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Plinth

· Private foundation

Nicholas G & Sandra K Nicholas Foundation

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.

$112k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$50k
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 FY20172025.

Religion$231kArts & Culture$125kEducation$55kInternational$6kHuman Services$6kHealth$5kPublic Safety & Disaster$1kRecreation & Sports$1k
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $22k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $40k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOLY CROSS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH$50,000
SHADYSIDE ACADEMY$30,000
HOLY CROSS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH$10,000
PITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE$7,500
PITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE$5,000
THE BLESSING BOARD$5,000
PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST$3,000
HOLY CROSS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH$1,000
CHUCK NOLL FOUNDATION$500
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 (FY19–25, $6k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Center for Family Services: $270 → 14%THE BLESSING BOARD: $5k → 11%THE BLESSING BOARD: $460 → 11%THE BLESSING BOARD: $70 → 11%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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$373k · 9 repeat orgs$57k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +38% since the first grant, against +1% for the ones you funded once.

9 repeat relationships — 4 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
11

Total granted

$373k
$26k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+1%

Still filing today

56%
45%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $31k 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
EducationArts & CultureInternationalHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsPublic Safety & DisasterOther

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

  • PB
    PITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $117k · revenue +46%
  • PC
    PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST
    3× · 2020–2025 · $9k · revenue +174%
  • US
    UNITY SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FUND INC
    2× · 2019–2022 · $450 · revenue +38%

Funded once

  • SA
    Skylar and Mareniak Education Fund
    one grant, 2018 · $10k
  • HI
    HELLENIC INITIATIVE INC
    one grant, 2021 · $5k · revenue +1%
  • NC
    Nantucket Cottage Hospital
    one grant, 2018 · $4k

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
Point Park University

Provides innovative education in a dynamic urban setting. dedicated to academic excellence and community engagement,we prepare students of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skill,and experience to lead meaningful lives as informed…

2
University of Pittsburgh

The university of pittsburgh, founded in 1787, is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the united states and one of the nation's top public research universities. for more than two centuries, the university of pittsburgh…

Education
3
Delaware Valley University

See schedule o.we are inspired by the ideals of our founder who, in 1896, emphasized respect for all people and ideas, who honored knowledge with practice, progress and the common good. our historical commitment to experiential learning…

4
DePauw University

Depauw university develops leaders the world needs through an uncommon commitment to the liberal arts. depauw's diverse and inclusive learning and living experience, distinctive in its rigorous intellectual engagement and its global and…

Education
5
Carnegie Mellon University

To create a transformative educational experience for students focused on deep disciplinary knowledge; problem solving; leadership, communication and interpersonal skills; and personal health and well-being. to cultivate a transformative…

6
Pittsburgh Festival Opera

Pittsburgh festival opera presents innovative opera for imaginative audiences. pittsburgh festival opera is pittsburgh's modern music drama company and, as such, focuses on creating new works, on reinterpreting older works in new ways, on…

Arts & Culture
7
Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau Inc

Tourism development organization dedicated to expanding the tourism economy across allegheny county.

8
Pittsburgh Entertainment Project

To create a vibrant, responsible, and sustainable film and digital media sector in southwestern pennsylvania.

9
The Ellis School

An independent college preparatory school for girls from age three through twelfth grade.

Education
10
The Pittsburgh Foundation

Established in 1945, the pittsburgh foundation is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the united states. see additional information in schedule o

Philanthropy
11
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
12
Pacific University

A diverse and sustainable learning community dedicated to discovery and excellence in teaching, scholarship and practice, pacific university inspires students to think, care, create and pursue justice in our world.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the most unlike its peers is Yahve-Jire Children's Foundation-Us. 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 22 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
6/12
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

HOLY CROSS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH — $221,125 · OtherHOLY CROSS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCHSkylar and Mareniak Education Fund — $10,000 · OtherSAINT MARK GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH — $9,000 · Other+8 more — $14,399 · Other+8 morePITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE INC — $116,600 · Arts & CulturePITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE INCPITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST — $8,500 · Arts & CulturePITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUSTSHADY SIDE ACADEMY — $30,000 · EducationSHADY SID…FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE — $6,000 · EducationFRANKLIN …+1 more — $500 · EducationHELLENIC INITIATIVE INC — $5,000 · InternationalYAHVE-JIRE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION-US — $1,000 · InternationalTHE BLESSING BOARD — $5,530 · Human ServicesCENTER FOR FAMILY SERVICES INC — $270 · Human ServicesEAGLES WINGS FOUNDATION INC — $1,000 · Public Safety & DisasterDRESSAGE AT DEVON — $1,000 · Recreation & Sports
Other$254,524Arts & Culture$125,100Education$36,500International$6,000Human Services$5,800Public Safety & Disaster$1,000Recreation & Sports$1,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetPITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE INC — $116,600 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetSHADY SIDE ACADEMY — $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST — $8,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE — $6,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BLESSING BOARD — $5,530 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHELLENIC INITIATIVE INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetEAGLES WINGS FOUNDATION INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDRESSAGE AT DEVON — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHUCK NOLL FOUNDATION FOR BRAIN INJURY RESEARCH — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITY SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FUND INC — $450 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR FAMILY SERVICES INC — $270 over 1y, 0.0% 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 PITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE INC
  • Who funds SHADY SIDE ACADEMY
  • Who funds PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST
  • Who funds FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE
  • Who funds THE BLESSING BOARD
  • Who funds HELLENIC INITIATIVE INC
  • Who funds EAGLES WINGS FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds DRESSAGE AT DEVON
  • Who funds YAHVE-JIRE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION-US
  • Who funds CHUCK NOLL FOUNDATION FOR BRAIN INJURY RESEARCH
  • Who funds UNITY SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FUND INC
  • Who funds CENTER FOR FAMILY SERVICES INC

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 Pittsburgh FoundationPA13× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Pittsburgh Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Nicholas G & Sandra K Nicholas Foundation 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 · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    3report 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.

    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 22 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph