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· Private foundation

Sears Family Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$201k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$85k
Largest
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Housing & Shelter$267kHuman Services$196kReligion$100kFood & Nutrition$61kInternational$40kHealth$35kPublic Benefit$28kYouth Development$24kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $11k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $105k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $85k
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHURCH ON MORGAN$85,000
THE GREEN CHAIR PROJECT$45,000
CASA$25,000
STEPUP MINISTRY$15,000
GIFT OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL$10,000
SHIP COMMUNITY OUTREACH$10,000
SAFECHILD$5,000
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA$3,000
WOMEN THAT CARE INC$3,000
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 (FY18–25, $161k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%SHIP COMMUNITY OUTREACH: $10k → 8%THE GREEN CHAIR PROJECT: $45k → 8%THE GREEN CHAIR PROJECT: $25k → 8%RALEIGH RESCUE MISSION: $3k → 8%RALEIGH RESCUE MISSION: $3k → 8%STEPUP MINISTRY: $15k → 8%STEPUP MINISTRY: $10k → 8%STEPUP MINISTRY: $5k → 8%STEPUP MINISTRY: $5k → 8%STEPUP MINISTRY: $2k → 8%GREEN CHAIR PROJECT: $28k → 8%GREEN CHAIR PROJECT: $8k → 8%GREEN CHAIR PROJECT: $3k → 8%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.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$618k · 21 repeat orgs$186k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +54% since the first grant, against -6% for those funded once.

21 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

21
16

Total granted

$618k
$88k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+54%
-6%

Still filing today

52%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 51% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $98k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesHousing & ShelterFood & NutritionHealthReligionEmploymentOther
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

  • TG
    THE GREEN CHAIR PROJECT
    5× · 2018–2025 · $108k · revenue +91%
  • A PLACE AT THE TABLE
    5× · 2018–2024 · $49k · revenue +162%
  • GO
    GIFT OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC
    4× · 2021–2025 · $40k · revenue +113%

Funded once

  • B
    BLOOMHERE
    one grant, 2021 · $30k · revenue -50%
  • TQ
    THE QUIET PLACE NC INC
    one grant, 2021 · $13k · revenue -20%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $5k
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
Southlight Healthcare Inc

Southlight healthcare provides access to high-quality mental health and substance use treatment, fostering a resilient community by supporting individuals in their recovery.

Health
2
On the Rise Inc

On the rise's work begins with individuals experiencing homelessness and continues if and when they secure housing. from our origin as a women's organization, our programs have evolved toward inclusion of those historically and…

Human Services
3
The Hope Center Inc

Our mission is to provide comprehensive life-sustaining and life-rebuilding services that promote healing from substance use disorder, mental health disorders, and homelessness.

Housing & Shelter
4
Covenant House Georgia Inc

Covenant house georgia provides shelters, protects and advocates on behalf of homeless, trafficked, runaway and sexually exploited youth.

—
5
Community Alternatives Inc

To provide responsive, person-centered services to improve the quality of life of individuals with disabilities.

Employment
6
Safe Harbour Inc

Safe harbour provides a continuum of housing and supportive services for homeless and nearly homeless individuals and families in our communities.

Housing & Shelter
7
Roof Above Inc

Roof above, inc. is an interfaith, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to unite the community to end homelessness, one life at a time. we do so by providing an array of homeless services and housing services in the charlotte metro…

Arts & Culture
8
Durham Home Inc
—
9
Cleveland County Abuse Prevention Council Inc

The Abuse Prevention Council provides emergency, advocacy, counseling, education and specialized services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and homeless individuals and families.

Crime & Legal
10
Safe House Inc

S.a.f.e. house is a community based non-profit organization committed to stop abuse in the family environment by providing a comprehensive approach to end domestic violence that includes crisis intervention, safe shelter, counseling,…

Human Services
11
The San Francisco Particular Council of the Society of St Vincent De Paul

The mission of the st. vincent de paul society of san francisco (svdp-sf) is to offer hope and service on a direct person-to-person basis, working to break the cycles of homelessness and domestic violence.

Human Services
12
Hope Services Hawaii Inc

Hope services hawaii provides housing-focused interventions to end homelessness through a continuum of services, including homeless prevention and diversion, mobile outreach, medical respite, street medicine, in- shelter medical attention,…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Plm Families Together Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Quiet Place Nc 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

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 40 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)
19/22
Grantees still filing
12/22
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHURCH ON MORGAN: $85,000 · OtherCHURCH ON MORGANBLOOMHERE: $30,000 · OtherBLOOMHERECECILIA RAWLINS FUND: $28,000 · OtherCECILIA RAWLINS FUNDEMMAUS HOUSE: $22,000 · OtherEMMAUS HOUSEBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $15,500 · OtherBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBWOMEN THAT CARE INC: $14,250 · OtherSALVATION ARMY: $13,000 · OtherTHE QUIET PLACE NC INC: $12,500 · Other+17 more: $62,050 · Other+17 moreCASA: $183,500 · Housing & ShelterCASAOAK CITY CARES INC: $21,000 · Housing & ShelterOAK CITY CARES INC+2 more: $10,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE GREEN CHAIR PROJECT: $108,000 · Human ServicesTHE GREEN CHAIR PROJEC…STEPUP MINISTRY: $36,500 · Human ServicesSTEPUP MINISTRYTHE SHIP OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE SHIP OUTREACH AND …THE RALEIGH RESCUE MISSION INC: $6,000 · Human Services+1 more: $2,000 · Human ServicesGIFT OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC: $40,000 · HealthAmerican Heart Association Inc: $20,000 · HealthA PLACE AT THE TABLE: $49,000 · Food & NutritionMANNA FOOD BANK INC: $5,000 · Food & NutritionAspire Inc: $15,000 · EmploymentSAFECHILD: $15,000 · Crime & Legal
Other$282,300Housing & Shelter$214,500Human Services$162,500Health$60,000Food & Nutrition$54,000Employment$15,000Crime & Legal$15,000

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 budgetCASA: $183,500 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetTHE GREEN CHAIR PROJECT: $108,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetA PLACE AT THE TABLE: $49,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetGIFT OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC: $40,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetSTEPUP MINISTRY: $36,500 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetBLOOMHERE: $30,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetOAK CITY CARES INC: $21,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAspire Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSAFECHILD: $15,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE QUIET PLACE NC INC: $12,500 over 1y, 18% of budgetTHE SHIP OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetTOGETHER WE CAN INC: $8,600 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetPLM FAMILIES TOGETHER INC: $8,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE RALEIGH RESCUE MISSION INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE WOMEN'S CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBOYS CLUB OF WAKE COUNTY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEden Village of Wilmington: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBELOVED ASHEVILLE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMANNA FOOD BANK INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION CENTER INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChurches Outreach Network: $2,000 over 1y, 2.1% 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 CASA ↗
  • Who funds THE GREEN CHAIR PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds A PLACE AT THE TABLE ↗
  • Who funds GIFT OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
  • Who funds STEPUP MINISTRY ↗
  • Who funds BLOOMHERE ↗
  • Who funds OAK CITY CARES INC ↗
  • Who funds American Heart Association Inc ↗
  • Who funds Aspire Inc ↗
  • Who funds SAFECHILD ↗
  • Who funds THE QUIET PLACE NC INC ↗
  • Who funds THE SHIP OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds TOGETHER WE CAN INC ↗
  • Who funds PLM FAMILIES TOGETHER INC ↗
  • Who funds THE RALEIGH RESCUE MISSION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE WOMEN'S CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds BOYS CLUB OF WAKE COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds Eden Village of Wilmington ↗
  • Who funds BELOVED ASHEVILLE ↗
  • Who funds MANNA FOOD BANK INC ↗
  • Who funds THE FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds Churches Outreach Network ↗

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.

North Carolina Community FoundationNC26.6× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: North Carolina Community Foundation · Triangle Community Foundation Inc · W Trent Ragland Jr Foundation · United Way of the Greater Triangle Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · Bell Schaefer Family Foundation · Truist Foundation Inc · Bell Cook Family Foundation · A E Finley Foundation Inc · Bell Koonce Burnette Foundation · The Leon Levine Foundation · Realtor Foundation of Wake County

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 Sears Family Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sears Family Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's 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
    8report 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, 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 Sears Family Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Sears Family Foundation Inc 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 40 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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