Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

The Curtis & Edith Munson 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.

$1.8M
Granted FY2023
91
Grants FY2023
17
States reached
$75k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02Your edgeRead
03Your fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0181% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant clustered by its grantee’s IRS cause code (NTEE), by year — across FY2019–2023.

Environment$1.4MAnimals$148kEducation$139kArts & Culture$104kScience & Tech$86kCommunity Improvement$73kInternational$60kHuman Services$44kHealth$38kOther$616k
02FY2023 · 91 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 91 grants below total $1,356,500 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,807,200 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $450,700 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k26 grants · $89k
  • $10k–50k64 grants · $1.2M
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $75k
$15,000
Median grant
17
States reached
$11M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Ocean Foundation$75,000
Alabama Rivers Alliance$35,000
Southern Environmental Law Center$35,000
1000 Friends of Florida$35,000
Marine Fish Conservation Network$30,000
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)$30,000
Everglades Law Center$30,000
Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund$30,000
Earthworks$30,000
Cahaba River Society$30,000
Healthy Gulf$25,000
Environmental Film Festival In the Nation's Capital$25,000
Sargasso Sea Project Inc.$25,000
Surfrider Foundation$25,000
Blue Frontier Campaign$25,000
02Your 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.

56%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.5M · 37 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

37 repeat relationships — 37 still active in FY2023, 0 since wound down; 47 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

37
52

Total granted

$1.5M
$557k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+47%

Still filing today

86%
85%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 57% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $574k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’23
EnvironmentEducationAnimalsArts & CultureScience & TechHealthOther

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

  • The Ocean Foundation
    2× · 2019–2023 · $205k · revenue +87%
  • AR
    Alabama Rivers Alliance Inc
    2× · 2019–2023 · $75k · revenue +150%
  • 1F
    1000 FRIENDS OF FLORIDA INC
    2× · 2019–2023 · $70k · revenue +35%

Funded once

  • FA
    FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2019 · $30k
  • PE
    PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $30k · revenue +89%
  • LT
    LAND TRUST ALLIANCE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue +68%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

03Your 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
Wildcoast

The mission of wildcoast is to conserve coastal and marine ecosystems and address climate change through natural solutions. our staff is dedicated to conserving threatened and endangered coastlines and wildlife in california and mexico.…

Environment
2
Atlantic Coast Conservancy Inc

The mission of the atlantic coast conservancy is to provide 21st century solutions and sound scientific applications for conservation of critical natural resources in the face of a changing climate, focusing on the southeasthern united…

Environment
3
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
4
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
5
Ocean Alliance Project

Protecting and promoting the marine biodiversity of Hawai'i through coral restoration, ecological monitoring, regenerative tourism, and cultural integration

Science & Tech
6
Global Forest Generation

Global Forest Generation restores and protects forest ecosystems in partnership with grassroots leaders and local communities across vast landscapes which play a critical role in preserving water, protecting biodiversity, storing carbon,…

Environment
7
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
8
California Coastkeeper dba California Coastkeeper Alliance

California Coastkeeper Alliance unites Waterkeeper programs statewide to fight for swimmable, fishable, and drinkable waters for all Californians.

Environment
9
Conservation Florida Inc

Conservation florida's mission is to permanently protect florida's water, wildlife, and wild places - the places that make florida home.

Environment
10
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

To sustain, restore, and enhance the nation's fish, wildlife, plants, and habitats.

Animals
11
Marine Science Institute

The institutes mission is to cultivate a responsibility for the natural environment and our human communities through interdisciplinary science education.

—
12
Climate Foundation

To research and develop healthy climate solutions comprising global food security, ecosystem regeneration and carbon balance in seas and soils.

Science & Tech

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Environment America Research and Policy Center Inc and the most unlike its peers is Greentrust Alliance. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyEnvironmental Advocacy and …Education Equity InitiativesUrban Agriculture EducationVeteran Support ServicesAffordable Housing Construc…Community Hospital SystemsPregnancy Support CentersCommunity FoundationsFood Pantries and AssistanceSenior Support ServicesChildhood Cancer SupportAnimal Rescue and ShelterLocal History MuseumsImmigrant and Latino Integr…Girls Stem Education Progra…Youth Sports ProgramsUnited Way AffiliatesFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Charter and Independent Sch…Government Accountability &…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 31 years old; the field is 15. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number23%0%<5yr14%8%5–10yr19%22%10–20yr15%26%20–35yr12%23%35–55yr17%22%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value23%0%<5yr14%6%5–10yr19%14%10–20yr15%38%20–35yr12%26%35–55yr17%16%55yr+

The field is 23% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.7% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.7%1/135
the rest of the field
14%
3,156/22,644

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

03the grantee network

123 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 123 of the 140 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
35
Early backer (in before they grew)
119/123
Grantees still filing
88/123
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

The Ocean Foundation — $205,000 · EnvironmentThe Ocean FoundationAlabama Rivers Alliance Inc — $75,000 · EnvironmentAlabama Rivers Alliance IncMarine Fish Conservation Network — $75,000 · EnvironmentMarine Fish Conservation Network1000 FRIENDS OF FLORIDA INC — $70,000 · EnvironmentEVERGLADES LAW CENTER INC — $60,000 · EnvironmentOCEAN AWARENESS PROJECT INC — $60,000 · EnvironmentHEALTHY GULF — $52,000 · EnvironmentTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION — $50,000 · EnvironmentNATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY FOUNDATION — $50,000 · EnvironmentThe Sargasso Sea Project Inc — $50,000 · Environment+40 more — $604,200 · Environment+40 moreSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER — $105,000 · OtherSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTE…BOARD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA — $68,000 · OtherBOARD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABA…REEF — $45,000 · OtherREEFAlabama Forest Land Trust Inc — $42,500 · OtherAlabama Forest Land Trust IncTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $40,000 · OtherFLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY — $30,000 · OtherFEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM — $60,000 · OtherFEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRAT…Earthworks — $30,000 · Other+44 more — $336,500 · Other+44 moreBONEFISH & TARPON TRUST INC — $35,000 · AnimalsProject Apis M 20 Inc — $30,000 · AnimalsTHEODORE ROOSEVELT CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP INC — $20,000 · AnimalsGULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE — $15,000 · AnimalsNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $15,000 · AnimalsMONTGOMERY AREA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY — $10,500 · AnimalsFISH & WILDLIFE FOUNDATION OF FLORIDA I — $10,000 · AnimalsNORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLY ASSOCIATION INC — $10,000 · Animals+1 more — $2,000 · AnimalsNATIONAL CAUCUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATORS — $30,000 · EducationYale University — $25,000 · EducationMARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGY INSTITUTE — $20,000 · EducationNova Southeastern University Inc — $12,500 · EducationTHE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA FOUNDATION INC — $10,000 · EducationTHE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOL IN VIRGINIA — $10,000 · EducationTUMBLEHOME INC — $7,500 · EducationTHE LOVETT SCHOOL INC — $7,500 · EducationChildren of Fallen Patriots Foundation — $5,000 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITY — $5,000 · Education+2 more — $6,500 · EducationENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL — $40,000 · Arts & CultureNAUTILUSTHINK INC — $20,000 · Arts & CultureSCHOOLYARD FILMS INC — $15,000 · Arts & CulturePHILLIP AND PATRICIA FROST MUSEUM OF SCIENCE INC — $15,000 · Arts & CultureNORTHERN VIRGINIA SCIENCE CENTER FOUNDATION — $10,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more — $4,000 · Arts & CultureFLORIDA OCEANOGRAPHIC SOCIETY INC — $20,000 · Science & TechMARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM — $20,000 · Science & TechTALL TIMBERS RESEARCH INC — $15,000 · Science & TechLOGGERHEAD MARINELIFE CENTER INC — $15,000 · Science & TechCONSULTATIVE GROUP ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY INC Biodiversity Funders Grp — $11,000 · Science & TechMaine Center for Coastal Fisheries — $5,000 · Science & TechCahaba River Society Inc — $50,000 · Community ImprovementSOUTHEAST COASTAL OCEAN OBSERVING REGIONAL ASSOCIATION — $15,000 · Community ImprovementINSTITUTE FOR CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP — $7,500 · Community Improvement
Environment$1,351,200Other$757,000Animals$147,500Education$139,000Arts & Culture$104,000Science & Tech$86,000Community Improvement$72,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetThe Ocean Foundation — $205,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER — $105,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAlabama Rivers Alliance Inc — $75,000 over 2y, 12% of budget1000 FRIENDS OF FLORIDA INC — $70,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetEVERGLADES LAW CENTER INC — $60,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetFEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM — $60,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetOCEAN AWARENESS PROJECT INC — $60,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetHEALTHY GULF — $52,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCahaba River Society Inc — $50,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetNATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetThe Sargasso Sea Project Inc — $50,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION — $45,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAlabama Forest Land Trust Inc — $42,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL — $40,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetAntarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition — $40,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBONEFISH & TARPON TRUST INC — $35,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY INC — $30,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetEarthworks — $30,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNATIONAL CAUCUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATORS — $30,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetProject Apis M 20 Inc — $30,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetOO PROJECT — $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetYale University — $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGY INSTITUTE — $20,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetNAUTILUSTHINK INC — $20,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetTHEODORE ROOSEVELT CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFLORIDA OCEANOGRAPHIC SOCIETY INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGreenLatinos — $20,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetVirginia League of Conservation Voters Education Fund — $17,500 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL GRANTMAKERS ASSOCIATION — $17,200 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetThe 5 Gyres Institute — $15,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetGULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEarth Conservation Corps — $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetLand Conservation Assistance Network — $15,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetSOUTHEAST COASTAL OCEAN OBSERVING REGIONAL ASSOCIATION — $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGasp — $15,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetTALL TIMBERS RESEARCH INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPAINT ROCK FOREST RESEARCH CENTER — $15,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetINSIDE CLIMATE NEWS INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFRIENDS OF MATANZAS INC — $15,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetWomen's Golf Coaches Association — $15,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetLIGHTHAWK — $15,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetEnvironmental Law Institute — $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% 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 tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Marisla FoundationNational Fish and Wil…Resources Legacy FundPatagoniaorgThe Daniel Foundation…The Schmidt Family Fo…Gordon E and Betty I …The Henry Foundation …The Keith Campbell Fo…The Nature ConservancyAlabama Power Foundat…Natural Resources Def…
The Marisla FoundationCA33.7× affinity14 shared granteesties to 9 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Marisla Foundation · National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · Resources Legacy Fund · Patagoniaorg · The Daniel Foundation of Alabama · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation · The Henry Foundation Inc · The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment Inc · The Nature Conservancy · Alabama Power Foundation Inc · Natural Resources Defense Council Inc

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.

04Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Curtis & Edith Munson Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Curtis & Edith Munson 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 140 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $1.8M of grant expense with no grantee named in the published copy. A private foundation itemizes every grant it makes, so a return carrying none has filed its list as an attachment that the public copy does not include. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines