Skip to content
State Leadership Project at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

State Leadership Project

STATE LEADERSHIP PROJECT (slp) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that strengthens civic infrastructure by supporting the charitable efforts of state-based donor alliances and funder communities.

$11M
Granted FY2024still arriving
33
Grants FY2024still arriving
31
States reached
$7.4M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Human Services$20MPublic Benefit$6.9MPhilanthropy$2.0MCivil Rights$861kCommunity Improvement$150kArts & Culture$141kEnvironment$70kEducation$46k
02FY2024 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
  • $50k–250k30 grants · $2.4M
  • $250k+2 grants · $8.9M
$75,000
Median grant
31
States reached
$3.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
STRATEGIC VICTORY FUND$7,367,765
GOODNATION FOUNDATION$1,500,000
THE LOCAL NEWS HUB$141,000
ARKANSAS VALUES INSTITUTE INC$125,000
OKLAHOMA DONOR ALLIANCE INC$125,000
ALLIANCE FOR A BETTER IOWA$125,000
THE ALABAMA ALLIANCE NETWORK$125,000
UTAH DONOR COLLABORATIVE$125,000
NEO PHILANTHROPY$125,000
WYOMING DONOR ALLIANCE$100,000
PHILANTHROPY PATHWAYS INC$100,000
WASHINGTON PROGRESS FUND$75,000
TIDES CENTER$75,000
MAINE DONOR ALLIANCE FUND$75,000
COMMONWEALTH ALLIANCE ACTION FUND$75,000
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 (FY19–24, $1.9M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 97% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%INSTITUTO LAB: $50k → 11%TIDES CENTER: $75k → 10%PROJECT 68 EDUCATION FUND: $1.0M → 15%TOGETHER WISCONSIN INC: $50k → 17%FAITH IN INDIANA: $400k → 16%GREATER PORTLAND IMMIGRANT WELCOME CENTER: $65k → 7%FAITH IN INDIANA: $20k → 16%GEORGIA INVESTOR ACTION FUND: $50k → 14%NORTH STAR PROSPERITY: $200k → 14%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.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
IA
IN
OH
PA
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
AZ
AR
TN
NC
DC
OK
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$24M · 33 repeat orgs$5.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +45% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

33 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2024, 11 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
32

Total granted

$24M
$3.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+45%
+23%

Still filing today

97%
97%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.2M went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’24
Civil RightsPublic BenefitHuman ServicesEducationCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyOther
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

  • GA
    GEORGIA ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND INC
    3× · 2020–2024 · $488k · revenue +911% · 42% of their budget
  • FI
    Faith in Indiana
    2× · 2021–2022 · $420k · revenue +44%
  • IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST
    4× · 2019–2024 · $360k · revenue +258%

Funded once

  • P6
    PROJECT 68 EDUCATION FUND INC
    one grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue -29% · 98% of their budget
  • NS
    NORTH STAR PROSPERITY
    one grant, 2022 · $200k · revenue -100%
  • ND
    NEW DAY NEVADA
    2× · 2022–2023 · $200k · revenue -75%
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
America Votes

The Organization was established to coordinate and promote progressive issues, policies, initiatives, and referenda, and to pursue electoral reform that expands access to the ballot.

Community Improvement
2
Bold Impact

Bold Impact is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting a democracy where all communities get to thrive.

Arts & Culture
3
Minnesota Voice

Minnesota Voice is a collaboration of organizations working toward permanent change in social, racial, and economic justice by increasing civic engagement and voter participation across the state.

Public Benefit
4
Team Democracy Action

Team Democracy Action (TDA) promotes social welfare by bringing together Americans of all political perspectives around our shared commitment to the core principles of our constitutional democracy.

—
5
Keystone Democracy

Keystone Democracy's goal is to ensure that all Pennsylvania elections are implemented in a safe, secure, convenient and fair manner. We work to advance pro-democracy policies by informing elected officials, civic leaders, the media, and…

—
6
Democracy North Carolina

Democracy North Carolina's mission is to strengthen democratic structures, build power among disenfranchised communities, and inspire confidence in a transformed political process that works for all.

Civil Rights
7
One for Democracy Action Fund

One for democracy unlocks resources to build a healthy democracy by fostering meaningful relationships between philanthropists and the democracy leaders of our time.

—
8
Fund for Justice

Fund for Justice is a nationally connected social impact research and advocacy organization that works to achieve fundamental, systemic reform by addressing policies and practicies that prevent individuals from reaching their full…

Crime & Legal
9
Alabama Values

A nonpartisan grassroots communication organization that works to raise awareness and increase engagement around community issues in alabama by working directly with civic organizations advocating civic participation in communities across…

Arts & Culture
10
Tennessee Progress

Tennessee progress works to uplift the values and voices of the progressive movement across tennessee by elevating the issues that matter most to our communities. tennessee progress is a digital and communications hub for the progressive…

—
11
Right to Democracy Project

Advance democracy, equity, and self-determination in U.S. territories through participatory advocacy, narrative and cultural change, and ecosystem building.

Civil Rights
12
Maine Donor Alliance

To build a permanent and powerful social change movement in Maine, supported by a network of committed donors.

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Arkansas Values Inc; the most unlike its peers is Instituto Lab. 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

78 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

13
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
28
Early backer (in before they grew)
77/78
Grantees still filing
50/78
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

STRATEGIC VICTORY FUND: $18,638,277 · OtherSTRATEGIC VICTORY FUND+20 more: $2,277,000 · Other+20 moreARKANSAS VALUES INSTITUTE INC: $275,000 · Civil RightsARKANSAS …CIVIC TN: $260,000 · Civil RightsCIVIC TNCOLORADO DEMOCRACY NETWORK: $205,000 · Civil RightsCOLORADO …MICHIGAN CIVIC EDUCATION FUND: $200,000 · Civil RightsMICHIGAN …OKLAHOMA DONOR ALLIANCE INC: $175,000 · Civil RightsOKLAHOMA …ALLIANCE FOR A BETTER IOWA: $175,000 · Civil RightsALLIANCE …PA ALLIANCE ACTION: $150,000 · Civil RightsPA ALLIAN…Ohio Progressive Collaborative Education Fund: $135,000 · Civil RightsOhio Prog…INDIANA PROGRESSIVE COLLABORATIVE INC: $133,000 · Civil RightsNEW HAMPSHIRE PROGRESS ALLIANCE: $105,000 · Civil RightsCOMMITTEE ON STATES: $100,000 · Civil RightsNEBRASKA CIVIC ENGAGEMENT TABLE: $95,000 · Civil Rights+12 more: $511,000 · Civil Rights+12 morePROJECT 68 EDUCATION FUND INC: $1,020,400 · Human ServicesFaith in Indiana: $420,000 · Human ServicesNORTH STAR PROSPERITY: $200,000 · Human ServicesARKANSAS VALUES INC: $180,000 · Human ServicesTIDES CENTER: $110,000 · Human Services+4 more: $215,000 · Human ServicesGoodnation Foundation Inc: $1,500,000 · PhilanthropyWashington Progress Fund: $145,000 · PhilanthropyAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $75,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $35,000 · PhilanthropyALABAMA ALLIANCE NETWORK: $250,000 · Public BenefitNEO Philanthropy Inc: $245,000 · Public BenefitWIN MINNESOTA: $205,000 · Public BenefitFREEDOM VIRGINIA INC: $196,000 · Public BenefitFLORIDA ALLIANCE FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT INC: $125,000 · Public BenefitTENNESSEE INVESTOR FUND: $125,000 · Public BenefitWYOMING DONOR ALLIANCE: $100,000 · Public BenefitCOMMONWEALTH ALLIANCE ACTION FUND: $75,000 · Public BenefitOne Voice: $75,000 · Public BenefitGEORGIA ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND INC: $487,500 · EducationBLUEPRINT NORTH CAROLINA: $162,500 · EducationMaine Donor Alliance Fund: $95,300 · EducationWEST VIRGINIA CITIZEN ACTION EDUCATION FUND: $50,000 · EducationFLORIDA WATCH INC: $47,909 · EducationMISSOURI WIN: $145,000 · Community ImprovementA BETTER BIG SKY: $135,000 · Community ImprovementKENTUCKY CIVIC ENGAGEMENT TABLE INC: $100,000 · Community ImprovementWashington Progress Alliance: $35,000 · Community Improvement
Other$20,915,277Civil Rights$2,519,000Human Services$2,145,400Philanthropy$1,755,000Public Benefit$1,396,000Education$843,209Community Improvement$415,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSTRATEGIC VICTORY FUND: $18,638,277 over 5y, 25% of budgetGoodnation Foundation Inc: $1,500,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetPROJECT 68 EDUCATION FUND INC: $1,020,400 over 1y, 98% of budgetGEORGIA ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND INC: $487,500 over 3y, 42% of budgetFaith in Indiana: $420,000 over 2y, 20% of budgetIMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST: $360,000 over 4y, 3.7% of budgetARKANSAS VALUES INSTITUTE INC: $275,000 over 4y, 24% of budgetCIVIC TN: $260,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetALABAMA ALLIANCE NETWORK: $250,000 over 2y, 53% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $245,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCOLORADO DEMOCRACY NETWORK: $205,000 over 6y, 29% of budgetWIN MINNESOTA: $205,000 over 6y, 2.0% of budgetMICHIGAN CIVIC EDUCATION FUND: $200,000 over 4y, 38% of budgetNORTH STAR PROSPERITY: $200,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetNEW DAY NEVADA: $200,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetFREEDOM VIRGINIA INC: $196,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetFor West Virginia's Future Inc: $190,000 over 6y, 12% of budgetARKANSAS VALUES INC: $180,000 over 2y, 30% of budgetOKLAHOMA DONOR ALLIANCE INC: $175,000 over 3y, 45% of budgetALLIANCE FOR A BETTER IOWA: $175,000 over 3y, 21% of budgetUtah Donor Collaborative: $175,000 over 3y, 28% of budgetMAINE PEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER: $165,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetBLUEPRINT NORTH CAROLINA: $162,500 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetNEVADA ALLIANCE: $155,000 over 5y, 15% of budgetPA ALLIANCE ACTION: $150,000 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetWashington Progress Fund: $145,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetMISSOURI WIN: $145,000 over 4y, 8.7% of budgetLEXINGTON OBSERVER INC: $141,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetALLIANCE FOR A BETTER NORTH DAKOTA: $140,000 over 4y, 19% of budgetA BETTER BIG SKY: $135,000 over 4y, 16% of budgetOhio Progressive Collaborative Education Fund: $135,000 over 4y, 5.1% of budgetINDIANA PROGRESSIVE COLLABORATIVE INC: $133,000 over 2y, 36% of budgetFLORIDA ALLIANCE FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT INC: $125,000 over 2y, 7.8% of budgetTENNESSEE INVESTOR FUND: $125,000 over 3y, 9.8% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $110,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNEW HAMPSHIRE PROGRESS ALLIANCE: $105,000 over 4y, 3.9% of budgetWYOMING DONOR ALLIANCE: $100,000 over 1y, 30% of budgetCOMMITTEE ON STATES: $100,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetKENTUCKY CIVIC ENGAGEMENT TABLE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 7.4% of budgetMaine Donor Alliance Fund: $95,300 over 3y, 20% of budgetNEBRASKA CIVIC ENGAGEMENT TABLE: $95,000 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetTHE ALABAMA ALLIANCE: $85,000 over 3y, 53% of budgetMake North Carolina First: $85,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetTIDES ADVOCACY: $85,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetALABAMA FORWARD: $75,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetTexas Future Action Fund: $75,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $75,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMONWEALTH ALLIANCE ACTION FUND: $75,000 over 2y, 5.7% 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.

Committee on StatesSixteen Thirty FundTides FoundationState Engagement FundStrategic Victory FundNew Venture FundNEO Philanthropy IncHopewell FundAmalgamated Charitabl…All Hands on Deck Net…Tides AdvocacyWay to Win Action Fun…
Committee on StatesNC51.6× affinity22 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Committee on States · Sixteen Thirty Fund · Tides Foundation · State Engagement Fund · Strategic Victory Fund · New Venture Fund · NEO Philanthropy Inc · Hopewell Fund · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · All Hands on Deck Network Inc · Tides Advocacy · Way to Win Action Fund Inc

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 State Leadership Project funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from State Leadership Project. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 60%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    6get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–24
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to State Leadership Project?

    Find your warmest path to State Leadership Project 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 76 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on State Leadership Project’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