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The Alton Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Alton Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$26k
Granted FY2022
3
Grants FY2022
2
States reached
$25k
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, FY2017 to 2022.

Philanthropy$151kEnvironment$11kHealth$6kHuman Services$1kYouth Development$1kInternational$1kCommunity Improvement$700Arts & Culture$650Other$0
02FY2022 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2022

  • Under $10k2 grants · $1k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
$1,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$4k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATN$25,000
MADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP$1,000
MADISON CO FAIRGROUNDS IMPROV FOUND$200
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 (FY17–22) land where the poverty rate runs at 25%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 90% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY OF MONTANA: $1k → 9%WHITE TAIL RANCH CENTER: $1k → 10%MADISON CO FAIRGROUNDS IMPROV FOUND: $200 → 10%JACK CREEK PRESERVATION FOUNDATION: $250 → 11%ST LABRE INDIAN SCHOOL: $100 → 12%FOODSHARE: $200 → 10%CA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION: $100 → 10%AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES: $100 → 14%SMILE TRAIN: $100 → 17%NEW HEIGHTS SUMER CAMP: $100 → 15%AMERICAN LEPROSY MISSION: $50 → 10%VFW: $50 → 14%STAR FOUNDATION: $500 → 14%UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATN: $25k → 27%FEEDING AMERICA: $100 → 14%MARINE TOYS FOR TOTS: $100 → 6%TOYS FOR TOTS: $100 → 7%YELLOWSTONE FOREVER: $100 → 11%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY OF MONTANA: $1k → 9%YELLOWSTONE PARK FOUNDATION: $100 → 10%MADISON CO FAIRGROUNDS IMPROV FOUND: $200 → 10%JACK CREEK PRESERVATION FOUNDATION: $250 → 11%SMILE TRAIN: $100 → 17%VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS: $50 → 14%STAR FOUNDATION: $100 → 14%UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATN: $25k → 27%TOYS FOR TOTS: $100 → 7%YELLOWSTONE FOREVER: $100 → 11%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY OF MONTANA: $1k → 9%MADISON VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUND: $2k → 10%STEVENSVILLE SHARING TREE: $250 → 11%VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS: $25 → 14%UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATN: $25k → 27%TOYS FOR TOTS: $100 → 7%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY OF MONTANA: $1k → 9%MADISON VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUND: $2k → 10%JACK CREEK PRESERVATION FOUNDATION: $200 → 11%UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATN: $25k → 27%MADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP: $1k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATN: $25k → 27%MADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP: $1k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATN: $25k → 27%MADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP: $1k → 10%MADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP: $1k → 10%MADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP: $1k → 10%MADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP: $1k → 10%MADISON VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUND: $500 → 10%MADISON VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUND: $500 → 10%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

MT
IL
NY
WY
SD
OH
CA
VA
MD
KS
SC
DC
OK
GA
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$164k · 14 repeat orgs$6k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +53% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2022, 11 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
20

Total granted

$164k
$6k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+53%
+12%

Still filing today

64%
35%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22
EnvironmentHealthInternationalFood & NutritionEmploymentPhilanthropyOther
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

  • MV
    MADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP
    6× · 2017–2022 · $6k · revenue +39%
  • MV
    MADISON VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION
    4× · 2017–2020 · $5k · revenue +224%
  • SO
    STAR of Coastal Georgia Inc
    2× · 2017–2021 · $600 · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • WR
    Whitetail Ranch Center
    one grant, 2020 · $1k
  • CM
    CAMP MAKE A DREAM
    one grant, 2017 · $1k
  • CA
    CENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE
    one grant, 2017 · $1k · revenue -39%
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
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
2
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
3
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
4
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
5
Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy

Iatp works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems.

Food & Nutrition
6
International Snow Leopard Trust

The international snow leopard trust aims to ethically conserve snow leopards and their high mountain ecosystems through partnerships with indigenous peoples and local communities, and through research to improve the understanding of snow…

Animals
7
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

The mission of the global alliance for improved nutrition (gain) is to improve the consumption of healthier diets for all, especially the most vulnerable, by improving the availability, affordability, desirability, and sustainability of…

Food & Nutrition
8
African Wildlife Foundation Inc

Awf's mission is to ensure wildlife and wild lands thrive in modern africa. we work to equip african governments, institutions, business, and communities with the tools, insights, and support they need to define, own, and realize a…

Animals
9
Wildaid Inc

Wildaid's mission is to inspire change and empower the world to protect wildlife and vital habitats from critical threats.

Animals
10
The Peregrine Fund Inc

To change the future for nature and humanity by conserving birds of prey worldwide.

—
11
Target Als Foundation Inc

Our mission is to break down barriers to als research to find effective treatments. by uniting academia, the pharma and biotech industry, government, venture capital, related nonprofits, and the als community, we aim to overcome the…

Education
12
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wounded Warrior Project Inc; the most unlike its peers is Madison Valley Ranchlands Group. 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

19 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. 19 of the 35 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/19
Grantees still filing
16/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATN: $150,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATN+25 more: $9,080 · Other+25 moreMADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP: $6,000 · Environment+1 more: $200 · EnvironmentMADISON VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $5,000 · HealthWhitetail Ranch Center: $1,000 · HealthCENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE: $1,000 · InternationalAMERICAN LEPROSY MISSIONS INC: $50 · InternationalCHILDRENS ONCOLOGY CAMP FOUNDATION: $1,000 · Recreation & SportsSTAR of Coastal Georgia Inc: $600 · EmploymentMARINE TOYS FOR TOTS FOUNDATION: $400 · Philanthropy
Other$159,080Environment$6,200Health$6,000International$1,050Recreation & Sports$1,000Employment$600Philanthropy$400

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 budgetMADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP: $6,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetMADISON VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDRENS ONCOLOGY CAMP FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSTAR of Coastal Georgia Inc: $600 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMARINE TOYS FOR TOTS FOUNDATION: $400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetYELLOWSTONE FOREVER: $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSMILE TRAIN INC: $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFOOD SHARE INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS INC: $150 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKAPPA KAPPA GAMMA FOUNDATION: $125 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW HEIGHTS SUMMER CAMP INC: $100 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN LEPROSY MISSIONS INC: $50 over 1y, 0.0% 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 MADISON VALLEY RANCHLANDS GROUP ↗
  • Who funds MADISON VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds Whitetail Ranch Center ↗
  • Who funds CENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds CHILDRENS ONCOLOGY CAMP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds STAR of Coastal Georgia Inc ↗
  • Who funds MARINE TOYS FOR TOTS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds YELLOWSTONE FOREVER ↗
  • Who funds SMILE TRAIN INC ↗
  • Who funds FOOD SHARE INC ↗
  • Who funds UNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds KAPPA KAPPA GAMMA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES ↗
  • Who funds Feeding America ↗
  • Who funds NEW HEIGHTS SUMMER CAMP INC ↗
  • Who funds WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN LEPROSY MISSIONS 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 tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Morgan Stanley Global…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust IncIN8.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 The Alton Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Alton Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 Alton Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Alton 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 35 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record but names no grant recipient in the published copy, so the figures above are from FY2022, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Alton’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