· Private foundation
The Cross 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| FRANKLIN CLASSICAL SCHOOL | $395,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 57% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +49% since the first grant, against -41% for those funded once.
13 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- FCFRANKLIN CLASSICAL SCHOOL2× · 2023–2025 · $407k · revenue +12%
- SPSAMARITAN'S PURSE5× · 2017–2024 · $225k · revenue +134%
- YLYOUNG LIFE7× · 2017–2024 · $105k · revenue +59%
Funded once
- SJST JUDE'S CHILDREN'S HOSPITALone grant, 2019 · $50k
- WVWORLD VISION INTERNATIONALone grant, 2017 · $50k
- TTTEACHERS TRAINING TEACHERS INC DBA TEACHING TRAINING TOGETHERone grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue -89%
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.
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.
Christianity Today is a global community inspired by evangelical conviction to advance the stories and ideas of the kingdom of God. Our mission is to elevate the storytellers and sages of the global church.
To provide resources, training, and continuing support to leaders in the us and around the world in order that they may help others find freedom in christ.
Lakelight Institute equips Christians with timeless wisdom for modern life.
Faith's purpose is to mentor students for spirit-filled leadership in ministry, in light of the great commission. while academics are important, the classrooms are not the only learning place. through a combination of formal instruction,…
Global scholars exists so that christian academics are adequately equipped to have a redemptive influence among their students, colleagues, universities and disciplines, at a reasonable cost.
The Center of Theological Inquiry is an independent research institution with an international visiting scholar program which convenes researchers in an ideal setting for interdisciplinary inquiries where theology casts light on global…
Christian Mission for the United Nations Community is a ministry aimed at leading the head of every nation and other top leaders to faith in Jesus Christ and helping them to walk in dependence upon God as they discharge the…
To transform our nation and world by developing and connecting bold christian leaders.
The international leadership institute (ili) changes history by accelerating the spread of the gospel through training and mobilizing leaders of leaders to reach their nations. ili accomplishes this purpose through cutting edge leadership…
Christian leaders from africa promotes christian theological training & education of local leaders in kenya and throughout africa. it invests in undergraduate, masters, and phd scholarships, faculty support for african professors and…
As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.
Transform iran is dedicated to religious, charitable, and educational activities designed to advance the christian faith, specifically to iran, surrounding countries, and throughout the middle east. to help fulfill the mission, (continued…
How this is measured
13 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 13 of the 21 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 FRANKLIN CLASSICAL SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE ↗
- Who funds YOUNG LIFE ↗
- Who funds CURE INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
- Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
- Who funds Development Assoc International ↗
- Who funds Leadership Transformation Inc ↗
- Who funds GORDON COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds TEACHERS TRAINING TEACHERS INC DBA TEACHING TRAINING TOGETHER ↗
- Who funds HAGAR'S SISTERS INC ↗
- Who funds FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES ↗
- Who funds CENTER FOR RELIGION AND DIPLOMACY INC ↗
- Who funds LEXINGTON CHRISTIAN ACADEMY ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Cross Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Cross Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Gordon College: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Cross Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Cross 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.
Play a game based on Cross’ filings →