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Rowboat Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Rowboat Family Foundation

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.

$1.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
12
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$185k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Housing & Shelter$3.4MPublic Benefit$1.6MPhilanthropy$505kArts & Culture$277kSocial Science$230kEmployment$225kEducation$153kCommunity Improvement$125kOther$0
02FY2024 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $60k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $935k
$90,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$368k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PUSH BUFFALO INC$185,000
TIDES FOUNDATION$175,000
CENTER FOR PROGRESSIVE REFORM$120,000
INVESTIGATIVE POST$120,000
PUBLIC ACCOUNTABLITY INITIATIVE$100,000
OUR CITY BUFFALO$90,000
COMMUNITY VOICES HEARD$75,000
PARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC GOOD$70,000
JUSTICE FOR MIGRANT FAMILIES$35,000
CLEAN AIR COALITION OF WNY$15,000
BAIRD FOUNDATION$10,000
SECURE FAMILY FOUNDATION$7,500
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–21, $65k) land where the poverty rate runs at 20%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%MAKE THE ROAD STATES: $55k → 20%MAKE THE ROAD STATES: $10k → 20%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.
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.7M · 11 repeat orgs$550k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +162% since the first grant, against -26% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
15

Total granted

$5.7M
$442k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+162%
-26%

Still filing today

91%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $108k 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
EnvironmentArts & CultureCivil RightsCommunity ImprovementHousing & ShelterPublic BenefitOther
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

  • PU
    PEOPLE UNITED FOR SUSTAINABLE HOUSING INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $3.4M · revenue +239%
  • PA
    PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY INITIATIVE INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $805k · revenue +266%
  • LC
    LPE COLLECTIVE INC DBA CLASS CRITS INC
    6× · 2017–2023 · $153k · revenue ×23 · 91% of their budget

Funded once

  • AF
    ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF POLITICAL ECONOMY & LAW
    one grant, 2017 · $200k
  • MV
    MOVEMENT VOTER PROJECT
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
  • DF
    DATA FOR PROGRESS EDUCATION FUND
    one grant, 2020 · $30k
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
Partnership for the Public Good Inc

Partnership for the Public Good, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to help build a more just, sustainable, and culturally vibrant community through action-oriented research, policy development, and citizen engagement.

Community Improvement
2
Council On American-Islamic Relations of New York

Through legal advocacy, education, media relations, civic engagement and grassroots mobilzation, cair-ny empowers the american muslim community against discrimination.

Civil Rights
3
Worker Justice Center of New York Inc

Worker Justice Center of New York, Inc. (WJCNY) pusues juistice for those denied hian rights, with a focus on agricultural and other low-wage workers, through legal representation, community empowerment and advocacy for institutional…

Crime & Legal
4
Communities Resist Inc

We join our clients in the struggle to organize, assert their rights and protect their homes. we work to ensure that community voices are centered in the decisions that impact their lives and neighborhoods.

Housing & Shelter
5
Center for Constitutional Rights

Ccr is a non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the united states constitution the universal declaration of human rights. ccr stands with social justice movements…

Civil Rights
6
Justice Catalyst Inc

Justice catalyst takes on social justice issues that fall between the cracks of traditional advocacy models. by connecting advocates with diverse specialties and applying a cross-disciplinary approach to the law, justice catalyst develops…

Civil Rights
7
New York Communities for Change Inc

A grassroots membership-based organization building power for low and moderate-income communities in new york state.

Civil Rights
8
City Report Inc

CITY REPORT, INC. serves the people of New York through independent journalism that answers their information needs and holds the powerful to account.

Arts & Culture
9
City Limits News Inc

To use investigative journalism through the prism of new york city to identify urban problems, examine their causes. explore solutions, and equip communities to tak action

Public Benefit
10
Advocacy Institute Inc

Advocacy institute supports social justice organizations to build the advocacy skills, knowledge and power they need to shape government policy for a more just and equitable new york.

Civil Rights
11
Bold Impact

Bold Impact is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting a democracy where all communities get to thrive.

Arts & Culture
12
Rules Foundation

/The Rules is a global network of activists, organizers, designers, coders, researchers, writers and others dedicated to changing the rules that create inequality, climate change, and poverty around the world.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make the Road New York; the most unlike its peers is The Baird Foundation. 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

22 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. 22 of the 30 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
22/22
Grantees still filing
8/22
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PEOPLE UNITED FOR SUSTAINABLE HOUSING INC: $3,361,174 · Housing & ShelterPEOPLE UNITED FOR SUSTAINABLE HOUSING INCPUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY INITIATIVE INC: $805,000 · Public BenefitPUBLIC ACCOUN…CENTER FOR PROGRESSIVE REFORM INC: $600,000 · EnvironmentCENTER FOR …CLEAN AIR COALITION OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC: $85,000 · EnvironmentCLEAN AIR C…+1 more: $15,000 · EnvironmentTIDES FOUNDATION: $485,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $10,000 · PhilanthropyASSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF POLITICAL ECONOMY & LAW: $199,500 · OtherASSOCIATION FOR…MOVEMENT VOTER PROJECT: $100,000 · OtherMOVEMENT VOTER …PARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC GOOD: $85,000 · OtherPARTNERSHIP FOR…DATA FOR PROGRESS EDUCATION FUND: $30,000 · OtherLPE COLLECTIVE INC DBA CLASS CRITS INC: $153,000 · OtherLPE COLLECTIVE …OUR CITY BUFFALO INC: $90,000 · OtherOUR CITY BUFFAL…JUSTICE FOR MIGRANT FAMILIES WNY: $75,000 · OtherJUSTICE FOR MIG…Make The Road States Inc: $65,000 · OtherMake The Road S…+11 more: $95,499 · Other+11 moreINVESTIGATIVE POST INC: $185,000 · Arts & CultureGLOBAL URBAN HISTORY PROJECT INC: $72,394 · Arts & CultureAFRICAN AMERICAN CENTER FOR CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureCommunity Voices Heard Inc: $225,000 · Employment
Housing & Shelter$3,361,174Public Benefit$805,000Environment$700,000Philanthropy$495,000Other$892,999Arts & Culture$267,394Employment$225,000

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 budgetPEOPLE UNITED FOR SUSTAINABLE HOUSING INC: $3,361,174 over 8y, 19% of budgetPUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY INITIATIVE INC: $805,000 over 7y, 25% of budgetCENTER FOR PROGRESSIVE REFORM INC: $600,000 over 7y, 13% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $485,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCommunity Voices Heard Inc: $225,000 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetINVESTIGATIVE POST INC: $185,000 over 3y, 22% of budgetLPE COLLECTIVE INC DBA CLASS CRITS INC: $153,000 over 6y, 91% of budgetOUR CITY BUFFALO INC: $90,000 over 1y, 84% of budgetCLEAN AIR COALITION OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC: $85,000 over 3y, 4.7% of budgetJUSTICE FOR MIGRANT FAMILIES WNY: $75,000 over 3y, 24% of budgetGLOBAL URBAN HISTORY PROJECT INC: $72,394 over 2y, 25% of budgetMake The Road States Inc: $65,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNew York Communities Organizing Fund Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSolutions Project Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR ARTISTIC ACTIVISM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetMake the Road New York: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAFRICAN AMERICAN CENTER FOR CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetThe Baird Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetBETTER MARKETS INC: $300 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.

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.

Wallace Global Fund IIAmalgamated Charitabl…New York FoundationThe Western New York …Tides FoundationThe Schmidt Family Fo…Windward FundCommunity Foundation …The Ford FoundationVanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Wallace Global Fund IIDC15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Wallace Global Fund II · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · New York Foundation · The Western New York Foundation · Tides Foundation · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Windward Fund · Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Inc · The Ford Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · 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 Rowboat Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Rowboat Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Rowboat Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Rowboat Family Foundation 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 30 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Rowboat Family’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