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The Business of Good Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Business of Good Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$595k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Community Improvement$3.0MEducation$2.1MPhilanthropy$1.1MEnvironment$595kHuman Services$279kYouth Development$181kArts & Culture$145kPublic Benefit$94kOther$0
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k8 grants · $30k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $27k
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.3M
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SEA CHANGE INCORPORATED$595,000
NEO FUND$337,000
AMERICA MENTORS$330,000
GO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION$17,000
ST MATTHEW'S HOUSE$10,000
COLLEGE NOW GREATER CLEVELAND INC$7,210
THE CITY MISSION$5,000
FIRST TEE OF CLEVELAND$5,000
WEST SIDE CATHOLIC CENTER$5,000
ASHTABULA COUNTY DISTRICT LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC$3,000
BIRTHRIGHT INC$3,000
GENEVA FOOD PANTRY$1,000
AFTER SCHOOL DISCOVERY$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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $751k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WEST SIDE CATHOLIC CENTER: $21k → 17%WEST SIDE CATHOLIC CENTER: $18k → 17%WEST SIDE CATHOLIC CENTER: $10k → 17%PARK PLACE NON-PROFIT CENTER: $319k → 17%WEST SIDE CATHOLIC CENTER: $5k → 17%WEST SIDE CATHOLIC CENTER: $5k → 17%PARK PLACE NON-PROFIT CENTER: $162k → 17%PARK PLACE NON-PROFIT CENTER: $70k → 17%PARK PLACE NON-PROFIT CENTER: $60k → 17%ASHTABULA COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY: $50k → 17%FESTA: $6k → 15%GO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $17k → 17%GO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $8k → 17%ASHTABULA COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY: $500 → 17%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

ND
NY
OH
RI
CA
AZ
NM
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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.9M · 34 repeat orgs$812k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.

34 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 23 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

34
44

Total granted

$6.9M
$801k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+26%

Still filing today

76%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k 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
EducationPhilanthropyHuman ServicesArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementHealthOther
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

  • SC
    Sea Change Incorporated
    7× · 2019–2025 · $2.2M · revenue +268% · 62% of their budget
  • AM
    AMERICA MENTORS
    7× · 2019–2025 · $1.7M · revenue +122% · 67% of their budget
  • PP
    PARK PLACE NON-PROFIT CENTER CO
    4× · 2021–2024 · $611k · revenue +728% · 98% of their budget

Funded once

  • AC
    ASHTABULA COUNTY RIVER FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $345k
  • ND
    NOTRE DAME COLLEGE
    one grant, 2018 · $76k · revenue -20%
  • IK
    I KNOW I CANgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $70k · revenue +26%
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
Neighborhood Progress Inc

Cleveland neighborhood progress is committed to advancing its mission of fostering communities of choice and opportunity. our vision is for all of cleveland's neighborhoods to be attractive, vibrant communities where people from all…

Community Improvement
2
Cleveland Center for Arts and Technology

Mission: for all of our students to achieve optimal health by integrating mental and physical well-being and life purpose. values: we will improve the lives of our students and our community. we will fight inherently inequitable systems.…

Arts & Culture
3
Westown Community Development Corp

Provide services to its residents, business owners and stakeholders that enhance and maintain the westown neighborhoods and businesses. wcdc's service area known as westown is a vibrant, historic and culturally diverse city neighborhood…

Community Improvement
4
Ohio Business Leadership Network
—
5
Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce

Advancing a thriving central ohio commmunity by serving as a catalyst for all businesses to grow and flourish. our mission pillars are connections, government relations, strategic business solutions and talent/workforce.

—
6
Ohio Association of Community Colleges

Oacc is dedicated to the advancement and implementation of sound policy and initiatives that work to ensure the success of the more than 300,000 community college students in ohio. rooted in the belief that every person should have access…

Education
7
Digitalc

Empower the people of greater cleveland to achieve success through technology, innovation and connected community.

Community Improvement
8
Portage Development Board

To coordinate and promote economic development on a county wide basis among all of the political subdivisions of portage county, ohio.

Public Benefit
9
Global Cleveland

Global cleveland is dedicated to growing northeast ohio's economy by welcoming and connecting international people to opportunities and fostering a more inviting community for those seeking a place to call home.

Human Services
10
United Way of North Central Ohio Inc

At united way of north central ohio, we bring people, organizations, and resources together to create solutions that improve the lives of every person in every community in our region.

—
11
Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing

Advance the preservation, production and management of affordable housing through collaborative partnership and innovative thought leadership.

Housing & Shelter
12
Lead Ohio

At lead ohio our goal is to make a difference in communities across ohio by recruiting, training, supporting and empowering progressive leaders in all regions of the state.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is College Now Greater Cleveland Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Ashtabula Foundation Inc. 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

56 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. 56 of the 81 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
55/56
Grantees still filing
37/56
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Sea Change Incorporated: $2,198,334 · EducationSea Change IncorporatedAMERICA MENTORS: $1,670,000 · EducationAMERICA MENTORS+9 more: $284,777 · Education+9 moreNEO FUND: $1,182,971 · OtherNEO FUNDASHTABULA COUNTY RIVER FOUNDATION: $345,000 · OtherASHTABULA COUNTY RIVER FOUNDATIO…ASHTABULA COUNTY FAMILY YMCA: $126,442 · OtherASHTABULA COUNTY FAMILY YMCAST JOHN SCHOOL: $113,000 · Other+48 more: $460,615 · Other+48 morePARK PLACE NON-PROFIT CENTER CO: $610,824 · Human ServicesPARK PLACE …WEST SIDE CATHOLIC CENTER: $58,380 · Human ServicesWEST SIDE C…ASHTABULA COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY: $50,500 · Human ServicesASHTABULA C…+2 more: $31,000 · Human ServicesASHTABULA RIVER FOUNDATION: $239,303 · PhilanthropyPARTNERSHIP FOR INNER CITY EDUCATION DBA PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS: $50,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL OHIO INC: $50,000 · PhilanthropyCOLUMBUS FOUNDATION: $20,379 · PhilanthropyCIVIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF ASHTABULA COUNTY: $20,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $5,000 · PhilanthropyGMILUTH CHASODIM (THE HEBREW FREE LOAN ASSOCIATION): $91,700 · Public BenefitLEADERSHIP ASHTABULA COUNTY INC: $24,000 · Public BenefitTHE FIRST TEE OF CLEVELAND: $27,500 · Recreation & SportsURBAN SQUASH CLEVELAND: $2,500 · Recreation & SportsLIFT BRIDGE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $15,500 · Community ImprovementASHTABULA DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION: $5,000 · Community ImprovementJUMPSTART INC: $3,000 · Community Improvement
Education$4,153,111Other$2,228,028Human Services$750,704Philanthropy$384,682Public Benefit$115,700Recreation & Sports$30,000Community Improvement$23,500

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 budgetSea Change Incorporated: $2,198,334 over 7y, 62% of budgetAMERICA MENTORS: $1,670,000 over 7y, 67% of budgetPARK PLACE NON-PROFIT CENTER CO: $610,824 over 4y, 98% of budgetASHTABULA RIVER FOUNDATION: $239,303 over 4y, 88% of budgetASHTABULA COUNTY FAMILY YMCA: $126,442 over 2y, 7.3% of budgetCincinnati Youth Collaborative: $115,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetGMILUTH CHASODIM (THE HEBREW FREE LOAN ASSOCIATION): $91,700 over 4y, 5.7% of budgetNOTRE DAME COLLEGE: $75,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetI KNOW I CAN: $70,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetWEST SIDE CATHOLIC CENTER: $58,380 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetASHTABULA COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY: $50,500 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetPARTNERSHIP FOR INNER CITY EDUCATION DBA PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS: $50,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL OHIO INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: $45,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE FIRST TEE OF CLEVELAND: $27,500 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetGO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $25,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetGROWTH PARTNERSHIP FOR ASHTABULA CO: $25,000 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetLEADERSHIP ASHTABULA COUNTY INC: $24,000 over 2y, 7.9% of budgetCOLUMBUS FOUNDATION: $20,379 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCIVIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF ASHTABULA COUNTY: $20,000 over 1y, 7.4% of budgetLIFT BRIDGE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $15,500 over 4y, 36% of budgetST CLAIR SUPERIOR DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $15,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetCOLLEGE NOW GREATER CLEVELAND INC: $14,510 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBIRTHRIGHT INC: $13,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetASHTABULA COUNTY DISTRICT LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC: $12,000 over 3y, 4.3% of budgetBEATITUDE HOUSE INC: $10,950 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION CONSORTIUM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 7.3% of budgetST MATTHEWS HOUSE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOPEN DOORS INC: $8,560 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetESPERANZA INC: $8,458 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION: $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWESTERN RESERVE LAND CONSERVANCY: $7,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFREEDOM A LA CART: $6,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSERVING OUR NEIGHBORS MINISTRIES INC: $6,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTHE ASHTABULA FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetYOUTH OPPORTUNITIES UNLIMITED: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetASHTABULA DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 4y, 19% of budgetHEALING TOGETHER: $5,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetALLIANCE FOR WORKING TOGETHER FOUNDATION: $3,250 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetLAKE ERIE COLLEGE: $3,215 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJUMPSTART INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCLEVELAND LEADERSHIP CENTER: $2,654 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNORTH MARKET DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAFTER SCHOOL DISCOVERY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCARE FUND: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHands On Northeast Ohio: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE METROHEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetASHTABULA ARTS CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

The Cleveland Foundat…Robert S Morrison Fou…Dominion Energy Chari…The Reinberger Founda…Burton D Morgan Found…The George Gund Found…The Ashtabula Foundat…Sisters of Charity Fo…The Lozick Family Fou…The Char and Chuck Fo…The Mfg Foundation CoLincoln Electric Fdn …
The Cleveland FoundationOH35.3× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Cleveland Foundation · Robert S Morrison Foundation · Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · The Reinberger Foundation · Burton D Morgan Foundation Inc · The George Gund Foundation · The Ashtabula Foundation Inc · Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland · The Lozick Family Foundation · The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation · The Mfg Foundation Co · Lincoln Electric Fdn Pfdn

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 Business of Good Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Business of Good Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    19report 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
    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 Business of Good Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Business of Good 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 81 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 Business of Good’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