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Plinth

· Public charity

The Character Lab Inc

Character lab advances scientific insights that help kids thrive.

$10k
Granted FY2021
1
Grants FY2021
1
States reached
$10k
Largest
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 FY20172021.

Education$1.9MSocial Science$395kHealth$223kPhilanthropy$196kRecreation & Sports$77kCommunity Improvement$15kCivil Rights$10k
02FY2021 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BEHAVIORAL IDEAS LAB INC$10,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–21) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 87% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%HIGHER GROUND A RESOURCE CENTER: $8k → 15%BREAD AND ROSES: $15k → 22%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $42k → 11%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: $85k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN: $25k → 10%CHARLES AND LYNN SCHUSTERMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION: $44k → 15%WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $152k → 8%FOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $148k → 13%UGARF RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $119k → 27%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BOOTH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: $105k → 14%BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $38k → 19%THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $421k → 22%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: $40k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN: $13k → 10%FOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $10k → 13%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $77k → 14%BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $20k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $269k → 22%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: $30k → 17%BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $20k → 19%THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $141k → 22%WE THE PROTESTORS: $10k → 17%BEHAVIORAL IDEAS LAB INC: $10k → 17%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

IL
MI
NY
PA
CA
AZ
AR
OK
GA
TX
FL

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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.0M · 7 repeat orgs$525k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +153% since the first grant, against +25% for the ones you funded once.

7 repeat relationships — 0 still active in FY2021, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
7

Total granted

$1.0M
$515k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+153%
+25%

Still filing today

29%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21
EducationPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsSocial ScienceCivil RightsOther

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

  • IU
    Indiana University School of Medicine
    2× · 2018–2019 · $279k
  • RO
    REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
    2× · 2018–2019 · $223k
  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $158k · revenue +153%

Funded once

  • WF
    Walton Family Foundation Inc
    one grant, 2017 · $152k · revenue -27%
  • UO
    University of Georgia Research Foundation Incgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $119k · revenue +79%
  • University of Chicagograduated
    one grant, 2019 · $105k · revenue +25%

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
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
2
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
3
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
4
Drexel University

Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…

Education
5
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
6
Chancellor Masters & Scholars of the University of Oxford

The principal objects of the University are the advancement of learning by teaching and research, and its dissemination by every means. We work as one Oxford bringing together our staff, students and alumni, our colleges, faculties,…

7
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
8
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

We educate the next generation of leaders to improve the health of our society.

Education
9
Northern Illinois University Foundation

The niu foundation's mission is to energize and connect the private sector with the niu community to secure and steward resources that support the future and growth of niu.

Education
10
National Science and Technology Medals Foundation Inc

The nstmf's mission is to build inclusive stem communities across the united states. fundamental to these communities are the significant, inspirational connections we foster between the individuals who have received national recognition…

11
Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University, a 501(c)(3) institution of higher education, is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the liberal arts and in graduate and professional education. The organization is comprised of seven constituent parts: Wake…

Education
12
University of Rochester

The provision of higher education in the liberal arts and sciences, medicine and dentistry, nursing and music; research; and charitable patient care services.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Chicago and the most unlike its peers is Walton Family 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

13 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 13 of the 18 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/13
Grantees still filing
10/13
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA — $831,640 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIATHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $449,249 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITYNew York University — $155,472 · EducationNew York UniversityUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation Inc — $118,997 · EducationUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation IncUniversity of Chicago — $105,163 · EducationUniversity of Chicago+1 more — $7,925 · EducationIndiana University School of Medicine — $278,514 · OtherIndiana University School of Medici…REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN — $223,193 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIG…FOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC — $158,214 · OtherFOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC…REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE — $106,781 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFO…THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS — $78,000 · OtherTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVER…UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS — $38,470 · Other+1 more — $15,000 · OtherWalton Family Foundation Inc — $151,625 · PhilanthropyCharles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation — $44,000 · PhilanthropyNorthwestern University — $77,150 · Recreation & SportsBEHAVIORAL IDEAS LAB INC — $10,000 · Social ScienceWE THE PROTESTERS INC — $10,000 · Civil Rights
Education$1,668,446Other$898,172Philanthropy$195,625Recreation & Sports$77,150Social Science$10,000Civil Rights$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA — $831,640 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $449,249 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC — $158,214 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetNew York University — $155,472 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation Inc — $118,997 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUniversity of Chicago — $105,163 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University — $77,150 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBread and Roses Community Fund — $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBEHAVIORAL IDEAS LAB INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWE THE PROTESTERS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHigher Ground A Resource Center — $7,925 over 1y, 0.7% 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through you, not between each other.

Amazonsmile FoundationWA2.4× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Character Lab 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
202122232425
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get 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 · 0–90%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 18 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2021, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph