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· Private foundation

Light & Way 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.

$249k
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$50k
Largest
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 FY20242025.

Animals$120kEducation$75kPhilanthropy$44kHuman Services$40kHealth$20kCrime & Legal$20kFood & Nutrition$10kArts & Culture$5k
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $134k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
$10,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LOVE4SATOS ANIMAL RESCUE$50,000
LOVE4SATOS ANIMAL RESCUE$50,000
TRUSTEES OF PARTRIDGE ACADEMY IN DU$25,000
NATICK SERVICE COUNCIL$25,000
VARIOUS OTHER CHARITIES$23,890
NEW HOUR FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN$20,000
LA REGIONAL FOOD BANK$10,000
CENTER FOR HEALTHY AGING$10,000
PASADENA HUMANE$10,000
CENTER FOR HEALTHY AGING$10,000
NATICK SERVICE COUNCIL$5,000
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MASTERWORKS$5,000
JOHNNY MAC SOLDIERS FUND$5,000
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.

Your US giving — 85% of grant dollars ($284k). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 15% that went abroad ($50k) is mapped below.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY24–25, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 4%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%JOHNNY MAC SOLDIERS FUND: $5k → 4%JOHNNY MAC SOLDIERS FUND: $5k → 4%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.

Beyond the US — 15% of all-years giving ($50k)

1 country, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore
Puerto Rico$50k · 1 grant

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. International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same 990 filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain.

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.

39%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$129k · 3 repeat orgs$205k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships — 3 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
1

Total granted

$129k
$10k

Still filing today

67%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 22% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $195k went to new ones.

50%100%’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’24’25
AnimalsHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementCrime & LegalInternationalOther

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

  • TO
    TRUSTEES OF PARTRIDGE ACADEMY IN DUXBURY
    2× · 2024–2025 · $75k · revenue 0%
  • VO
    VARIOUS OTHER CHARITIES
    2× · 2024–2025 · $44k
  • JM
    JOHNNY MAC SOLDIERS FUND INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $10k · revenue 0%

Funded once

  • CF
    CSU FLINT ANIMAL CANCER CTR
    one grant, 2024 · $10k

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
Danbury Animal Welfare Society

Danbury animal welfare society , inc.(daws) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of animals in our community and beyond. we promote responsible pet guardianship and the humane treatment of animals, and work toward…

Animals
2
Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons Inc

THE ANIMAL RESCUE FUND OF THE HAMPTONS ACTIVELY RESCUES CATS AND DOGS, PROVIDES QUALITY CARE AND OFFERS SANCTUARY UNTIL LOVING HOMES CAN BE FOUND. ARF's work with animals, within our community and throughout the organization is guided by…

Animals
3
Animal Samaritans

At Animal Samaritans we champion compassion and respect for all living creatures, with a primary focus on dogs, cats, and the people who love them. We view pets not merely as animals, but as members of our families. As their guardians and…

Animals
4
Rags 2 Riches Animal Rescue

Animal rescue

Animals
5
Fort Defiance Humane Society

Animal sheltering

Animals
6
Nassau County Spca Inc

The nassau county society for the prevention of cruelty to animals is a 501(c)(3) organized to protect animals from abuse and neglect.(see schedule o)the nassau county society for the prevention of cruelty to animals is a 501(c)(3)…

Animals
7
Marin Humane Society

Marin humane transforms lives through exceptional animal care, humane education, and advocacy. every day, marin humane inspires compassion and positive relationships between people and animals.

Animals
8
Paris Animal Welfare Society Inc

To save and protect homeless animals through responsible adoptions, to provide humane care for all animals entrusted to us, advocate for animal welfare and enhance the human-animal bond by promoting healthy relationships between pets in…

Animals
9
Partners for Animal Welfare Society

Animal shelter for the protection and care of abused and neglected animals.

Animals
10
Animal Care Sanctuary

Animal care sanctuary's lifesaving mission as a no kill organization envisions a community that promotes turning compassion into action for companion animals by: 1.) adopting healthy pet companions into loving homes. 2.) promoting the…

Animals
11
Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society

Dedicated to saving philadelphias homeless and at-risk pets through rescue, adoption, and provision of veterinary care and other pet owner support services.

Animals
12
Rancho Coastal Humane Society

See schedule orancho coastal is dedicated to the rescue and shelter of abandoned companion animals. it encourages adoptions into loving homes and provides educational and community outreach programs designed to enhance the human-animal…

Animals

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Pasadena Humane and the most unlike its peers is Trustees of Partridge Academy in Duxbury. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

04the grantee network

8 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. 8 of the 12 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)
8/8
Grantees still filing
2/8
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

TRUSTEES OF PARTRIDGE ACADEMY IN DUXBURY — $74,999 · OtherTRUSTEES OF PARTRIDGE ACADEMY IN DUXBURYLOVE4SATOS ANIMAL RESCUE — $50,000 · OtherLOVE4SATOS ANIMAL RESCUEVARIOUS OTHER CHARITIES — $43,780 · OtherVARIOUS OTHER CHARITIESCENTER FOR HEALTHY AGING — $20,000 · OtherCENTER FOR HEALTHY AGINGCSU FLINT ANIMAL CANCER CTR — $10,000 · OtherLOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK — $10,000 · OtherLOVE4SATOS ANIMAL RESCUE INC — $50,000 · AnimalsLOVE4SATOS ANIMAL RE…PASADENA HUMANE — $10,000 · AnimalsPASADENA HUMANENATICK SERVICE COUNCIL INC — $30,000 · Community ImprovementNATICK SER…NEW HOUR FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN LI I — $20,000 · Crime & LegalJOHNNY MAC SOLDIERS FUND INC — $10,000 · Human ServicesAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MASTERWORKS INC — $5,000 · International
Other$208,779Animals$60,000Community Improvement$30,000Crime & Legal$20,000Human Services$10,000International$5,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTRUSTEES OF PARTRIDGE ACADEMY IN DUXBURY — $74,999 over 2y, 11% of budgetLOVE4SATOS ANIMAL RESCUE INC — $50,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetNATICK SERVICE COUNCIL INC — $30,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetNEW HOUR FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN LI I — $20,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetJOHNNY MAC SOLDIERS FUND INC — $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% 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.

Jpmorgan Chase FoundationNY11.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · 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 & Way 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 20%1%5%11%20%your share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Light & Way Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Light & Way 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 12 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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