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LVA Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

LVA Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$75k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$17k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0180% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$321kSocial Science$179kYouth Development$108kReligion$60kInternational$34kMembership Benefit$3kOther$0
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k5 grants · $7k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $68k
$10,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$539k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$17,405
fuller theological seminary$16,000
youth with a mission$13,000
First Things$11,500
United World Mission$10,000
Congo Initiative$2,000
Miscellaneous grants under 1000$1,854
Individual grant recipient$1,260
Sophos Africa$1,000
The Chicago Help Initiative$1,000
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 (FY25–25, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%The Chicago Help Initiative: $1k → 14%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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$790k · 12 repeat orgs$40k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +46% since the first grant, against +42% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
9

Total granted

$790k
$20k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+42%

Still filing today

33%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 74% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $19k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
ReligionEducationInternationalHuman 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

  • FT
    FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $226k · revenue -23%
  • IF
    institute for religion culture & public life
    8× · 2017–2024 · $179k
  • YW
    YOUTH WITH A MISSION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $121k

Funded once

  • FM
    Frati Minori Cappuccini Catholic Church
    one grant, 2020 · $7k
  • RC
    Rotary Club Cortona Valdichiana
    one grant, 2019 · $3k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2024 · $3k
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
Center of Theological Inquiry

The Center of Theological Inquiry is an independent research institution with an international visiting scholar program which convenes researchers in an ideal setting for interdisciplinary inquiries where theology casts light on global…

Religion
2
Christian Mission for the United Nations Community

Christian Mission for the United Nations Community is a ministry aimed at leading the head of every nation and other top leaders to faith in Jesus Christ and helping them to walk in dependence upon God as they discharge the…

—
3
Christian Leadership Institute

CLI is organized to develop Christian leaders for the needs of churches. It is organized to faciliate the design and teaching og pastoral leadership courses, conferences, and seminars. It's objectives are to promote church leadership by…

Religion
4
Christianity Today International

Christianity Today is a global community inspired by evangelical conviction to advance the stories and ideas of the kingdom of God. Our mission is to elevate the storytellers and sages of the global church.

Religion
5
Global City Missions Initiative Incorporated

Global City Mission Initiative is dedicated to cross-cultural evanglism, disciplemaking, church planting among diverse diaspora populations in strategic cities reaching out evangelistically to start multiply churches, training believers to…

Religion
6
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities

The Council's mission is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help our institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.

Education
7
G2G Center

Curriculum development and distribution & Christian Leadership Training

Religion
8
Crossing Cultures International Inc

Crossing Cultures International, Inc. exists to glorify God by equipping Christ followers globally with comprehensive training for effective ministry.

Religion
9
International Impact Ministries in
Religion
10
Instituto De Estudios Teologicos

Conference

Education
11
More International Ministries

To spread the gospel of jesus christ through crusades

Religion
12
Institute of Chinese Studies

ChinsSource is a trusted partner and platform for educating the global church on critical issues facing the church and ministries in China and for connecting Christians inside and outside China to advance the kingdom of God globally

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Connect International; the most unlike its peers is Sophos Africa Inc. 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

9 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. 9 of the 24 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
5/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

institute for religion culture & public life: $179,000 · Otherinstitute for religion culture & public lifeYOUTH WITH A MISSION: $121,400 · OtherYOUTH WITH A MISSIONFirst Things: $38,000 · OtherFirst ThingsMESA GLOBAL: $37,000 · OtherMESA GLOBALMiscellaneous grants under 1000: $32,826 · OtherMiscellaneous grants under 1000La Salle Street Church: $18,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $17,405 · Other+8 more: $28,867 · Other+8 moreFULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $225,900 · EducationFULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARYScholar Leaders International: $111,558 · EducationScholar Leaders International+1 more: $8,000 · EducationRECONCILIATION MINISTRIES: $6,000 · ReligionFaith and Learning International NFP: $1,500 · ReligionCENTER FOR CHRISTIANITY AND PUBLIC LIFE: $1,000 · ReligionCONNECT INTERNATIONAL: $1,000 · ReligionSophos Africa: $1,000 · InternationalTHE CHICAGO HELP INITIATIVE: $1,000 · Human Services
Other$472,498Education$345,458Religion$9,500International$1,000Human Services$1,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $225,900 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetScholar Leaders International: $111,558 over 7y, 1.7% of budgetCONGO INITIATIVE USA INC: $8,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetRECONCILIATION MINISTRIES: $6,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetFaith and Learning International NFP: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR CHRISTIANITY AND PUBLIC LIFE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSophos Africa: $1,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTHE CHICAGO HELP INITIATIVE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCONNECT INTERNATIONAL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

  • Who funds FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY ↗
  • Who funds Scholar Leaders International ↗
  • Who funds CONGO INITIATIVE USA INC ↗
  • Who funds RECONCILIATION MINISTRIES ↗
  • Who funds Faith and Learning International NFP ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR CHRISTIANITY AND PUBLIC LIFE ↗
  • Who funds Sophos Africa ↗
  • Who funds THE CHICAGO HELP INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds CONNECT INTERNATIONAL ↗

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.

Tyndale House Ministr…Natl Christian Charit…American Endowment Fo…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Tyndale House MinistriesIL13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Tyndale House Ministries · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 LVA Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from LVA Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–24
    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 LVA Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to LVA 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.

    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 24 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on LVA’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