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The Contemporary Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Contemporary Foundation

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.

$15k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Philanthropy$578kRecreation & Sports$524kAnimals$125kHealth$85kHuman Services$73kEducation$65kEmployment$40kEnvironment$40kOther$0
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
RED DOG FARM ANIMAL RESCUE NETWORK$10,000
AUTHORACARE COLLECTIVE$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 (FY18–25, $55k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%INTERFAITH EMERGENCY SERVICES INC: $10k → 16%HEARTWORKS CHILDREN'S MEDICAL HOME MISSION: $10k → 16%STIRRUPS N STRIDES THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER: $3k → 16%GUILFORD GREEN FOUNDATION: $3k → 16%HORSEPOWER INC: $5k → 16%AUTHORACARE COLLECTIVE: $10k → 16%AUTHORACARE COLLECTIVE: $5k → 16%AUTHORACARE COLLECTIVE: $5k → 16%HOSPICE AT GREENSBORO INC: $3k → 16%HOSPICE AT GREENSBORO INC: $3k → 16%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.
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.

64%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 24 repeat orgs$599k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +18% for those funded once.

24 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 22 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
22

Total granted

$1.1M
$599k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+18%

Still filing today

67%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’25
AnimalsHuman ServicesHealthEducationCivil RightsEmploymentOther
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

  • RD
    RED DOG FARM ANIMAL RESCUE NETWORK
    5× · 2019–2025 · $45k · revenue +58%
  • SH
    SHELTERING HANDS INC
    6× · 2018–2023 · $30k · revenue +274%
  • NC
    NORTH CAROLINA FOR COMMUNITY AND JUSTICE INC
    2× · 2018–2019 · $28k · revenue +82%

Funded once

  • FC
    FIDELITY CHARITABLE DONOR-ADVISED FUND
    one grant, 2023 · $499k
  • TP
    TCK PROVIDENCE INC
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue +0%
  • HC
    HEARTWORKS CHILDREN'S MEDICAL HOME MISSI
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue +8%
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
Promoting Animal Welfare in North Carolina

Our main program is providing vet care to animals dropped at or rescued from the local animal shelter. This is the only service we provide and where our expenses go. We spay/neuter animals adopted from the shelter and provide vet care to…

Animals
2
Nc Dog Rescue Organization
—
3
Animal Adoption & Rescue Foundation of Winston-Salem Inc

Aarf is a nonprofit organization serving the winston-salem area dedicated to finding loving homes for dogs and cats through rescue, foster care, veterinary services, adoption, and education.

Animals
4
Lake Norman Humane Inc

To rescue, rehabilitate and rehome homeless pets

Animals
5
Carolina Animal Network

we are a small animal rescue. We help the community by assisting with vet care and rehoming animals they cannot keep. We also pull dogs cats kittens and puppies from local kill shelters when they run out of space, we provide those animals…

Animals
6
The Animal Protection Society of Durham

The aps of durham is a leader in building lifelong bonds between people and animals through education, community outreach, and the provision of care for animals in need.

Animals
7
The Animal Haven Inc

The animal haven's misson is to provide a temporary, safe, caring and humane refuge for homeless dogs and cats and place these animals in quality adoptive homes.

Animals
8
Animals First Rescue of the Carolinas Inc

Rescue unwanted dogs and cats from high kill shelters and other dire circumstances. Provide veterinary care shelter and love until the pet is placed into an appropriate new home.

Animals
9
Spay Neuter Charlotte

The organization stands for every pet and pet owner by making the highest quality veterinary care and spay neuter services affordable and accessible, with the goal of reducing the number of dogs and cats euthanized in regional shelters and…

Animals
10
Grace Nursing Center Inc

Grace nursing center is committed to improving the health of our communities by providing excellent and compassionate care.

Health
11
Saving Grace Animals for Adoption

A non-profit organization dedicated to lowering euthanasia rates and promoting adoption in north carolina, aspires to foster lifelong connections between well-deserving dogs and families, placing them in successful, nurturing homes.…

Animals
12
Spca of Northeastern North Carolina

The organization provides shelter for homeless, abused, and abandoned animals. the shelter also provides an opportunity for adoption of these animals

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Peacehaven Farm Inc; the most unlike its peers is Paul J Ciener Botanical Garden. 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

33 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. 33 of the 46 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
32/33
Grantees still filing
25/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $525,106 · OtherFIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUNDFIDELITY CHARITABLE DONOR-ADVISED FUND: $498,857 · OtherFIDELITY CHARITABLE DONOR-ADVISED FUNDFAITH IN ACTION: $52,500 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL: $45,000 · Other+21 more: $157,500 · Other+21 moreRED DOG FARM ANIMAL RESCUE NETWORK: $45,000 · AnimalsSHELTERING HANDS INC: $30,000 · AnimalsANIMAL RESCUE AND FOSTER PROGRAM INC: $25,000 · AnimalsHORSE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION OF FLORIDA INC: $10,000 · AnimalsFERAL CAT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM INC: $7,500 · AnimalsAHEINZ57 PET RESCUE & TRANSPORT INC: $5,000 · Animals+1 more: $2,500 · AnimalsINTERFAITH EMERGENCY SERVICES INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesAUTHORACARE COLLECTIVE: $25,000 · Human ServicesHEARTWORKS CHILDREN'S MEDICAL HOME MISSI: $10,000 · Human ServicesHORSEPOWER INC: $5,000 · Human Services+2 more: $5,000 · Human ServicesMUSTARD SEED COMMUNITY HEALTH: $25,000 · HealthHOPE CLINIC: $25,000 · HealthPEACEHAVEN FARM INC: $7,500 · HealthREACH OUT FIRST INC: $25,000 · EmploymentTCK PROVIDENCE INC: $15,000 · EmploymentPAUL J CIENER BOTANICAL GARDEN: $39,500 · EnvironmentNORTH CAROLINA FOR COMMUNITY AND JUSTICE INC: $27,500 · Civil RightsWOMEN ADVANCE: $5,000 · Civil Rights
Other$1,278,963Animals$125,000Human Services$95,000Health$57,500Employment$40,000Environment$39,500Civil Rights$32,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetINTERFAITH EMERGENCY SERVICES INC: $50,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetRED DOG FARM ANIMAL RESCUE NETWORK: $45,000 over 5y, 4.5% of budgetPAUL J CIENER BOTANICAL GARDEN: $39,500 over 4y, 4.0% of budgetSHELTERING HANDS INC: $30,000 over 6y, 2.7% of budgetGREENSBORO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC: $30,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA FOR COMMUNITY AND JUSTICE INC: $27,500 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetREACH OUT FIRST INC: $25,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetMUSTARD SEED COMMUNITY HEALTH: $25,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetANIMAL RESCUE AND FOSTER PROGRAM INC: $25,000 over 6y, 3.3% of budgetAUTHORACARE COLLECTIVE: $25,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE CLINIC: $25,000 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetBLOWING ROCK CHARITY HORSE SHOW FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetTCK PROVIDENCE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHEARTWORKS CHILDREN'S MEDICAL HOME MISSI: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetUNCG EXCELLENCE FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHORSE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION OF FLORIDA INC: $10,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetFERAL CAT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM INC: $7,500 over 2y, 11% of budgetPEACEHAVEN FARM INC: $7,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetYOUNG NONPROFIT PROFESSIONALS NETWORK: $7,500 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetTiny House Community Development Inc: $6,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetGUILFORD TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAHEINZ57 PET RESCUE & TRANSPORT INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGreensboro College: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHORSEPOWER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA CENTER FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFLORIDA ROTTLEILER RESCURE RANCH: $2,500 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetGUILFORD GREEN FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD MARKETS INCORPORATED: $2,500 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetSTIRRUPS N STRIDES THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER INC: $2,500 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetBLOWING ROCK CONFERENCE CENTER INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetEQUALITY NC FOUNDATION: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGUILFORD BATTLEGROUND COMPANY: $500 over 1y, 2.3% 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.

Lincoln Financial Fou…Amg Charitable Gift F…Community Foundation …Reynolds American Fou…Weaver Foundation IncWell-Spring Retiremen…Tannenbaum-Sternberge…Duke Energy FoundationThe Winston-Salem Fou…Griffin Family Founda…Z Smith Reynolds Foun…The Cannon Foundation…
Lincoln Financial Foundation IncPA25.8× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lincoln Financial Foundation Inc · Amg Charitable Gift Foundation · Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro Inc · Reynolds American Foundation · Weaver Foundation Inc · Well-Spring Retirement Community Inc · Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · The Winston-Salem Foundation · Griffin Family Foundation · Z Smith Reynolds Foundation Inc · The Cannon Foundation Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    4get no government money at all
    9report 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 Contemporary Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Contemporary 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 46 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 Contemporary’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