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McWane Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

McWane Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$567k
Granted FY2025still arriving
21
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$125k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Science & Tech$5.5MEducation$959kYouth Development$643kHuman Services$544kHealth$461kPhilanthropy$373kArts & Culture$278kFood & Nutrition$233kOther$0
02FY2025 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k9 grants · $36k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $174k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $357k
$14,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$21M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AG GASTON BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB$125,000
INDIAN HILLS FOUNDATION$100,000
Individual grant recipient$80,000
AUBURN UNIVERSITY$52,000
FRESHWATER LAND TRUST$40,000
ALABAMA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$25,000
Frank M Johnson Institute$25,000
AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION$25,000
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF GREATER BIRMINGHAM$20,000
Exceptional Foundation$15,000
Vulcan Park Foundation$14,000
ZERO ZERO$10,000
PUBLIC AFFAIRS RESEARCH COUNCIL OF ALABAMA$6,000
U of Pennsylvania$5,000
CHILDCARE RESOURCES$5,000
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 (FY20–25, $488k) 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%MAHASKA COUNTY YMCA: $250k → 10%YMCA: $200k → 18%JUST KEEP SMILLING: $3k → 16%KID ONE TRANSPORT: $5k → 16%CHILDCARE RESOURCES: $5k → 16%CHILDCARE RESOURCES: $5k → 16%CHILDCARE RESOURCES: $5k → 16%CHILDCARE RESOURCES: $5k → 16%CHILDCARE RESOURCES: $5k → 16%CHILDCARE RESOURCES: $5k → 16%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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
NY
IA
VA
AZ
NC
DC
AL
GA
TX
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$8.6M · 29 repeat orgs$1.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +42% since the first grant, against +7% for those funded once.

29 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 14 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

29
48

Total granted

$8.6M
$1.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+7%

Still filing today

66%
48%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $128k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesHealthRecreation & SportsCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • MS
    MCWANE SCIENCE CENTER
    3× · 2020–2023 · $5.5M · revenue +11% · 37% of their budget
  • AG
    A G GASTON BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB
    4× · 2020–2025 · $650k · revenue +20%
  • GI
    GLENWOOD INC
    3× · 2020–2022 · $200k · revenue +99%

Funded once

  • DS
    DARDEN SCHOOL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $333k
  • MC
    MAHASKA COUNTY YMCA
    one grant, 2020 · $250k · revenue -81%
  • Y
    YMCA
    one grant, 2023 · $200k · revenue 0%
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
Alabama Bankers Association Inc

To promote the preservation and continued development of commercial banking in alabama.

—
2
Alabama Partnership for Children

To work in partnership with families and organizations to ensure that all alabama children (birth to five) get everything they need to develop to their fullest potential.

Education
3
Alabama Alliance Network

The alabama alliance netowrk works to strengthen and enhance alabama's civic society through research, education, and grantmaking

Public Benefit
4
A Best Practices Center

The alabama best practices center helps teachers and administrators develop the competence, commitment and courage to do whatever it takes to improve student learning.

Education
5
Birmingham Corps

Birmingham corps' mission is to drive fair workforce opportunities and accelerate social change by recruiting, training, and retaining people in birmingham.

Employment
6
Alabama Association of Nonprofits

Strengthen and support alabama nonprofits in serving their communities.

Human Services
7
Boys & Girls Clubs of South Alabama

To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

Youth Development
8
The Alabama Center for Law and Civic Education

The mission of ACLCE is to prepare youth to become active, engaged, and informed participants in a democratic society.

—
9
Birmingham Promise Inc

Birmingham Promise supports and prepares every Birmingham City School student in achieving economic security, mobility, and prosperity by providing connections to high-quality work experiences and last-dollar tuition scholarships

Education
10
Rev Birmingham Inc

Rev birmingham (rev) creates vibrant commercial districts.

Arts & Culture
11
Innovate Birmingham

Innovate birmingham is a nonprofit organization working to promote economic mobility and fill the tech talent gap in central alabama.

Employment
12
The Arc of Alabama Inc

The arc of alabama provides services to advocate and aid individuals with cognitive, intellectual, and developmental disabilities in the state of alabama.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Leadership Birmingham Inc; the most unlike its peers is American Heart Association 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

45 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. 45 of the 83 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
44/45
Grantees still filing
28/45
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MCWANE SCIENCE CENTER: $5,500,000 · Arts & CultureMCWANE SCIENCE CENTER+1 more: $25,000 · Arts & CultureINDIAN HILLS FOUNDATION: $400,000 · OtherINDIAN HILLS FOUNDATIONDARDEN SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $333,000 · OtherDARDEN SCHOOL FOUNDATIONJONES VALLEY TEACHING FARM: $233,333 · OtherJONES VALLEY TEACHING FARMGLENWOOD INC: $200,000 · OtherGLENWOOD INCCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER BIRMINGHAM: $159,125 · OtherCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATE…AUBURN UNIVERSITY: $152,000 · OtherAUBURN UNIVERSITYALABAMA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $140,000 · OtherJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF GREATER BIRMINGHAM: $105,000 · OtherInnovation Depot Inc: $99,999 · OtherVULCAN PARK FOUNDATION: $114,000 · Other+48 more: $730,400 · Other+48 moreA G GASTON BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $650,000 · Youth Development+4 more: $37,500 · Youth DevelopmentMAHASKA COUNTY YMCA: $250,000 · Human ServicesYMCA: $200,000 · Human ServicesCHILDCARE RESOURCES: $30,000 · Human Services+2 more: $12,500 · Human ServicesBIRMINGHAM EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $140,000 · EducationAUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $48,000 · EducationBUILDING PEACE INC: $25,000 · EducationSTAIR OF BIRMINGHAM: $17,500 · EducationTHE A EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP: $10,000 · EducationBREAKTHROUGH BIRMINGHAM: $10,000 · Education+2 more: $10,000 · EducationFRESHWATER LAND TRUST: $195,000 · EnvironmentAmerican Heart Association Inc: $125,000 · HealthAIDS ALABAMA INC: $25,000 · HealthNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $25,000 · HealthMARCH OF DIMES INC: $12,500 · Health
Arts & Culture$5,525,000Other$2,666,857Youth Development$687,500Human Services$492,500Education$260,500Environment$195,000Health$187,500

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 budgetMCWANE SCIENCE CENTER: $5,500,000 over 3y, 37% of budgetA G GASTON BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $650,000 over 4y, 18% of budgetMAHASKA COUNTY YMCA: $250,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetYMCA: $200,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetGLENWOOD INC: $200,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetFRESHWATER LAND TRUST: $195,000 over 6y, 2.4% of budgetBIRMINGHAM EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $140,000 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $125,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetVULCAN PARK FOUNDATION: $114,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetInnovation Depot Inc: $99,999 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetBIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBIRMINGHAM KIWANIS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetAUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $48,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCahaba River Society Inc: $47,500 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetPARKINSON ASSOCIATION OF ALABAMA INC: $45,000 over 2y, 25% of budgetCHILDCARE RESOURCES: $30,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetAIDS ALABAMA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE JUDGE FRANK M JOHNSON JR INSTITUTE: $25,000 over 1y, 6.6% of budgetHISPANIC AND IMMIGRANT CENTER OF ALABAMA: $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBUILDING PEACE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetPUBLIC AFFAIRS RESEARCH COUNCIL OF AL: $22,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetLEADERSHIP ALABAMA INC: $22,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetZERO ZERO INC: $20,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetTHE RESPECT ORGANIZATION: $20,000 over 5y, 7.3% of budgetSTAIR OF BIRMINGHAM: $17,500 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetMARCH OF DIMES INC: $12,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE A EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetKID ONE TRANSPORT SYSTEM INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetLEADERSHIP BIRMINGHAM INC: $6,600 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetUNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHUDSONALPHA FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHAND IN PAW INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetGIRLSPRING INC: $5,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetWORKSHOPS EMPOWERMENT INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetALABAMA VETERAN: $3,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetNEST INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJUST KEEP SMILING INC: $2,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetBirmingham Zoo Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGIRLS INCORPORATED OF CENTRAL ALABAMA: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTECHBRIDGE INC: $2,500 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 MCWANE SCIENCE CENTER ↗
  • Who funds A G GASTON BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB ↗
  • Who funds MAHASKA COUNTY YMCA ↗
  • Who funds YMCA ↗
  • Who funds GLENWOOD INC ↗
  • Who funds FRESHWATER LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds BIRMINGHAM EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds American Heart Association Inc ↗
  • Who funds VULCAN PARK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Innovation Depot Inc ↗
  • Who funds BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds BIRMINGHAM KIWANIS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Cahaba River Society Inc ↗
  • Who funds PARKINSON ASSOCIATION OF ALABAMA INC ↗
  • Who funds CHILDCARE RESOURCES ↗
  • Who funds AIDS ALABAMA INC ↗
  • Who funds THE JUDGE FRANK M JOHNSON JR INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds HISPANIC AND IMMIGRANT CENTER OF ALABAMA ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds BUILDING PEACE INC ↗
  • Who funds PUBLIC AFFAIRS RESEARCH COUNCIL OF AL ↗
  • Who funds LEADERSHIP ALABAMA INC ↗
  • Who funds ZERO ZERO INC ↗
  • Who funds THE RESPECT ORGANIZATION ↗
  • Who funds STAIR OF BIRMINGHAM ↗
  • Who funds THE EXCEPTIONAL FOUNDATION ↗

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.

Protective Life Found…The Daniel Foundation…Alabama Power Foundat…Susan Mott Webb Chari…Mike and Gillian Good…Altecstyslinger Found…The Community Foundat…The Joseph S Bruno Ch…The Maynard Nexsen Fo…Hill Crest Foundation…The Hugh Kaul Foundat…Robert R Meyer Founda…
Protective Life FoundationAL57× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Protective Life Foundation · The Daniel Foundation of Alabama · Alabama Power Foundation Inc · Susan Mott Webb Charitable Trust · Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation · Altecstyslinger Foundation · The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham · The Joseph S Bruno Charitable Foundation · The Maynard Nexsen Foundation · Hill Crest Foundation Inc · The Hugh Kaul Foundation · Robert R Meyer 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 McWane Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from McWane Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    16report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 83 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 McWane’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