· Private foundation
Make a Difference Fund
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k6 grants · $12k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $35k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $201k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC - UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA | $201,000 |
| THE TRINITY FORUM | $15,000 |
| BE LOUD SOPHIE FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| CITY OF REFUGE FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| THE MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION | $5,000 |
| ALEX'S LEMONADE STAND FOUNDATION | $3,000 |
| ECSU FOUNDATION FOR JOHNNY PFEFFERKOM | $1,000 |
| GUILFORD COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME | $1,000 |
| PEACEMAKERS OF ROCKY MOUNT | $1,000 |
| NC COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $12k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 77% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +47% since the first grant, against +34% for those funded once.
17 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 10 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $12k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- TETHE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC4× · 2017–2020 · $567k · revenue +79%
- TFTRINITY FORUM INC8× · 2017–2024 · $120k · revenue +86%
- BLBE LOUD SOPHIE FOUNDATION8× · 2017–2024 · $65k · revenue +194%
Funded once
- WTWORD TABERNACLE CHURCHone grant, 2021 · $100k
- NHNC HALL OF FAMEone grant, 2023 · $100k
- NWNC WESLEYAN COLLEGEone grant, 2017 · $15k
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.
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.
We are a crisis pregnancy center offering assistance to all women with pregnancy related issues.
To unite the Church to transform the city through the power of the Gospel.
The south carolina ovarian cancer foundation (scocf) was created as an organization to support women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, to be a source of education and awareness about the disease to people across the state, and to support…
Inspiring philanthropy and strengthening our region through innovative community initiatives and quality services to donors and constituents.
The Alamance Community College Foundation exists to aid students with a demonstrated financial need in reaching their educational goals, while supporting the mission of ACC.
At The Childrens Center of Western North Carolina (TCC), we are dedicated to creating an inclusive, playful, and nuturing environment where children can grow and learn together in acceptance of one another.
To assist carteret general hospital in providing the best possible healthcare to the people of carteret county through fund raising programs that support community based programs, purchase of vital equipment, capital expansion, renovations…
The mission of the head for the cure foundation (hftc) is threefold: to build awareness, raise funding, and inspire hope for the community of brain cancer patients, their families, friends, caregivers and other supporters, while…
The mission of the north carolina global health alliance is to advance north carolina as an international center for research, training, education, advocacy and business dedicated to improving the health of the world's communities. we…
To pursue the development of research facilities and research projects for the university of north carolina at wilmington.
How this is measured
20 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. 20 of the 43 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
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.
- Who funds THE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds TRINITY FORUM INC ↗
- Who funds BE LOUD SOPHIE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ROCKY MOUNT ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds MOREHEAD-CAIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND ↗
- Who funds THE MOREHEAD-CAIN FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds City of Refuge Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds FLASHES OF HOPE ↗
- Who funds ALEXS LEMONADE STAND FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds PEACEMAKERS OF ROCKY MOUNT INC ↗
- Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC ↗
- Who funds GREENE COUNTY INTERFAITH VOLUNTEERS ↗
- Who funds GUILFORD COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME INC ↗
- Who funds Karma Box Project ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS ↗
- Who funds BEARE GARDEN PLANTATION ANIMAL RESCUE ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN BARD THEATER COMPANY ↗
- Who funds Heroes Center Inc ↗
- Who funds PREGNANCY CARE CENTER INC ↗
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: Deleon Carter Foundation · North Carolina Community Foundation · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Make a Difference Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Make a Difference Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Make a Difference Fund?
Find your warmest path to Make a Difference Fund 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.
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