Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

Sand County Charitable Trust

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$144k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$40k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Environment$572kScience & Tech$263kArts & Culture$125kPublic Benefit$60kCrime & Legal$38kHealth$33kYouth Development$33kPhilanthropy$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$25,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$2.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GENERATION CITIZEN$40,000
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND$25,000
NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL$25,000
CERES INC$20,000
EARTHJUSTICE$20,000
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB$14,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 70% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $60k → 8%CERES INC: $40k → 16%CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH: $20k → 10%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $10k → 17%ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INSTITUTE: $8k → 14%EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $10k → 18%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $40k → 8%GENERATION CITIZEN: $40k → 16%CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH: $5k → 10%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $10k → 17%ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INSTITUTE: $5k → 14%EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $5k → 18%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $40k → 8%CERES INC: $30k → 16%CAMBODIAN LIVING ARTS: $15k → 17%ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INSTITUTE: $5k → 14%EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $5k → 18%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $30k → 8%CERES INC: $30k → 16%CAMBODIAN LIVING ARTS: $10k → 17%ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INSTITUTE: $5k → 14%EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $5k → 18%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $30k → 8%ARTS EMERSON: $25k → 16%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $30k → 17%AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER: $25k → 8%ARTS EMERSON: $25k → 16%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $30k → 17%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $23k → 8%CERES INC: $20k → 16%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE EDF CLIMATE CORPS GRANT: $30k → 17%AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE: $15k → 8%GENERATION CITIZEN: $15k → 16%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $25k → 17%AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE: $10k → 8%CERES INC: $10k → 16%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $20k → 17%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $10k → 8%CERES: $10k → 16%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $20k → 17%CERES: $5k → 16%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $20k → 17%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $20k → 17%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $20k → 17%APPRENTICE LEARNING: $10k → 16%APPRENTICE LEARNING: $10k → 16%APPRENTICE LEARNING: $8k → 16%APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB: $14k → 16%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

VT
NY
MA
CA
CO
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.0M · 15 repeat orgs$55k to everyone else

15 repeat relationships — 4 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
3

Total granted

$1.0M
$35k

Still filing today

87%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k 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
EnvironmentInternationalYouth DevelopmentHealthCrime & LegalPhilanthropyOther

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

  • THE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $263k · revenue +12%
  • ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED
    8× · 2017–2025 · $185k · revenue +202%
  • CI
    CERES INC
    7× · 2017–2025 · $145k · revenue +129%

Funded once

  • ED
    ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE EDF CLIMATE CORPS GRANT
    one grant, 2018 · $30k
  • TM
    THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF MILTON
    one grant, 2020 · $3k
  • TM
    THE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF VERMONT
    one grant, 2019 · $3k

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
Environmental League of Massachusetts Inc

The organization's mission is to advocate for policy that meets the scale and urgency of our environmental challenges. as a massachusetts-based organization that engages in advocacy across a full spectrum of climate, environmental, and…

Environment
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
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
4
Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest

The environmental law & policy center (elpc) is the midwest's leading public interest environmental legal advocacy and ecobusiness innovation organization, and among the nation's leaders. we develop and lead successful strategic…

Environment
5
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
6
Environmental Research Center Inc

To safeguard the public from health hazards that impact families, workers, and the environment

Environment
7
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

8
New England Lawboston

New england law/boston dedicates itself to preparing students to be successful lawyers and leaders in the public and private sectors through integrated practical, theoretical and ethical education of the highest caliber and to contributing…

Education
9
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
10
Environmental Massachusetts Research and Policy Center

Environment Massachusetts Research and Policy Center's mission is to pursue solutions to environmental issues affecting the people of Massachusetts.

11
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
12
National Caucus of Environmental Legislators

The national caucus of environmental legislators empowers a nonpartisan network of legislative champions to protect, conserve, and improve the natural and human environment.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated and the most unlike its peers is Natural Resources Defense Council 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

14 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. 14 of the 20 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)
14/14
Grantees still filing
13/14
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $185,000 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATEDCERES INC — $145,000 · EnvironmentCERES INCNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC — $90,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INCEnvironmental Law Institute — $22,500 · EnvironmentAppalachian Mountain Club — $19,000 · EnvironmentTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC — $263,000 · InternationalTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCI…NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE — $60,000 · OtherNATURAL RESOURCES …ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE EDF CLIMATE CORPS GRANT — $30,000 · OtherENVIRONMENTAL DEFE…CAMBODIAN LIVING ARTS — $25,000 · OtherCAMBODIAN LIVING A…EARTHJUSTICE — $20,000 · OtherEARTHJUSTICEEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE — $25,000 · OtherEQUAL JUSTICE INIT…JAMES D STCLAIR COURT PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECT INC — $12,500 · OtherJAMES D STCLAIR CO…+3 more — $10,000 · Other+3 moreGENERATION CITIZEN INC — $60,000 · Youth DevelopmentGENERATIO…APPRENTICE LEARNING INC — $32,500 · Youth DevelopmentAPPRENTIC…EMERSON COLLEGE — $50,000 · EducationAMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC — $50,000 · Arts & CultureCenter for Environmental Health — $32,500 · Health
Environment$461,500International$263,000Other$182,500Youth Development$92,500Education$50,000Arts & Culture$50,000Health$32,500

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 UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC — $263,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $185,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCERES INC — $145,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC — $90,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGENERATION CITIZEN INC — $60,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetEMERSON COLLEGE — $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC — $50,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAPPRENTICE LEARNING INC — $32,500 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetCenter for Environmental Health — $32,500 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE — $25,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetEnvironmental Law Institute — $22,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetAppalachian Mountain Club — $19,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJAMES D STCLAIR COURT PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECT INC — $12,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetDeer Hill Foundation — $5,000 over 2y, 1.1% 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 THE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC
  • Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED
  • Who funds CERES INC
  • Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC
  • Who funds GENERATION CITIZEN INC
  • Who funds EMERSON COLLEGE
  • Who funds AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC
  • Who funds APPRENTICE LEARNING INC
  • Who funds Center for Environmental Health
  • Who funds EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE
  • Who funds Environmental Law Institute
  • Who funds Appalachian Mountain Club
  • Who funds JAMES D STCLAIR COURT PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECT INC
  • Who funds Deer Hill Foundation

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.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO6.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Sand County Charitable Trust 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%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 0%
  • Appalachian Mountain Club1% of income from government
  • American Repertory Theatre Co Inc0% of income from government
  • Emerson College0% of income from government
  • Ceres Inc0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get 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 · 0–20%
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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Sand County Charitable Trust?

Find your warmest path to Sand County Charitable Trust 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 20 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