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Plinth

· Private foundation

Sharon & Bob Ford Foundation

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.

$288k
Granted FY2025still arriving
120
Grants FY2025still arriving
11
States reached
$13k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
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 FY2022–2025.

Environment$139kEducation$117kHealth$87kInternational$61kArts & Culture$59kPublic Safety & Disaster$50kCivil Rights$50kAnimals$33kOther$0
02FY2025 · 120 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k115 grants · $231k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $58k
$2,500
Median grant
11
States reached
$4.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$12,500
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$12,500
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$12,500
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC$10,000
AMERICAN RED CROSS$10,000
PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST$6,000
PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST$6,000
CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS$5,000
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA$5,000
CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS$5,000
CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS$5,000
ACLU FOUNDATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA$5,000
EARTH ENABLE$5,000
CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS$5,000
AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION$5,000
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:

Your human-services grants (FY25–25, $16k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%TRAVELINGWIKI FOUNDATION: $500 → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $10k → 14%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $5k → 14%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

NY
MA
OH
PA
CA
CO
VA
MD
AZ
TN
DC
GA
TX

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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$469k · 32 repeat orgs$71k to everyone else

32 repeat relationships — 31 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

32
10

Total granted

$469k
$23k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+8%

Still filing today

91%
90%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $48k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentInternationalAnimalsHealthArts & CultureEducationOther

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

  • VE
    VILLAGE ENTERPRISE FUND
    3× · 2023–2025 · $51k · revenue +16%
  • YF
    YOSEMITE FOUNDATION
    4× · 2022–2025 · $37k · revenue +4%
  • PO
    PENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST
    4× · 2022–2025 · $35k · revenue +106%

Funded once

  • NP
    NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue 0%
  • NY
    NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue +75%
  • SAMARITAN HOUSE
    one grant, 2024 · $3k · revenue +8%

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
Conservation International Foundation

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

Environment
2
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
3
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
4
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
5
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
6
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
7
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
8
Property and Environment Research Center

Perc is dedicated to advancing conservation through markets, incentives, property rights, and partnerships.

Public Benefit
9
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
10
Earth & Space Research

Increase societal understanding of the earth system through scientific research and education.

Science & Tech
11
Chile-California Council

The Chile-California Council is a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to developing and promoting joint endeavors and cooperative relations between Chile and California, as well as individuals, legal entities and other institutions in…

International
12
National Audubon Society Inc

We work towards a future where birds thrive across the americas because audubon is a powerful, diverse, and ever-growing force for conservation. (continued on schedule o).

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is California State Parks Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Travelingwiki Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Cancer Support OrganizationsCommunity Health CentersEducation Equity LeadershipElementary Literacy TutoringPublic Library SupportAffordable Housing Developm…Government Accountability R…Faith-Based Senior LivingAnimal Rescue and AdoptionFood Pantries & AssistanceWildlife Rehabilitation Cen…Land Conservation Organizat…Classical Music EnsemblesChristian Missionary Organi…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 41 years old; the field is 14. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number24%2%<5yr15%0%5–10yr20%9%10–20yr17%30%20–35yr11%32%35–55yr13%27%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value24%0%<5yr15%0%5–10yr20%9%10–20yr17%39%20–35yr11%32%35–55yr13%21%55yr+

The field is 24% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/48
the rest of the field
14%
26,003/186,930

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

48 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 48 of the 53 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
48/48
Grantees still filing
23/48
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

VILLAGE ENTERPRISE FUND — $50,500 · InternationalVILLAGE ENTERPRISE …WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC — $35,250 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCH…ACTION AGAINST HUNGER - USA — $10,875 · InternationalACTION AGAINST HUNG…HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL INC — $8,875 · InternationalHABITAT FOR HUMANIT…EARTHENABLE INC — $5,000 · InternationalTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $93,375 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTE…READING PARTNERS — $5,000 · EducationHEALTHY CITIES TUTORING INC — $4,875 · Education+2 more — $6,000 · Education+2 morePENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST — $34,750 · EnvironmentPENINSULA OPEN …OCEANA INC — $20,000 · EnvironmentOCEANA INCWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC — $19,000 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE …THE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE — $7,000 · EnvironmentTHE CORAL REEF …OCEAN CONSERVANCY — $3,000 · EnvironmentSEMPERVIRENS FUND — $3,000 · EnvironmentDIABETES ACTION RESEARCH AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $20,000 · HealthDIABETES ACTIO…Prevent Cancer Foundation aka Cancer Research & Prevention Fndn — $20,000 · HealthPrevent Cancer…ALZHEIMER'S RESEARCH AND PREVENTION FOUNDATION — $20,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S RE…American Heart Association Inc — $20,000 · HealthAmerican Heart…+1 more — $500 · HealthAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INC — $15,000 · OtherAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UN…THE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $10,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYNATIONAL CENTER FOR EQUINE FACILITATED THERAPY — $5,875 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA — $5,750 · OtherDian Fossey Gorilla Fund International Inc — $5,375 · OtherTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC — $30,000 · OtherTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE…WILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INC — $6,000 · OtherDefenders of Wildlife — $6,000 · OtherTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC — $5,875 · OtherSECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY — $18,250 · OtherSECOND HARVEST OF SILICON V…American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $15,000 · OtherAmerican National Red Cross…+14 more — $31,991 · Other+14 moreSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY — $40,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANC…CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES — $5,875 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNI…COMMON SENSE MEDIA — $5,000 · Arts & CultureCOMMON SE…KQED INC — $4,000 · Arts & CultureKQED INCYOSEMITE FOUNDATION — $37,000 · Recreation & SportsCAZADERO PERFORMING ARTS CAMP — $7,250 · Recreation & SportsCALIFORNIA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION — $2,000 · Recreation & Sports
International$110,500Education$109,250Environment$86,750Health$80,500Other$155,116Arts & Culture$54,875Recreation & Sports$46,250

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 BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $93,375 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetVILLAGE ENTERPRISE FUND — $50,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY — $40,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetYOSEMITE FOUNDATION — $37,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC — $35,250 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPENINSULA OPEN SPACE TRUST — $34,750 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC — $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDIABETES ACTION RESEARCH AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetPrevent Cancer Foundation aka Cancer Research & Prevention Fndn — $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetALZHEIMER'S RESEARCH AND PREVENTION FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOCEANA INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC — $19,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSECOND HARVEST OF SILICON VALLEY — $18,250 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INC — $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetACTION AGAINST HUNGER - USA — $10,875 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL INC — $8,875 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCAZADERO PERFORMING ARTS CAMP — $7,250 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CORAL REEF ALLIANCE — $7,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INC — $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDefenders of Wildlife — $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL CENTER FOR EQUINE FACILITATED THERAPY — $5,875 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC — $5,875 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES — $5,875 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDian Fossey Gorilla Fund International Inc — $5,375 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREADING PARTNERS — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHEALTHY CITIES TUTORING INC — $4,875 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetKQED INC — $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTrustees of Tufts College — $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetACVS FOUNDATION INC — $3,250 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetSAMARITAN HOUSE — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOCEAN CONSERVANCY — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSEMPERVIRENS FUND — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE JEWISH HOME AND SENIOR LIVING FOUNDATION — $3,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ANIMAL MEDICAL CENTER — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN CARLOS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION — $1,250 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBUSINESSES UNITED IN INVESTING LENDING & DEVELOPMENT — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRAVELINGWIKI FOUNDATION — $500 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

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.

Silicon Valley Commun…Morgan Stanley Global…AbbVie FoundationGe Aerospace Foundati…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…The Blackbaud Giving …Paypal Charitable Giv…Network for GoodAmerican Endowment Fo…Donor Advised Charita…
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA12.8× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · AbbVie Foundation · Ge Aerospace Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · Network for Good · American Endowment Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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 Sharon & Bob Ford Foundation 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 or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 13%
  • Trustees of Tufts College — 13% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
typical government reliance, FY20–25

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.

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 53 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

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines