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The Bidwell Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Bidwell 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.

$21k
Granted FY2024still arriving
3
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0180% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Health$62kFood & Nutrition$28kReligion$8kEducation$6kRecreation & Sports$5kArts & Culture$3kPublic Safety & Disaster$3kHuman Services$3kOther$0
02FY2024 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $11k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$6,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - HOSPICE$10,000
HUNDRED CLUB$6,000
Individual grant recipient$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 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 68% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%PETSMART CHARITIES: $1k → 11%RAILS TO TRAILS: $2k → 8%THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - HOSPICE: $10k → 7%ORTV: $1k → 11%MIDSTATE MEDICAL CENTER: $1k → 12%UNITED STATES OLYMPIC COMITTEE: $1k → 9%YOUNG AMERICA'S FOUNDATION (RONALD REAGAN): $1k → 6%ST ANNES SHRINE: $15k → 9%SHELBURNE FARMS: $5k → 10%RAILS TO TRAILS: $1k → 8%MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - HOSPICE: $10k → 7%ARCHDIOCESE OF HARTFORD: $1k → 11%CHOATE SCHOOL: $1k → 12%ST ANNES SHRINE: $11k → 9%SHELBURNE FARMS: $5k → 10%RAILS TO TRAILS: $1k → 8%MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - HOSPICE: $10k → 7%ST JOSEPHS: $1k → 11%ST ANNES SHRINE: $10k → 9%SHELBURNE FARMS: $5k → 10%MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - HOSPICE: $10k → 7%ARCHDIOCESE OF HARTFORD: $1k → 11%ST ANNES SHRINE: $10k → 9%SHELBURNE FARMS: $5k → 10%GAYLORD HOSPITAL: $5k → 7%ARCHDIOCESE OF HARTFORD: $1k → 11%ST ANNES SHRINE: $5k → 9%SHELBURNE FARMS: $5k → 10%GAYLORD HOSPITAL: $5k → 7%CPTV: $1k → 11%SHELBURNE FARMS: $3k → 10%MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - OFFICE OF PHILANTHROPY: $5k → 7%ST JOSEPHS: $1k → 11%ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: $1k → 10%MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - HOSPICE: $5k → 7%ARCHDIOCESE OF HARTFORD: $1k → 11%ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: $1k → 10%MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - OFFICE OF PHILANTHROPY: $1k → 7%ORTV: $1k → 11%HUNDRED CLUB: $6k → 11%HUNDRED CLUB: $6k → 11%HUNDRED CLUB: $5k → 11%HUNDRED CLUB: $5k → 11%HUNDRED CLUB: $3k → 11%HUNDRED CLUB: $3k → 11%HUNDRED CLUB: $2k → 11%HOLY TRINITY CATHEDRAL: $2k → 11%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

VT
PA
CT
CO
VA
AZ
KS
DC
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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$188k · 12 repeat orgs$16k to everyone else

12 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
14

Total granted

$188k
$16k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+63%

Still filing today

33%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24
HealthEducationAnimalsEnvironmentPublic Safety & DisasterHuman ServicesOther
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

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    5× · 2020–2024 · $51k
  • MH
    MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - HOSPICE
    5× · 2020–2024 · $45k
  • HC
    HUNDRED CLUB
    7× · 2017–2024 · $29k

Funded once

  • WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $3k · revenue +90%
  • HT
    HOLY TRINITY CATHEDRAL
    one grant, 2020 · $2k
  • Middlesex United Way Inc
    one grant, 2017 · $1k · revenue -57%
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
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
2
Hartford Hospital

To improve the health and healing of the people and communities we serve.

Health
3
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
4
Stony Brook Urology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
5
Stony Brook Surgical Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
6
Neurology Associates of Stony Brook University Faculty Practice Corp

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
7
Stony Brook Orthopedic Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
8
Central Maine Healthcare Corporation

To provide exceptional healthcare services in a safe and trustful environment through the expertise, committment, and compassion of our family of caregivers.

Health
9
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
10
Stony Brook Ophthalmology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
11
University Associates in Obstetrics and Gynecology University Faculty Pract ice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
12
The Hospital of Central Connecticut

The Hospital of Central Connecticut is dedicated to fostering, sustaining and improving the health status of the people in the communities we serve.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Berlin Firefighters Benefit Assoc. 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

14 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 14 of the 26 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
10/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $51,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientMIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - HOSPICE: $45,000 · OtherMIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - HOSPICEHUNDRED CLUB: $29,250 · OtherHUNDRED CLUBMIDDLESEX HOSPITAL - OFFICE OF PHILANTHROPY: $6,000 · Other+13 more: $21,500 · Other+13 moreSHELBURNE FARMS: $27,500 · EnvironmentSHELBURNE FARMSGaylord Hospital INC: $10,000 · HealthMidstate Medical Center: $1,000 · HealthSAINT MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: $4,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD: $1,000 · EducationBERLIN FIREFIGHTERS BENEFIT ASSOC: $3,000 · Public Safety & DisasterWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $2,500 · Human ServicesCONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY: $1,000 · AnimalsPETSMART CHARITIES INC: $1,000 · Animals
Other$152,750Environment$27,500Health$11,000Education$5,000Public Safety & Disaster$3,000Human Services$2,500Animals$2,000

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 budgetSHELBURNE FARMS: $27,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetGaylord Hospital INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAINT MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBERLIN FIREFIGHTERS BENEFIT ASSOC: $3,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMiddlesex United Way Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED STATES OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPETSMART CHARITIES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CONNECTICUT GOLF FOUNDATION INC THE FIRST TEE OF CONNECTICUT: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMidstate Medical Center: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNRA FOUNDATION INC: $500 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 SHELBURNE FARMS ↗
  • Who funds Gaylord Hospital INC ↗
  • Who funds SAINT MICHAEL'S COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds BERLIN FIREFIGHTERS BENEFIT ASSOC ↗
  • Who funds WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds Middlesex United Way Inc ↗
  • Who funds UNITED STATES OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE ↗
  • Who funds CONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds PETSMART CHARITIES INC ↗
  • Who funds THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD ↗
  • Who funds THE CONNECTICUT GOLF FOUNDATION INC THE FIRST TEE OF CONNECTICUT ↗
  • Who funds Midstate Medical Center ↗
  • Who funds NRA FOUNDATION 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.

Aetna Foundation IncThe Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Aetna Foundation IncCT14.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Aetna Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation 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 Bidwell Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Bidwell 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%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Gaylord Hospital Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Shelburne Farms: 3% of income from government
  • University of Hartford: 1% of income from government
  • Saint Michael's College: 0% of income from government
  • Midstate Medical Center: 0% of income from government
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
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 Bidwell Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Bidwell 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 26 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 Bidwell’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