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Serendipity Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Serendipity Foundation Inc

Its FY2021 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$194k
Granted FY2021
33
Grants FY2021
13
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2021.

International$144kCommunity Improvement$111kFood & Nutrition$93kCivil Rights$65kEnvironment$46kHealth$23kAnimals$19kPublic Benefit$17kOther$0
02FY2021 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k28 grants · $95k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $99k
$3,000
Median grant
13
States reached
$4.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FEEDING AMERICA$30,000
SHARE OUR STRENGTH$30,000
CARING FOR COLOMBIA$15,000
ACTBLUE$14,000
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS$10,000
LULAC INSTITUTE$8,500
VETERINARIANS INTERNATIONAL$8,000
MORAL COURAGE PROJECT$6,500
FLORIDA AIDS WALK$5,000
IMPACTCOM$5,000
ACLU FOUNDATION$5,000
RAINBOW RAILROAD$5,000
INTERNATIONAL SEA LEVEL INSTITUTE$5,000
ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE$4,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD$4,000
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 (FY17–20, $25k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 84% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%BORDER ANGELS: $4k → 11%THE CHILDREN'S GUILD: $5k → 11%BROWARD HOUSE: $1k → 13%INNOCENCE PROJECT: $3k → 17%INNOCENCE PROJECT: $1k → 17%INNOCENCE PROJECT: $1k → 17%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $11k → 14%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

WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
OR
IA
PA
CT
CA
UT
CO
MO
VA
MD
NM
DC
GA
TX
FL
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.

70%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$393k · 31 repeat orgs$171k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +46% since the first grant, against +35% for those funded once.

31 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2021, 19 since wound down; 21 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

31
42

Total granted

$393k
$78k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+35%

Still filing today

65%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 52% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $92k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21
InternationalHuman ServicesEnvironmentAnimalsArts & CultureCivil RightsOther
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

  • Feeding America
    2× · 2020–2021 · $60k · revenue +40%
  • MADRE INC
    4× · 2017–2020 · $31k · revenue +39%
  • FC
    FOUNDATION CARING FOR COLOMBIA LTD
    3× · 2019–2021 · $28k · revenue +20%

Funded once

  • IG
    ICLEI-LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FOR SUSTAIN
    one grant, 2020 · $6k
  • TC
    THE CHILDREN'S GUILD INC
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +7%
  • UA
    UNITED ANIMAL NATIONS DBA REDROVERgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +41%
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
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
2
Washington Office On Latin America

To advance human rights and social justice in the americas.

International
3
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
4
The International Institute On Race Equality and Human Rights

The international institute on race, equality and human rights contributes to the promotion and defense of human rights, through training, technical assistance, advocacy, and strategic litigation conducted at the regional and international…

International
5
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
6
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…

International
7
The Population Council Inc

We generate ideas, produce evidence, and design solutions to improve the lives of underserved populations around the world. we take a multidisciplinary, intergenerational, life-cycle approach that contributes to (see schedule o)four global…

International
8
Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente

To strenghten people's ability to guarantee their individual and collective right to a healthy environment, via the development, implementation, and effective enforcement of national and international law.

Crime & Legal
9
International Crisis Group

Crisis group works to prevent and resolve deadly conflict around the world by informing and influencing the perceptions and actions of policymakers and other key conflict actors. to this end, we endeavour to talk to all sides and provide…

International
10
Women's Refugee Commission Inc

To improve the lives and protect the rights of women, children and youth displaced by conflict and crisis. the women's refugee commission envisions a world in which refugees are safe, healthy and reliant and seeks to drive change in…

Human Services
11
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
12
Observer Research Foundation America

Organization mission the observer research foundation america orf america is an independent, non-partisan, and nonprofit organization in washington dc dedicated to addressing policy challenges facing the united states, india, and their…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc; the most unlike its peers is Running Start. 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

56 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. 56 of the 98 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
56/56
Grantees still filing
40/56
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SHARE OUR STRENGTH: $30,000 · OtherSHARE OUR STRENGTHINTERNATIONAL SEA LEVEL INSTITUTE: $26,000 · OtherINTERNATIONAL SEA LEVEL INSTITUTEACTBLUE: $21,000 · OtherACTBLUEIRANIAN RAILROAD FOR QUEER: $16,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $15,750 · OtherPROJECT ITJIHAD: $12,750 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOOD: $12,000 · OtherEDF: $11,000 · Other+60 more: $165,030 · Other+60 moreMADRE INC: $31,000 · InternationalMADRE INCFOUNDATION CARING FOR COLOMBIA LTD: $28,436 · InternationalFOUNDATION CARING FOR COLO…United States Association for UNHCR: $28,050 · InternationalUnited States Association …MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $24,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES U…+9 more: $24,000 · International+9 moreFeeding America: $60,000 · Food & NutritionFeeding Amer…Rodale Institute: $2,500 · Food & NutritionAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $13,000 · Human ServicesTHE CHILDREN'S GUILD INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $4,500 · Human ServicesBORDER ANGELS: $4,000 · Human ServicesBROWARD HOUSE INC: $1,000 · Human ServicesLULAC INSTITUTE INC: $8,500 · PhilanthropyRAINBOW RAILROAD USA INC: $5,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDATION: $3,500 · PhilanthropyTHE GIVING BACK FUND: $2,000 · PhilanthropyEcoHealth Alliance Inc: $9,000 · AnimalsHumane World for Animals Inc: $3,000 · AnimalsTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $1,500 · AnimalsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $8,000 · Civil RightsSOMOS UN PUEBLO UNIDO: $2,000 · Civil RightsREFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES: $1,500 · Civil Rights
Other$310,030International$135,486Food & Nutrition$62,500Human Services$27,500Philanthropy$19,000Animals$13,500Civil Rights$11,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFeeding America: $60,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMADRE INC: $31,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION CARING FOR COLOMBIA LTD: $28,436 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetUnited States Association for UNHCR: $28,050 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $24,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $13,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetEcoHealth Alliance Inc: $9,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLULAC INSTITUTE INC: $8,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMORAL COURAGE PROJECT F/K/A PROJECT IJTIHAD: $8,500 over 2y, 18% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNETWORK FOR GOOD: $7,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRAINBOW RAILROAD USA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S GUILD INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED ANIMAL NATIONS DBA REDROVER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $4,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetATLANTIC COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES INC: $4,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $4,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBORDER ANGELS: $4,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCERES INC: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHumane World for Animals Inc: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOUR RESCUE: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMIDDLE EAST MEDIA AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCUATRO POR VENEZUELA: $3,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRodale Institute: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CARTER CENTER INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GIVING BACK FUND: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRunning Start: $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMARCH ON: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOMOS UN PUEBLO UNIDO: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetREFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COUNCIL ON STRATEGIC RISKS: $1,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN IMMIGRATION COUNCIL: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKIND INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAHA FOUNDATION INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Civil Liberties Union of Texas Inc: $1,166 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBROWARD HOUSE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLECTIVE HERITAGE INSTITUTE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMercy Corps: $1,000 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.

Santa Fe Community Fo…The Annenberg Foundat…Jewish Community Fede…Silicon Valley Commun…Tides FoundationThe Chicago Community…Shell USA Company Fou…Jewish Communal FundGs Donor Advised Phil…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…National Philanthropi…The Pfizer Foundation…
Santa Fe Community FoundationNM13.2× affinity4 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Santa Fe Community Foundation · The Annenberg Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Tides Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Shell USA Company Foundation · Jewish Communal Fund · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · The Pfizer Foundation Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 24%
  • Mercy Corps: 47% of income from government
  • Aha Foundation Inc: 42% of income from government
  • EcoHealth Alliance Inc: 24% of income from government
  • Broward House Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Americares Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Ceres Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
9report 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 Serendipity Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Serendipity 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 98 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Serendipity’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