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· Private foundation

Mary Flannery O'Connor Charitable Trust

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$235k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$135k
Largest
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Education$794kReligion$358kInternational$20kOther$0
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$50,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$4.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GCSU FOUNDATION$135,000
CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC$50,000
BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE$50,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 23%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%COMPAGNIA D'COLUMBARI: $50k → 17%CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC: $100k → 28%GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY MISSION & MIN: $15k → 14%BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE: $50k → 12%FLANNERY O'CONNOR CHILDHOOD HOME: $20k → 16%ST PETER CLAVER CATHOLIC CHURCH: $3k → 23%GCSU FOUNDATION: $135k → 24%UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESS: $3k → 27%LOYOLA UNIVERSITY: $25k → 14%COMPAGNIA D'COLUMBARI: $50k → 17%CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC: $50k → 28%BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE: $35k → 12%GCSU - FLANNERY O'CONNOR SCHOLARSHP: $100k → 24%THE HANK CENTER - LOYOLA UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%COMPAGNIA DE COLOMBARI OF NEW YORK: $38k → 17%CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC: $50k → 28%GCSU FOUNDATION: $100k → 24%WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES: $5k → 14%CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC: $50k → 28%GCSU FOUNDATION: $100k → 24%LONG DISTANCE EDUCATIONAL MEDIA: $20k → 14%CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC: $50k → 28%GCSU - FOR BENEFIT OF ANDALUSIA: $50k → 24%CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC: $50k → 28%GCSU - FLANNERY O'CONNOR SCHOLARSHP: $50k → 24%CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC: $50k → 28%GCSU - FLANNERY O'CONNOR SCHOLARSHP: $50k → 24%FORDHAM UNIVERSITY ENDOWMENT: $50k → 28%GCSU FOUNDATION: $50k → 24%GCSU - FLANNERY O'CONNOR SCHOLARSHP: $50k → 24%GCSU - FLANNERY O'CONNOR SCHOLARSHP: $35k → 24%GCSU - FRIENDS OF ANDALUSIA: $13k → 24%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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.3M · 5 repeat orgs$251k to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
12

Total granted

$1.3M
$251k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+6%
+29%

Still filing today

20%
25%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureReligionOther
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

  • CC
    CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC
    7× · 2018–2025 · $400k
  • GF
    GCSU FOUNDATION
    4× · 2022–2025 · $385k
  • GF
    GCSU - FLANNERY O'CONNOR SCHOLARSHP
    5× · 2019–2023 · $285k

Funded once

  • GF
    GCSU - FOR BENEFIT OF ANDALUSIA
    one grant, 2019 · $50k
  • FU
    FORDHAM UNIVERSITY ENDOWMENT
    one grant, 2019 · $50k
  • CD
    COMPAGNIA DE COLOMBARI OF NEW YORK
    one grant, 2024 · $38k
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
04the grantee network

4 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. 4 of the 17 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)
4/4
Grantees still filing
3/4
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLIC: $400,000 · OtherCURRAN CENTER FOR AMERICAN CATHOLICGCSU FOUNDATION: $385,000 · OtherGCSU FOUNDATIONGCSU - FLANNERY O'CONNOR SCHOLARSHP: $285,000 · OtherGCSU - FLANNERY O'CONNOR SCHOLARSHPIndividual grant recipient: $100,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientGCSU - FOR BENEFIT OF ANDALUSIA: $50,000 · OtherFORDHAM UNIVERSITY ENDOWMENT: $50,000 · Other+7 more: $101,237 · Other+7 moreBELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE INC: $85,000 · EducationLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $25,000 · EducationLONG DISTANCE EDUCATIONAL MEDIA NPF: $20,000 · Arts & CultureWORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES: $5,000 · Religion
Other$1,371,237Education$110,000Arts & Culture$20,000Religion$5,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE INC: $85,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLONG DISTANCE EDUCATIONAL MEDIA NPF: $20,000 over 1y, 8.8% of budgetWORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES: $5,000 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 BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE INC ↗
  • Who funds LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds LONG DISTANCE EDUCATIONAL MEDIA NPF ↗
  • Who funds WORD ON FIRE CATHOLIC MINISTRIES ↗

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Mary Flannery O'Connor Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Mary Flannery O'Connor Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get 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 · 0–15%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Mary Flannery O'Connor Charitable Trust?

    Find your warmest path to Mary Flannery O'Connor Charitable Trust 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 17 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

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