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Shades of Light Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Shades of Light Foundation

Its FY2020 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$677k
Granted FY2020
2
Grants FY2020
1
States reached
$610k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2020.

Philanthropy$702kYouth Development$21kReligion$15kArts & Culture$12kHuman Services$7kHousing & Shelter$7kFood & Nutrition$500
02FY2020 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2020

  • $50k–250k1 grant · $67k
  • $250k+1 grant · $610k
$610,427
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Morgan Stanley Global impact funding trust inc$610,427
MORGAN STANLEY GLOBAL IMPACT FUNDING TRUST INC$67,039
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 (FY17–19, $8k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 6%. 97% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 6%SUNRISE DAY CAMPS ASSOCIATION INC: $250 → 6%GEORGIA CAMPAIGN FOR ADOLESCENT POWER AND POTENTIA: $4k → 13%LIMMUD ATLANTA & SOUTHEAST: $2k → 13%LIMMUD ATLANTA & SOUTHEAST: $1k → 13%YOUTHSPARK INC: $2k → 13%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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$755k · 8 repeat orgs$9k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +74% since the first grant, against +48% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2020, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
8

Total granted

$755k
$9k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+74%
+48%

Still filing today

63%
88%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20
Human ServicesArts & CultureFood & NutritionOther
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

  • CY
    Create Your Dreams Inc
    3× · 2017–2019 · $18k · revenue +28%
  • CH
    COVENANT HOUSE GEORGIA INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $7k · revenue +95%
  • AJ
    ATLANTA JEWISH FILM SOCIETY INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $5k · revenue +193%

Funded once

  • GC
    Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential Incgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $4k · revenue +29%
  • YI
    youthSpark Inc
    one grant, 2018 · $2k · revenue +3%
  • FM
    Forget Me Not Childrens Servicesgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $2k · revenue +50%
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
Pirchei of Atlanta

Summer Educational camp for children.

Education
2
Atlanta Contempory Art Center Inc

Dedicated to the creation, presentation and advancement of contemporary art through its exhibitions, educational programming and studio art program.

Arts & Culture
3
Georgia Symphony Orchestra

The Georgia Symphony Orchestra GSO is a non-profit corporation organized for the purposes of providing significant cultural and educational value to the north-metro Atlanta community. The organization performs public concerts through our…

—
4
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta Inc

Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta's mission is to protect and promote the civil and human rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in Georgia and the Southeast through policy advocacy, legal services,…

Human Services
5
Twinhead Theatre Inc

Theatre company

Arts & Culture
6
Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta Inc

To foster and ensure a vibrant greater Atlanta Jewish community by providing programs and services of distinction that attract, involve, and inspire meaningful connections and promote Jewish values.

Human Services
7
Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators Foundation Inc
—
8
The African Diasporic Art Museum of Atlanta Inc

to showcase contemporary art and culture of the African Diaspora

Arts & Culture
9
Jewish Family & Career Services Inc

To transform lives.

Human Services
10
Atlanta Chamber Players Inc

Present world-class mixed ensemble chamber music to a broad audience, contribute to the future of chamber music through commissioning of new works

—
11
Mosaic Georgia Inc

Mosaic Georgia's mission is to take action and guide change for the safety, health, and justice of children and adults impacted by sexual violence. It provides a coordinated, trauma-informed response, including crisis services, medical…

Health
12
SouthEastern Young Artists Inc

The SouthEastern Young Artists brings artists and community together by putting on performances for the public. Additionally artists will go into local schools and education institutions to do workshops around music and social emotional…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Atlanta Jewish Film Society Inc; the most unlike its peers is Covenant House Georgia 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

13 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. 13 of the 16 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)
12/13
Grantees still filing
11/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Morgan Stanley Global impact funding trust inc: $702,466 · OtherMorgan Stanley Global impact funding trust inc+3 more: $21,640 · OtherCreate Your Dreams Inc: $17,500 · Arts & CultureATLANTA JEWISH FILM SOCIETY INC: $5,220 · Arts & CultureHAMBIDGE CENTER FOR CREATIVE ARTS AND SCIENCES INC: $4,900 · Arts & CultureNERANENAH INC: $1,250 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $400 · Arts & CultureGeorgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential Inc: $3,500 · Human ServicesLIMMUD ATLANTA SOUTHEAST: $2,700 · Human ServicesyouthSpark Inc: $2,000 · Human ServicesForget Me Not Childrens Services: $1,500 · Human Services+2 more: $400 · Human ServicesSECOND HELPINGS ATLANTA INC: $500 · Food & Nutrition
Other$724,106Arts & Culture$29,270Human Services$10,100Food & Nutrition$500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCreate Your Dreams Inc: $17,500 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE GEORGIA INC: $6,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetATLANTA JEWISH FILM SOCIETY INC: $5,220 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHAMBIDGE CENTER FOR CREATIVE ARTS AND SCIENCES INC: $4,900 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetGeorgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential Inc: $3,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLIMMUD ATLANTA SOUTHEAST: $2,700 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetForget Me Not Childrens Services: $1,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNERANENAH INC: $1,250 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSECOND HELPINGS ATLANTA INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSUNRISE DAY CAMPS ASSOCIATION INC: $250 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.

The Community Foundat…The Imlay Foundation …Jewish Federation of …The Arthur M Blank Fa…THDF II Inc DBA The H…United Way of Greater…Morgan Stanley Global…The Bank of America C…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta IncGA16.7× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta Inc · The Imlay Foundation Inc · Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta Inc · The Arthur M Blank Family Foundation · THDF II Inc DBA The Home Depot Foundation & Homer Fund · United Way of Greater Atlanta Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%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
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    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.

    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 16 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 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Shades of Light’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