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The Calamus Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Calamus 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.

$150k
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Philanthropy$506kCivil Rights$358kCrime & Legal$170kHuman Services$120kHealth$100kYouth Development$98kArts & Culture$43kInternational$40kOther$0
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $145k
$15,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$5.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TRANSGENDER LAW PROJECT$20,000
CHOSEN FAMILY CENTER$20,000
WILLIAM INSITUTE UCLA SCHOOL OF LAW$20,000
DESIGNING JUSTICE DESIGNING SPACES$15,000
Individual grant recipient$15,000
AMERICA DIVERSA$15,000
INTER-INTRA COMMUNITY$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
BLACK LGBTQ LIBERATION INC$10,000
QUEER YOUTH PROJECT OF CONNECTICUT$10,000
TARAB NYC$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:

Its human-services grants (FY19–23, $105k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%ORGANIZACION LATINA TRANS IN TEXAS: $15k → 16%EQUALITY NEW MEXICO FOUNDATION: $15k → 14%FLORIDA HARM REDUCTION COLLECTIVE: $5k → 12%MIRACLE OF LOVE: $5k → 13%TAKE: $10k → 16%WILLIAM WAY COMMUNITY CENTER: $35k → 22%SWOP BEHIND BARS: $20k → 13%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

ME
IL
NY
MA
PA
CT
CA
NE
DE
NM
AR
DC
LA
AL
GA
TX
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.

31%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$345k · 13 repeat orgs$784k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +85% since the first grant, against +19% for those funded once.

13 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
55

Total granted

$345k
$709k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+85%
+19%

Still filing today

69%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $75k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesCivil RightsCrime & LegalInternationalArts & 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

  • PI
    PREP4ALL INC
    2× · 2021–2023 · $30k · revenue ×35 · 59% of their budget
  • DRIVE CHANGE INC
    3× · 2019–2021 · $28k · revenue +116%
  • QQ
    QPLUS QUEER YOUTH PROGRAM OF CONNECTICUT
    2× · 2023–2024 · $20k · revenue +42%

Funded once

  • NEO Philanthropy Incgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $66k · revenue +58%
  • Transgender Law Center
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue -17%
  • WW
    WILLIAM WAY LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $35k · revenue -34%
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
Lgbt Center Intercultural Collective Inc

Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo is a social organization, which works on the empowerment of human rights, access and comprehensive health care of TransGNB people, strengthening the social and cultural expression of diverse gender…

Civil Rights
2
Queer Works

Our mission is to ameliorate disparities faced by transgender, gender non-binary and intersex people as well as help reduce similar disparities among our lesbian, gay and bisexual communities.

Health
3
Girls for Gender Equity Inc

Girls for gender equity (gge) works intergenerationally, through a black feminist lens, to achieve gender and racial justice by centering the leadership of black girls and gender-expansive young people of color to reshape culture and…

Crime & Legal
4
National Trans Bar Association
Education
5
Translatina Network Inc

The mission of translatina network is to gain equal and lasting rights for all latina transgender women at a local, state and federal level. through the effective social mobilization of our community, we will have direct involvement in…

Community Improvement
6
Nytag Inc New York Transgender Advocacy Group

Nytag advocates for more inclusive gender-based policies that benefit transgender and gender non-conforming/non-binary (tgncnb) individuals through building community leaders,educating practitioners, and influencing policy makers.

Civil Rights
7
National Black Justice Coalition Inc

The national black justice coalition (nbjc) is a civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (lgbtq+) and same-gender loving (sgl) people, including people living with…

Civil Rights
8
Global Philanthropy Project Inc

Global Philanthropy Project (GPP or the Organization) is a collaboration of funders and philanthropic advisors working to expand global philanthropic support to advance the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex…

Philanthropy
9
Global Action for Trans Equality Inc

Gate is an international advocacy organization committed to promoting justice and equality for trans and gender diverse communities.

Civil Rights
10
Queer Power Alliance

Queer Power Alliance is rooted in the LGBTQIA+ community and in solidarity with other marginalized communities. We strive for equity by disrupting systems of oppression holding back LGBTQIA+ communities through advocating, educating,…

Human Services
11
Lgbtq Victory Institute Inc

LGBTQ Victory Institute works to achieve and sustain equality through leadership development, trainings, research and convenings. We work around the globe to increase the number, expand the diversity, and ensure the success of out LGBTQ+…

Civil Rights
12
Out & Equal

To provide leadership and professional development, education and research to create workplaces free from discrimination.

Social Science
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Center for Transformative Action; the most unlike its peers is Qplus Queer Youth Program of Connecticut. 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

44 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. 44 of the 77 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
44/44
Grantees still filing
29/44
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TRANSGENDER LAW PROJECT: $55,000 · OtherTRANSGENDER LAW PROJECTTHE ASTRAEA FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · OtherTHE ASTRAEA FOUNDATION INCLineage Project Inc: $45,000 · OtherLineage Project IncCHOSEN FAMILY CENTER: $30,000 · Other+53 more: $652,500 · Other+53 moreTIDES FOUNDATION: $400,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDATIONTransgender Law Center: $50,000 · Civil RightsAMERICA DIVERSA INC: $25,000 · Civil RightsEQUALITY FOUNDATION OF GA INC: $15,000 · Civil RightsMALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND: $10,000 · Civil RightsBlack LGBTQ Liberation Inc: $10,000 · Civil RightsIntransitive TM Inc: $5,000 · Civil RightsNational Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance Inc dba NQAPIA: $5,000 · Civil RightsWILLIAM WAY LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER: $35,000 · Human ServicesSWOP BEHIND BARS INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesOrganizacion Latina Trans in Texas: $15,000 · Human ServicesEquality New Mexico Foundation: $15,000 · Human ServicesTransgender Advocates Knowledgeable Empowering: $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE AFIYA CENTER: $10,000 · Human ServicesFLORIDA HARM REDUCTION COLLECTIVE INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesMIRACLE OF LOVE INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesNEO Philanthropy Inc: $66,000 · Public BenefitPREP4ALL INC: $30,000 · EducationSADIE NASH LEADERSHIP PROJECT INC: $15,000 · EducationNEW VENTURE FUND: $40,000 · Environment
Other$832,500Philanthropy$400,000Civil Rights$120,000Human Services$115,000Public Benefit$66,000Education$45,000Environment$40,000

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 budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $66,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ASTRAEA FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTransgender Law Center: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLineage Project Inc: $45,000 over 3y, 8.9% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $40,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWILLIAM WAY LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER: $35,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetPREP4ALL INC: $30,000 over 2y, 59% of budgetDRIVE CHANGE INC: $27,500 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetQPLUS QUEER YOUTH PROGRAM OF CONNECTICUT: $20,000 over 2y, 6.1% of budgetOrganizacion Latina Trans in Texas: $15,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetDESIGNING JUSTICE DESIGNING SPACES: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetEQUALITY FOUNDATION OF GA INC: $15,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetEquality New Mexico Foundation: $15,000 over 1y, 26% of budgetSADIE NASH LEADERSHIP PROJECT INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetNATIONAL CENTER FOR CIVIC INNOVATION IN: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLACK AND PINK INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCENTER FOR TRANSFORMATIVE ACTION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetHOUSE OF TULIP: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetDRAMA CLUB INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetNew Alternatives for LGBT Homeless Youth Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetSISTERLOVE INCORPORATED: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWE GOT US NOW INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetWomen With A Vision: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMALDEF - MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBlack LGBTQ Liberation Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetSOUTH AFRICA DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTRANS HOUSING ATLANTA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 7.4% of budgetTHRIVE SS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetMONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTAG TREATMENT ACTION GROUP INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY CONNECTIONS FOR YOUTH INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFLORIDA HARM REDUCTION COLLECTIVE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 9.3% of budgetMIRACLE OF LOVE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNational Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance Inc dba NQAPIA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetQUEER ART INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

Tides FoundationBorealis PhilanthropyRockefeller Philanthr…Proteus Fund IncAmalgamated Charitabl…Groundswell FundWellspring Philanthro…Elton John AIDS Found…AIDS UnitedMs Foundation for Wom…The Astraea Foundatio…Stonewall Community F…
Tides FoundationCA32.9× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Tides Foundation · Borealis Philanthropy · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Proteus Fund Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Groundswell Fund · Wellspring Philanthropic Fund Inc · Elton John AIDS Foundation Inc · AIDS United · Ms Foundation for Women Inc · The Astraea Foundation Inc · Stonewall Community 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 Calamus Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Calamus Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Miracle of Love Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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 Calamus Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Calamus 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 77 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 Calamus’ 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