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Plinth

· Public charity

New Schools for Alabama

Our mission is to support the growth of excellent public charter schools in alabama to ensure that every child has access to a quality public education.

$5.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
17
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$1.1M
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20202024.

Education$19M
02FY2024 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $52k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $1.0M
  • $250k+6 grants · $4.0M
$130,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$8.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FREEDOM PREPARATORY ACADEMY$1,103,457
ALABAMA CLASSICAL GROUP$1,070,935
FLORETTA P CARSON VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS ACADEMY$694,915
EMPOWER SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA INC$479,053
COVENANT ACADEMY OF MOBILE$331,657
BREAKTHROUGH CHARTER SCHOOL$288,517
INDEPENDENCE SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA$187,021
WOODLAWN COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL$185,802
MAEF PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS INC$130,500
ALABAMA AEROSPACE AND AVIATION SCHOOLS INC$118,306
UNIVERSITY CHARTER SCHOOL$104,000
LEAD EDUCATION FOUNDATION$79,500
PHALEN LEADERSHIP ACADEMIES INDIANA INC$76,500
LEGACY SCHOOLS$75,000
MAGIC CITY ACCEPTANCE ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL$54,000
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, $2.2M) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 47% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 12%COVENANT ACADEMY OF MOBILE: $672k → 19%LIFE LADIES INFLUENCING FREEDOM AND EXCELLENCE INC: $650k → 12%LIFE LADIES INFLUENCING FREEDOM AND EXCELLENCE INC: $265k → 12%COVENANT ACADEMY OF MOBILE: $332k → 19%LIFE LADIES INFLUENCING FREEDOM AND EXCELLENCE INC: $240k → 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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$16M · 17 repeat orgs$3.0M to everyone else

17 repeat relationships — 14 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
3

Total granted

$16M
$815k

Still filing today

88%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 56% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.2M went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesOther

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

  • ME
    MONTGOMERY EDUCATION FOUNDATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $2.6M · revenue +39% · 67% of their budget
  • MP
    MAEF PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $1.7M · revenue +181%
  • AA
    ALABAMA AEROSPACE & AVIATION HIGH SCHOOL
    3× · 2022–2024 · $1.5M · revenue +143% · 33% of their budget

Funded once

  • SC
    SUBRECIPIENT CHARTER SCHOOLS
    one grant, 2020 · $665k
  • IC
    IRON CITY EDUCATION
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
  • BS
    BARNABAS SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP
    one grant, 2023 · $50k

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
The New American Academy Charter School

The new american academy charter school empowers learners and inspires leaders to make this a better world. through our collaborative teacher teams, mastery-based career ladder, and looping cycles, we offer personalized rigorous…

Education
2
Independence Academy

The mission of independence charter school (iacs) is to educate students of diverse ages and backgrounds - helping them understand, thrive in, and enhance our community, our environment,and our world. iacs regards learning as a continuing…

Education
3
Vision Academy Charter School

The mission of vision academy charter school is to prepare students in kindergarten through 8th grade to become responsible and articulate students and citizens by using a comprehensive curriculum designed to foster academic success and…

Education
4
Alliance Charter Academy

Our mission is to personalize learning through a collaboration of family, community and school; to nurture the innate curiosity of our students; ignite their passion for learning; and prepare them for lifelong success.

Education
5
American Legacy Academy

Provide students with an education that is both classical and American in its orientation

Education
6
Achievement House Charter School

It is the mission of the achievement house cyber charter school to provide all students with an experience that is complete with improved personal outcome and academic success and achievement in a rich and personalized learning environment…

Education
7
LEGACY21 Inc

The vision of Legacy Preparatory Charter Academy is that all LPCA schools will serve as a model school of excellence, addressing the needs of all school community stakeholders. The mission of Legacy Preparatory Charter Academy is to…

Education
8
Ivy Bound Academy

Education

Education
9
Emblaze Academy Charter School

Through rigorous curriculum and high quality instruction, provided within an invested and ambitious school community, emblaze academy charter school prepares all students in grades five through eight to thrive in high school and graduate…

Education
10
Academy of Collaborative Education

Public charter school

Education
11
Gateway Preparatory Academy

To manage, operate, guide, direct, and promote a public charter school funded by local, state, and federal sources. focus on increased individual attention to improve student learning, as well as, allowing students to progress at their own…

Education
12
Ambition Preparatory Charter School

Through high-quality instruction, intensive academic supports, and hard work, ambition preparatory charter school ensures that all students in kindergarten through grade eight have academic skills and self-discipline for college and life…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Empower Schools of Alabama and the most unlike its peers is Alabama Classical Group. 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

20 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. 20 of the 23 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.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/20
Grantees still filing
16/20
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

MONTGOMERY EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $2,602,009 · EducationMONTGOMERY EDUCATION FOUNDATIONBREAKTHROUGH CHARTER SCHOOL — $1,760,755 · EducationBREAKTHROUGH CHARTER SCHOOLMAEF PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS INC — $1,705,499 · EducationMAEF PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS INCALABAMA AEROSPACE & AVIATION HIGH SCHOOL — $1,464,210 · EducationALABAMA AEROSPACE & AVIATION HIGH SCHOOLEMPOWER SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA — $1,413,946 · EducationEMPOWER SCHOOLS OF ALABAMAFREEDOM PREPARATORY ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL ALABAMA — $1,103,457 · EducationFREEDOM PREPARATORY ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL ALABAMAI3 ACADEMY — $1,097,880 · EducationI3 ACADEMYALABAMA CLASSICAL GROUP — $1,070,935 · EducationALABAMA CLASSICAL GROUPMagic City Acceptance Academy Charter Sc — $1,042,881 · EducationMagic City Acceptance Academy Charter ScFLORETTA P CARSON VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS ACADEMY — $747,729 · Education+8 more — $1,958,688 · Education+8 moreLIFE LADIES INFLUENCING FREEDOM AND EXCELLENCE — $1,155,006 · Human ServicesLIFE LADIES …Covenant Academy of Mobile — $1,003,885 · Human ServicesCovenant Aca…SUBRECIPIENT CHARTER SCHOOLS — $664,775 · OtherIRON CITY EDUCATION — $100,000 · OtherBARNABAS SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP — $50,000 · Other
Education$15,967,989Human Services$2,158,891Other$814,775

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMONTGOMERY EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $2,602,009 over 4y, 67% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH CHARTER SCHOOL — $1,760,755 over 4y, 12% of budgetMAEF PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS INC — $1,705,499 over 4y, 20% of budgetALABAMA AEROSPACE & AVIATION HIGH SCHOOL — $1,464,210 over 3y, 33% of budgetEMPOWER SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA — $1,413,946 over 4y, 28% of budgetLIFE LADIES INFLUENCING FREEDOM AND EXCELLENCE — $1,155,006 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetFREEDOM PREPARATORY ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL ALABAMA — $1,103,457 over 1y, 62% of budgetI3 ACADEMY — $1,097,880 over 4y, 3.8% of budgetMagic City Acceptance Academy Charter Sc — $1,042,881 over 4y, 45% of budgetCovenant Academy of Mobile — $1,003,885 over 2y, 22% of budgetFLORETTA P CARSON VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS ACADEMY — $747,729 over 2y, 46% of budgetPHALEN LEADERSHIP ACADEMY - INDIANA — $476,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetUniversity Charter School — $346,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetFREEDOM PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC — $340,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetIndependence Schools of Alabama — $287,021 over 2y, 54% of budgetLegacy Schools — $165,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetCitizens of the World Charter Schools Los Angeles — $150,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetI DREAM BIG ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL — $24,167 over 1y, 6.1% 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.

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.

Charter Fund Inc D/B/A Charter School Growth FundCO30× affinity12 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Charter Fund Inc D/B/A Charter School Growth Fund · New Schools Fund · The Daniel Foundation of Alabama · Alabama Power Foundation Inc · Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation · 50can Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 New Schools for Alabama 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%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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 New Schools for Alabama?

    Find your warmest path to New Schools for Alabama 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 23 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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