Skip to content
Paul T Benton Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Paul T Benton Charitable Trust

Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$73k
Granted FY2023
3
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$60k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2023.

Education$617kHuman Services$108kPublic Benefit$44kAnimals$42kPhilanthropy$17kEnvironment$16kHealth$16kFood & Nutrition$11kOther$0
02FY2023 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k1 grant · $3k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $60k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MILLSAPS COLLEGE$60,000
HOME OF GRACE$10,000
BACK BAY MISSION$2,707
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 22%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%FEEDING THE GULF COAST: $1k → 19%CANTON ACADEMIC FOUNDATION: $5k → 11%RESSURECTION CATHOLIC SCHOOL: $5k → 16%BACK BAY MISSION: $3k → 19%PETAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: $1k → 22%AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: $2k → 23%MS FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: $6k → 27%CENTRAL HOLMES CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $3k → 35%ARNO: $5k → 15%FEEDING THE GULF COAST: $950 → 19%FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES: $1k → 15%CANTON ACADEMIC FOUNDATION INC: $5k → 11%RESSURECTION CATHOLIC SCHOOL: $3k → 16%BACK BAY MISSION: $1k → 19%WILDLIFE MISSISSIPPI: $2k → 27%CENTRAL HOLMES CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $2k → 35%FEEDING THE GULF COAST: $750 → 19%CANTON ACADEMIC FOUNDATION INC: $3k → 11%BACK BAY MISSION: $1k → 19%MILLSAPS COLLEGE: $156k → 23%WILDLIFE MISSISSIPPI: $1k → 27%CENTRAL HOLMES CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $2k → 35%SPECIAL OLYMPICS OF MS: $1k → 11%OHR-O'KEEFE MUSEUM OF ART: $1k → 19%MILLSAPS COLLEGE: $110k → 23%MISSISSIPPI FISH & WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: $1k → 27%LEXINGTON FOUNDATION: $1k → 35%KCANNON FOUNDATION INC: $2k → 19%HOME OF GRACE: $10k → 16%BACK BAY MISSION: $750 → 19%MILLSAPS COLLEGE: $91k → 23%KCANNON FOUNDATION INC: $2k → 19%HOME OF GRACE: $1k → 16%MILLSAPS COLLEGE: $77k → 23%KCANNON FOUNDATION INC: $1k → 19%HOME OF GRACE: $1k → 16%MILLSAPS COLLEGE: $63k → 23%MILLSAPS COLLEGE: $60k → 23%MILLSAPS COLLEGE: $34k → 23%M-CLUB: $3k → 23%SALVATION ARMY: $5k → 19%MERCY HOUSE ADULT AND TEEN CHILDREN: $1k → 23%SALVATION ARMY: $2k → 19%WILD FOR MS PAC: $1k → 23%HUMANE SOCIETY OF SOUTH MS: $2k → 19%HUMANE SOCIETY OF SOUTH MS: $2k → 19%HUMANE SOCIETY OF SOUTH MISSISSIPPI: $1k → 19%SALVATION ARMY: $770 → 19%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

MT
MI
MO
VA
TN
DC
LA
MS
AL
GA
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$822k · 23 repeat orgs$72k to everyone else

23 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2023, 20 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
42

Total granted

$822k
$72k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
+21%

Still filing today

57%
29%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
EducationPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsAnimalsFood & NutritionHealthOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • CA
    CANTON ACADEMIC FOUNDATION INC
    3× · 2017–2022 · $12k · revenue +60%
  • BB
    BACK BAY MISSION
    5× · 2017–2023 · $6k · revenue +97%
  • HS
    HUMANE SOCIETY OF SOUTH MISSISSIPPI
    4× · 2017–2021 · $5k · revenue +53%

Funded once

  • MW
    MISSISSIPPI WILDLIFE FISHERIES AND PARKS FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $19k · revenue +109%
  • T
    TBLF
    one grant, 2022 · $10k
  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR MISSISSIPPI WILDLIFE FISHERIES & PARKS
    one grant, 2022 · $6k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
University of Southern Mississippi Foundation

To build relationships with alumni and friends in order to secure private funds and other resources for the benefit of the university of southern mississippi (usm). the foundation receives, invests and distributes private gifts in support…

Education
2
Our Mississippi Foundation
Community Improvement
3
Methodist Foundation of Mississippi Inc

The foundation exists to cultivate and administer current and deferred gifts for the benefit of ms united methodist related institutions, agencies, local churches, and other ministries for charitable purposes and support and to educate…

Religion
4
Center for Mississippi Healthpolicy
Health
5
University of Southern Mississippi Research Foundation

The mission of the foundation is to oversee the acquisition of gifts, contributions and grants for sponsored research for individuals, industries, private organizations and government agencies and to assist with transferring technology…

Education
6
Mississippi State University Foundation Inc

Mississippi state university foundation, inc. is a non-profit organization that assists mississippi state university in accomplishing its goals and mission by cultivating and soliciting private support and ensuring stewardship for all…

Human Services
7
Mission Mississippi

To encourage and demonstrate grace in the body of christ across racial lines, so that communities throughout mississippi can see practical evidence of the gospel message.

Civil Rights
8
Mississippi Methodist Senior Services Inc

Mississippi methodist senior services is dedicated to providing housing and personal care services to the elderly or disabled in the spirit of christian love.

Human Services
9
Mississippi Children's Museum

We create unparalleled experiences to inspire excellence and a lifelong joy of learning.

Arts & Culture
10
Mississippi Land Trust

To protect fish and wildlife habitat throughout mississippi

Environment
11
Alumni Association of the University of Mississippi

To strengthen the university of mississippi through quality programs and services that enhance communications and build mutually beneficial relationships among our alumni, friends, faculty, staff, and students.

Education
12
Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain

To conserve, promote, and protect the open spaces and green places of ecological cultural or scenic significance in the counties of the mississippi coastal plain.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is March of Dimes Inc; the most unlike its peers is Smhs Girls Soccer. 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

27 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 27 of the 66 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/27
Grantees still filing
16/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Millsaps College: $590,458 · EducationMillsaps College+2 more: $7,100 · EducationFREEDOM FOUNDATION: $43,800 · OtherFREEDOM FOUNDATIONFOUNDATION FOR MS WILDLIFE FISHERIES AND PARKS: $14,500 · OtherFOUNDATION FOR MS WI…HOME OF GRACE CORPORATION: $12,500 · OtherHOME OF GRACE CORPOR…SALVATION ARMY: $10,270 · OtherSALVATION ARMYTBLF: $10,000 · OtherTBLFRESSURECTION CATHOLIC SCHOOL: $7,000 · OtherFOUNDATION FOR MISSISSIPPI WILDLIFE FISHERIES & PARKS: $6,400 · OtherMS FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: $6,000 · OtherKCANNON FOUNDATION INC: $5,500 · OtherBACK BAY MISSION: $5,957 · Other+45 more: $40,925 · Other+45 morePALMER HOME FOR CHILDREN: $63,000 · Human ServicesTHE BETTER LIFE FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $1,000 · PhilanthropyMISSISSIPPI WILDLIFE FISHERIES AND PARKS FOUNDATION INC: $18,963 · EnvironmentCANTON ACADEMIC FOUNDATION INC: $12,453 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $100 · Recreation & SportsHUMANE SOCIETY OF SOUTH MISSISSIPPI: $5,200 · AnimalsWILDLIFE MISSISSIPPI: $3,000 · Animals
Education$597,558Other$162,852Human Services$63,000Philanthropy$31,000Environment$18,963Recreation & Sports$12,553Animals$8,200

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMillsaps College: $590,458 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetPALMER HOME FOR CHILDREN: $63,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetTHE BETTER LIFE FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 3y, 17% of budgetMISSISSIPPI WILDLIFE FISHERIES AND PARKS FOUNDATION INC: $18,963 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetHOME OF GRACE CORPORATION: $12,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCANTON ACADEMIC FOUNDATION INC: $12,453 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCENTRAL HOLMES CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $7,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetBACK BAY MISSION: $5,957 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF SOUTH MISSISSIPPI: $5,200 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetFeeding the Gulf Coast: $3,200 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWILDLIFE MISSISSIPPI: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLOAVES AND FISHES INC: $2,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $1,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMARITIME & SEAFOOD INDUSTRY MUSEUM: $1,300 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES: $1,200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOHR-O'KEEFE MUSEUM OF ART INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMISSISSIPPI CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LEXINGTON FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSEASHORE MISSION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJUNIOR AUXILIARY OF BILOXI-OCEAN SPRINGS: $500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMARCH OF DIMES INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOOM BOOM COMMITTEE INC: $100 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BULLDOG CLUB INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds Millsaps College ↗
  • Who funds PALMER HOME FOR CHILDREN ↗
  • Who funds THE BETTER LIFE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MISSISSIPPI WILDLIFE FISHERIES AND PARKS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds HOME OF GRACE CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds CANTON ACADEMIC FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTRAL HOLMES CHRISTIAN SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds BACK BAY MISSION ↗
  • Who funds HUMANE SOCIETY OF SOUTH MISSISSIPPI ↗
  • Who funds Feeding the Gulf Coast ↗
  • Who funds WILDLIFE MISSISSIPPI ↗
  • Who funds LOAVES AND FISHES INC ↗
  • Who funds American Heart Association Inc ↗
  • Who funds MARITIME & SEAFOOD INDUSTRY MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES ↗
  • Who funds OHR-O'KEEFE MUSEUM OF ART INC ↗
  • Who funds MISSISSIPPI CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds THE LEXINGTON FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SEASHORE MISSION INC ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Gulf Coast Community …Leo W Seal Jr Family …Mississippi Gulf Reso…Mississippi Power Fou…Raymond James Charita…Paypal Charitable Giv…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Gulf Coast Community Foundation IncMS17.7× affinity6 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gulf Coast Community Foundation Inc · Leo W Seal Jr Family Foundation · Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic Foundation Inc · Mississippi Power Foundation Inc · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Paul T Benton Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Paul T Benton Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's 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
    5report 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
    How this is measured
    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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 66 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Paul T Benton’s filings →

    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