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Plinth

· Public charity

North Dakota Humanities Council

The North Dakota Humanities Council invests in the people of North Dakota by creating and sustaining humanities programs that provides its participants with a better understanding of the past, a better analysis of the present, and a better vision for the future.

$56k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$33k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
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 FY2017–2025.

Arts & Culture$1.1MEducation$405kCrime & Legal$106kHousing & Shelter$100kReligion$38kCivil Rights$5k
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$33,288
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Dakota Legacy$33,288
Prairie Public Broadcasting$22,500
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 (FY20–22, $20k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Sacred Pipe Resource Center: $10k → 10%Sacred Pipe Resource Center: $10k → 10%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.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.3M · 26 repeat orgs$401k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +39% since the first grant, against 0% for the ones you funded once.

26 repeat relationships — 2 still active in FY2025, 24 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
19

Total granted

$1.3M
$401k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
0%

Still filing today

62%
47%

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
Arts & CultureEducationHousing & ShelterReligionHuman ServicesCivil RightsOther

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

  • PP
    Prairie Public Broadcasting Inc
    8× · 2017–2025 · $151k · revenue +60%
  • ND
    NORTH DAKOTA NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION EDUCATION FOUND
    2× · 2020–2023 · $125k · revenue +178% · 51% of their budget
  • ND
    NORTH DAKOTA BAR FOUNDATION INC
    3× · 2018–2020 · $106k · revenue +97% · 50% of their budget

Funded once

  • SH
    STATE HIST SOC OF ND
    one grant, 2023 · $150k
  • DL
    Dakota Legacy
    one grant, 2023 · $50k
  • BL
    BISMARCK LIBRARY FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $35k · revenue +214%

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
North Dakota Natural Resources Trust
—
2
North Dakota Public Information Officer Association
Education
3
North Dakota Masonic Foundation
—
4
Nd Natural Resources Conservation Trust

To promote the conservation of natural resources in the state of north dakota

Environment
5
Northwest Territory Historic Center
Arts & Culture
6
North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in

Education and preservation of western heritage

Arts & Culture
7
Friends of the Middle Border

Museum/educational center

—
8
Dakotaland Museum

The organization is dedicated to preserving, restoring and educating others about the history of the region.

—
9
North Dakota News Cooperative
Arts & Culture
10
North Dakota University System Foundation

The function of the north dakota university system foundation is to support, enrich, advance and improve higher education in the state of north dakota, and to assist its students, faculty and staff.

Philanthropy
11
North Dakotans for Public Integrity Inc

The mission of North Dakotans for Public Integrity is to educate and inform North Dakotans about the importance of integrity and public accountability by government institutions.

—
12
Dakota Foundation Dtd 122997
Philanthropy

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Northern Plains Heritage Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 39 years old; the field is 25. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%0%<5yr12%8%5–10yr14%12%10–20yr13%19%20–35yr18%42%35–55yr24%19%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%0%<5yr12%3%5–10yr14%9%10–20yr13%16%20–35yr18%44%35–55yr24%28%55yr+

The field is 18% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 4% lost their exemption, against 7% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
4%
2/45
the rest of the field
7%
197/2,755

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

30 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 30 of the 45 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
25/30
Grantees still filing
18/30
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

STATE HIST SOC OF ND — $150,000 · OtherSTATE HIST SOC OF NDNORTH DAKOTA NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION EDUCATION FOUND — $125,000 · OtherNORTH DAKOTA NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION EDUCATION FOUNDNORTH DAKOTA UNITED FOUNDATION — $104,750 · OtherNORTH DAKOTA UNITED FOUNDATIONUniversity of North Dakota-College of Business & Public Admin — $98,692 · OtherUniversity of North Dakota-College of Business & Public Ad…Dakota Legacy — $50,000 · OtherDakota LegacyND INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION — $45,690 · OtherTheodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation — $34,771 · Other+18 more — $280,518 · Other+18 morePrairie Public Broadcasting Inc — $151,337 · Arts & CulturePrairie Public Broadcasting IncNORTH DAKOTA BAR FOUNDATION INC — $105,510 · Arts & CultureNORTH DAKOTA BAR FOUNDATION INCDakota Legacy — $68,155 · Arts & CultureDakota LegacyNORTHERN PLAINS HERITAGE FOUNDATION — $64,304 · Arts & CultureNORTHERN PLAINS HERITAGE FOUNDATIO…LAKOTA LANGUAGE CONSORTIUM INC — $30,000 · Arts & CultureLAKOTA LANGUAGE CONSORTIUM INCTheatre B — $20,000 · Arts & Culture+7 more — $89,807 · Arts & Culture+7 moreYWCA CASS CLAY — $100,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE CONSENSUS COUNCIL INC — $100,000 · ReligionBISMARCK LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC — $35,000 · EducationUNITED TRIBES TECHNICAL COLLEGE — $22,964 · EducationUniversity of Mary — $12,179 · EducationSACRED PIPE RESOURCE CENTER — $20,000 · Human ServicesNORTH DAKOTA HUMAN RIGHTS COALITION — $5,200 · Civil Rights
Other$889,421Arts & Culture$529,113Housing & Shelter$100,000Religion$100,000Education$70,143Human Services$20,000Civil Rights$5,200

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 budgetPrairie Public Broadcasting Inc — $151,337 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetNORTH DAKOTA NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION EDUCATION FOUND — $125,000 over 2y, 51% of budgetNORTH DAKOTA BAR FOUNDATION INC — $105,510 over 3y, 50% of budgetNORTH DAKOTA UNITED FOUNDATION — $104,750 over 2y, 23% of budgetYWCA CASS CLAY — $100,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetTHE CONSENSUS COUNCIL INC — $100,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetNORTHERN PLAINS HERITAGE FOUNDATION — $64,304 over 3y, 6.2% of budgetBISMARCK LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC — $35,000 over 1y, 7.7% of budgetTheodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation — $34,771 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetLAKOTA LANGUAGE CONSORTIUM INC — $30,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetSPIRIT ROOM — $27,840 over 2y, 15% of budgetUNITED TRIBES TECHNICAL COLLEGE — $22,964 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGEOGRAPHICAL CENTER HISTORICAL SOCI — $21,064 over 2y, 8.1% of budgetSACRED PIPE RESOURCE CENTER — $20,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetLONG X ARTS FOUNDATION — $17,120 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetCass County North Dakota Historical Society — $16,667 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetTHE HUMAN FAMILY — $16,020 over 2y, 10% of budgetUniversity of Mary — $12,179 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINDIGENOUS YOUTH RISING — $10,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetDAKOTA MEDIA ACCESS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetFORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetINTERNATIONAL READING ASSOCIATION INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNORTH DAKOTA MUSEUM OF ART — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNORTH AMERICAN BISON DISCOVERY CENTER — $10,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTRI COLLEGE UNIVERSITY — $9,500 over 1y, 2.9% 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.

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.

North Dakota Communit…Fargo-Moorhead Area F…Blue Cross Blue Shiel…Arts Midwest Incorpor…Otto Bremer TrustSanford Group ReturnThe Tom and Frances L…The Bush FoundationNorthwest North Dakot…Alex Stern Family Fou…The Barry FoundationBnsf Railway Foundati…
North Dakota Community FoundationND45.1× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: North Dakota Community Foundation · Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation Corporation · Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota Caring Foundation · Arts Midwest Incorporated · Otto Bremer Trust · Sanford Group Return · The Tom and Frances Leach Foundation · The Bush Foundation · Northwest North Dakota Community Foundation Inc · Alex Stern Family Foundation · The Barry Foundation · Bnsf Railway 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 North Dakota Humanities Council 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
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 45 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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