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The Crane Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

The Crane Charitable Trust

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.

$113k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$391kHealth$282kYouth Development$140kHuman Services$112kEducation$108kEnvironment$48kEmployment$42kRecreation & Sports$16kOther$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $4k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $110k
$20,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$3.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FREE WHEELIN FOUNDATION INC$49,500
LA GRUA CENTER$30,000
OCEAN COMMUNITY YMCA MYSTIC BRANCH$20,000
POCASSET POKANOKET LAND TRUST INC$10,000
TOMAQUAG INDIAN MEMORIAL MUSEUM$2,782
AVALONIA LAND CONSERVANCY$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 (FY19–25, $350k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%FREE WHEELIN FOUNDATION INC: $171k → 9%FREE WHEELIN FOUNDATION INC: $53k → 9%FREE WHEELIN FOUNDATION INC: $50k → 9%FREE WHEELIN FOUNDATION INC: $42k → 9%INCLUSION A SYLVESTRE FOUNDATION IN: $35k → 9%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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.0M · 14 repeat orgs$233k to everyone else

14 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
10

Total granted

$1.0M
$233k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+9%
+21%

Still filing today

43%
30%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
EducationHuman ServicesEnvironmentArts & CultureOther
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

  • TS
    THE STONINGTON FREE LIBRARY INC
    6× · 2018–2024 · $73k · revenue +5%
  • PP
    POCASSET POKANOKET LAND TRUST INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $45k · revenue +9%
  • AL
    AVALONIA LAND CONSERVANCY INC
    2× · 2021–2025 · $11k · revenue +110%

Funded once

  • MH
    MOUNT HOPE NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER
    one grant, 2017 · $140k
  • LH
    LIGHT HOUSE
    one grant, 2020 · $42k
  • IA
    Inclusion A Sylvestre Foundation Incgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $35k · revenue +156% · 61% of their budget
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
Stonington Land Trust Inc

To preserve the town's natural resources.

Environment
2
Wheeler School & Library of North Stonington

Wheeler Library serves as the principal public library for the residents of North Stonington. It's mission is to bring people, information and ideas together.

—
3
Deer Isle Stonington Historical Society

The deer isle-stonington historical society was formed in 1959 with the goal of collecting and preserving historical facts, records and relics pertaining to deer isle, stonington and adjoining communities and islands of east penobscot bay…

Arts & Culture
4
Stonington Cemetery Association Inc

Manage the operations of the stonington cemetery in stonington, ct.

—
5
The Equinox Preservation Trust Inc
Environment
6
The Stanley Park of Westfield Inc
Recreation & Sports
7
Stamford Land Conservation Trust Inc

To obtain lands through donation or purchase and to protect and preserve them. While preserving we are improving the sustainable of wildlife, water tables and overall quality of our natural habitat.

Environment
8
Friends of Rockland Public Library

The mission of the friends of the rockland public library is to support the goals of the library and its advisory board in their efforts to serve the city and the greater rockland community.

Education
9
North Stonington Historical Society Inc

The society was founded to perpetuate the history of the town, to encourage the study of the history of the town and to preserve manuscript material and relics relating to that history.

—
10
Squannacook Greenways

Squannacook Greenways' goal is to build, maintain, and promote the Squannacook River Rail Trail (SRRT) as a source of recreation and safe non-motorized transportation. The Squannacook River Rail Trail is a proposed conversion of…

Recreation & Sports
11
Friends of Stowe Free Library Inc

The mission of the friends of the stowe free library is to foster close relations between stowe free library and the stowe community by developing human and financial resources, sponsoring activities and programs, and promoting knowledge…

Education
12
Squirrel Island Library

The Squirrel Island Library is a community center for learning, culture, and quiet entertainment, offering access to our historic collection of books, reference materials, current reading materials and other media, and sponsoring programs…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Stonington Free Library Inc; the most unlike its peers is Free Wheelin 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

9 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. 9 of the 24 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
6/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LA GRUA CENTER: $277,145 · OtherLA GRUA CENTERMOUNT HOPE NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER: $140,000 · OtherMOUNT HOPE NEIGHBORHOOD CENTEROCEAN COMMUNITY YMCA MYSTIC BRANCH: $65,000 · OtherOCEAN COMMUNITY YMCA MYSTIC BRANCHMISSAUKEE MOUNTAIN INC: $47,000 · OtherMISSAUKEE MOUNTAIN INCLIGHT HOUSE: $42,000 · OtherLIGHT HOUSELIGHTHOUSE VOC-ED ADULT DAYCARE: $31,600 · OtherWATERFORD COUNTRY SCHOOL FOUNDERS P: $29,000 · Other+8 more: $51,879 · Other+8 moreFREE WHEELIN FOUNDATION INC: $314,708 · Human ServicesFREE WHEELIN FOUNDATION INCInclusion A Sylvestre Foundation Inc: $35,000 · Human ServicesInclusion A Sylvestre Foundatio…THE TOMAQUAG INDIAN MEMORIAL MUSEUM: $99,035 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $300 · Arts & CultureTHE STONINGTON FREE LIBRARY INC: $72,750 · Education+2 more: $1,550 · EducationPOCASSET POKANOKET LAND TRUST INC: $45,331 · EnvironmentAVALONIA LAND CONSERVANCY INC: $11,000 · Environment
Other$683,624Human Services$349,708Arts & Culture$99,335Education$74,300Environment$56,331

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFREE WHEELIN FOUNDATION INC: $314,708 over 4y, 96% of budgetTHE TOMAQUAG INDIAN MEMORIAL MUSEUM: $99,035 over 8y, 0.6% of budgetTHE STONINGTON FREE LIBRARY INC: $72,750 over 6y, 4.0% of budgetPOCASSET POKANOKET LAND TRUST INC: $45,331 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetInclusion A Sylvestre Foundation Inc: $35,000 over 1y, 61% of budgetAVALONIA LAND CONSERVANCY INC: $11,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetSTONINGTON EDUCATION FUND INC: $1,250 over 2y, 47% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD MUSIC SCHOOL INC: $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEMORIAL AND LIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF WESTERLY: $300 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

  • Who funds FREE WHEELIN FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE TOMAQUAG INDIAN MEMORIAL MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds THE STONINGTON FREE LIBRARY INC ↗
  • Who funds POCASSET POKANOKET LAND TRUST INC ↗
  • Who funds Inclusion A Sylvestre Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds AVALONIA LAND CONSERVANCY INC ↗
  • Who funds STONINGTON EDUCATION FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds NEIGHBORHOOD MUSIC SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds MEMORIAL AND LIBRARY ASSOCIATION OF WESTERLY ↗

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 Pfizer Foundation…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Pfizer Foundation IncNY9.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Crane Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Crane Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Avalonia Land Conservancy Inc: 21% of income from government
  • Neighborhood Music School Inc: 4% of income from government
  • The Stonington Free Library Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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.

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 24 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 Crane’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