· Private foundation
Sherman Family 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.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k16 grants · $72k
- $10k–50k41 grants · $932k
- $50k–250k40 grants · $3.6M
- $250k+21 grants · $14M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| UMBCUNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF MARYLAND FOUNDATION INC | $2,900,000 |
| CENTER FOR URBAN FAMILIES INC | $2,325,000 |
| BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | $1,350,000 |
| THE Y OF CENTRAL MARYLAND INC | $1,000,000 |
| FUND FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE | $740,000 |
| MPT FOUNDATION INC | $525,000 |
| UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL MARYLAND | $510,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF MD BALTIMORE FDN | $500,000 |
| TEACH FOR AMERICA BALTIMORE | $500,000 |
| ROLAND PARK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $500,000 |
| POINT SOURCE YOUTH | $500,000 |
| BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF METRO BALTIMORE | $400,000 |
| FAMILY TREE THE | $390,000 |
| BALTIMORE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC | $365,000 |
| THREAD | $300,000 |
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.
Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $7.8M) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 58% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
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
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.
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.
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +26% since the first grant, against 0% for the ones you funded once.
100 repeat relationships — 71 still active in FY2024, 29 since wound down; 44 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.7M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
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
- CFCENTER FOR URBAN FAMILIES INC7× · 2017–2024 · $3.6M · revenue +70%
- YMYoung Men's Christian Association of Central Maryland Inc4× · 2021–2024 · $2.6M · revenue +42%
- BSBALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC7× · 2017–2024 · $2.1M · revenue +68%
Funded once
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2022 · $7.0M
- UIUSMF INCone grant, 2020 · $1.2M
- UOUniversity of Maryland Medical System Foundation Incone grant, 2022 · $500k · revenue -13%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
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.
To cultivate career advancement opportunities for local talent, facilitate talent acquisition for local employers, increase access to capital for local entrepreneurs' social ventures, and foster cross-sector collaboration to address city…
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…
Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…
Degree granting college-maryland institute college of art is a private college dedicated to the education of professional artists and the further advancement of art in the community.
Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…
The arc baltimore supports people with developmental disabilities to lead fulfilling lives with a sense of belonging, purpose, and meaningful relationships.
Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…
Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…
Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…
Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…
The waldorf school of baltimore educates and inspires children to think, act, and feel with depth, imagination, and purpose.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Thread Inc and the most unlike its peers is The William a Farnsworth Library and Art Museum Inc. 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.
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 30 years old; the field is 14. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.
The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 2% of your money.
The orgs you fund almost never close — 2% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.
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.
155 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2017–2026, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 155 of the 223 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.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Showing your 200 largest grantees by grant value.
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
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.
- Who funds CENTER FOR URBAN FAMILIES INC ↗
- Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
- Who funds Young Men's Christian Association of Central Maryland Inc ↗
- Who funds BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC ↗
- Who funds THE FAMILY TREE INC ↗
- Who funds LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds FUND FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE INC ↗
- Who funds POINT SOURCE YOUTH INC ↗
- Who funds THE UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL MARYLAND INC ↗
- Who funds CENTER STAGE ASSOCIATES INC ↗
- Who funds THREAD INC ↗
- Who funds JACKSON HEALTH FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds UNITED WAY MIAMI INC ↗
- Who funds ROLAND PARK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF METROPOLITAN BALTIMORE ↗
- Who funds GREEN STREET ACADEMY INC ↗
- Who funds Maine Coast Heritage Trust ↗
- Who funds BALTIMORE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds CHERRY HILL STRONG INC ↗
- Who funds MPT FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds MARYLAND FAMILY NETWORK INC ↗
- Who funds BALTIMORE CURRICULUM PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds University of Maryland Medical System Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds DREAM BIG FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds CITY TEACHING ALLIANCE INC ↗
- Who funds THE BALTIMORE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC ↗
- Who funds BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART ↗
- Who funds PARKS AND PEOPLE INC ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Baltimore Community Foundation Inc · The Abell Foundation Inc · France-Merrick Foundation Inc · Associated Jewish Charities of Baltimore · The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Inc · The Morris Goldseker Foundation of Maryland Inc · Annie E Casey Foundation Inc · T Rowe Price Foundation · The United Way of Central Maryland Inc · Richman Family Foundation Inc · Fund for Educational Excellence Inc · Blanket Fort Foundation
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 Sherman Family 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.
- Light Health and Wellness Comprehensive Services Inc — 74% of income from government
- Maryland Family Network Inc — 66% of income from government
- Parks and People Inc — 43% of income from government
- Center for Urban Families Inc — 36% of income from government
- The Baltimore Children's Museum Inc — 33% of income from government
- Save the Children Federation Inc — 30% of income from government
- United Way Miami Inc — 23% of income from government
- Baltimore Squashwise Inc — 23% of income from government
- Young Men's Christian Association of Central Maryland Inc — 22% of income from government
- Community Mediation Program Inc — 17% of income from government
- Johns Hopkins University — 12% of income from government
- Thread Inc — 12% of income from government
- The Maryland Food Bank Inc — 11% of income from government
- Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Inc — 11% of income from government
- Brandeis University — 9% of income from government
- The Family Tree Inc — 9% of income from government
- Baltimore Museum of Industry Inc — 7% of income from government
- Center Stage Associates Inc — 7% of income from government
- The Village Learning Place Inc — 6% of income from government
- Rebuild Metro Inc — 5% of income from government
- Children's Beach House Inc — 5% of income from government
- Baltimore Museum of Art — 4% of income from government
- Art With a Heart Inc — 4% of income from government
- University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation Inc — 3% of income from government
- Wide Angle Youth Media Inc — 3% of income from government
- Camillus House Inc — 2% of income from government
- The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore — 2% of income from government
- Digital Harbor Foundation — 2% of income from government
- The United Way of Central Maryland Inc — 2% of income from government
- Fund for Educational Excellence Inc — 1% of income from government
- Arts for Learning Maryland Inc — 1% of income from government
- Jackson Health Foundation Inc — 1% of income from government
- Harbor Hospital Inc — 0% of income from government
- Holistic Life Foundation Inc — 0% of income from government
- Mcdonogh School Incorporated — 0% of income from government
- Oxfam-America Inc — 0% of income from government
- Mt Washington Pediatric Hospital Inc — 0% of income from government
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.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Sherman Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Sherman Family 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.