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Lutheran Charities at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Lutheran Charities

LUTHERAN CHARITIES is a ministry of the niagara frontier conference of the upstate new york synod of the evangelical lutheran church in america.

$59k
Granted FY2024still arriving
2
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$8k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Religion$71kYouth Development$56kHealth$34kFood & Nutrition$24kHuman Services$15kEmployment$10kRecreation & Sports$10kHousing & Shelter$8k
02FY2024 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 2 grants below total $13,500, the rows itemized in this filing. The $59,392 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $45,892 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$7,500
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NIAGARA AREA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$7,500
MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE PROJECT INC$6,000
02The need
03

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 (FY24–24, $6k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE PROJECT INC: $6k → 13%0%20%40%50%more need →
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.
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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$149k · 6 repeat orgs$78k to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
6

Total granted

$149k
$64k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-21%
+56%

Still filing today

50%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $14k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24
PhilanthropyReligionEmploymentYouth DevelopmentHousing & ShelterHuman ServicesOther
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

  • LC
    LUMIN CAMPUS MINISTRY
    2× · 2022–2023 · $44k
  • TS
    THE SAMARITAN PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTER OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC
    7× · 2017–2023 · $34k · revenue -29%
  • SJ
    ST JOHNS LUTHERAN CHURCH
    5× · 2017–2021 · $24k

Funded once

  • CO
    COMMUNITY OF GOOD NEIGHBORS
    one grant, 2023 · $18k
  • LC
    LAKE CHAUTAUQUA LUTHERAN CENTER INC
    4× · 2017–2023 · $10k · revenue -29%
  • WN
    Western New York Impact Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue +111%
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.

1
Syracuse Habitat for Humanity Inc

Seeking to put god's love into action, habitat for humanity brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope to realize our vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live. syracuse habitat for humanity adheres to a…

Housing & Shelter
2
The Western New York Foundation
—
3
Samaritan Center Inc

To coordinate efforts of volunteers to serve food to those in need and to educate the public about the needs of the poor and hungry in the city of syracuse.

—
4
New York Congregational Community Services
Health
5
Syracuse Urban Partnership Inc
Philanthropy
6
Lutheran Church Home of Buffalo Inc

Our mission is to provide for the physical, social, and spiritual needs of individuals we serve, in a Christian environment. The organization is an adult care facility which can accommodate 48 residents.

Human Services
7
Metro Community Development Corporation

To relieve the poor, the distressed and the under privileged and combat community deterioration in the Buffalo-Niagara region of New York State, by establishing and maintaining a faith-based community development corporation.

Recreation & Sports
8
East Buffalo Development Corporation

East Buffalo Development Corporation is a community-based real estate development corporation committed to our mission of leveraging private and public funds to drive equitable and inclusive eastside planning, construction, land use, and…

Community Improvement
9
Lockport Cares Inc

The organization provides charitable relief in the form of emergency shelter, material needs, and compassionate care for the homeless and persons in need in the eastern niagara county, new york area.

Education
10
Good News Foundation of Central New York Inc
Unclassified
11
Partnership for the Public Good Inc

Partnership for the Public Good, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to help build a more just, sustainable, and culturally vibrant community through action-oriented research, policy development, and citizen engagement.

Community Improvement
12
Ulster County Habitat for Humanity Inc

Seeking to put god's love into action, habitat for humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Seneca Street Community Development Corporation; the most unlike its peers is Western New York Impact Foundation. 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 grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 8 of the 14 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
3/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LUMIN CAMPUS MINISTRY: $44,000 · OtherLUMIN CAMPUS MINISTRYTHE SAMARITAN PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTER OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC: $33,745 · OtherTHE SAMARITAN PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTER OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INCST JOHNS LUTHERAN CHURCH: $24,049 · OtherST JOHNS LUTHERAN CHURCHCOMMUNITY OF GOOD NEIGHBORS: $17,700 · OtherCOMMUNITY OF GOOD NEIGHBORSAUGUSTANA LUTHERAN CHURCH: $15,000 · OtherAUGUSTANA LUTHERAN CHURCHLAKE CHAUTAUQUA LUTHERAN CENTER INC: $10,000 · OtherLAKE CHAUTAUQUA LUTHERAN CENTER INCWNY CHURCH UNLEASHED: $10,000 · OtherWNY CHURCH UNLEASHEDINTER-LUTHERAN COMISSION FOR CAMPUS MINISTRY IN THE NIAGARA: $9,000 · OtherINTER-LUTHERAN COMISSION FOR CAMPUS MINISTRY IN THE NIAGARASENECA STREET COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $16,200 · EmploymentPEACE OF THE CITY MINISTRIES INC: $16,200 · Youth DevelopmentWestern New York Impact Foundation: $10,000 · PhilanthropyNIAGARA AREA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $7,500 · Housing & ShelterJERICHO ROAD MINISTRIES INC: $7,500 · ReligionMassachusetts Avenue Project Inc: $6,000 · Human Services
Other$163,494Employment$16,200Youth Development$16,200Philanthropy$10,000Housing & Shelter$7,500Religion$7,500Human Services$6,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE SAMARITAN PASTORAL COUNSELING CENTER OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER INC: $33,745 over 7y, 17% of budgetSENECA STREET COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $16,200 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetPEACE OF THE CITY MINISTRIES INC: $16,200 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetLAKE CHAUTAUQUA LUTHERAN CENTER INC: $10,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetWestern New York Impact Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 8.2% of budgetNIAGARA AREA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $7,500 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetJERICHO ROAD MINISTRIES INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMassachusetts Avenue Project Inc: $6,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budget
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.

Community Foundation …First Niagara Foundat…United Way of Buffalo…Amazonsmile Foundation
Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo IncNY17.3× affinity6 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Inc · First Niagara Foundation · United Way of Buffalo and Erie County · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Lutheran Charities funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lutheran Charities. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 14 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Lutheran Charities’ 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