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Thacker Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Thacker 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.

$216k
Granted FY2024still arriving
24
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$35k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0190% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$547kPublic Safety & Disaster$324kReligion$304kHuman Services$204kHealth$97kYouth Development$89kCrime & Legal$54kArts & Culture$25kOther$0
02FY2024 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k14 grants · $71k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $145k
$8,500
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE$35,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
WYMT-TV MOUNTAIN BASKETBALL CLASSIS$15,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
HINDMAN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT$10,000
SHOP WITH A COP$10,000
BALL CREEK FIRE DEPARTMENT$10,000
KNOTT CO YOUTH FOUNDATION$10,000
CARR CREEK FIRE DEPARTMENT$10,000
MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION$10,000
HAZARD CITY SCHOOLS$8,500
KNOTT COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$8,500
HINDMAN BAPTIST CHURCH$5,000
MOUNTAIN ART CENTER$5,000
HALEY'S ANGELS$5,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 26%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 93% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%THE COVINGTON SCOTTISH RITE: $10k → 7%SUNRISE CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $25k → 9%SOUTHLAND CHRISTIAN CHURCH: $10k → 12%MAKE A WISH: $25k → 15%HAZARD CITY SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $50k → 27%ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $65k → 29%THE COVINGTON SCOTTISH RITE FOUNDATION: $10k → 7%SUNRISE CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $20k → 9%SOUTHLAND CHRISTIAN CHURCH: $10k → 12%MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%HAZARD CITY SCHOOLS: $25k → 27%ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $50k → 29%THE COVINGTON SCOTTISH RITE FOUNDATION: $10k → 7%SUNRISE CHILDREN'S SERVICES: $10k → 9%SOUTHLAND CHRISTIAN CHURCH: $10k → 12%MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%HAZARD CITY SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $20k → 27%ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $35k → 29%MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%HAZARD CITY SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $20k → 27%ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $25k → 29%MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%HAZARD CITY SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $20k → 27%ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $25k → 29%CAMP PROMISE: $15k → 27%ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $20k → 29%CAMP PROMISE: $15k → 27%THACKER FAMILY FOUNDATION ALC ENDOWMENT FUND: $15k → 29%SHRINER'S MEDICAL CENTER: $10k → 15%HAZARD CITY SCHOOLS: $13k → 27%ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $15k → 29%SHRINER'S MEDICAL CENTER: $10k → 15%KENTUCKY RIVER CHILDREN'S CARE: $10k → 27%SHRINER'S MEDICAL CENTER: $10k → 15%SHOP WITH A COP: $10k → 27%SHRINER'S MEDICAL CENTER: $10k → 15%CAMP PROMISE: $10k → 27%MONTGOMERY BAPTIST CHURCH: $10k → 29%SHOP WITH A COP: $10k → 27%MONTGOMERY BAPTIST CHURCH: $10k → 29%SHOP WITH A COP: $10k → 27%KNOTT COUNTY TOURISM: $150k → 29%KNOTT COUNTY LONG TERM DISASTER REC: $100k → 29%KNOTT COUNTY LONG TERM DISASTER REC: $100k → 29%KNOTT COUNTY YOUTH FOUNDATION: $25k → 29%KNOTT COUNTY TOURISM: $25k → 29%HINDMAN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: $25k → 29%KNOTT COUNTY TOURISM: $25k → 29%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.
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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.9M · 33 repeat orgs$50k to everyone else

33 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2024, 11 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
5

Total granted

$1.9M
$38k

Still filing today

21%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $13k 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
EducationRecreation & SportsPhilanthropyArts & CultureHealthOther
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

  • AL
    ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE
    7× · 2017–2024 · $235k · revenue +152%
  • SC
    SUNRISE CHILDREN'S SERVICES INC
    6× · 2018–2024 · $66k · revenue +6%
  • MF
    MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OH KY & IN
    4× · 2021–2024 · $40k · revenue +36%

Funded once

  • TF
    THACKER FAMILY FOUNDATION ALC ENDOWMENT FUND
    one grant, 2017 · $15k
  • TC
    THE COVINGTON SCOTTISH RITE
    one grant, 2021 · $10k
  • HS
    HINDMAN SETTLEMENT SCHOOL CORNERSTONE CAMPAIGN
    one grant, 2017 · $5k
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
Kentucky Educational Fund for Handicapped Children
—
2
Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation
—
3
Northern Kentucky Youth Athletics Inc
Recreation & Sports
4
Academy for Individual Excellence Scholarship Foundation Inc

Education

—
5
Madisonville College Foundation
Education
6
Cinderellas Closet of Northern Kentucky
—
7
Lincoln County Educational Fund in

Provide educational assistance to graduates of lincoln county, kentucky high school.

Education
8
Clay County Educational Endowment Association Inc
Education
9
Kent Center School Scholarship Fund Inc

College scholarships

Education
10
Ray T Kest Old Newsboys Goodfellow Memorial Scholarship Fund
—
11
Miss Kentucky Scholarship Foundation Inc

Corporation is exclusively for education purposes

Philanthropy
12
Kentucky Industrial Development Council

Development and educational opportunities to promote industrial and economic development in kentucky.

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of Oh Ky & in; the most unlike its peers is Hazard City Schools Educational Endowment Foundati. 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

9 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. 9 of the 40 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

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

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/9
Grantees still filing
4/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $210,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientKNOTT COUNTY LONG TERM DISASTER REC: $200,000 · OtherKNOTT COUNTY LONG TERM DISASTER RECHINDMAN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: $83,500 · OtherHINDMAN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENTSUNRISE CHILDREN'S SERVICES INC: $65,500 · OtherWYMT-TV MOUNTAIN BASKETBALL CLASSIC SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $60,000 · OtherSOUTHLAND CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF LEXINGTON KENTUCKY INC: $59,500 · OtherHINDMAN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: $57,000 · OtherHINDMAN BAPTIST CHURCH: $57,000 · OtherSHRINER'S MEDICAL CENTER: $57,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $57,000 · OtherMONTGOMERY BAPTIST CHURCH: $57,000 · OtherHAZARD CITY SCHOOLS: $54,500 · OtherSHOP WITH A COP: $53,500 · Other+20 more: $368,500 · Other+20 moreALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $235,000 · EducationALICE LLOYD COLL…WYMT TV MOUNTAIN BASKETBALL CLASSIC: $60,000 · EducationWYMT TV MOUNTAIN…HAZARD CITY SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOUNDATI: $110,000 · PhilanthropyKNOTT COUNTY YOUTH FOUNDATION INC: $89,000 · Recreation & SportsLEXINGTON CHALLENGER TENNIS CHARITY INC: $4,000 · Recreation & SportsMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OH KY & IN: $40,000 · HealthJENNY WILEY DRAMA ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$1,440,000Education$295,000Philanthropy$110,000Recreation & Sports$93,000Health$40,000Arts & Culture$5,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetALICE LLOYD COLLEGE: $235,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetHAZARD CITY SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOUNDATI: $110,000 over 4y, 93% of budgetKNOTT COUNTY YOUTH FOUNDATION INC: $89,000 over 8y, 59% of budgetSUNRISE CHILDREN'S SERVICES INC: $65,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetWYMT TV MOUNTAIN BASKETBALL CLASSIC: $60,000 over 4y, 19% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OH KY & IN: $40,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCOVINGTON SCOTTISH RITE FOUNDATION: $37,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetLEXINGTON CHALLENGER TENNIS CHARITY INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.9% 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.

  • Who funds ALICE LLOYD COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds HAZARD CITY SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOUNDATI ↗
  • Who funds KNOTT COUNTY YOUTH FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SUNRISE CHILDREN'S SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds WYMT TV MOUNTAIN BASKETBALL CLASSIC ↗
  • Who funds MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OH KY & IN ↗
  • Who funds COVINGTON SCOTTISH RITE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds JENNY WILEY DRAMA ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds LEXINGTON CHALLENGER TENNIS CHARITY INC ↗

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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Amazonsmile Foundation
Amazonsmile FoundationWA1.5× affinity5 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Thacker Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thacker Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2023
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    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.

    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 40 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-PF 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 Thacker Family’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