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· Private foundation

Skillbuilders Fund

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$568k
Granted FY2024still arriving
21
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$266k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 FY2017–2024.

Environment$895kHuman Services$327kEmployment$246kArts & Culture$187kYouth Development$104kHousing & Shelter$70kEducation$69kFood & Nutrition$54kOther$0
02FY2024 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k5 grants · $18k
  • $10k–50k15 grants · $284k
  • $250k+1 grant · $266k
$15,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$3.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WILDWOOD OUTDOOR EDUCATION CENTER$266,474
PAWSPERITY$30,000
AMETHYST PLACE$30,000
PHARMACY OF GRACE$25,000
RIGHTFULLY SEWN$25,000
WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT NETWORK$20,000
GREAT JOBS KC$20,000
MATTIE RHODES ART CENTER$20,000
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY KC$20,000
INTERURBAN ARTHOUSE$15,000
GIVING THE BASICS$15,000
KANSAS CITY BALLET$15,000
KC COMMUNITY GARDENS$15,000
UNION STATION KANSAS CITY$14,000
NORTHEAST COMMUNITY CENTER$10,000
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 (FY17–24, $162k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%PAWSPERITY: $30k → 15%BELOVED ATLANTA: $4k → 13%THE FAMILY CONSERVANCY: $3k → 16%PAWSPERITY: $25k → 15%BELOVED ATLANTA: $3k → 13%THE FAMILY CONSERVANCY: $3k → 16%EPEC INC: $20k → 15%BELOVED ATLANTA: $3k → 13%EPEC INC: $20k → 15%EPEC INC: $15k → 15%EPEC INC: $15k → 15%BAREFOOT MISSION: $5k → 16%EPEC INC: $15k → 15%TRUE LIGHT FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $1k → 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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.9M · 23 repeat orgs$169k to everyone else

23 repeat relationships — 17 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
22

Total granted

$1.9M
$119k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+81%

Still filing today

78%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $50k 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
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesEnvironmentEmploymentFood & NutritionOther

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

  • WO
    Wildwood Outdoor Education Center
    8× · 2017–2024 · $894k · revenue +156%
  • WE
    WOMENS EMPLOYMENT NETWORK
    8× · 2017–2024 · $141k · revenue +11%
  • PI
    PAWSPERITY INC
    7× · 2018–2024 · $140k · revenue +327%

Funded once

  • FRACTURED ATLAS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $25k · revenue +57%
  • CC
    COMMUNITY CAPITAL FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $15k · revenue +473%
  • GS
    GIRL SCOUTS
    one grant, 2017 · $15k

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
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.

—
2
Kansas City Artists Coalition Inc

The kansas city atrtists coalition is a nonprofit organization that promotes visual arts awareness

Arts & Culture
3
Bike Share Kc

Bike share kc provides the greater kansas city area with a bike share system designed for transportation, recreation, and exercise.

Human Services
4
Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City

The mission of The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City is to educate and inspire our community by presenting and promoting appreciation for African-American culture through our stories.

Arts & Culture
5
Urban Neighborhood Initiative Inc

Unis mission is to partner with kansas citys urban core neighborhoods to bring business, government, and community organizations together to improve prosperity, health, safety & education in the community.

Community Improvement
6
Kansas Association of Community Action Programs Inc

Kacap supports community action agencies and other human services organizations in thier local, state and national efforts to end poverty.

Public Benefit
7
Kansas City Community Land Trust

Acquire and develop real estate to provide safe, decent, and affordable housing to low-income homeowners while working to ensure a culturally, ethnically, and economically diverse and stable community where generations can thrive in place.

Housing & Shelter
8
Kc Tenants

KC Tenants organizes to ensure that everyone in Kansas City has a safe, accessible, and truly affordable home.

Civil Rights
9
Kansas City Art Institute

The mission of KCAI is to educate artists and designers while honoring the distinct journeys of students. We forge a vibrant community that equips them to become leaders who leverage the creative process to transform the future.

Education
10
Community Action Inc

Helping people move from poverty towards prosperity.

Human Services
11
Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City

Leading the way to the best kc region by convening innovative leaders, collaborating with like-minded organizations, advocating for positive change, and helping small businesses grow.

—
12
Our Spot Kc

To provide safe, accepting, and affirming programming, services and resources to empower our community.

Human Services

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Young Women On the Move and the most unlike its peers is Barefoot Mission 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.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadySocial Services & Support O…Performing Arts Organizatio…Hospital Health SystemsSenior Residential CareCharter Schools and Educati…Professional & Trade Associ…Pet Rescue and AdoptionPerforming Arts Organizatio…
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 15 years old; the field is 21. You back the younger end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number19%3%<5yr13%19%5–10yr16%38%10–20yr16%16%20–35yr11%16%35–55yr25%8%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value19%0%<5yr13%7%5–10yr16%17%10–20yr16%19%20–35yr11%55%35–55yr25%2%55yr+

The field is 19% startups (under 5 years old) — 3% 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 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/37
the rest of the field
13%
1,173/9,072

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

35 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. 35 of the 49 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)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
35/35
Grantees still filing
26/35
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Wildwood Outdoor Education Center — $893,974 · EnvironmentWildwood Outdoor Education CenterKANSAS CITY COMMUNITY GARDENS INC — $50,000 · Environment+2 more — $1,500 · EnvironmentGIRLS ON THE RUN — $80,000 · OtherGIRLS ON THE RUNHABITAT FOR HUMANITY KC — $70,000 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANIT…MATTIE RHODES ART CENTER — $35,000 · OtherMATTIE RHODES ART C…GIVING THE BASICS INC — $30,000 · OtherGIVING THE BASICS I…NORTHEAST COMMUNITY CENTER — $28,451 · OtherNORTHEAST COMMUNITY…PHARMACY OF GRACE INC — $25,000 · OtherPHARMACY OF GRACE I…GIRL SCOUTS — $15,000 · Other+15 more — $61,850 · Other+15 moreWOMENS EMPLOYMENT NETWORK — $141,000 · EmploymentWOMENS EMP…RIGHTFULLY SEWN INC — $40,000 · EmploymentRIGHTFULLY…PAWSPERITY INC — $140,000 · Human ServicesPAWSPERIT…BELOVED ATLANTA INC — $10,000 · Human ServicesBELOVED A…THE FAMILY CONSERVANCY — $5,500 · Human Services+2 more — $6,000 · Human ServicesINTERURBAN ARTHOUSE — $45,000 · Arts & CultureUNION STATION KANSAS CITY INC — $28,000 · Arts & CultureFRACTURED ATLAS INC — $25,000 · Arts & CultureKANSAS CITY BALLET ASSOCIATION — $25,000 · Arts & CultureCOMMUNITY CAPITAL FUND — $15,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $1,000 · Arts & CultureAmethyst Place Inc — $135,000 · HealthMINDDRIVE INCORPORATED — $30,000 · EducationTHE LAUNCHCODE FOUNDATION — $25,000 · EducationTHE SEWING LABS — $20,000 · EducationGREAT JOBS KC INC — $20,000 · EducationUMKC FOUNDATION — $8,000 · EducationKANSAS CITY GIRLS PREPARATORY ACADEMY — $7,000 · Education+3 more — $6,000 · Education
Environment$945,474Other$345,301Employment$181,000Human Services$161,500Arts & Culture$139,000Health$135,000Education$116,000

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 budgetWildwood Outdoor Education Center — $893,974 over 8y, 19% of budgetWOMENS EMPLOYMENT NETWORK — $141,000 over 8y, 2.1% of budgetPAWSPERITY INC — $140,000 over 7y, 1.9% of budgetAmethyst Place Inc — $135,000 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetKANSAS CITY COMMUNITY GARDENS INC — $50,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetINTERURBAN ARTHOUSE — $45,000 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetRIGHTFULLY SEWN INC — $40,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetMINDDRIVE INCORPORATED — $30,000 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetGIVING THE BASICS INC — $30,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetNORTHEAST COMMUNITY CENTER — $28,451 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetUNION STATION KANSAS CITY INC — $28,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPHARMACY OF GRACE INC — $25,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetTHE LAUNCHCODE FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetKANSAS CITY BALLET ASSOCIATION — $25,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SEWING LABS — $20,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetGREAT JOBS KC INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY CAPITAL FUND — $15,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetLITERACY KANSAS CITY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetUMKC FOUNDATION — $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKANSAS CITY GIRLS PREPARATORY ACADEMY — $7,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FAMILY CONSERVANCY — $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBAREFOOT MISSION INC — $5,000 over 1y, 6.6% of budgetTHE LEAN LAB INC LEAN LAB EDUCATION — $3,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetOPERATION BREAKTHROUGH INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHARVESTERS - THE COMMUNITY FOOD NETWORK — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMIRACLE OF INNOCENCE INC — $1,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCULTIVATE KANSAS CITY INC — $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMUSIC THEATRE KANSAS CITY INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTrue Light Family Resource Center — $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFOR LOVE OF WATER — $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSCRAPS KC INC — $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE EDUCATOR ACADEMY INC — $500 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.

Greater Kansas City C…Oppenstein Brothers F…The H & R Block Found…Ewing Marion Kauffman…William T Kemper Foun…The Sunderland Founda…Marion and Henry Bloc…The Sherman Family Fo…The Francis Family Fo…Jewish Community Foun…Health Forward Founda…United Way of Greater…
Greater Kansas City Community FoundationMO45.6× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Kansas City Community Foundation · Oppenstein Brothers Foundation · The H & R Block Foundation · Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation · William T Kemper Foundation Commerce Bank Trustee · The Sunderland Foundation · Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation · The Sherman Family Foundation · The Francis Family Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City · Health Forward Foundation · United Way of Greater Kansas City 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 Skillbuilders Fund 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 · 00%1%5%11%20%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    17report 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, 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.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Skillbuilders Fund?

    Find your warmest path to Skillbuilders Fund 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 49 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 2024, released 2024. 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