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Milkweed Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Milkweed Foundation Inc

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.

$1.4M
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$200k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2023 to 2024.

Environment$1.3M
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $20k
  • $50k–250k11 grants · $1.4M
$100,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$30M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CLIMATE CABINET EDUCATION$200,000
GREENLIGHT AMERICA$200,000
SPRING STREET CLIMATE FUND$200,000
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF BLUE VENTURES$100,000
Individual grant recipient$100,000
ISLAND CONSERVATION$100,000
INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS$100,000
LEGADO$100,000
MONGABAY$100,000
MALIASILI$100,000
THE CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT$50,000
GREATER GREENER GLOSTER PROJECT$10,000
NEW YORK FOCUS$10,000
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 (FY23–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 79% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF BLUE VENT: $100k → 10%MONGABAY: $100k → 7%ISLAND CONSERVATION: $150k → 8%CLIMATE CABINET EDUCATION: $200k → 10%NEW YORK FOCUS: $10k → 17%GREENLIGHT AMERICA: $200k → 14%MALIASILI: $100k → 10%LEGADO: $100k → 9%American Friends of Blue Vent: $100k → 10%MONGABAY: $10k → 7%Island Conservation: $100k → 8%CLIMATE CABINET EDUCATION: $200k → 10%CANARY MEDIA: $100k → 17%GREATER GREENER GLOSTER PROJECT: $10k → 14%MALIASILI: $100k → 10%Legado: $100k → 9%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF BLUE VENTURES: $100k → 10%ISLAND CONSERVATION: $100k → 8%NEXTGEN CLIMATE AMERICA: $25k → 10%CANARY MEDIA: $10k → 17%THE CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT: $50k → 14%Masliasili: $100k → 10%LEGADO: $100k → 9%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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.2M · 9 repeat orgs$495k to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
2

Total granted

$2.2M
$125k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
0%

Still filing today

78%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $370k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’23’24’25
EnvironmentSocial ScienceEducationOther
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

  • SS
    SPRING STREET CLIMATE FUND INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $400k · revenue +82%
  • IC
    ISLAND CONSERVATION
    3× · 2023–2025 · $350k · revenue +88%
  • LI
    LEGADO INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $300k · revenue +87%

Funded once

  • M
    Masliasili
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
  • NEXTGEN CLIMATE AMERICA INC
    one grant, 2024 · $25k · 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
Climate Catalyst Inc

Climate catalyst sparks collective action to tackle the biggest climate challenges we face today: cutting emissions in heavy industries.

Environment
2
Climate Leadership Council Inc

To develop and promote a carbon dividends framework - based on carbon fees whose revenues are rebated to citizens through dividends - as the most cost-effective, equitable, and politically viable climate solution.

Environment
3
Environment Next Inc

Environment next supports individuals, nonprofits and businesses around the world on solutions to complex climate issues. we provide leadership, outreach and communication support, grants, and investments to empower leaders and their ideas…

Environment
4
E3G Third Generation Environmentalism

E3g is a leading international not-for-profit think tank specialising in climate diplomacy harnessing expertise in the politics and economics of climate change.

Environment
5
Coalition for Green Capital D/B/a American Green Bank Consortium

Cgc operates as a nonprofit financial institution that invests directly and through partners to transform financial markets by using public and private investing to accelerate the deployment of projects that strengthen the grid, reduce…

Environment
6
The Climate Group Inc

Climate group advances climate action by mobilizing business and government leadership to drive systemic decarbonization across energy, transport, and industry, while engaging the public through large-scale convenings and global platforms.…

Environment
7
Climate Breakthrough Inc

To launch breakthrough climate mitigation efforts by identifying, supporting, and unleashing innovative leaders with transformative strategies.

Human Services
8
National Caucus of Environmental Legislators

The national caucus of environmental legislators empowers a nonpartisan network of legislative champions to protect, conserve, and improve the natural and human environment.

Education
9
Allied Climate Partners Inc

Allied climate partners' (acp) mission is to invest catalytic capital to resolve climate finance bottlenecks in emerging markets and developing economies by fostering, supporting, promoting, and conducting programs, projects, and…

Environment
10
Terraset

Terraset uses philanthropic capital to purchase permanent, high-quality carbon removal. we pool donations from individuals, foundations, family offices, and donor advised funds, and make strategic purchases of high-quality carbon removal…

Environment
11
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
12
Seec Institute Inc

Convene congress, leading climate and environmental advocates, the private sector, and other experts to facilitate more formal and regular connections between interested parties and stakeholders to secure the biggest climate and clean…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Mongabay Org Corp; the most unlike its peers is Legado 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

11 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. 11 of the 16 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
4/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CLIMATE CABINET EDUCATION: $400,000 · EnvironmentCLIMATE CABINET EDUCATIONSPRING STREET CLIMATE FUND INC: $400,000 · EnvironmentSPRING STREET CLIMATE FUND INCISLAND CONSERVATION: $350,000 · EnvironmentISLAND CONSERVATIONLEGADO INC: $300,000 · EnvironmentLEGADO INCMALIASILI INITIATIVES INC: $200,000 · EnvironmentMALIASILI INITIATIVES INCGREENLIGHT AMERICA: $200,000 · EnvironmentGREENLIGHT AMERICAMONGABAY ORG CORP: $110,000 · EnvironmentMONGABAY ORG CORP+2 more: $75,000 · EnvironmentAmerican Friends of Blue Vent: $200,000 · OtherAmerican Friends of Bl…Individual grant recipient: $110,000 · OtherIndividual grant recip…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF BLUE VENTURES: $100,000 · OtherAMERICAN FRIENDS OF BL…Masliasili: $100,000 · OtherMasliasili+1 more: $10,000 · OtherINSIDE CLIMATE NEWS INC: $110,000 · Social ScienceNEW YORK FOCUS INC: $10,000 · Education
Environment$2,035,000Other$520,000Social Science$110,000Education$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCLIMATE CABINET EDUCATION: $400,000 over 2y, 7.8% of budgetSPRING STREET CLIMATE FUND INC: $400,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetISLAND CONSERVATION: $350,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetLEGADO INC: $300,000 over 3y, 7.0% of budgetMALIASILI INITIATIVES INC: $200,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetINSIDE CLIMATE NEWS INC: $110,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMONGABAY ORG CORP: $110,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE PROTECTION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNEXTGEN CLIMATE AMERICA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

Silicon Valley Commun…Tides FoundationClif Family FoundationCalifornia Community …ImpactassetsincVanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …American Online Givin…Amazonsmile Foundation
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA17.5× affinity7 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Tides Foundation · Clif Family Foundation · California Community Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Milkweed Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Milkweed Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%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 · 0–90%
    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 Milkweed Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Milkweed Foundation Inc 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 16 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 Milkweed’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