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Plinth

· Private foundation

Leonard J & Ethel H Smith Charitable Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$28k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$28k
Largest
01What you fund
01

What you funded, over time

By grantee IRS cause code (NTEE).

A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 72% of LEONARD J & ETHEL H SMITH CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC’s grantee dollars fall outside its nine largest cause areas, whether because the recipient carries no IRS cause code or because its cause sits in the long tail. A chart would be mostly one residual band and misrepresent the portfolio.

02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$28,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$548k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
VARIOUS CHARITIES APPROVED BY THE BOARD$28,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 98% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SMITH COLLEGE: $4k → 12%TIERRA DEL SOL: $25k → 14%LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY: $2k → 9%SHADOWLAND THEATER: $3k → 16%NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $2k → 14%TIERRA DEL SOL: $20k → 14%SHADOWLAND THEATER: $2k → 16%WILDWOOD: $10k → 14%SHADOWLAND THEATER: $2k → 16%WILDWOOD SCHOOL: $8k → 14%SHADOWLAND THEATER: $2k → 16%WILDWOOD SCHOOL: $8k → 14%SHADOWLAND THEATER: $2k → 16%WILDWOOD: $5k → 14%WILDWOOD SCHOOL: $5k → 14%VARIOUS CHARITIES APPROVED BY THE BOARD: $28k → 14%WALK BIKE NASHVILLE: $3k → 14%PARKINSONS COMMUNITY LA: $25k → 14%WALK BIKE NASHVILLE: $2k → 14%PARKINSONS COMMUNITY LA: $25k → 14%THE TEMPLE: $4k → 14%PARKINSONS COMMUNITY LA: $25k → 14%THE TEMPLE: $4k → 14%PARKINSONS COMMUNITY LA: $20k → 14%STAND UP 2 CANCER: $3k → 17%GORDON JCC: $3k → 14%PARKINSONS COMMUNITY LA: $15k → 14%THE TEMPLE: $3k → 14%TEMPLE SHALOM: $3k → 14%GORDON JCC: $2k → 14%GORDON JCC: $2k → 14%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MIDDLE TN: $5k → 14%COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME: $5k → 14%COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME: $5k → 14%FIRST ART MUSEUM: $4k → 14%COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME: $4k → 14%FIRST CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $3k → 14%COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME: $3k → 14%FIRST ART MUSEUM: $3k → 14%NASHVILLE PUBLIC RADIO: $2k → 14%COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME: $3k → 14%FIRST CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $3k → 14%GREENWAYS FOR NASHVILLE: $2k → 14%NASHVILLE SYMPHONY: $5k → 14%NASHVILLE SYMPHONY: $4k → 14%NASHVILLE SYMPHONY: $4k → 14%NASHVILLE SYMPHONY: $3k → 14%NASHVILLE SYMPHONY: $3k → 14%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

NY
MA
NJ
CT
CA
VA
MD
TN
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.
$319k · 30 repeat orgs$42k to everyone else

30 repeat relationships — 0 still active in FY2024, 30 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

30
10

Total granted

$319k
$14k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+117%

Still filing today

57%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $28k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’24
EducationArts & CultureHealthPublic Safety & DisasterPhilanthropyAnimalsOther

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

  • WS
    WILDWOOD SCHOOL INC
    3× · 2019–2021 · $20k · revenue +39%
  • CM
    COUNTRY MUSIC FOUNDATION INC
    5× · 2017–2021 · $19k · revenue +98%
  • NS
    Nashville Symphony Association
    5× · 2017–2021 · $19k · revenue +29%

Funded once

  • PP
    PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MIDDLE TN
    one grant, 2020 · $5k
  • SU
    STAND UP 2 CANCER
    one grant, 2021 · $3k
  • TF
    THISTLE FARMS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $1k · revenue +117%

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
National Public Radio Inc

National public radio, inc. ("npr") works collaboratively with member public radio station licensees ("member stations") to create a more informed public, one that is challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of…

Arts & Culture
2
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…

3
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
4
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
5
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.

6
Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States Inc

The fsmb serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best…

Health
7
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
8
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
9
National Association of College and University Attorneys

To advance the practice of higher education attorneys for the benefit of the institutions they serve.

10
Eastern National

Eastern national promotes the public's understanding and support of america's national parks and other public trust partners by providing quality educational experiences, products and services.

Recreation & Sports
11
United States Telecom Association

See schedule oustelecom exists to ensure members can compete, grow and thrive to build a world where families, enterprises and communities are connected through the power of broadband.our member companies have committed a considerable…

12
Jewelers of America Inc

Jewelers of america, the most trusted and influential voice of the jewelry industry, empowers and unites its members through expert guidance and advocacy, driving excellence, integrity, and success in an ever-changing marketplace.

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc and the most unlike its peers is Rock Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corp. 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 34 years old; the field is 14. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number24%5%<5yr15%9%5–10yr20%0%10–20yr17%41%20–35yr11%9%35–55yr13%36%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value24%5%<5yr15%4%5–10yr20%0%10–20yr17%24%20–35yr11%19%35–55yr13%49%55yr+

The field is 24% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 5% 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%0/23
the rest of the field
14%
26,003/186,955

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

23 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. 23 of the 43 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/23
Grantees still filing
21/23
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Individual grant recipient — $110,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient — $45,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientVARIOUS CHARITIES APPROVED BY THE BOARD — $28,000 · OtherVARIOUS CHARITIES APPROVED BY THE BOARDWILDWOOD — $15,000 · OtherWILDWOODTHE TEMPLE — $11,650 · OtherSHADOWLAND THEATER — $9,000 · Other+19 more — $47,065 · Other+19 moreCOUNTRY MUSIC FOUNDATION INC — $19,150 · Arts & CultureCOUNTRY MUSIC …Nashville Symphony Association — $18,500 · Arts & CultureNashville Symp…FRIST ART MUSEUM — $6,900 · Arts & CultureFRIST ART MUSE…NASHVILLE PUBLIC RADIO — $2,550 · Arts & CultureNASHVILLE PUBL…WILDWOOD SCHOOL INC — $20,000 · EducationWILDWOOD …THE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE — $4,800 · EducationTHE TRUST…NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION — $3,275 · EducationNASHVILLE…RUTGERS PREPARATORY SCHOOL — $1,200 · Education+1 more — $1,000 · EducationSTAND UP TO CANCER — $5,100 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION OF NASHVILLE AND MIDDLE TENNESSEE — $2,750 · PhilanthropyTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC — $1,000 · PhilanthropyWALK BIKE NASHVILLE INC — $4,000 · Public Safety & DisasterTHE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC — $1,200 · Public Safety & DisasterBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $3,000 · HealthAmerican Heart Association Inc — $900 · HealthROCK HILL VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE CORP — $150 · HealthGREENWAYS FOR NASHVILLE INC — $3,750 · Recreation & Sports
Other$265,715Arts & Culture$47,100Education$30,275Philanthropy$8,850Public Safety & Disaster$5,200Health$4,050Recreation & Sports$3,750

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetWILDWOOD SCHOOL INC — $20,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCOUNTRY MUSIC FOUNDATION INC — $19,150 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNashville Symphony Association — $18,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFRIST ART MUSEUM — $6,900 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE — $4,800 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWALK BIKE NASHVILLE INC — $4,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetORT AMERICA INC — $3,900 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGREENWAYS FOR NASHVILLE INC — $3,750 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetNASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION — $3,275 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF NASHVILLE AND MIDDLE TENNESSEE — $2,750 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE PUBLIC RADIO — $2,550 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION INC — $1,700 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHISTLE FARMS INC — $1,300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRUTGERS PREPARATORY SCHOOL — $1,200 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC — $1,200 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNASHVILLE HUMANE ASSOCIATION AKA NASHVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY — $1,050 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBelmont University — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE EQUITY ALLIANCE — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc — $900 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetROCK HILL VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE CORP — $150 over 1y, 0.2% 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 WILDWOOD SCHOOL INC
  • Who funds COUNTRY MUSIC FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds Nashville Symphony Association
  • Who funds FRIST ART MUSEUM
  • Who funds STAND UP TO CANCER
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE
  • Who funds WALK BIKE NASHVILLE INC
  • Who funds ORT AMERICA INC
  • Who funds GREENWAYS FOR NASHVILLE INC
  • Who funds NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION
  • Who funds BLOOD CANCER UNITED INC
  • Who funds JEWISH FEDERATION OF NASHVILLE AND MIDDLE TENNESSEE
  • Who funds NASHVILLE PUBLIC RADIO
  • Who funds FISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds THISTLE FARMS INC
  • Who funds RUTGERS PREPARATORY SCHOOL
  • Who funds THE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds NASHVILLE HUMANE ASSOCIATION AKA NASHVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY
  • Who funds Belmont University
  • Who funds THE EQUITY ALLIANCE
  • Who funds THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC
  • Who funds American Heart Association 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 Joel C & Bernice W Gordon Family FoundationTN17.9× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Joel C & Bernice W Gordon Family Foundation · Hca Healthcare Foundation · Sandra Schatten Foundation · The Wade-Buntin Family Foundation · The Steven & Laurie Eskind Family Foundation · Dorothy Cate and Thomas F Frist Foundation · Vanderbilt University · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Eden Foundation · The Annette & Irwin Eskind Family Foundation · James R Meadows Jr Foundation · The Blum Family 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 Leonard J & Ethel H Smith Charitable Foundation 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
202122232425
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 1%
  • The Trustees of the Smith College1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 43 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph