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Plinth

· Private foundation

Ross Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$261k
Granted FY2025still arriving
38
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What you fund
0189% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$507kHealth$331kEducation$288kEnvironment$208kReligion$196kArts & Culture$144kAnimals$94kHuman Services$82kOther$0
02FY2025 · 38 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k30 grants · $108k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $153k
$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNITED WAY OF THE PLAINS$30,000
THE LAND INSTITUTE$30,000
UNITY SCHOOL OF CHRISTIANITY$25,000
GIVEWELL$20,000
PKD FOUNDATION$18,000
CHIX 4 A CAUSE$10,000
KANSAS HUMANE SOCIETY$10,000
SMILE TRAIN$10,000
SECOND HARVEST SANTA CRUZ$7,000
Individual grant recipient$5,500
LAND TRUST OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY$5,000
NEWSPRING CHURCH$5,000
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF KC$5,000
THE LORD'S DINER$5,000
Individual grant recipient$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 (FY23–25, $12k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%PIECESPEACES: $10k → 15%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $2k → 15%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.

04

Where the work is directed

The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.

About 7% of Ross Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another. Read by recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in MO; read by stated purpose it is 93% — less of the work is directed home than the recipients' locations suggest.

Ross Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address

Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.9M · 44 repeat orgs$424k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +69% since the first grant, against 0% for the ones you funded once.

44 repeat relationships — 24 still active in FY2025, 20 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

44
26

Total granted

$1.9M
$367k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+69%
0%

Still filing today

18%
12%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $57k 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
Food & NutritionHuman ServicesInternationalAnimalsEducationOther

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

  • IR
    International Relations Council
    5× · 2018–2022 · $70k · revenue +46%
  • KC
    Kansas City CARE Clinic
    7× · 2019–2025 · $35k · revenue +176%
  • KC
    KANSAS CITY PET PROJECT
    9× · 2017–2025 · $32k · revenue +176%

Funded once

  • KS
    KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION MILLING LAB
    one grant, 2017 · $60k
  • UW
    United Way of Greater Kansas City Inc
    one grant, 2018 · $50k · revenue 0%
  • US
    UNITY SCHOOL - EDU BLDG PROJ & ARCHIVES
    one grant, 2017 · $40k

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
Bionexus Kc

We inspire thinkers from different disciplines to combine their efforts for a common purpose: healthcare innovation.(continued on schedule o)from bioinformatics to cancer research and beyond, we stimulate collaboration and help bring…

Science & Tech
2
Ability Kc

Our mission is to build brighter futures for children and adults with disabilities by providing comprehensive medical, therapeutic, educational, and vocational services.

3
Bike Walk Kc

Bike walk kc's mission is to redefine our streets as places for people to build a culture of active living. our vision is a greater kansas city where everyone moves through the city and its public spaces equitably, safely, comfortably, and…

Religion
4
Kansas Health Foundation

The Kansas Health Foundation operates based on the following three-part purpose statement: 1. Empower Kansas to lead the nation in health. 2. Eliminate the inequities that lead to the greatest health disparities. 3. To become THE model for…

Health
5
The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City

To accelerate growth in the region's prosperity and quality of life for all by strategically deploying the personal and corporate resources, influence and expertise of the region's business and civic leaders.

6
The Kansas University Alumni Association

We build lifelong relationships that strengthen the university of kansas and the legacy of excellence embodied by its students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends.

Education
7
Truman Medical Center Incorporated

University health is an academic health center providing accessible, state-of-the-art quality healthcare to our community regardless of the ability to pay.

Health
8
Kansas Farm Bureau

Kansas farm bureau exists to strengthen agriculture and the lives of kansans through advocacy, education, and service.

9
Kansas City Community Gardens Inc

Kansas city community gardens is dedicated to improving the quality of life of low-income households and other members of the community by helping them grow their own nutritious fruits and vegatables. the member gardners develop…

Environment
10
Kansas Pharmacists Association

To preserve, protect and advance kansas pharmacy practice through education, engagement and advocacy.

11
Bioscience & Technology Business Center Inc

The organization's mission is to create, recruit, grow and retain technology and bioscience businesses in northeast kansas with the ultimate vision to build a more modern, resilient and diverse regional economy.

Community Improvement
12
Partnership for Regional Educational Preparation - Kansas City Inc

In a world where zip codes can predict outcomes, prep-kc ignites potential by bringing educators and industry professionals together to build paths to meaningful careers for students across the heart of bistate kansas city.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kansas City Care Clinic and the most unlike its peers is Gardens At Unity Village. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

05the grantee network

12 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. 12 of the 84 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)
12/12
Grantees still filing
7/12
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

UNITED WAY OF THE PLAINS — $457,000 · OtherUNITED WAY OF THE PLAINSTHE LAND INSTITUTE — $203,100 · OtherTHE LAND INSTITUTEGIVEWELL — $127,600 · OtherGIVEWELLUNITY SCHOOL OF CHRISTIANITY — $107,263 · OtherPKD Foundation — $97,650 · OtherKSU FOUNDATION — $84,700 · Other+71 more — $1,102,605 · Other+71 moreInternational Relations Council — $70,000 · InternationalKANSAS CITY PET PROJECT — $32,000 · AnimalsHARVESTERS - THE COMMUNITY FOOD NETWORK — $18,000 · Food & NutritionGARDENS AT UNITY VILLAGE — $2,000 · Food & NutritionPIECES PEACES — $10,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $2,000 · Human ServicesThe Principia Corporation — $4,000 · Education
Other$2,179,918International$70,000Animals$32,000Food & Nutrition$20,000Human Services$12,000Education$4,000

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 budgetPKD Foundation — $97,650 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetInternational Relations Council — $70,000 over 5y, 6.7% of budgetUnited Way of Greater Kansas City Inc — $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetKansas City CARE Clinic — $35,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetKANSAS CITY PET PROJECT — $32,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetBRIDGING THE GAP INC — $26,000 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetHARVESTERS - THE COMMUNITY FOOD NETWORK — $18,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetPIECES PEACES — $10,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetThe Principia Corporation — $4,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA GATEWAY CHAPTER — $3,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $2,000 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.

  • Who funds PKD Foundation
  • Who funds International Relations Council
  • Who funds United Way of Greater Kansas City Inc
  • Who funds Kansas City CARE Clinic
  • Who funds KANSAS CITY PET PROJECT
  • Who funds BRIDGING THE GAP INC
  • Who funds HARVESTERS - THE COMMUNITY FOOD NETWORK
  • Who funds PIECES PEACES

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.

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation IncNC8.3× affinity5 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Bank of America Charitable Foundation 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 Ross Foundation 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%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
    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 84 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