Skip to content

· Private foundation

Sereno Mare Blu 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.

$103k
Granted FY2024still arriving
7
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$50k
Largest
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 2024.

Health$171kEducation$124kCrime & Legal$97kInternational$81kReligion$75kRecreation & Sports$66kHuman Services$32kArts & Culture$20kOther$0
02FY2024 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k5 grants · $3k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
$200
Median grant
4
States reached
$1.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
St Jude Childrens Research Hospital$50,000
Schoenstatt Movement of Austin$50,000
St Edward's University$2,350
Blanco County 4-H$200
Salvation Army$200
National Police Association$100
United States Law Enforcement Found$100
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 (FY18–21, $2k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 57% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Covenant House: $1k → 16%American Breast Cancer Fdn: $250 → 6%Meals on Wheels: $500 → 10%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.
04

Where the work is directed

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

About 93% of Sereno Mare Blu Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 72% of the giving stays in TX; by stated purpose, 100%.

Sereno Mare Blu Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
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 funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$574k · 17 repeat orgs$111k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +76% since the first grant, against +33% for those funded once.

17 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
16

Total granted

$574k
$111k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+76%
+33%

Still filing today

53%
81%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $200 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
EducationHealthHuman ServicesFood & NutritionRecreation & SportsEnvironmentOther
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

  • TS
    THE SAFE ALLIANCE
    6× · 2017–2023 · $124k · revenue +66%
  • ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $106k · revenue +145%
  • SM
    Schoenstatt Movement of Austin Inc
    3× · 2022–2024 · $68k · revenue +36%

Funded once

  • MA
    MD Anderson Cancer Center
    one grant, 2023 · $50k
  • CO
    CARITAS OF AUSTIN
    one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +19%
  • AC
    AMERICAN CORNERSTONE INSTITUTE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +42%
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
Children's Advocacy Centers of Texas Inc

Children's advocacy centers of texas, inc. (cactx) is the statewide organization for its 70 children's advocacy centers (cac's) across texas. cactx leads efforts, in partnership with investigatory and prosecution agencies, to pursue…

Crime & Legal
2
Any Baby Can of Austin Inc

Any baby can, an austin-based nonprofit, partners with parents so children reach their full potential. with programs that meet clients where they are at home, work or school any baby can provides in-home therapy, parent education, mental…

—
3
Austin Street Center

The mission of austin street center is to provide emergency shelter and related services to the homeless. programs provide crisis intervention, substance abuse awareness information and opportunities to improve present life situations to…

—
4
Center for Child Protection

To reduce the trauma for children during the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases.

Crime & Legal
5
American Civil Liberties Union of Texas Inc

The ACLU of Texas works with communities, at the State Capitol, and in the courts to protect and advance civil rights and civil liberties for every Texan, no exceptions.

—
6
Community Action Inc of Central Texas

Established in 1965, community action, inc. of central texas has continuously worked to assist low to moderate income families in central texas by providing a variety of social services and economic opportunities. the agency has four areas…

Human Services
7
Children's Hospital Association of Texas

To advance children's health and well-being by advocating for policies and funding that promote children's access to high-quality, comprehensive health care.

—
8
Austin Area Research Organization

Aaro, a non-partisan thought leader for central texas, has worked behind the scenes on critical regional issues since 1980. the membership is an intentionally diverse group of central texas leaders drawn from business, industry, education,…

—
9
Leadership Austin

Leadership austin connects and develops leaders to courageously engage and transform our communities.

Youth Development
10
Lone Star Circle of Care

Lone star circle of care provides exceptional and accessible patient centered healthcare for our texas neighbors, focusing on the underserved.

Health
11
Austin-Travis County Sobriety Center Local Government Corporation

The sobering center enhances public health and safety by providing a safe place for publicly intoxicated individuals to sober up as an alternative to the emergency room or jail and, where appropriate, to provide a bridge to recovery.

Human Services
12
Community Information Now

Community information now (cinow) provides data, tools, analysis, and training to inform decisions to improve texas communities. cinow's vision is improved lives and decreased disparities through democratized data.

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Austin Community Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Meals On Wheels. 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

25 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. 25 of the 36 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
25/25
Grantees still filing
21/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE SAFE ALLIANCE: $124,045 · OtherTHE SAFE ALLIANCEGIVE KIDS THE WORLD INC: $64,500 · OtherGIVE KIDS THE WORLD INCMD Anderson Cancer Center: $50,000 · OtherMD Anderson Cancer CenterSt Michael's Catholic Academy: $40,500 · OtherSt Michael's Catholic AcademySt Stephens Episcopal Sch: $16,000 · Other+17 more: $59,750 · Other+17 moreST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $106,100 · HealthST JUDE CHILDREN'S…+3 more: $6,500 · Health+3 moreSt Edwards University: $49,487 · EducationSt Edwards …CLIFFORD ANTONE FOUNDATION: $11,000 · EducationCLIFFORD AN…AMERICAN CORNERSTONE INSTITUTE INC: $10,000 · EducationAMERICAN CO…+2 more: $1,610 · EducationSchoenstatt Movement of Austin Inc: $67,500 · ReligionSchoenstatt…CANDLELIGHT RANCH FOUNDATION: $65,000 · Recreation & SportsCANDLELIGH…AKSHAYA PATRA FOUNDATION (USA): $10,000 · Food & NutritionCentral Texas Food Bank Inc: $1,000 · Food & NutritionFUSE BOX AUSTIN: $5,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$354,795Health$112,600Education$72,097Religion$67,500Recreation & Sports$65,000Food & Nutrition$11,000Arts & Culture$5,000

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 budgetTHE SAFE ALLIANCE: $124,045 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $106,100 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSchoenstatt Movement of Austin Inc: $67,500 over 3y, 9.2% of budgetCANDLELIGHT RANCH FOUNDATION: $65,000 over 6y, 3.6% of budgetGIVE KIDS THE WORLD INC: $64,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSt Edwards University: $49,487 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCLIFFORD ANTONE FOUNDATION: $11,000 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetCARITAS OF AUSTIN: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN CORNERSTONE INSTITUTE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAKSHAYA PATRA FOUNDATION (USA): $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ARC OF THE CAPITAL AREA: $8,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFUSE BOX AUSTIN: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPEOPLE'S COMMUNITY CLINIC INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAUSTIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $2,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE COLORADO RIVER FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF CENTRAL TEXAS: $1,510 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE TEXAS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCentral Texas Food Bank Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS: $500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES LAW ENFORCEMENT FOUNDATION INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL POLICE ASSOCIATION INC: $100 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.

Shield-Ayres FoundationTX15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Shield-Ayres Foundation · Austin Community Foundation Inc · The Moody Foundation · Greater Houston Community Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Charities Aid Foundation America · National Philanthropic Trust · Network for Good · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Sereno Mare Blu Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sereno Mare Blu Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%1%3%6%10%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
    3get no government money at all
    4report 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 Sereno Mare Blu Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Sereno Mare Blu 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 36 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 Sereno Mare Blu’s filings →

    More from the funding graph