· 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.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
The 45 grants below total $3,445,547 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $3,635,942 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $190,395 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.
By grant size · FY2025
- $10k–50k23 grants · $426k
- $50k–250k19 grants · $1.8M
- $250k+3 grants · $1.2M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| HILLSBOROUGH EDUCATION FUND | $560,000 |
| HEROES OF THE ST PETE POLICE AND FIRE RESCUE INC | $360,000 |
| SCHOOL BOARD OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY | $250,000 |
| TAMPA METRO AREA YMCA INC | $225,397 |
| PINELLAS EDUCATION FOUNDATION | $200,000 |
| HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY FIREFIGHTERS CHARITIES INC | $160,000 |
| LYNN SOWERS MEMORIAL FOUNDATION INC | $150,000 |
| PASCO EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC | $140,000 |
| PINELLAS COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE FOUNDATION INC | $120,000 |
| PASCO SHERIFF'S CHARITIES | $110,000 |
| USF FOUNDATION | $104,600 |
| PINELLAS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $100,000 |
| FEEDING TAMPA BAY | $80,000 |
| RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE | $60,000 |
| LIFT | $50,000 |
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 human-services grants (FY19–25, $671k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 90% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
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
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.
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.
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +54% since the first grant, against +6% for the ones you funded once.
36 repeat relationships — 18 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 25 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 22% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.2M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
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
- AHAmerican Heart Association Inc6× · 2017–2023 · $269k · revenue +33%
- TVTHE V FOUNDATION5× · 2018–2024 · $230k · revenue +54%
- HLH LEE MOFFITT CANCER CENTER & RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOUNDATION INC4× · 2017–2024 · $138k · revenue +102%
Funded once
- HFHabitat for Humanity of Florida Incone grant, 2023 · $500k · revenue -65%
- UHUSA HOCKEY FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue +35%
University of South Florida Foundation Incgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $80k · revenue +132%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
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.
Working in partnership with state business leaders to secure florida's future.
The mission of the orlando health foundation is to support the strategic priorities of orlando health through philanthropy. this is accomplished through special events and annual major and planned gift fundraising efforts.
The florida center supports the healthy development of young children, specializing in those with delays, disabilities or mental health challenges. our mission- "to help build and foster strong families and expand the potential of young…
The tampa bay partnership is a privately funded, ceo-driven regional advocacy organization, committed to creating a unified, competitive and prosperous tampa bay.
Orlando health is a trusted leader inspiring hope through the advancement of health. our mission as a community-owned organization is to improve the health and quality of life of the individuals and communities we serve.
The primary purpose of the h. lee moffitt cancer center and research institute hospital, inc. ("hospital") is to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer.
Spca tampa bay is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates pinellas county's only nonprofit for-all animal shelter assisting all animals in need, regardless of species or circumstance, at its 10-acre campus in largo. (continued on…
St. joseph's hospitals foundation secures, manages and stewards philanthropic support to benefit the health care mission of st. joseph's hospital, st. joseph's women's hospital, st. joseph's children's hospital of tampa, st. joseph's…
Nicklaus Children's Health System is the region's only healthcare system exclusively for children. Our mission is to inspire hope and promote lifelong health by providing the best care to every child. TO PERFORM THE FUNCTIONS OF, OR TO…
To promote, encourage and enhance research activities at the university of south florida.
To inspire hope and promote lifelong health by providing the best care to every child.
As the region's leading safety net hospital, tampa general hospital is committed to providing area residents with excellent and compassionate health care ranging from the simplest to the most complex medical services. our shared purpose:…
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Foundation of Tampa Bay Inc and the most unlike its peers is Nhl Foundation Us Inc. 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.
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 33 years old; the field is 12. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.
The field is 26% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.
The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.8% lost their exemption, against 16% of the field you don’t fund.
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.
111 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2017–2026, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 111 of the 125 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.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
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.
- Who funds Hillsborough Education Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds Habitat for Humanity of Florida Inc ↗
- Who funds Heroes of the St Pete Police and Fire Resue Inc ↗
- Who funds TEAM RUBICON INC ↗
- Who funds American Heart Association Inc ↗
- Who funds THE V FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds TAMPA METROPOLITAN AREA YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds PINELLAS COUNTY EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY FIREFIGHTER CHARITIES INC ↗
- Who funds LYNN SOWERS MEMORIAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds PASCO EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds H LEE MOFFITT CANCER CENTER & RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds METROPOLITAN MINISTRIES INC ↗
- Who funds PINELLAS COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds FEEDING AMERICA TAMPA BAY INC ↗
- Who funds Pasco Sheriff's Charities Inc ↗
- Who funds JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF TAMPA BAY INC ↗
- Who funds USA HOCKEY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds PINELLAS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Humane Society of Tampa Bay Inc ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF TAMPA BAY INC ↗
- Who funds THE TAMPA BAY HISTORY CENTER ↗
- Who funds RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF TAMPA BAY INC ↗
- Who funds University of South Florida Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds Lowry Park Zoological Society of Tampa Inc ↗
- Who funds GULF COAST JEWISH FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES INC ↗
- Who funds THE CRISIS CENTER OF TAMPA BAY INC ↗
- Who funds Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc ↗
- Who funds TAMPA BAY THRIVES INC ↗
- Who funds Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas County Inc & Subsidiaries ↗
- Who funds A KID'S PLACE OF TAMPA BAY INC ↗
- Who funds MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY INC ↗
- Who funds Meals on Wheels of Tampa Inc ↗
- Who funds LEARNING INDEPENDENCE FOR TOMORROW INC ↗
- Who funds GREATER TAMPA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC ↗
- Who funds THE ARC NATURE COAST INC ↗
- Who funds END 68 HOURS OF HUNGER ↗
- Who funds WARRICK DUNN CHARITIES INC ↗
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.
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
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 Lightning 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.
- University Area Community Development Corporation Inc — 100% of income from government
- Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa Inc — 37% of income from government
- The Spring of Tampa Bay Inc — 33% of income from government
- Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services Inc — 15% of income from government
- Greater Tampa Bay Area Council Inc Boy Scouts of America — 8% of income from government
- New Life Village Inc — 7% of income from government
- The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay Inc — 6% of income from government
- Tampa Metropolitan Area Young Men's Christian Association Inc — 4% of income from government
- Academy Prep Center of Tampa Inc — 3% of income from government
- Feeding America Tampa Bay Inc — 2% of income from government
- The Poynter Institute for Media Studies Inc — 1% of income from government
- Lowry Park Zoological Society of Tampa Inc — 0% of income from government
- Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc — 0% of income from government
- Metropolitan Ministries Inc — 0% of income from government
- Camelot Community Care Inc — 0% of income from government
- Pasco Education Foundation Inc — 0% of income from government
- Junior Achievement of Tampa Bay Inc — 0% of income from government
- Tampa Museum of Art Inc — 0% of income from government
- The Arc Nature Coast Inc — 0% of income from government
- Macdonald Training Center Inc — 0% of income from government
- The Florida Aquarium Inc — 0% of income from government
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.
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.