Florida · Public charity
Lightning Foundation
The LIGHTNING FOUNDATION is dedicated to investing its resources and leadership for the enrichment of the people of tampa bay, focusing on meeting basic human needs and enhancing lives.
- $3.6M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 45
- Itemized grants FY2025
- 32
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 63%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Itemized, FY2025
- $3.4M
- The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
- Median grant, FY2025
- $45,115
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $560,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 8 to 36
- FY2017 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 4
- Total assets, FY2025
- $5.7M
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 63% of the organizations Lightning Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 67% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 33% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $915k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 43 | $2.8M | 58% |
| FY2024 | 32 | $1.4M | 63% |
| FY2023 | 30 | $1.2M | 50% |
| FY2022 | 12 | $442k | 42% |
| FY2021 | 8 | $273k | 38% |
| FY2019 | 36 | $538k | 53% |
| FY2018 | 24 | $477k | 67% |
| FY2017 | 19 | $429k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of South Florida | $772,750 | 6 | n/a |
| Habitat for Humanity of Florida Inc | $500,000 | 1 | 13% |
| Heroes of the St Pete Police and Fire Resue Inc | $360,000 | 1 | 100% |
| Team Rubicon Inc | $300,000 | 2 | 1% |
| American Heart Association Inc | $268,500 | 6 | 0% |
| School District of Hillsborough County | $250,000 | 1 | n/a |
| The V Foundation | $230,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Tampa Metropolitan Area Young Men's Christian Association Inc | $225,397 | 1 | 0% |
| Pinellas County Education Foundation Inc | $200,000 | 1 | 2% |
| Hillsborough County Firefighter Charities Inc | $160,000 | 1 | n/a |
Show all 121 grantees
Plus 1 recipient with no EIN on record ($10k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Lightning Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 4 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 95 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: Vinik Family Foundation · Community Foundation of Tampa Bay Inc · Suncoast Credit Union Foundation · Rays Baseball Foundation Inc · Debartolo Family Foundation Inc · Publix Super Markets Charities Inc · Pinellas Community Foundation · Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida Foundation · The Florida Medical Clinic Foundation of Caring Inc · Frank E Duckwall Foundation · The Spurlino Foundation · United Way Suncoast Inc
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Lightning Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Lightning 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.
About Lightning Foundation
- How much does Lightning Foundation give?
- Lightning Foundation reported 45 itemized grants totaling $3,445,547, out of $3,635,942 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 8 and 36 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2024.
- What does Lightning Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (27%), Health (17%), Public Safety & Disaster (13%).
- Who are Lightning Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: University of South Florida ($773k), Habitat for Humanity of Florida Inc ($500k), Heroes of the St Pete Police and Fire Resue Inc ($360k).
- Does Lightning Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 63% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Lightning Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Vinik Family Foundation, Community Foundation of Tampa Bay Inc, Suncoast Credit Union Foundation.
- Where is Lightning Foundation based?
- Lightning Foundation is based in FL.
Play a game based on Lightning’s filings →