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· Private foundation

Light Action 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.

$23k
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$5k
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 FY2019–2024.

Health$31kArts & Culture$22kEducation$13kPhilanthropy$11kInternational$9kRecreation & Sports$7kSocial Science$7kEnvironment$4kOther$0
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$2,500
Median grant
4
States reached
$316k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FNDTN$5,000
SPECIAL OLYMPICS - NEVADA$5,000
MISES INSTITUTE$5,000
HOWARD COUNTY AUTISM SOCIETY$2,500
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN - UNIV DVLPM$2,000
HILLSDALE COLLEGE$1,000
WASHTENAW CHORALE$1,000
ST MARYS STUDENT PARISH$1,000
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 (FY19–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 82% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CHAMBER MUSIC UNBOUND: $2k → 10%RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK: $3k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF SANTA MONICA: $2k → 14%WASHTENAW CHORALE: $1k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $1k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY: $2k → 21%MISES INSTITUTE: $5k → 15%WALKING WITH ORPHABNS: $4k → 9%FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION: $2k → 13%NURSE FAMILY PARTNERSHIP: $5k → 12%NATURE CONSERVANCY - MI: $1k → 7%SPECIAL OLYMPICS - NEVADA: $5k → 13%HOWARD COUNTY AUTISM SOCIETY: $3k → 6%MD THERAPEUTIC RIDING: $2k → 6%PATHFINDERS FOR AUTISM: $2k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF SANTA MONICA: $2k → 14%ANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FNDTN: $5k → 14%UNIV OF DETROIT JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL: $2k → 21%NURSE FAMILY PARTNERSHIP: $2k → 12%SPECIAL OLYMPICS - NEVADA: $2k → 13%MD THERAPEUTIC RIDING: $1k → 6%PATHFINDERS FOR AUTISM: $1k → 11%NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $3k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY: $1k → 21%LAS VEGAS ACADEMY OF THE ARTS: $5k → 13%ANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FNDTN: $2k → 14%LAS VEGAS ACADEMY OF THE ARTS: $5k → 13%ST MARYS STUDENT PARISH: $2k → 14%WUNDERLICH FOUNDATION: $2k → 13%ANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2k → 14%LAS VEGAS ACADEMY OF THE ARTS: $2k → 13%ST MARY STUDENT PARISH: $1k → 14%NOTES WITH A PURPOSE: $2k → 13%ST MARYS STUDENT PARISH: $1k → 14%ANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%ANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%ST MARYS STUDENT PARISH: $500 → 14%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $5k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $4k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $3k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN - UNIV DVLPM: $2k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $2k → 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

MI
NV
CA
CO
VA
MD
AL
GA

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.

04

Where the work is directed

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

About 11% of Light Action Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another.

Light Action Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 4.6% directed abroad (not shown)

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 foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

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.

61%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$59k · 10 repeat orgs$38k to everyone else

10 repeat relationships — 2 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
11

Total granted

$59k
$27k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+4%
+26%

Still filing today

70%
36%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 36% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
HealthEducationArts & CultureAnimalsEnvironmentRecreation & SportsOther

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

  • UO
    University of Michigan
    4× · 2019–2023 · $14k · revenue +140%
  • NP
    NURSE-FAMILY PARTNERSHIP
    2× · 2020–2021 · $7k · revenue +3%
  • PF
    PATHFINDERS FOR AUTISM
    2× · 2020–2021 · $3k · revenue +8%

Funded once

  • CA
    CARE AUSTRALIA - VANUATU
    one grant, 2019 · $5k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $4k
  • NW
    NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $3k · revenue +66%

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
University of Maryland Anesthesiology Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

—
2
University of Maryland Neurology Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

—
3
Harvey Mudd College

HMC seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities, social sciences and the arts so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the…

Education
4
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
5
University of Maryland Neurosurgeryassociates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Education
6
University of Maryland Eye Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
7
University of Maryland Oncology Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
8
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc

Aura provides innovative, open resources to enable discovery and excellence in research, to unify the astrophysics communities, and to promote public understanding of our universe and the benefits of scientific exploration.

Science & Tech
9
University of Maryland Dermatologists Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
10
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
11
University of Virginia Investment Management Company

The university of virginia investment management company (uvimco) is organized to invest funds on behalf of the rector and visitors of the university of virginia (the university or uva) and university-associated organizations (uaos).

Education
12
University of Maryland Surgical Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation and the most unlike its peers is National Wildlife Federation. 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 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%10%<5yr14%10%5–10yr19%5%10–20yr16%29%20–35yr13%19%35–55yr16%29%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%11%<5yr14%4%5–10yr19%3%10–20yr16%27%20–35yr13%32%35–55yr16%23%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 10% of your grantees by number, and just 11% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/22
the rest of the field
13%
240,396/1,819,543

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.

05the grantee network

17 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. 17 of the 28 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/17
Grantees still filing
11/17
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

University of Michigan — $13,500 · OtherUniversity of MichiganLAS VEGAS ACADEMY OF THE ARTS — $12,000 · OtherLAS VEGAS ACADEMY OF THE ARTSLUDWIG VON MISES INSTITUTE FOR AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS INC — $5,000 · OtherLUDWIG VON MISES INSTITUTE FOR AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS INCCARE AUSTRALIA - VANUATU — $5,000 · OtherCARE AUSTRALIA - VANUATUIndividual grant recipient — $4,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientST MARYS STUDENT PARISH — $3,500 · OtherST MARYS STUDENT PARISHRainforest Action Network — $2,500 · Other+9 more — $15,000 · Other+9 moreNURSE-FAMILY PARTNERSHIP — $7,000 · HealthNURSE-FAMILY PAR…PATHFINDERS FOR AUTISM — $3,000 · HealthPATHFINDERS FOR …MARYLAND THERAPEUTIC RIDING INC — $3,000 · HealthMARYLAND THERAPE…AUTISM SOCIETY OF MARYLAND INC — $2,500 · HealthAUTISM SOCIETY O…ANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $11,000 · PhilanthropyANN ARBOR A…University of Santa Monica — $4,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY — $3,000 · EducationHILLSDALE COLLEGE — $1,000 · EducationSpecial Olympics Nevada — $7,000 · Recreation & SportsTHE PHOENIX ENSEMBLE — $3,000 · Arts & CultureCHAMBER MUSIC UNBOUND — $2,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $2,500 · Animals
Other$60,500Health$15,500Philanthropy$11,000Education$8,000Recreation & Sports$7,000Arts & Culture$5,000Animals$2,500

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 budgetUniversity of Michigan — $13,500 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $11,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSpecial Olympics Nevada — $7,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNURSE-FAMILY PARTNERSHIP — $7,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLUDWIG VON MISES INSTITUTE FOR AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Santa Monica — $4,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPATHFINDERS FOR AUTISM — $3,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE PHOENIX ENSEMBLE — $3,000 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY — $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMARYLAND THERAPEUTIC RIDING INC — $3,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetAUTISM SOCIETY OF MARYLAND INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRainforest Action Network — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHAMBER MUSIC UNBOUND — $2,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetFoundation for Economic Education Inc — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE — $1,000 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.

Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Vanguard Charitable Endowment ProgramPA7.2× affinity5 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Light Action 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
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 67%
  • Autism Society of Maryland Inc — 67% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
3report 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

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 28 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

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines