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Plinth

· Private foundation

O Max Gardner Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$10k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What you fund
0197% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172025.

Education$271kCrime & Legal$30kHealth$15kAnimals$6kHuman Services$6kYouth Development$5kPublic Safety & Disaster$5kEmployment$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$353k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MENTAL HEALTH ASSOC OF CLEVELAND C$5,000
A'S FOR KIDS NON PROFIE$5,000
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 (FY20–20, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%N C JUSTICE CENTER: $1k → 8%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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$286k · 4 repeat orgs$66k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +20% since the first grant, against +13% for the ones you funded once.

4 repeat relationships — 0 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
18

Total granted

$286k
$56k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
+13%

Still filing today

25%
39%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k 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
EducationAnimalsEmploymentYouth DevelopmentFood & NutritionPhilanthropyOther

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

  • GU
    GARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2018–2023 · $249k · revenue +20%
  • NC
    NATIONAL CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY RIGHTS
    5× · 2017–2022 · $30k
  • CC
    COMPASS CENTER FOR WOMEN AND FAMILI
    2× · 2021–2022 · $4k

Funded once

  • C
    CHBCF
    one grant, 2024 · $10k
  • SC
    SHELBY CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
    one grant, 2017 · $5k
  • YL
    YOUNG LIFE
    one grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue +13%

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
United Way of Cleveland County Inc

The United Way of Cleveland County helps people by uniting resources and programs to responsibly meet the needs of our community.

Philanthropy
2
North Carolina Business Leaders for Educ

The mission of north carolina business leaders for education (dba best nc) is to unite an engaged and informed business perspective to dramatically transform and improve north carolina's education system. our goal is for every student to…

Education
3
Charlotte Christian College & Theological Seminary

To educate, train, and develop ministers, evangelists, missionaries, and other people who are going to enter the Christian ministry. Educate ministers and missionaries to serve the Lord.

Religion
4
Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Carolina

To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

Youth Development
5
Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas Inc

Junior achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to educating private and public school students in grades k-12 about entrepreneurship, workforce readiness, and financial literacy, through experiential, hands-on programs.

International
6
North Carolina Council On Economic Education Inc

The nccee provides economic and financial education for educators and students throughout north carolina. this mission is accomplished through standards based workshops and a variety of resources for educators, academic competitions for…

Social Science
7
Charlotte Christian School

Charlotte christian school is a christ-centered, college preparatory school, equipping and developing students to effectively integrate biblical truth and learning nto their daily lives and to impact the culture for christ.

8
UrbanPromise Charlotte

Provide Charlotte's low-income children and youth with the academic, spiritual, and social development necessary to become Christian leaders determined to restore their communities.

Youth Development
9
Greenville College

Greenville college d/b/a greenville university empowers students for lives of character and service through a transforming christ-centered education in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies.

Education
10
Carolina College of Biblical Studies

Carolina college of biblical studies exists to disciple christ-followers, through biblical higher education, for a lifetime of effective servant leadership.

Education
11
Student U

Our mission is to empower and equip first-generation college students in durham public schools, their families, and educators to become the leaders that will transform our city.

Education
12
Greater Cleveland Volunteers

Greater cleveland volunteers enriches the community and indivuduals through volunteer service. volunteers age 18 and older are recruited and placed in the agency's programs or referred to local nonprofit or public organizations to help…

Philanthropy

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Boys and Girls Club Cleveland County and the most unlike its peers is Feeding Kids Cleveland County Inc. 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

8 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. 8 of the 24 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
7/8
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

GARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITY — $249,340 · EducationGARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITYNATIONAL CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY RIGHTS — $30,000 · OtherNATIONAL CONSUMER BANKRUPT…CHBCF — $10,000 · OtherCHBCFMENTAL HEALTH ASSOC OF CLEVELAND C — $5,000 · OtherMENTAL HEALTH ASSOC OF CLE…SHELBY CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT — $5,000 · OtherSHELBY CITY POLICE DEPARTM…Individual grant recipient — $5,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientCLEVELAND COUNTY MEMORIAL LIBRARY — $5,000 · OtherCLEVELAND COUNTY MEMORIAL …A'S FOR KIDS NON PROFIE — $5,000 · OtherA'S FOR KIDS NON PROFIECOMPASS CENTER FOR WOMEN AND FAMILI — $3,500 · OtherEARL SCRUGGS CENTER — $3,000 · Other+8 more — $9,750 · Other+8 moreYOUNG LIFE — $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentVETS TO VETS UNITED INC — $5,000 · AnimalsHOPE RENOVATIONS SPENCER — $5,000 · EmploymentCHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO PUBLIC SCHOOL FOUNDATION — $2,500 · PhilanthropyFeeding Kids Cleveland County Inc — $2,500 · Food & NutritionNORTH CAROLINA JUSTICE CENTER — $1,000 · Human Services
Education$249,340Other$81,250Youth Development$5,000Animals$5,000Employment$5,000Philanthropy$2,500Food & Nutrition$2,500Human Services$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 budgetGARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITY — $249,340 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetYOUNG LIFE — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVETS TO VETS UNITED INC — $5,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetHOPE RENOVATIONS SPENCER — $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO PUBLIC SCHOOL FOUNDATION — $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFeeding Kids Cleveland County Inc — $2,500 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA JUSTICE CENTER — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBoys and Girls Club Cleveland County — $250 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

  • Who funds GARDNER-WEBB UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds YOUNG LIFE
  • Who funds VETS TO VETS UNITED INC
  • Who funds HOPE RENOVATIONS SPENCER
  • Who funds CHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO PUBLIC SCHOOL FOUNDATION
  • Who funds Feeding Kids Cleveland County Inc
  • Who funds NORTH CAROLINA JUSTICE CENTER
  • Who funds Boys and Girls Club Cleveland County

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.

Duke Energy FoundationNC12.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Duke Energy Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 O Max Gardner Foundation 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%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 24 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