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Morningstar Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Morningstar Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$7k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Religion$30kHousing & Shelter$11kEducation$9kInternational$7kFood & Nutrition$7kRecreation & Sports$6kHealth$3kHuman Services$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$2,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$49k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FEEDMORE WNY$3,000
HEARTS FOR HOMELESS$2,000
PRINCE OF PEACE CHURCH$1,000
COMPASSION INTERNATIONA$979
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%BUFFALO CHINESE CHURCH: $1k → 13%MISSION CITY FELLOWSHIP: $2k → 16%CAMPUS CRUSADE: $600 → 13%REFORMED UNIV FELLOWSHI: $250 → 10%CORNERSTONE COUNSELLING: $100 → 12%G ROSENBERGER: $1k → 13%REFORMED UNIV FELLOWSHI: $350 → 9%NAVIGATORS: $100 → 9%CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY: $500 → 6%CHRISTIAN CENTRAL ACADE: $6k → 13%MISSION CITY FELLOWSHIP: $1k → 16%CAMPUS CRUSADE: $350 → 13%FEEDMORE WNY: $3k → 13%CAMPUS CRUSADE: $350 → 13%COMMUNITY OF GRACE: $2k → 13%CHRISTIAN CENTRAL ACADE: $1k → 13%CHRISTIAN CENTRAL ACAD: $1k → 13%COMMUNITY OF GRACE: $700 → 13%CHRISTIAN CENTRAL ACADE: $500 → 13%EAGLES WINGS: $500 → 13%FIELDSTONE CHURCH: $250 → 13%HEARTS FOR HOMELESS: $2k → 13%HEARTS FOR HOMELESS: $1k → 13%WELLNESS INSTITUTE: $1k → 13%JACOBS INSTITUTE: $1k → 13%CROSS TRAINING: $2k → 13%CROSS TRAINING ATHLETIC: $2k → 13%CROSS TRAINING FOOTBALL: $1k → 13%IMAGINE COMM GARDENS: $3k → 13%CROSS TRAINING: $2k → 13%BUFFALO DREAM CENTER: $4k → 13%CROSS TRAINING: $2k → 13%ERIE COUNTY BAR FDN: $200 → 13%CROSS TRAINING FOOTBALL: $1k → 13%WINGS OF COMPASSION: $1k → 13%PATH OF WNY: $500 → 13%BUFFALO DREAM CENTER: $3k → 13%PRINCE OF PEACE CHURCH: $3k → 13%PRINCE OF PEACE CHURCH: $1k → 13%BUFFALO DREAM CENTER: $1k → 13%HEARTS FOR HOMELESS: $3k → 13%HEARTS FOR HOMELESS: $2k → 13%HOPE RISING: $1k → 13%HEARTS FOR HOMELESS: $2k → 13%YOUTH FOR CHRIST: $1k → 13%FAITHFUL STONES CHURCH: $1k → 13%FEEDMORE WNY: $500 → 13%EIGHT DAYS OF HOPE: $1k → 13%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

NY
PA
CO
VA
NC
GA
TX
FL
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.

73%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$57k · 15 repeat orgs$21k to everyone else

15 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
23

Total granted

$57k
$21k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-4%
0%

Still filing today

20%
17%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
Recreation & SportsInternationalEducationCrime & LegalHousing & ShelterHealthOther
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

  • HF
    HEARTS FOR HOMELESS
    5× · 2018–2025 · $10k
  • PO
    PRINCE OF PEACE CHURCH
    6× · 2019–2025 · $9k
  • CC
    CHRISTIAN CENTRAL ACADEMY
    4× · 2017–2020 · $9k · revenue -5%

Funded once

  • IC
    IMAGINE COMM GARDENS
    one grant, 2018 · $3k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $2k
  • MC
    MISSION CITY FELLOWSHIP
    one grant, 2023 · $2k
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

7 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. 7 of the 38 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)
7/7
Grantees still filing
2/7
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HEARTS FOR HOMELESS: $9,500 · OtherHEARTS FOR HOMELESSPRINCE OF PEACE CHURCH: $8,500 · OtherPRINCE OF PEACE CHURCHWORD OF LIFE CHURCH BUFFALO: $7,500 · OtherWORD OF LIFE CHURCH BUFFALOCOMPASSION INTERNATIONA: $6,268 · OtherCOMPASSION INTERNATIONACROSS TRAINING: $5,500 · OtherCROSS TRAININGFEEDMORE WNY: $3,500 · OtherFEEDMORE WNYIMAGINE COMM GARDENS: $3,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY OF GRACE: $2,200 · Other+23 more: $17,631 · Other+23 moreCHRISTIAN CENTRAL ACADEMY: $8,500 · EducationCHRISTIAN CE…CROSS TRAINING FOOTBALL INC: $2,000 · Recreation & SportsTHE JACOBS INSTITUTE INC: $1,000 · HealthEIGHT DAYS OF HOPE INC: $1,000 · Housing & ShelterEDUNATIONS INC: $1,000 · InternationalERIE COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION INC: $600 · Crime & LegalEAGLES WINGS INTERNATIONAL INC: $500 · Religion
Other$63,599Education$8,500Recreation & Sports$2,000Health$1,000Housing & Shelter$1,000International$1,000Crime & Legal$600Religion$500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCHRISTIAN CENTRAL ACADEMY: $8,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetCROSS TRAINING FOOTBALL INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE JACOBS INSTITUTE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEIGHT DAYS OF HOPE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEDUNATIONS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetERIE COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION INC: $600 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetEAGLES WINGS INTERNATIONAL INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% 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 CHRISTIAN CENTRAL ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds CROSS TRAINING FOOTBALL INC ↗
  • Who funds THE JACOBS INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds EIGHT DAYS OF HOPE INC ↗
  • Who funds EDUNATIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds ERIE COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds EAGLES WINGS INTERNATIONAL 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.

William & Diane Hein …Natl Christian Charit…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
William & Diane Hein FoundationNY20× affinity7 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: William & Diane Hein Foundation · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · 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 Morningstar Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Morningstar Foundation. 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%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report 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, FY20–25
    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 Morningstar Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Morningstar 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 38 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 Morningstar’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