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Foundation DossiersAlso receives grants — funding profile →
Plinth

· Public charity

Lake Area United Way Inc

To improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of our community to advance the common good.

$3.1M
Granted FY2021
33
Grants FY2021
1
States reached
$864k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2021.

Human Services$3.2MHealth$755kFood & Nutrition$726kYouth Development$713kPublic Safety & Disaster$297kCommunity Improvement$295kEducation$209kPhilanthropy$140kOther$0
02FY2021 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 33 grants below total $2,780,369 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $3,088,573 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $308,204 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k6 grants · $44k
  • $10k–50k16 grants · $345k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $685k
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.7M
$25,629
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE SALVATION ARMY$864,127
THE FOOD BANK OF NORTHWEST INDIANA$463,100
CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF GARY$378,798
BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF GREATER NWI INC$115,196
MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA OF LAKE COUNTY INC$100,537
CROSSROADS YMCA INC$100,443
NORTHWEST INDIANA COMMUNITY ACTION CORP (2-1-1)$85,616
MEALS ON WHEELS OF NORTHWEST INDIANA INC$80,825
GEMINUS CORPORATION$80,445
TRADEWINDS$67,401
NORTHWEST INDIANA REINVESTMENT ALLIANCE$55,000
SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL DISTRICT COUNCIL GARY$35,000
GREATER HAMMOND COMMUNITY SERVICES$30,285
HEALTHLINC INC$30,000
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF NORTHWEST INDIANA INC$27,512
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 (FY17–21, $1.4M) 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 your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%URBAN LEAGUE OF NWI: $34k → 15%URBAN LEAGUE OF NWI: $23k → 15%URBAN LEAGUE OF NWI: $15k → 15%CROSSROADS YMCA: $89k → 15%METRO COMMUNITY OUTREACH: $8k → 15%CROSSROADS YMCA: $32k → 15%CROSSROADS YMCA INC: $100k → 15%CROSSROADS YMCA: $50k → 15%FAIR HAVEN CENTER FOR WOMEN: $10k → 15%CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF GARY: $379k → 15%CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF GARY: $180k → 15%CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF GARY: $145k → 15%CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF GARY: $65k → 15%GARY NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES: $51k → 15%YWCA OF NWI: $42k → 15%GARY NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES: $34k → 15%YWCA OF NWI: $28k → 15%SOJOURNER TRUTH HOUSE INC: $25k → 15%CRISIS CENTER: $32k → 15%CRISIS CENTER: $21k → 15%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.

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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$5.5M · 28 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +42% since the first grant, against +39% for the ones you funded once.

28 repeat relationships — 18 still active in FY2021, 10 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
26

Total granted

$5.5M
$480k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+39%

Still filing today

79%
31%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 72% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $765k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’21
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’21
Human ServicesPhilanthropyHealthYouth DevelopmentCommunity ImprovementHousing & ShelterOther

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

  • TS
    TRADEWINDS SERVICES INC
    4× · 2017–2021 · $321k · revenue +57%
  • NI
    Northwest Indiana Community Action Corporation
    4× · 2017–2021 · $286k · revenue +56%
  • CY
    CROSSROADS YMCA INC
    4× · 2017–2021 · $272k · revenue +81%

Funded once

  • TM
    THE METHODIST HOSPITALS FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $150k · revenue +330% · 85% of their budget
  • PA
    PARENTS AS TEACHERS OF LAKE COUNTY
    one grant, 2017 · $33k
  • BB
    BOOKS BRUSHES AND BANDS FOR EDUCATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +39% · 33% of their budget

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
Goodwill Industries of Northern Il and Wi Stateline Area Inc

The mission of goodwill is to create opportunities for individuals with barriers to enhance their lives. barriers include physical or mental disabilities, lack of education and job preparation, socio-economic disadvantages, and others.…

—
2
Indiana Statewide Independent Living Council Inc

To empower its peers with disabilities to lead and control their own lives.

Human Services
3
Indiana Association of United Ways Inc

Indiana united way is the leading voice to advocate, engage, and partner with a strong united way network and key stakeholders to advance human well-being throughout indiana.

Philanthropy
4
Lifetime Housing Group Inc

Plan, coordinate and provide affordable housing to low-income individuals and families in Southeastern Indiana.

Food & Nutrition
5
Great Lakes Community Action Partnership

The mission of great lakes community action partnership is to create partnerships and opportunites to help individuals, families and communities thrive.

Human Services
6
Lakeshore Legal Aid

Standing with our neighbors, Lakeshore Legal Aid fights poverty and injustice through advocacy and by providing meaningful and dignified access to the legal system.

Crime & Legal
7
Community Action of East Central Indiana

To provide education and assistance to low income, disadvantaged individuals and children.

Human Services
8
Wabash Valley Goodwill Inc

Goodwill industries is a nonprofit provider of employment and other critical community based services for people who have a disability, people who lack education or job experience, households facing economic challenges, and others in need.

Employment
9
Indiana Center for Prevention of Youth Abuse and Suicide

Child advocacy organization that focuses on the prevention of child sexual abuse and youth suicide.

Youth Development
10
Bridges Community Services Inc

To develop, coordinate, and proivde housing, social services, and educational programs for low income and moderate income residents of muncie, indiana.

—
11
Southern Indiana Community Health Care

To provide high-quality, comprehensive, community-sensitive health care utilizing christ-oriented principles. rooted in our faith-driven values, sichc serves as a pillar for accessible, comprehensive care of the whole person and a catalyst…

Health
12
Leadership Indianapolis Inc

Educate, Inspire, Connect and Mobilize Community Leaders to serve and strengthen greater Indianapolis.

Public Benefit

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Way of Northwest Indiana Inc and the most unlike its peers is Northwest Indiana Reinvestment Alliance. 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 33 years old; the field is 15. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number25%4%<5yr14%2%5–10yr18%22%10–20yr16%29%20–35yr13%20%35–55yr16%24%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value25%2%<5yr14%0%5–10yr18%30%10–20yr16%11%20–35yr13%40%35–55yr16%17%55yr+

The field is 25% startups (under 5 years old) — 4% of your grantees by number, and just 2% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 1% lost their exemption, against 15% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
1%1/69
the rest of the field
15%
354/2,316

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

46 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 46 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
43/46
Grantees still filing
31/46
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

THE SALVATION ARMY — $1,095,140 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMYBoys and Girls Club of Northwest Indiana — $310,500 · OtherBoys and Girls Club of Northwest IndianaAMERICAN RED CROSS - LAKE COUNTY — $297,232 · OtherAMERICAN RED CROSS - LAKE COUNTYGREATER HAMMOND COMMUNITY SERVICES INC — $290,680 · OtherGREATER HAMMOND COMMUNITY SERVICES INCMEALS ON WHEELS OF NORTHWEST INDIANA INC — $263,282 · OtherMEALS ON WHEELS OF NORTHWEST INDIANA INCMENTAL HEALTH AMERICA OF LAKE COUNTY INC — $222,410 · OtherMENTAL HEALTH AMERICA OF LAKE COUNTY INC+40 more — $946,691 · Other+40 moreCATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF GARY — $769,539 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCE…CROSSROADS YMCA INC — $271,698 · Human ServicesCROSSROADS YMCA INCHAVEN HOUSE INC — $87,953 · Human ServicesHAVEN HOUSE INCGARY NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES INC — $85,000 · Human ServicesGARY NEIGHBORHOOD SERVIC…URBAN LEAGUE OF NW INDIANA INC — $72,400 · Human ServicesYoung Womens Christian Association — $70,000 · Human ServicesCRISIS CENTER INC — $53,000 · Human Services+4 more — $48,450 · Human ServicesTRADEWINDS SERVICES INC — $320,961 · HealthTRADEWIND…THE METHODIST HOSPITALS FOUNDATION INC — $150,000 · HealthTHE METHO…SOUTHLAKETRI-CITY MANAGEMENT CORPORATIO DBA GEMINUS CORPORATION — $80,445 · HealthSOUTHLAKE…+1 more — $7,926 · HealthFOOD BANK OF NORTHWEST INDIANA INC — $463,100 · Food & NutritionBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF GREATER NORTHWEST INDIANA INC — $220,757 · Youth DevelopmentGirl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana — $102,000 · Youth Development+1 more — $7,500 · Youth DevelopmentNorthwest Indiana Community Action Corporation — $285,616 · Community ImprovementHAMMOND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $25,000 · Community ImprovementSt Jude House Inc — $124,750 · Housing & ShelterHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF NORTHWEST INDIANA INC — $38,412 · Housing & Shelter
Other$3,425,935Human Services$1,458,040Health$559,332Food & Nutrition$463,100Youth Development$330,257Community Improvement$310,616Housing & Shelter$163,162

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$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF GARY — $769,539 over 4y, 16% of budgetFOOD BANK OF NORTHWEST INDIANA INC — $463,100 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetTRADEWINDS SERVICES INC — $320,961 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetGREATER HAMMOND COMMUNITY SERVICES INC — $290,680 over 4y, 12% of budgetNorthwest Indiana Community Action Corporation — $285,616 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCROSSROADS YMCA INC — $271,698 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS OF NORTHWEST INDIANA INC — $263,282 over 4y, 3.1% of budgetMENTAL HEALTH AMERICA OF LAKE COUNTY INC — $222,410 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF GREATER NORTHWEST INDIANA INC — $220,757 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetTHE METHODIST HOSPITALS FOUNDATION INC — $150,000 over 1y, 85% of budgetSt Jude House Inc — $124,750 over 4y, 4.9% of budgetGirl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana — $102,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetHAVEN HOUSE INC — $87,953 over 4y, 4.9% of budgetSOUTHLAKETRI-CITY MANAGEMENT CORPORATIO DBA GEMINUS CORPORATION — $80,445 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetURBAN LEAGUE OF NW INDIANA INC — $72,400 over 3y, 15% of budgetYoung Womens Christian Association — $70,000 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetUNITED WAY OF NORTHWEST INDIANA INC — $68,943 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetIndiana Legal Services Inc — $66,800 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetNORTHWEST INDIANA REINVESTMENT ALLIANCE — $55,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetCRISIS CENTER INC — $53,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetHEALTHLINC INC — $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CARING PLACE INC — $45,226 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetHobart Family YMCA Inc — $42,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF NORTHWEST INDIANA INC — $38,412 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetSOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL DISTRICT COUNCIL GARY — $35,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetPARENTS AS TEACHERS OF LAKE COUNTY — $33,300 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetBOOKS BRUSHES AND BANDS FOR EDUCATION INC — $25,000 over 1y, 33% of budgetSojourner Truth House Inc — $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetHAMMOND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $25,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetSAFE COALITION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS SAFECHR — $22,014 over 1y, 16% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC — $20,623 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHAMMOND EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC — $17,741 over 1y, 9.5% of budgetHESSVILLE LITTLE LEAGUE INC LEAGUE NO 1140207 — $15,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetFAIR HAVEN INC — $10,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetCHICAGOLAND IMMIGRANT WELCOME NETWORK — $10,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetGOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF MICHIANA INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAMPAGNA ACADEMY INC — $9,962 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCARMELITE SISTERSHOME FOR GIRLS — $7,926 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF EAST CHICAGO INCORPORATED — $7,500 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetUNITED WAY OF GREATER LAFAYETTE — $5,062 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOUTH SHORE ARTS INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE SEEING EYE INC — $5,000 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.

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.

Legacy Foundation IncNisource Charitable F…John W Anderson Found…Crown Point Community…Community Foundation …Porter County Communi…United Way of Northwe…Fulk Family Foundatio…First Financial Found…Early Learning Indian…The Cleveland-Cliffs …The Citizens Savings …
Legacy Foundation IncIN66.9× affinity30 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Legacy Foundation Inc · Nisource Charitable Foundation · John W Anderson Foundation · Crown Point Community Foundation Inc · Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana Inc · Porter County Community Foundation Inc · United Way of Northwest Indiana Inc · Fulk Family Foundation Inc · First Financial Foundation · Early Learning Indiana Inc · The Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation · The Citizens Savings 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 Lake Area United Way Inc 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
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%5%11%20%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    22report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 e-file return for fiscal year 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
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    The regranting layer
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    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