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Plinth

· Public charity

Mountain Findings Inc

Supports local community non-profits.

$437k
Granted FY2024still arriving
20
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$65k
Largest
01What you fund
0185% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20192024.

Education$219kPublic Safety & Disaster$123kHealth$115kHuman Services$97kFood & Nutrition$90kEnvironment$75kAnimals$55kYouth Development$43kOther$0
02FY2024 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 20 grants below total $396,600 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $436,600 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $40,000 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $31k
  • $10k–50k15 grants · $300k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $65k
$15,300
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HIGHLANDS EMERGENCY COUNCIL$65,000
Individual grant recipient$45,000
Individual grant recipient$33,000
HIGHLAND CASHIERS LAND TRUST$25,000
THE FOOD PANTRY$25,000
BIG BROTHER BIG SISTERS OF CASHERS$22,000
LITERACY COUNCIL OF HIGHLANDS$20,000
CASHIERS HIGHLANDS HUMANE SOCIETY$20,000
BLUERIDGE FREE DENTAL CLINIC$20,000
DONATION UNDER 5000$15,300
COMMUNITY CARE CLINIC$15,000
MAGNOLIA MISSION$13,000
SCALY MOUNTAIN FIRE DEPT$13,000
CARPE DIEM FARM$12,000
AHEC -HIGHLANDS SCHOOL$12,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY21–24, $51k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%HOSPICE HOUSE FOUNDATION OF WNC: $30k → 12%MAGNOLIA MISSION: $13k → 12%MAGNOLIA MISSION: $8k → 12%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

57%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$930k · 22 repeat orgs$705k to everyone else

22 repeat relationships — 15 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
11

Total granted

$930k
$628k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+54%

Still filing today

36%
27%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $77k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEnvironmentHuman ServicesHealthEducationAnimalsOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • HE
    HIGHLANDS EMERGENCY COUNCIL INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $100k · revenue +176% · 29% of their budget
  • LC
    Literacy Council of Highlands Inc
    3× · 2021–2024 · $55k · revenue +37%
  • CC
    COMMUNITY CARE CLINIC INC
    5× · 2019–2024 · $47k · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • D
    DONATIONS
    one grant, 2022 · $390k
  • O
    OTHERS
    one grant, 2019 · $76k
  • LT
    LESS THE 5000
    one grant, 2021 · $43k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Counseling Center of Highlands

The Counseling Center strives to strengthen families and individuals by providing access to quality mental health services regardless of financial ability.

Health
2
Highland County Historical Society Inc

To preserve and protect the history of highland county including all pertinant events, activities, and persons involved in the forming of the county and its founders history. to increase public awareness of the towns history and how it…

3
Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation Inc

The Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation exists to improve the health and wellbeing of all peoples in Western North Carolina, with a particular emphasis on Macon, Jackson, Swain, Graham, Clay and Cherokee Counties. The Foundation searches…

Health
4
The High Country Charitable Foundation

The vision of the foundation is to provide for need avery county residents and animals by supporting local public chartities and other private foundations

Philanthropy
5
Highland County Humane Society

Founded in 1969; highland county humane society's mission is to provide a temporary home and treatment for adoptable cats and dogs, return lost animals to their owners when possible, place them in suitable homes, increase awareness of the…

Animals
6
Highlands Ranch Backcountry Conservation and Education Fund
Philanthropy
7
Performing Arts Center Inc

To provide high quality venues and performing arts for the Highlands - Cashiers community.

Arts & Culture
8
Highlands Festival Inc

Our mission is to produce festivals and events that showcases,inspires and supports western north carolina's rich culinary, visual and performing arts community and to contribute financally to organizations or persons that directly benefit…

Philanthropy
9
Habitat for Humanity of Highland Co Inc

Provide housing for low income individuals

Housing & Shelter
10
Highlands Historical Society

The Highlands Historical Society formed to preserve, restore and interpret the historic mansion and grounds from 1794 to the present.

Arts & Culture
11
Elk River Helping Hands

Elk River Helping Hands Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting in the aftermath of catastrophic events with needs of the people of the High Country of North Carolina, including but not limited to Avery and Watauga…

Human Services
12
Highland Lakes Spca

Rescue, spay, and neuter animals

Animals

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Cashiers Highlands Humane Society and the most unlike its peers is Magnolia Mission Co. 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

12 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 12 of the 38 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
9/12
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

DONATIONS — $389,850 · OtherDONATIONSDONATION UNDER 5000 — $114,050 · OtherDONATION UNDER 5000HIGHLANDS EMERGENCY COUNCIL INC — $99,500 · OtherHIGHLANDS EMERGENCY COUNCIL INCIndividual grant recipient — $85,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientOTHERS — $76,200 · OtherOTHERSAHEC -HIGHLANDS SCHOOL — $74,500 · OtherAHEC -HIGHLANDS SCHOOLTHE FOOD PANTRY — $70,000 · Other+20 more — $413,194 · Other+20 moreHighlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc — $45,000 · EnvironmentCHATTOOGA CONSERVANCY — $24,500 · EnvironmentCOMMUNITY CARE CLINIC INC — $47,000 · HealthBLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS HEALTH PROJECT INC — $20,000 · HealthLiteracy Council of Highlands Inc — $55,000 · EducationHospice House Foundation of WNC Inc — $30,000 · Human ServicesMAGNOLIA MISSION CO — $20,500 · Human ServicesThe Bascom Corporation — $18,000 · Arts & CultureHIGHLANDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC — $10,000 · Arts & CultureTHE INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP CENTER OF HIGHLANDS — $8,000 · Arts & CultureCASHIERS HIGHLANDS HUMANE SOCIETY — $35,000 · Animals
Other$1,322,294Environment$69,500Health$67,000Education$55,000Human Services$50,500Arts & Culture$36,000Animals$35,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetHIGHLANDS EMERGENCY COUNCIL INC — $99,500 over 2y, 29% of budgetLiteracy Council of Highlands Inc — $55,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetCOMMUNITY CARE CLINIC INC — $47,000 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetHighlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc — $45,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetCASHIERS HIGHLANDS HUMANE SOCIETY — $35,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetHospice House Foundation of WNC Inc — $30,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetCHATTOOGA CONSERVANCY — $24,500 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetMAGNOLIA MISSION CO — $20,500 over 2y, 26% of budgetBLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS HEALTH PROJECT INC — $20,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetThe Bascom Corporation — $18,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetHIGHLANDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC — $10,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds HIGHLANDS EMERGENCY COUNCIL INC
  • Who funds Literacy Council of Highlands Inc
  • Who funds COMMUNITY CARE CLINIC INC
  • Who funds Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc
  • Who funds CASHIERS HIGHLANDS HUMANE SOCIETY
  • Who funds Hospice House Foundation of WNC Inc
  • Who funds CHATTOOGA CONSERVANCY
  • Who funds MAGNOLIA MISSION CO
  • Who funds BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS HEALTH PROJECT INC
  • Who funds The Bascom Corporation
  • Who funds HIGHLANDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
  • Who funds THE INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP CENTER OF HIGHLANDS

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina IncNC25.7× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina Inc · Brighton Foundation Trust Robert D Markley Trustee · The H Foundation · The Bell Family Foundation · The Woodcrest Foundation · Al Williams Jr Family Foundation Inc · Wantoot Foundation Inc · The Dunlap-Cogswell Foundation · Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation Inc · Farmer Lee Foundation Inc · The Britton Foundation · The Klamon Family Foundation Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Mountain Findings Inc funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%2%8%17%30%your 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
    4report 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, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Mountain Findings Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Mountain Findings 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 38 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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