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The Bell Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Bell Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$33k
Granted FY2025still arriving
12
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$117kHealth$12kFood & Nutrition$9kAnimals$7kPublic Safety & Disaster$6kHuman Services$3kHousing & Shelter$2kPhilanthropy$2kOther$0
02FY2025 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k11 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $20k
$1,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$354k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION$20,000
ST JUDE CHILDRENS RESEARCH HOSPITAL$2,000
COMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN$2,000
ASPCA$1,000
SUNCOAST HUMANE SOCIETY$1,000
JOHANN FUST COMMUNITY LIBRARY$1,000
BOCA GRANDE WOMENS CLUB$1,000
GICIA$1,000
TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION$1,000
AMERICAN RED CROSS$1,000
UNC HEALTH FOUNDATION$1,000
FRIENDS OF BOCA GRANDE$1,000
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 (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $4k → 11%ASPCA: $4k → 17%SUNCOAST HUMANE SOCIETY: $1k → 9%BOCA GRANDE CLINIC FOUNDATION INC: $3k → 11%ST JUDE CHILDRENS RESEARCH HOSPITA: $3k → 17%NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2k → 8%UNC HEALTH FOUNDATION: $1k → 13%COMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN: $2k → 18%TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $2k → 11%ASPCA: $1k → 17%BOCA GRANDE WOMENS CLUB: $1k → 11%ST JUDE CHILDRENS RESEARCH HOSPITAL: $2k → 17%COMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN: $2k → 18%TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $1k → 11%ASPCA: $1k → 17%GICIA: $1k → 11%COMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN: $2k → 18%FRIENDS OF BOCA GRANDE: $1k → 11%COMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN: $1k → 18%JOHANN FUST COMMUNITY LIBRARY: $1k → 11%COMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN: $1k → 18%COMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN: $1k → 18%WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $20k → 18%WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $20k → 18%WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $18k → 18%WAYNE COUNTY COLLEGE FOUINDATION: $18k → 18%WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $18k → 18%WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $15k → 18%KITTY ASKINS HOSPICE CENTER: $1k → 18%WAYNE COUNTY RECOVERY CORPORATION: $2k → 18%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $2k → 18%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $2k → 18%SALVATION ARMY: $1k → 18%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $1k → 18%SALVATION ARMY: $1k → 18%HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $1k → 18%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $1k → 18%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $1k → 18%SALVATION ARMY: $1k → 18%PARAMOUNT THEATRE FOUNDATION: $500 → 18%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.

71%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$114k · 8 repeat orgs$47k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against -12% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
7

Total granted

$114k
$41k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
-12%

Still filing today

50%
14%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
AnimalsEducationArts & 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

  • STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION
    3× · 2023–2025 · $7k · revenue +50%
  • TA
    THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
    3× · 2021–2025 · $6k · revenue +14%
  • ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $5k · revenue +10%

Funded once

  • WC
    WAYNE COUNTY COLLEGE FOUINDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $18k
  • WC
    WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
    one grant, 2020 · $15k
  • BG
    BOCA GRANDE CLINIC FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2020 · $3k
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
The Carolina Trust
Philanthropy
2
Historic Charleston Foundation

The mission of historic charleston foundation is to advocate for a future for charleston that honors and protects its people, places, culture, and community.

—
3
Florida Animal Protection Foundation
Animals
4
Harvard Club of Ny Historical Foundation
Environment
5
North Carolina Sports Legacy Foundation Fka Promote the Youth Foundation
Philanthropy
6
Saving Saluda Strays
Animals
7
Catalina Island Foundation
Youth Development
8
The South Carolina Historical Society

The schs mission is to expand, preserve, and make accessible our invaluable collection, and to encourage interest and pride in the rich history of our state.

Arts & Culture
9
Sacred Heart Foundation Inc

Rooted in the loving ministry of jesus as healer, we commit ourselves to serving all persons with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable. our catholic health ministry is dedicated to spiritually-center, holistic care which…

Health
10
The Womens Care Florida Foundation
—
11
The North Caroliniana Society

To promote interest in, knowledge of, and appreciation for north carolina history and culture through historical preservation, library service, and perpetuation of state literary and cultural heritage.

—
12
Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Education and Research Foundation
Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Paramount Theatre Foundation the Paramount Theatre Foundation. 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

10 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. 10 of the 22 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)
10/10
Grantees still filing
6/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $76,000 · OtherWAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIONWAYNE COUNTY COLLEGE FOUINDATION: $18,000 · OtherWAYNE COUNTY COLLEGE FOUINDATIONWAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $15,000 · OtherWAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGECOMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN: $9,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY SOUP KITCHENAMERICAN RED CROSS: $6,000 · Other+10 more: $16,000 · Other+10 moreSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $7,000 · EducationUNC HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 · EducationTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $6,000 · AnimalsSUNCOAST HUMANE SOCIETYINC: $1,000 · AnimalsST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $5,000 · HealthNORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,000 · PhilanthropyTHE PARAMOUNT THEATRE FOUNDATION THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE FOUNDATION: $500 · Arts & Culture
Other$140,000Education$8,000Animals$7,000Health$5,000Philanthropy$2,000Arts & Culture$500

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 budgetSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $7,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $6,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHenderson County & Thermal Belt Habitat for Humanity: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJOHANN FUST LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNC HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOCA GRANDE WOMAN'S CLUB INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE PARAMOUNT THEATRE FOUNDATION THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.8% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Bell Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Bell Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get 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 · 0–10%
    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 Bell Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Bell Family 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 22 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Bell 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