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Plinth

· Private foundation

Patrick Byrne 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.

$1.4M
Granted FY2017
16
Grants FY2017
12
States reached
$500k
Largest

Read this first · the figures below need context

77% of Patrick Byrne Foundation Inc’s FY2023 grant dollars went to The Board Of Trustees Of The Leland Stanford Junior University, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2023 names 1 organization directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2017, the last year Patrick Byrne Foundation Inc named its own grantees at scale: 8 organizations, $1M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

8
17
3
18
0
19
3
20
2
21
1
22
1
23

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What you fund
0185% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172023.

Education$2.9MSocial Science$2.7MRecreation & Sports$796kHuman Services$602kPhilanthropy$125kHealth$88kInternational$25kArts & Culture$25kOther$0
02FY2017 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2017

  • Under $10k3 grants · $12k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $110k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $217k
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.1M
$25,000
Median grant
12
States reached
$141k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Hoover Institute - Standford Univer$500,000
Darthmouth Hitchcock Giesle School$333,333
Foundation for Educational Choice$250,000
Mercatus Center - GMU$100,000
Pembroke College NA Foundation$66,667
Mount Vernon Ladies Association$50,000
Mayo Clinic$25,000
Council on Foreign Relations$25,000
Individual grant recipient$15,000
Association of Marshall Scholars$15,000
Institute for Justice$10,000
Foundation for Economic Education$10,000
Cato Institute$10,000
Connect to Compete$5,000
Shaya Barnett Foundation$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 (FY20–23, $550k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, 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%No Greater Love: $250k → 10%MOMS FOR AMERICA INC: $300k → 14%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
ID
MN
NY
IN
OH
PA
CA
UT
VA
AZ
TN
DC
LA
GA
TX

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.

49%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$3.1M · 7 repeat orgs$3.2M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +63% since the first grant, against +10% for the ones you funded once.

7 repeat relationships — 6 still active in FY2017, 1 since wound down; 19 grantees were first funded in FY2017 (too recent to call). Read against FY2017, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
19

Total granted

$3.1M
$3.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+63%
+10%

Still filing today

43%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $300k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
Social ScienceEducationPublic BenefitHealthHuman ServicesInternationalOther

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

  • MC
    Mercatus Center Inc
    2× · 2017–2020 · $200k · revenue +63%
  • PC
    PEMBROKE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $133k · revenue +147% · 36% of their budget
  • TJ
    THE JED FOUNDATION
    2× · 2021–2022 · $35k · revenue +43%

Funded once

  • SU
    STANDFORD UNIVERSTITY
    one grant, 2022 · $1.0M
  • SW
    SALMON WHITEWATER PARK ASSOCIATION INC
    one grant, 2021 · $796k · revenue -92% · 85% of their budget
  • DH
    Darthmouth Hitchcock Giesle School
    one grant, 2017 · $333k

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
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
2
Frontiers of Freedom Institute

To educate the public on constitutional issues and public policy matters. We are dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, peace through strength, limited government, free enterprise, and the values embodied in the Declaration of…

Public Benefit
3
Institute for New Global Politics Inc

The Institute for New Global Politics is a California-based educational nonprofit corporation organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes. It is an independent and nonpartisan thinktank dedicated to educating the general…

International
4
Foreign Policy Association Inc

The mission of the foreign policy association today, as it has been for over 100 years, is to serve as a catalyst for developing awareness, understanding, and informed opinion on united states foreign policy and global issues. through its…

International
5
The Fund for American Studies

The fund for american studies (tfas) seeks to create a brighter, more prosperous future by preparing young people for leadership and teaching them the ideas of freedom and a free-market economy. founded in 1967, tfas organizes programs for…

6
Constituting America Inc

Constituting america's mission is to educate students and adults about the constitution through the culture. constituting america's mission is to utilize the culture: film, internet, tv and social media to reach, educate and inform…

Education
7
Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics

The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…

Social Science
8
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
9
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
10
Center for Democracy and Technology

Advocating for public policies that advance democratic values in the digital age.

Civil Rights
11
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Competitive enterprise institute (cei) is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. we believe that consumers are best helped not by government regulation but by being…

12
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Inc

The manhattan institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in america and its great cities.

Public Benefit

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Foundation for Economic Education Inc and the most unlike its peers is Shaya Barnett Foundation 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

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 27 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
10/16
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Hoover Institute - Standford Univer — $2,533,000 · OtherHoover Institute - Standford UniverSTANDFORD UNIVERSTITY — $1,000,000 · OtherSTANDFORD UNIVERSTITYDarthmouth Hitchcock Giesle School — $333,333 · OtherDarthmouth Hitchcock Giesle SchoolFoundation for Educational Choice — $250,000 · OtherFoundation for Educational Choice+12 more — $464,500 · Other+12 moreTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $1,000,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUS…PEMBROKE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $133,334 · EducationPEMBROKE COLLEGE …+1 more — $5,000 · EducationSALMON WHITEWATER PARK ASSOCIATION INC — $796,000 · Recreation & SportsSALMON WHITE…Moms for America Inc — $300,000 · Human ServicesNO GREATER LOVE — $250,000 · Human ServicesMercatus Center Inc — $200,000 · Social ScienceFoundation for Economic Education Inc — $10,000 · Social ScienceTHE JED FOUNDATION — $35,000 · HealthST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC — $2,500 · HealthWOMEN OF MENA IN TECHNOLOGY — $25,000 · Philanthropy
Other$4,580,833Education$1,138,334Recreation & Sports$796,000Human Services$550,000Social Science$210,000Health$37,500Philanthropy$25,000

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 budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSALMON WHITEWATER PARK ASSOCIATION INC — $796,000 over 1y, 85% of budgetMoms for America Inc — $300,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetNO GREATER LOVE — $250,000 over 1y, 85% of budgetMercatus Center Inc — $200,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetPEMBROKE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $133,334 over 2y, 36% of budgetTHE JED FOUNDATION — $35,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWOMEN OF MENA IN TECHNOLOGY — $25,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetCOUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFREE TO CHOOSE NETWORK INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFoundation for Economic Education Inc — $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCONNECT TO COMPETE INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC — $2,500 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 ProgramPA9.1× affinity5 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · 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 Patrick Byrne 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.

2023
202122232425
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%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
    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 · 0–20%
    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.

    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 27 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 2017, released 2017. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2017, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph