Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

Parks & Paula Sheller Adams Family Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$133k
Granted FY2024still arriving
20
Grants FY2024still arriving
12
States reached
$11k
Largest
01What you fund
0188% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172024.

Environment$45kFood & Nutrition$25kPublic Benefit$20kCivil Rights$18kInternational$16kHealth$10kSocial Science$10kHuman Services$9kOther$0
02FY2024 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k12 grants · $52k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $81k
$8,000
Median grant
12
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND$11,000
GOULD FARM$10,000
ACLU$10,000
OPB$10,000
FCNL EDUCATION FUND$10,000
POPULATION CONNECTION$10,000
STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSN$10,000
UNHCR$10,000
Individual grant recipient$9,000
ART OF NATURE CONSORTIUM$8,000
NATURE CONSERVANCY$6,000
MANCHESTER EARLY LEARNING CENTER$5,000
SPLC$5,000
CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY$5,000
BVS CHARITY$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 (FY24–24, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%MANCHESTER EARLY LEARNING CENTER: $5k → 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.

Which US states your grants reach

NH
WA
IL
NY
MA
OR
IN
CT
CA
VA
DC
AL

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.

42%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$79k · 6 repeat orgs$107k to everyone else

6 repeat relationships — 3 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
7

Total granted

$79k
$9k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
+39%

Still filing today

83%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 24% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $97k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
InternationalPublic BenefitFood & NutritionEnvironmentSocial ScienceHuman 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

  • TS
    THE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC
    2× · 2020–2024 · $20k · revenue +30%
  • Feeding America
    3× · 2020–2022 · $20k · revenue +40%
  • FCNL EDUCATION FUND
    2× · 2023–2024 · $15k · revenue +21%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $3k
  • AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $3k · revenue +102%
  • MC
    MANCHESTER CHURCH OF BRETHREN
    one grant, 2020 · $2k

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 Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
2
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
3
American Gas Association

American gas association's (the association) mission is to develop and advocate for informed, innovative, and durable policy that fulfills our nation's energy needs, environmental aspirations and economic potential. we are committed to…

4
Amazon Conservation Association

Amazon conservation unites science, people, and innovation to protect the amazon - the greatest wild forest on earth. as guardians of the most iconic forest on the planet, we bring together the power of the latest science and technology…

Environment
5
Eastern National

Eastern national promotes the public's understanding and support of america's national parks and other public trust partners by providing quality educational experiences, products and services.

Recreation & Sports
6
American Flood Coalition Inc

To drive transformational adaptation to protect communities across the country from higher seas, stronger storms, and more frequent flooding.

Environment
7
National Association of Clean Water Agencies

Nacwa is the national voice of public clean water utilities, shaping water policy, convening a vibrant peer network, and empowering water leaders.

8
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
9
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners

Founded in 1889, the national association of regulatory utility commisioners (naruc) is a non-profit organization dedicated to representing the state public service commisions who regulate the utilities that provide essential services such…

10
Center for International Environmental Law Inc

To investigate, research, write, publish, present conferences and teach with respect to global, regional, transboundary, and comparative environmental issues and to make the findings from such activities available to the general public; to…

International
11
American Civil Liberties Union Fund of the District of Columbia

Preservation of civil liberties through litigation and public education.

12
American Foreign Service Association

American foreign service association (afsa) is both the principal advocate for the long-term institutional wellbeing of the professional career foreign service and responsible for safeguarding the interest of afsa members. (continued on…

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Medecins Sans Frontieres Usa Inc and the most unlike its peers is Feeding America. 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

16 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. 16 of the 30 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
11/16
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

THE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC — $20,000 · OtherTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INCACLU — $10,000 · OtherACLUTHE WILLIAM J GOULD ASSOCIATES INC — $10,000 · OtherTHE WILLIAM J GOULD ASSOCIATES INCOPB — $10,000 · OtherOPBIndividual grant recipient — $9,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientART OF NATURE CONSORTIUM — $8,000 · OtherART OF NATURE CONSORTIUMTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $6,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYOREGON FOOD BANK — $5,550 · OtherBVS CHARITY — $5,000 · OtherSPLC — $5,000 · OtherEPIC — $5,000 · Other+11 more — $16,590 · Other+11 moreFCNL EDUCATION FUND — $15,000 · Public BenefitFCNL EDUCAT…THE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY — $5,000 · Public BenefitTHE CENTER …Feeding America — $19,570 · Food & NutritionFeeding Ame…United States Association for UNHCR — $15,000 · InternationalUnited St…+1 more — $500 · InternationalENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $11,000 · EnvironmentPOPULATION CONNECTION — $10,000 · Social ScienceMANCHESTER EARLY LEARNING CENTER — $5,000 · Human Services
Other$110,140Public Benefit$20,000Food & Nutrition$19,570International$15,500Environment$11,000Social Science$10,000Human Services$5,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America — $19,570 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFCNL EDUCATION FUND — $15,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUnited States Association for UNHCR — $15,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $11,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPOPULATION CONNECTION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE WILLIAM J GOULD ASSOCIATES INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOREGON FOOD BANK — $5,550 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMANCHESTER EARLY LEARNING CENTER — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY — $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJ STREET EDUCATION FUND INC — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of Hopewell House dba Hopewell House — $400 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.

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.

Vanguard Charitable Endowment ProgramPA9.4× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · 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 Parks & Paula Sheller Adams Family 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 21%
  • Oregon Food Bank21% of income from government
  • Manchester Early Learning Center17% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Parks & Paula Sheller Adams Family Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Parks & Paula Sheller Adams Family Foundation 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 30 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph