How much does Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming give?

Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming reported 53 grants totaling $398,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 39 and 52 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.

What does Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Philanthropy (21%), Health (14%), Education (12%).

Who are Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Kentucky Horse Park Foundation Inc ($195k), Central Kentucky Riding for Hope Inc ($138k), Fayette Alliance Foundation Inc ($95k).

Does Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming fund new organizations?

In FY2024, 35% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Does Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming accept unsolicited applications?

Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.

Which funders back the same organizations as Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Blue Grass Community Foundation Inc, Lander Community Foundation, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole.

Where is Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming based?

Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming is based in WY.

Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming

Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming at a glance

· Private foundation

Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$398k

Granted FY2025still arriving

Grants FY2025still arriving

States reached

$42k

Largest

01What it funds

0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Philanthropy$538kHealth$364kEducation$301kRecreation & Sports$253kAnimals$242kArts & Culture$229kEnvironment$190kHuman Services$131kOther$0

02FY2025 · 53 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

Under $10k37 grants · $126k
$10k–50k16 grants · $272k

$5,000

Median grant

States reached

$8.6M

Total assets

Largest grants
Recipient	Amount
LANDER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION	$42,000
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY	$35,000
KENTUCKY HORSE PARK FOUNDATION	$25,000
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY	$20,000
CENTRAL KENTUCKY RIDING FOR HOPE	$20,000
THE SHELTER FOR ABUSED WOMEN	$15,000
FAYETTE ALLIANCE FOUNDATION INC	$15,000
JACKSON HOLE THERAPEUTIC RIDING	$15,000
ST JUDE'S CHILDRENS RESEARCH	$15,000
FRIENDS OF THE HOT SPRINGS STATE	$10,000
SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST	$10,000
BROOKE USA INC	$10,000
LEADERSHIP WYOMING	$10,000
AMERICAN SAFE CLIMBING ASSOCIATION	$10,000
BREEDERS CUP CHARITIES INC	$10,000

02The need

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $134k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 27% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

How this is measured

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

How this is measured

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.

03Its grantees

repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.

$2.1M · 78 repeat orgs$236k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +54% since the first grant, against +19% for those funded once.

78 repeat relationships: 38 still active in FY2025, 40 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

Total granted

$2.1M

$177k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+54%

+19%

Still filing today

63%

59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $59k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

HealthHuman ServicesAnimalsArts & CultureEducationEnvironmentOther

How this is measured

First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

FA
FAYETTE ALLIANCE FOUNDATION INC
9× · 2017–2025 · $95k · revenue +54%
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
5× · 2021–2025 · $89k · revenue +24%
JH
JACKSON HOLE THERAPEUTIC RIDING
9× · 2017–2025 · $85k · revenue +155%

Funded once

SB
SANDERS BROWN CENTER ON THE AGING
one grant, 2024 · $10k
UW
UNITED WAY OF KENTUCKY INCgraduated
one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +112%
TW
THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY
one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +23%

How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

Rocky Mountain Wild

Rocky mountain wild works to protect, connect, and restore wildlife and wild lands in the southern rocky mountain region. we work to secure the biodiversity of the mountains, plains, and desert ecosystems of colorado, wyoming, utah, and…

Environment

Greater Yellowstone Coalition

Greater yellowstone coalition works with all people to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of the greater yellowstone ecosystem, now and for future generations.

Environment

World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment

The Jmt Wilderness Conservancy

Working to restore the watersheds, wilderness, and wildlife in the high sierra nevada following the john muir trail (est. 1915) for all life in california.

Environment

Wyofile

Wyofile is an independent, nonprofit news service focused on the people, places and policy of wyoming. recognizing the rapid decline in resources among traditional news outlets, wyofile offers in-depth coverage of complicated subjects and…

Arts & Culture

Wyoming Wildlife Advocates

To promote science-based wildlife management that fosters ecosystem health and dynamic equilibrium between species throughout the state of wyoming.

Animals

Wetlands America Trust Inc

Wetlands america trust, inc. is a nonprofit organization formed in 1985 to expand ducks unlimited, inc's mission to provide leadership in the protection of the natural balance of wetlands ecosystems ensuring the future viability of…

Environment

Jackson Hole Land Trust

The jackson hole land trust (jhlt) is a nonprofit that was established in 1980. the land trust's mission is to protect and steward northwest wyoming landscapes for current and future generations. the land trust envisions a legacy of…

Environment

The Wilderness Society

The wilderness society works to protect america's public lands from threats like development and privatization, so wild places remain intact, accessible and available for future generations.

Environment

Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International

Wildlife Conservation Network Inc

Connect conservationists and supporters, deploy resources to the field, provide conservationists with tools and support they need to succeed.

Animals

Montana Wildlife Federation

The montana wildlife federation is a statewide conservation organization dedicated to protecting wildlife, wildlife habitat, and public access for outdoor recreation.

Animals

How this is measured

The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wyoming Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Hot City Outdoor Alliance. 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

101 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 101 of the 163 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)

Early backer (in before they grew)

99/101

Grantees still filing

75/101

Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Other$1,174,542Education$832,650Recreation & Sports$238,000Arts & Culture$206,500Human Services$183,600Animals$150,000Health$133,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Blue Grass Community Foundation IncKY34.5× affinity16 shared granteesties to 9 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Blue Grass Community Foundation Inc · Lander Community Foundation · Community Foundation of Jackson Hole · The Mt Brilliant Family Foundation (Formerly Hgg Family Foundation) · Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels Inc · Rosenstein Family Charitable Foundation Inc · W L Lyons Brown Foundation · Wyoming Community Foundation · The Carl Family Foundation co McDaniel Wealth Mgmt PLLC · Crutcher Family Foundation Inc · Hilary Boone Foundation Inc · Limestone Family Foundation Inc

How this is measured

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming. Bigger dots raise more.

2024

’20’21’22’23’24’25

no gov moneyreceives it· size = income

7get no government money at all

20report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)

0rely on government for over half their income

⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%

typical government reliance, FY20–25

How this is measured

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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming?

Find your warmest path to Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming 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.

Play a game based on Lightner Sams Foundation of Wyoming’s filings →

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 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