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Plinth

· Private foundation

Lighten 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.

$83k
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$25k
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 FY20172024.

Arts & Culture$1.0MYouth Development$356kCivil Rights$327kReligion$300kEducation$103kPublic Safety & Disaster$21kHealth$11kHousing & Shelter$10kOther$0
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $19k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $64k
$3,800
Median grant
5
States reached
$4.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
YALE UNIVERSITY$25,000
GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH$16,900
DIVINE FAVOR & FELLOWSHIP MINISTRIES$12,000
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF NEW ROCHELLE INC$10,000
CENTER CHAPEL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH$7,000
BETA ZETA BOULE FOUNDATION$3,800
UNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND INC$2,500
NEW ROCHELLE POLICE FOUNDATION INC$2,500
MARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION$1,500
NEW ROCHELLE BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION INC$1,000
REACH ACADEMY LEARNING CENTER$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:

Your human-services grants (FY19–24, $8k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, 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%ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC: $3k → 8%MARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $2k → 6%MARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $1k → 6%MARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $1k → 6%MARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $1k → 6%MARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $500 → 6%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
MD
TN
DC
GA
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$2.1M · 19 repeat orgs$77k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +36% since the first grant, against -10% for the ones you funded once.

19 repeat relationships — 10 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
12

Total granted

$2.1M
$76k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+36%
-10%

Still filing today

63%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k 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
EducationCivil RightsHuman ServicesHealthYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureOther

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

  • NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC
    6× · 2017–2023 · $325k · revenue +102%
  • BA
    BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF NEW ROCHELLE INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $30k · revenue +298%
  • TF
    The Fellas College Scholarship Fund
    5× · 2017–2023 · $7k · revenue +374%

Funded once

  • BF
    BOULE FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue +98%
  • AT
    APOLLO THEATER FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue -14%
  • TS
    THE STONE TRUST CORPORATION
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue -39%

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
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
2
The Graduate Center Foundation Inc

The graduate center foundation is committed to promoting and safe-guarding the success of the graduate center by raising funds and managing and investing donations for use by the graduate center. the board of trustees of the foundation…

3
Lycee Francais De New York

"citizens of culture and courage"committed to bilingual french and american education of the highest standard, our mission is to prepare students of many origins to be thinkers, innovators and leaders, at home in the world. we inspire and…

Education
4
Young Black Scholar Institute
Community Improvement
5
Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan school of music is deeply committed to excellence in education, performance, and creative activity; to the humanity of the school's environment; and to the cultural enrichment of the larger community. a premiere international…

Arts & Culture
6
The Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association

For over 150 years, the 92nd street y, new york has been serving its communities and the larger world by bringing people together (continued on schedule o)and providing exceptional, groundbreaking programs in the performing and visual…

Religion
7
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
8
Advantage Testing Foundation

Our mission is to advance the academic and professional aspirations of underrepresented students of modest means, thereby expanding our nation's leadership pool. we provide educational tutoring, standardized test preparation and academic…

Education
9
Children's Aid College Prep Charter School

Prepare elementary & middle school students for success in high school, college & life.

Education
10
Bloomingdale School of Music

To provide access to high-quality music education for anyone who seeks it, regardless of economic status, ability level, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religious affiliation.

Arts & Culture
11
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

We educate the next generation of leaders to improve the health of our society.

Education
12
East Harlem Tutorial Program Inc

As a vital east harlem education and enrichment center, ehtp works with students from early childhood through adulthood to prepare them with the academic skills, strength of character, and social and emotional well-being to excel in high…

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Naacp Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Beta Zeta Boule Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyClassical Music EnsemblesPublic School District Foun…Cancer Support OrganizationsFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Fallen First Responder Supp…Legal Aid & Immigration Ser…Youth Sports Booster Organi…Child and Family ServicesYouth Development CentersIndependent K-8 SchoolsCommunity Arts Organizations
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 27 years old; the field is 21. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%4%<5yr12%4%5–10yr18%17%10–20yr18%30%20–35yr14%13%35–55yr20%30%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%0%<5yr12%0%5–10yr18%3%10–20yr18%10%20–35yr14%11%35–55yr20%76%55yr+

The field is 18% startups (under 5 years old) — 4% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 8% lost their exemption, against 10% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
8%
2/25
the rest of the field
10%
2,154/22,420

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

25 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. 25 of the 33 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/25
Grantees still filing
13/25
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

YALE UNIVERSITY — $1,350,000 · OtherYALE UNIVERSITYGRACE BAPTIST CHURCH — $152,500 · OtherGRACE BAPTIST CHURCHNEW YORK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY — $78,750 · Other+15 more — $126,500 · Other+15 moreNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC — $325,000 · Civil RightsNAACP LEGAL DEFEN…+1 more — $2,000 · Civil RightsBOULE FOUNDATION — $25,000 · EducationBETA ZETA BOULE FOUNDATION — $8,800 · EducationThe Fellas College Scholarship Fund — $6,900 · EducationUNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND INC — $6,500 · EducationBROOKLYN JESUIT PREP — $3,000 · Education+3 more — $2,500 · EducationBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF NEW ROCHELLE INC — $29,500 · Youth DevelopmentAPOLLO THEATER FOUNDATION INC — $25,000 · Arts & CultureNEW ROCHELLE POLICE FOUNDATION INC — $20,580 · Crime & LegalMARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION — $5,000 · Human ServicesELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC — $2,500 · Human Services
Other$1,707,750Civil Rights$327,000Education$52,700Youth Development$29,500Arts & Culture$25,000Crime & Legal$20,580Human Services$7,500

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 budgetNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC — $325,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetNEW YORK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY — $78,750 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF NEW ROCHELLE INC — $29,500 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetBOULE FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetAPOLLO THEATER FOUNDATION INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNEW ROCHELLE POLICE FOUNDATION INC — $20,580 over 8y, 1.8% of budgetFOUNDATION OF WESTCHESTER CLUBMEN INC — $20,000 over 4y, 8.7% of budgetTHE STONE TRUST CORPORATION — $10,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetThe Fellas College Scholarship Fund — $6,900 over 5y, 5.1% of budgetUNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND INC — $6,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNew Rochelle Basketball Association Inc — $4,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetBROOKLYN JESUIT PREP — $3,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFAMILY SERVICES OF WESTCHESTER INC — $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMETRO-MANHATTAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONINC — $3,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLEGAL AID SOCIETY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — $2,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNAACP FOUNDATION — $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC — $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetREACH ACADEMY LEARNING CENTER — $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetJULIA DYCKMAN ANDRUS MEMORIAL INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRETT SYNDROME RESEARCH TRUST INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY — $500 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.

The New York Community TrustNY12.7× affinity4 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The New York Community Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Network for Good · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Lighten Family 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
202122232425
no gov · 40%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    4get no government money at all
    3report 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 33 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