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· Private foundation

Simpson Foundation

Its FY2018 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$33k
Granted FY2018
11
Grants FY2018
3
States reached
$10k
Largest
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 FY20172018.

Education$34kCivil Rights$28kHealth$5kEnvironment$4kScience & Tech$2kArts & Culture$700Youth Development$200
02FY2018 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2018

  • Under $10k9 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $20k
$500
Median grant
3
States reached
$92k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LAWRENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION$10,000
ACLU FOUNDATION OF KANSAS$10,000
COMMUNITY MERCANTILE EDUCATION FOUN$8,000
KANSAS ADVOCATES FOR BETTER CARE$2,000
KANSAS RURAL CENTER$1,000
KANSAS LAND TRUST$500
UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS$500
THE LAND INSTITUTE$500
SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION$500
VAN GO$200
LAWRENCE ARTS CENTER$200
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–18) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 61% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $1k → 8%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $500 → 10%ACLU FOUNDATION OF KANSAS: $18k → 5%THE LAND INSTITUTE: $1k → 13%KANSAS RURAL CENTER: $1k → 14%LAWRENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $15k → 15%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $500 → 8%SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $500 → 10%ACLU FOUNDATION OF KANSAS: $10k → 5%THE LAND INSTITUTE: $500 → 13%KANSAS RURAL CENTER: $500 → 14%LAWRENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%COMMUNITY MERCANTILE EDUCATION FOUN: $8k → 15%KANSAS ADVOCATES FOR BETTER CARE: $2k → 15%KANSAS ADVOCATES FOR BETTER CARE: $1k → 15%COMMUNITY MERCANTILE EDUCATION FOUN: $1k → 15%LAWRENCE ARTS CENTER: $500 → 15%KANSAS LAND TRUST: $500 → 15%KANSAS LAND TRUST: $500 → 15%LAWRENCE ARTS CENTER: $200 → 15%VAN GO: $200 → 15%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.

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.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$72k · 10 repeat orgs$200 to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +47% since the first grant, against +1% for the ones you funded once.

10 repeat relationships — 10 still active in FY2018, 0 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2018 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
1

Total granted

$72k
$200

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
+1%

Still filing today

90%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2018, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $200 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18
EnvironmentCivil RightsPhilanthropyInternationalArts & 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

  • AC
    AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF KS
    2× · 2017–2018 · $28k · revenue +163%
  • LP
    Lawrence Public Library Friends and Foundation
    2× · 2017–2018 · $25k · revenue +97%
  • TL
    The Land Institute
    2× · 2017–2018 · $2k · revenue +141%

Funded once

  • VG
    VAN GO INC
    one grant, 2018 · $200 · revenue +1%

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
Cultivate Kansas City Inc

Grow food, farms and community in support of a sustainable, healthy and local food system.

Food & Nutrition
2
Kansas Legal Services Inc

Kansas legal services is devoted to helping low income kansans meet their basic needs through the provision of important legal and mediation services.

3
Kansas Farm Bureau

Kansas farm bureau exists to strengthen agriculture and the lives of kansans through advocacy, education, and service.

4
Land Trust Accreditation Commission

The mission of the land trust accreditation commission is to inspire excellence, promote public trust and ensure permanence in the conservation of open lands by recognizing land trust organizations that meet rigorous quality standards and…

Environment
5
Kansas Bioscience Organization Inc

Biokansas is the unified voice representing the biosciences in kansas. across the human, plant, animal and industrial biosciences, biokansas is focused on enhancing the business and research climate and working with leaders across the…

Education
6
American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas

To protect and defend the constitutional rights and civil liberties of every individual in kansas regardless of creed, race, religion, gender identification, or class.

7
Land Conservancy of West Michigan

Our mission is conserving West Michigans ecologically critical land. We protect land by creating public nature preserves, providing support to communities and local governments in creating natural areas, and helping private landowners…

Environment
8
The Montana Land Reliance

The mission of the montana land reliance (mlr) is to partner with landowners to provide permanent protection for private lands that are significant for agricultural production, fish and wildlife habitat, and open space.

Environment
9
The Nebraska Land Trust Inc

To foster the protection of agricultural, historical and natural resources on land in nebraska through education, partnering and permanent conservation.

Environment
10
Kansas Farm Bureau Legal Foundation

To strengthen agriculture and the lives of kansans by providing legal research, advocacy, and education.

Philanthropy
11
Katawba Valley Land Trust

The mission of the katawba valley land trust is to protect the natural resources, cultural resources, open lands, waters, and vistas of aesthetic value in the catawba river valley and surrounding areas.

Environment
12
Los Angeles Conservancy

The los angeles conservancy is a nonprofit membership organization that works through education and advocacy to recognize, preserve, and revitalize the historic architectural and cultural resources of los angeles county.

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kansas Land Trust Inc and the most unlike its peers is Van Go 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

10 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 11 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
7/10
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF KS — $28,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION O…Lawrence Public Library Friends and Foundation — $25,000 · PhilanthropyLawrence Public Library Friends and Fou…COMMUNITY MERCANTILE EDUCATION FOUN — $9,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY MERCANTILE ED…KANSAS ADVOCATES FOR BETTER CARE INC — $3,000 · OtherKANSAS ADVOCATES FOR BE…The Land Institute — $1,500 · OtherThe Land InstituteTHE KANSAS RURAL CENTER — $1,500 · OtherTHE KANSAS RURAL CENTERSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION — $1,000 · EnvironmentKANSAS LAND TRUST INC — $1,000 · EnvironmentTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC — $1,500 · InternationalLAWRENCE ARTS CENTER INC — $700 · Arts & CultureVAN GO INC — $200 · Education
Civil Rights$28,000Philanthropy$25,000Other$15,000Environment$2,000International$1,500Arts & Culture$700Education$200

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 budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF KS — $28,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetLawrence Public Library Friends and Foundation — $25,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetKANSAS ADVOCATES FOR BETTER CARE INC — $3,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetThe Land Institute — $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC — $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE KANSAS RURAL CENTER — $1,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION — $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKANSAS LAND TRUST INC — $1,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetLAWRENCE ARTS CENTER INC — $700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVAN GO INC — $200 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Douglas County Community FoundationKS17.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Douglas County Community Foundation · Topeka Community Foundation · Kansas Health Foundation · Greater Kansas City Community Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Simpson 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
202122232425
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get 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
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Simpson Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Simpson 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 11 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 2018, released 2018. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph