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The 85 Fund at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The 85 Fund

To educate the public and support activities that highlight the relationship between structural limits on government power and the protection of our dignity and our freedoms.

$118M
Granted FY2024still arriving
39
Grants FY2024still arriving
13
States reached
$68M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

91% of The 85 Fund’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Donors Trust Inc, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 37 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

41
’20
26
’21
37
’22
37
’23
37
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Philanthropy$376MCivil Rights$21MPublic Benefit$19MEducation$4.8MCommunity Improvement$4.0MSocial Science$3.5MHealth$3.0MArts & Culture$1.6MOther$0
02FY2024 · 39 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $12k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $235k
  • $50k–250k10 grants · $935k
  • $250k+18 grants · $117M
$110,000
Median grant
13
States reached
$2.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Donors Trust$67,900,000
Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund$39,000,000
Club for Growth Foundation$1,500,000
Ethics and Public Policy Center$1,325,000
Hawthorn Foundation Inc$1,100,000
Paragon Health Institute$1,000,000
Fidelis Center for Law and Policy$925,000
Maine Policy Institute$760,000
Triton Research Institute$500,000
The Tikvah Fund$450,000
American Legislative Exchange Counsel$429,881
Becket Fund For Religious Rreedom$400,000
Center for Individual Rights$350,000
Smart Approaches to Marijuana INC$300,000
National Center for Public policy$300,000
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 (FY20–24, $370k) land where the poverty rate runs at 24%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Neuro Kids: $200k → 33%Elm Institute Inc: $25k → 12%Elm Institute Inc: $25k → 12%Fraternity and Sorority Action Fund: $100k → 14%Family Research Council: $20k → 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
MT
IL
WI
NY
MA
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
VA
MD
AZ
SC
DC
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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$47M · 48 repeat orgs$15M to everyone else

48 repeat relationships: 25 still active in FY2024, 23 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

48
28

Total granted

$47M
$11M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+34%

Still filing today

98%
96%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 63% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.2M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Civil RightsEducationPublic BenefitCrime & LegalArts & CulturePhilanthropyOther
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

  • TF
    THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES
    4× · 2020–2023 · $12M · revenue +48% · 28% of their budget
  • EA
    ETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY CENTER INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $5.8M · revenue +190% · 39% of their budget
  • TP
    TURNING POINT USA INC
    2× · 2020–2023 · $3.3M · revenue +190%

Funded once

  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $2.0M · revenue +39%
  • NC
    New Civil Liberties Alliancegraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue +127% · 28% of their budget
  • PA
    PASSAGES AMERICA ISRAEL INC
    one grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue -10%
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
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
2
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
3
Frontiers of Freedom Institute

To educate the public on constitutional issues and public policy matters. We are dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, peace through strength, limited government, free enterprise, and the values embodied in the Declaration of…

Public Benefit
4
American Civil Liberties Union Fund of the District of Columbia

Preservation of civil liberties through litigation and public education.

—
5
Liberty Justice Center

To advance economic and social liberties and a free enterprise society through strategic litigation, training, communication, activism and research. in addition, the center will train law students, lawyers and policy activists in the…

Crime & Legal
6
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
7
American Constitution Society for Law & Policy

The american constitution society for law and policy (acs) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan legal organization. through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, advocates, and many others,…

Education
8
Center for Individual Freedom

To investigate, explore and focus public, legislative and judicial attention on all areas of individual freedom and individual rights as guaranteed by the u.s. and state constitutions and free market principles.

Public Benefit
9
Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies Inc

To provide thoughtful, conservative solutions to the challenges presented by education, workforce, labor and employment issues.

Education
10
The National Foundation for American Policy Inc

The national foundation for american policy is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to public policy research on trade, immigration, and other issues of national importance. the organization seeks to expand the debate over the…

Public Benefit
11
The Campaign Legal Center Inc

The nonpartisan campaign legal center advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every american's rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic…

Crime & Legal
12
American Law Institute

The institute's mission, as set out in its certificate of incorporation, is to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to…

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is American Accountability Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Tikvah Fund. 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

90 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. 90 of the 92 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.

20
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
90/90
Grantees still filing
54/90
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Donors Trust Inc: $335,577,846 · PhilanthropyDonors Trust IncKNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS CHARITABLE FUND INC: $39,000,000 · PhilanthropyKNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS CHARITABLE FUND INC+6 more: $2,358,330 · PhilanthropyTHE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES: $12,215,445 · OtherTURNING POINT USA INC: $3,265,000 · OtherThe Becket Fund: $1,350,000 · OtherNew Civil Liberties Alliance: $1,000,000 · Other+33 more: $10,000,300 · OtherETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY CENTER INC: $5,818,000 · Public BenefitFOUNDATION FOR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY INC: $2,000,000 · Public BenefitAMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL: $1,540,412 · Public BenefitINSTITUTE FOR FREE SPEECH: $712,500 · Public BenefitMANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH INC: $650,000 · Public BenefitUNLEASH PROSPERITY INC: $500,000 · Public Benefit+7 more: $1,092,000 · Public BenefitFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $2,366,667 · Civil RightsIndependent Women's Forum: $1,610,000 · Civil RightsFIDELIS CENTER FOR LAW & POLICY: $925,000 · Civil RightsSpeech First Inc: $750,000 · Civil RightsCENTER FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: $350,000 · Civil Rights+10 more: $1,541,500 · Civil RightsHAWTHORN FOUNDATION INC: $2,300,000 · EducationPASSAGES AMERICA ISRAEL INC: $1,000,000 · EducationTHE MAINE HERITAGE POLICY CENTER: $760,000 · EducationTHE LEGACY FOUNDATION: $750,000 · EducationREAL CLEAR FOUNDATION: $750,000 · EducationFOUNDATION FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND CIVIC TRUST: $450,000 · EducationTHE TIKVAH FUND: $450,000 · Education+8 more: $946,338 · EducationCLUB FOR GROWTH FOUNDATION INC: $3,250,000 · Community ImprovementPARAGON HEALTH INSTITUTE: $2,000,000 · HealthHEALTH MARKETS POLICY NETWORK: $381,000 · HealthHERITAGE ACTION FOR AMERICA: $100,000 · Health
Philanthropy$376,936,176Other$27,830,745Public Benefit$12,312,912Civil Rights$7,543,167Education$7,406,338Community Improvement$3,250,000Health$2,481,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDonors Trust Inc: $335,577,846 over 5y, 58% of budgetKNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS CHARITABLE FUND INC: $39,000,000 over 1y, 46% of budgetTHE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES: $12,215,445 over 4y, 28% of budgetETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY CENTER INC: $5,818,000 over 5y, 39% of budgetTURNING POINT USA INC: $3,265,000 over 2y, 6.9% of budgetCLUB FOR GROWTH FOUNDATION INC: $3,250,000 over 3y, 69% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $2,366,667 over 2y, 5.6% of budgetHAWTHORN FOUNDATION INC: $2,300,000 over 3y, 21% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY INC: $2,000,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetPARAGON HEALTH INSTITUTE: $2,000,000 over 2y, 25% of budgetIndependent Women's Forum: $1,610,000 over 5y, 6.8% of budgetAMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL: $1,540,412 over 4y, 5.1% of budgetThe Becket Fund: $1,350,000 over 4y, 3.6% of budgetNew Civil Liberties Alliance: $1,000,000 over 1y, 28% of budgetPASSAGES AMERICA ISRAEL INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetFIDELIS CENTER FOR LAW & POLICY: $925,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetCENTER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY: $850,000 over 4y, 61% of budgetTHE MAINE HERITAGE POLICY CENTER: $760,000 over 1y, 39% of budgetTHE LEGACY FOUNDATION: $750,000 over 1y, 89% of budgetSpeech First Inc: $750,000 over 2y, 22% of budgetMercatus Center Inc: $750,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetREAL CLEAR FOUNDATION: $750,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetNATIONAL REVIEW INSTITUTE: $730,000 over 3y, 5.6% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR FREE SPEECH: $712,500 over 4y, 16% of budgetMANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH INC: $650,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetCENTER FOR LAW AND POLICY: $550,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetUNLEASH PROSPERITY INC: $500,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetTRITON RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $500,000 over 1y, 100% of budgetJOB CREATORS NETWORK FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetVANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM: $500,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND CIVIC TRUST: $450,000 over 1y, 82% of budgetTHE TIKVAH FUND: $450,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetPacific Research Institute For Public Policy: $445,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetENERGY & ENVIRONMENT LEGAL INSTITUTE: $405,000 over 2y, 72% of budgetPROPERTY AND ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CENTER: $400,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetPUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetHEALTH MARKETS POLICY NETWORK: $381,000 over 3y, 100% of budgetAMERICANS FOR LIMITED GOVERNMENT FOUNDATION: $355,000 over 5y, 61% of budgetTHE EQUAL VOTING RIGHTS INSTITUTE: $350,000 over 1y, 68% of budgetCENTER FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: $350,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetLITIGATORS FOR LIBERTY NETWORK: $325,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetNATIONAL CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $300,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetNATIONAL CIVIC ART SOCIETY: $300,000 over 5y, 20% of budgetSAM INC: $300,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCOMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: $250,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetCentral Fund of Israel: $250,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICANS FOR LIMITED GOVERNMENT INC: $250,000 over 2y, 15% 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.

Donors Trust IncBradley Impact Fund I…Sarah Scaife Foundati…The Lynde and Harry B…John William Pope Fou…Holman Foundation IncThe Searle Freedom Tr…Adolph Coors Foundati…Charles Koch Foundati…Bader Family Foundati…The Seminar Network I…Triad Foundation Inc
Donors Trust IncVA81.6× affinity42 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donors Trust Inc · Bradley Impact Fund Inc · Sarah Scaife Foundation Incorporated · The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc · John William Pope Foundation · Holman Foundation Inc · The Searle Freedom Trust · Adolph Coors Foundation · Charles Koch Foundation · Bader Family Foundation · The Seminar Network Inc · Triad Foundation 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 The 85 Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The 85 Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 90%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
    9get no government money at all
    2report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The 85 Fund?

    Find your warmest path to The 85 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 92 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 85’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