Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

The Black Dog Private Foundation Inc

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.

$682k
Granted FY2025still arriving
28
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.

Arts & Culture$1.3MYouth Development$895kPublic Benefit$680kEducation$279kCivil Rights$165kInternational$139kAnimals$101kHuman Services$87kOther$0
02FY2025 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k15 grants · $50k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $170k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $213k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$7,500
Median grant
8
States reached
$3.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OUTWARD BOUND CALIFORNIA$250,000
SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART$112,500
VOTER REGISTRATION PROJECT$100,000
TINWORKS ART$40,000
CITIZEN FILM INC$25,000
SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART$20,000
SAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK$20,000
GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY$12,500
THE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC$12,000
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART$10,000
AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATRE FOUNDATION$10,000
BARTH SYNDROME FOUNDATION INC$10,000
TRUSTEES OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY$10,000
LEARNUP CENTERS$7,500
CONSERVANCY GUARDIANS USA FUND INC$5,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY20–25, $15k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 17% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%BLACK MOUNTAIN HOME FOR CHILDREN YOUTH & FAMILIES: $3k → 12%COMPASS FAMILY SERVICES: $5k → 10%COMPASS FAMILY SERVICES: $3k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES CYO OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN F: $1k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES CYO OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN F: $1k → 10%RAPHAEL HOUSE OF SAN FRANCISCO INC: $3k → 10%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

VT
WA
MT
NY
MA
OR
IA
NJ
CA
UT
KY
MD
NM
NC
DC
HI
GA
TX

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$3.3M · 35 repeat orgs$723k to everyone else

35 repeat relationships — 15 still active in FY2025, 20 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

35
37

Total granted

$3.3M
$616k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+43%

Still filing today

97%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $107k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureAnimalsEducationEnvironmentCivil RightsHuman ServicesOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • OB
    OUTWARD BOUND CALIFORNIA
    8× · 2017–2025 · $862k · revenue +27%
  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
    6× · 2017–2025 · $650k · revenue +37%
  • VR
    VOTER REGISTRATION PROJECT
    3× · 2022–2025 · $400k · revenue +43%

Funded once

  • V
    VOTEORG
    one grant, 2022 · $250k · revenue -2%
  • TA
    THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $200k · revenue +218%
  • CC
    CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE INCORPORATED
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue -1%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Marin Humane Society

Marin humane transforms lives through exceptional animal care, humane education, and advocacy. every day, marin humane inspires compassion and positive relationships between people and animals.

Animals
2
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
3
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
4
The San Diego Foundation

The san diego foundation inspires enduring philanthropy and enables community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region.

Philanthropy
5
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
6
The Humane Society for Seattleking County

Seattle humane promotes the human-animal bond by saving and serving pets in need, regardless of age, ability, circumstance or geography.

Animals
7
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
8
The Bar Association of San Francisco

The bar association of san francisco champions equal access to justice and promotes humanity, excellence, and diversity in the legal profession. we provide legal services to disadvantaged and underserved individuals in san francisco. we…

—
9
Golden Gate University

Golden gate university prepares individuals to lead and serve by providing high quality, practice-based educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions - as a nonprofit institution - in an innovative and challenging…

Education
10
Community Foundation Santa Cruz County

To promote philanthropy to make santa cruz county a better place to live, now and in the future.we bring together people, ideas, and resources to inspire philanthropy and accomplish great things.

Philanthropy
11
Aquarium of the Pacific Corporation

The aquarium of the pacific's mission is to instill a sense of wonder, respect, and stewardship for the pacific ocean, its inhabitants, and ecosystems.

Animals
12
United Animal Nations Dba Redrover

To bring animals out of crisis and strengthen the bond between people and animals through emergency sheltering, disaster relief services, financial assistance and education. redrover accomplishes its mission by engaging volunteers and…

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Accelerate Change Inc and the most unlike its peers is Tinworks Art. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyPolicy Research and AdvocacyElementary Literacy TutoringCommunity Arts CentersHealth Access Advocacy and …Volunteer Fire & Ems Servic…Independent K-12 SchoolsOrchestra and Ensemble Perf…Christian Missionary Organi…Equine Therapy ProgramsWomen & Girls Leadership De…Environmental Conservation …Animal Rescue and ShelterDomestic Violence ServicesCommunity Foundations
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 30 years old; the field is 14. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number24%3%<5yr15%8%5–10yr20%20%10–20yr17%30%20–35yr11%11%35–55yr13%29%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value24%0%<5yr15%4%5–10yr20%48%10–20yr17%7%20–35yr11%8%35–55yr13%34%55yr+

The field is 24% startups (under 5 years old) — 3% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/83
the rest of the field
14%
26,003/186,895

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

82 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 82 of the 87 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
17
Early backer (in before they grew)
80/82
Grantees still filing
56/82
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART — $650,400 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN …KQED INC — $351,000 · Arts & CultureKQED INCTINWORKS ART — $40,000 · Arts & Culture+9 more — $61,000 · Arts & Culture+9 moreOUTWARD BOUND CALIFORNIA — $862,000 · Recreation & SportsOUTWARD BOUND CALIFORNIAVOTER REGISTRATION PROJECT — $400,000 · OtherVOTER REGISTRATION PROJECTTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION — $200,000 · OtherTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUND…SAFE & SOUND — $80,000 · OtherSAFE & SOUNDTHE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC DBA FORWARD GLOBAL — $57,000 · Other+39 more — $347,000 · Other+39 moreVOTEORG — $250,000 · Civil RightsVOTEORGACCELERATE CHANGE INC — $130,000 · Civil RightsACCELERATE …THE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER — $30,000 · Civil RightsTHE VOTER P…+2 more — $5,000 · Civil RightsTHE TRUSTEES OF MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE — $111,500 · EducationCHAMPLAIN COLLEGE INCORPORATED — $50,000 · EducationTeach for America Inc — $30,000 · EducationTHE BERRY CENTER INC — $30,000 · EducationCITIZEN FILM INC — $25,000 · Education10000 DEGREES — $16,500 · EducationREADING PARTNERS — $10,100 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $10,000 · Education+2 more — $8,500 · EducationMercy Corps — $137,500 · International+3 more — $5,500 · InternationalFRESNO HOPE ANIMAL FOUNDATION — $50,000 · AnimalsFriends of San Francisco Animal Care and Control — $25,000 · AnimalsTHE KERN PROJECT — $6,000 · AnimalsSECOND CHANCE PET RESCUE — $5,000 · Animals+8 more — $14,500 · Animals
Arts & Culture$1,102,400Recreation & Sports$862,000Other$1,084,000Civil Rights$415,000Education$291,600International$143,000Animals$100,500

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetOUTWARD BOUND CALIFORNIA — $862,000 over 8y, 4.5% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART — $650,400 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetVOTER REGISTRATION PROJECT — $400,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetKQED INC — $351,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetVOTEORG — $250,000 over 1y, 7.7% of budgetTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION — $200,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetMercy Corps — $137,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetACCELERATE CHANGE INC — $130,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE — $111,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSAFE & SOUND — $80,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetTHE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC DBA FORWARD GLOBAL — $57,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetCHAMPLAIN COLLEGE INCORPORATED — $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRESNO HOPE ANIMAL FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SAN FRANCISCO — $32,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetGOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY — $31,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTeach for America Inc — $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK — $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER — $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BERRY CENTER INC — $30,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetAMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATRE FOUNDATION — $26,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFriends of San Francisco Animal Care and Control — $25,000 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetREPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetLearnup Centers — $22,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budget10000 DEGREES — $16,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BARTH SYNDROME FOUNDATION — $15,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCatchLight — $15,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetMeritus College Fund — $13,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetREADING PARTNERS — $10,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLIFEMOVES — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS OF SAN FRANCISCO INC — $10,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCOMPASS FAMILY SERVICES — $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAIM HIGH FOR HIGH SCHOOL — $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE KERN PROJECT — $6,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetConservancy Guardians USA Fund Inc — $5,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetRADIUS BOOKS INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBUCK INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON AGING — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSONOMA FAMILY MEAL — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetDIGNITYMOVES — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE NAPA VALLEY — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPlanned Parenthood Shasta-Diablo Inc — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Bay — $3,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSan Francisco Film Society — $3,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY — $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The San Francisco Fou…Silicon Valley Commun…Jewish Community Fede…McNabb FoundationGs Donor Advised Phil…Marin Community Found…Sonoma County Communi…Tides FoundationEast Bay Community Fo…The Bessemer Giving F…The Ford FoundationRockefeller Philanthr…
The San Francisco FoundationCA25.3× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · McNabb Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Marin Community Foundation · Sonoma County Community Foundation · Tides Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · The Bessemer Giving Fund · The Ford Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization The Black Dog Private Foundation Inc funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Mercy Corps — 47% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Mount Holyoke College — 1% of income from government
  • Champlain College Incorporated — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
20report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
typical government reliance, FY20–25

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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 87 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines