American Flood Coalition Inc

To drive transformational adaptation to protect communities across the country from higher seas, stronger storms, and more frequent flooding.

Environment
5
Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente

To strenghten people's ability to guarantee their individual and collective right to a healthy environment, via the development, implementation, and effective enforcement of national and international law.

Crime & Legal
6
American Civil Liberties Union Fund of the District of Columbia

Preservation of civil liberties through litigation and public education.

—
7
Women Donors Network

Women donors network advances a just, equitable, and sustainable world through the power of philanthropy, women's leadership, and collective and individual action.

Philanthropy
8
Pro Publica Inc

Pro publica is an independent, non-profit, pulitzer prize-winning newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories. [see continuation on schedule o] we produce…

Arts & Culture
9
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide

Educational & charitable. to provide legal and scientific information to public interest attorneys and scientists in numerous countries.

—
10
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…

International
11
UltraViolet Education Fund

Ultraviolet education fund (uvef) is a 501c3 organization. ultraviolet is the premier national organization advocating for gender justice issues using creative, strategic campaigning and digital-first organizing. ultraviolet drives…

Civil Rights
12
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Retina Vitreous Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

68 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. 68 of the 99 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
66/68
Grantees still filing
40/68
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE PEOPLE CONCERN (FKA OPCC): $50,000 · OtherTHE PEOPLE CONCERN (FKA OPCC)PROJECT SHEMA: $20,000 · OtherPROJECT SHEMAMOVEMENT VOTER PROJECT: $17,000 · OtherJEWISH NATIONAL FUND: $15,000 · OtherREPAIRERS OF THE BREACH: $14,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $12,500 · OtherTIDES FOUNDATION: $22,000 · OtherTIDES FOUNDATIONCALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION: $12,500 · OtherKIND INC: $15,335 · Other+48 more: $161,182 · Other+48 moreROCK THE VOTE: $56,500 · Civil RightsROCK THE VOTEPUBLIC WISE INC: $50,000 · Civil RightsPUBLIC WISE INCVOTER PARTICIPATION PROJECT EDUCATION FUND INC: $24,000 · Civil RightsVOTER PARTICIPATION PRO…THE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $12,500 · Civil RightsTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION…Democracy North Carolina: $10,000 · Civil RightsMICHIGAN VOICES: $10,000 · Civil RightsSOMOS SIEMBRA: $10,000 · Civil RightsMI FAMILIA VOTA: $10,000 · Civil RightsSPREAD THE VOTE INC: $10,000 · Civil Rights+8 more: $26,500 · Civil Rights+8 moreWILLIAM J BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC: $135,250 · EducationWILLIAM J BREN…+1 more: $2,500 · EducationHIAS INC: $41,000 · InternationalHIAS INCEquality Now Inc: $24,340 · InternationalEquality Now I…International Rescue Committee INC: $20,100 · InternationalInternational …T'RUAH: $20,000 · InternationalT'RUAHWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $17,000 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL …MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $7,000 · InternationalSave The Children Federation Inc: $5,000 · International+1 more: $1,000 · InternationalENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT: $82,000 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTA…NATIONAL NETWORK OF ABORTION FUNDS INC: $16,045 · EnvironmentNATIONAL NET…APRODECA CORP: $6,250 · EnvironmentAPRODECA COR…OCEANA INC: $5,000 · Environment+4 more: $7,500 · Environment+4 moreJ STREET EDUCATION FUND INC: $65,000 · ReligionDOWN HOME NC: $12,500 · Human ServicesASYLUM SEEKER ADVOCACY PROJECT INC: $12,000 · Human ServicesREPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL: $10,000 · Human ServicesBOWERY RESIDENTS COMMITTEE INC: $5,000 · Human Services+2 more: $1,200 · Human Services
Other$339,517Civil Rights$219,500Education$137,750International$135,440Environment$116,795Religion$65,000Human Services$40,700

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 budgetWILLIAM J BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC: $135,250 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT: $82,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetJ STREET EDUCATION FUND INC: $65,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetROCK THE VOTE: $56,500 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetPUBLIC WISE INC: $50,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetHIAS INC: $41,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetEquality Now Inc: $24,340 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $22,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $20,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetT'RUAH: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $17,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL NETWORK OF ABORTION FUNDS INC: $16,045 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetKIND INC: $15,335 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDOWN HOME NC: $12,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $12,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION: $12,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetASYLUM SEEKER ADVOCACY PROJECT INC: $12,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetFORWARD MT FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetREDWOOD CREDIT UNION COMMUNITY FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL: $10,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF UNITED HATZALAH INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDemocracy North Carolina: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMICHIGAN VOICES: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOMOS SIEMBRA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMI FAMILIA VOTA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSPREAD THE VOTE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetINDIVISIBLE CIVICS: $7,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $7,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAPRODECA CORP: $6,250 over 6y, 6.3% of budgetCALIFORNIA FIRE FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOWERY RESIDENTS COMMITTEE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOCEANA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOOD BANK FOR NEW YORK CITY: $4,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetREFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE FOUNDATION: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetURBAN JUSTICE CENTER: $3,335 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINDIAN LAW RESOURCE CENTER: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFamily Promise of Sacramento: $2,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetINTEGRITY FIRST FOR AMERICA INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWHOLE WOMAN'S HEALTH ALLIANCE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetALS Network: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL NETWORK OF ABORTION FUNDS LILITH FUND: $2,000 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.

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.

ImpactassetsincAmalgamated Charitabl…Tides FoundationNEO Philanthropy IncNew Venture FundSilicon Valley Commun…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Marty and Dorothy Sil…Marin Community Found…Hopewell FundThe Ford FoundationJewish Communal Fund
ImpactassetsincMD25.2× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Impactassetsinc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Tides Foundation · NEO Philanthropy Inc · New Venture Fund · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Marty and Dorothy Silverman Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Hopewell Fund · The Ford Foundation · Jewish Communal Fund

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 Karsten Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Karsten Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 88%
  • Hias Inc: 88% of income from government
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
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 Karsten Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Karsten 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.

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 99 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Karsten Family’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home