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The Denovo Initiative at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Denovo Initiative

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$911k
Granted FY2024still arriving
21
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$125k
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, FY2022 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.9MHealth$90kInternational$75kFood & Nutrition$5k
02FY2024 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $22
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $253k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $658k
$35,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$19M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
INCITE PRODUCTIONS INC$125,000
CINEMA TROPICAL INC$100,000
WOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC$77,106
THE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC$77,105
CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC$73,685
MEDIA COLLECTIVE INC$52,632
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION$52,632
THE VII FOUNDATION INC$50,000
POINTS NORTH INSTITUTE$50,000
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE$35,000
ADVANCE GENDER EQUITY IN THE ARTS$35,000
FULL SPECTRUM FEATURES$26,316
VIDEO VERACITY INC$26,316
ENTERTAINMENT 2 AFFECT CHANGE$26,316
NEW YORK WOMEN IN FILM AND TELEVISION$26,316
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY22–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 79% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%BAD FACT PRODUCTIONS: $100k → 8%CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $74k → 16%REPORT MEDIA LLC: $50k → 10%BAY AREA VIDEO COALITION: $3k → 10%LIBERTY IN NORTH KOREA: $50k → 14%NEW YORK WOMEN IN FILM AND TELEVISION: $26k → 7%FRACTURED ATLAS: $17k → 9%MEDIA COLLECTIVE INC: $53k → 17%BROWN GIRLS DOC MAFIA INC: $10k → 28%C ME GROW INC DBA GLOWMEDIA: $35k → 14%MMXX LLC - BAD AXE: $51k → 12%BAG AND BAGGAGE PRODUCTIONS: $22 → 8%COHO PRODUCTIONS: $50 → 12%PAY OR DIE FILM LLC: $75k → 9%UTAH FILM CENTER: $25k → 8%INCITE PRODUCTIONS INC: $125k → 12%FULL SPECTRUM FEATURES: $26k → 14%VIDEO VERACITY INC: $26k → 23%POINTS NORTH INSTITUTE: $50k → 11%CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $50k → 16%LIBERTY IN NORTH KOREA: $25k → 14%NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS INC: $11k → 17%C ME GROW INC DBA GLOWMEDIA: $30k → 14%INCITE PRODUCTIONS INC: $46k → 12%POINTS NORTH INSTITUTE: $50k → 11%CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $11k → 16%ENTERTAINMENT 2 AFFECT CHANGE: $26k → 14%WOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $130k → 17%C ME GROW INC: $25k → 14%INCITE PRODUCTIONS INC: $30k → 12%VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA: $16k → 14%WOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $77k → 17%ALTERNATIVE NEWSWEEKLY FOUNDATION: $15k → 14%INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION: $160k → 14%WOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $46k → 17%INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION: $53k → 14%INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION FUND: $4k → 17%THE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC: $77k → 14%CINEMA TROPICAL INC: $100k → 17%THE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC: $63k → 14%THE VII FOUNDATION INC: $50k → 17%THE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC: $40k → 14%FOOD LANDSCAPE LLC: $5k → 14%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.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
CT
CA
UT
CO
DC
LA
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.

67%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.4M · 10 repeat orgs$689k to everyone else

10 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2024, 1 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
10

Total granted

$1.4M
$329k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+2%
+21%

Still filing today

90%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 60% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $361k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24
Arts & CultureInternationalSocial ScienceHealthCivil RightsOther
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

  • WM
    WOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $253k · revenue +14%
  • TF
    THE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $180k · revenue +18%
  • THE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $134k · revenue +64%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $100k
  • PO
    PAY OR DIE FILM LLC
    one grant, 2022 · $75k
  • ML
    MMXX LLC - BAD AXE
    one grant, 2022 · $51k
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
Independent Film Alliance F/K/a Stage 18
—
2
The Filmmaker Fund
Philanthropy
3
Breaking Through the Lens

Advocate for gender equality in the film industry.

Arts & Culture
4
Northwest Film Forum

Northwest Film Forum incites public dialogue and creative action through collective cinematic experiences. A nonprofit film and arts center located in Seattle, Northwest Film Forum presents hundreds of films, festivals, community events,…

Arts & Culture
5
American Documentary Inc

A national non-profit media arts organization, american documentary strives to make essential documentaries accessible as a catalyst for public discourse. we collaborate with passionate filmmakers to amplify their voices, nuture the…

Arts & Culture
6
Art of Brooklyn Festival

The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival is an annual event that brings Brooklyns celebrated film and media makers together with their peers across the country and around the world. AoBFF is a filmmaker-focused event, platform and showcase for…

Arts & Culture
7
Field of Vision Inc

Field of Vision is a filmmaker and artist driven organization that commissions, creates and supports original nonfiction films about developing and ongoing stories around the globe. Field of Vision supports work that uses innovative and…

Arts & Culture
8
Moonshot Initiative Inc

Promote gender equity in the film & television industry

Arts & Culture
9
California Film Institute

The california film institute celebrates film and videos as art and education. its goal is to present and support emerging and established independent filmakers whose works address issues relevant to contemporary society. this is…

Arts & Culture
10
Dc Dox

Dc dox is a major international film festival in the nation's capital dedicated to promoting documentary film as a leading art form, championing new voices and innovations in non-fiction storytelling, and using film as a catalyst to engage…

—
11
Berkshire International Film Festival Corp

The berkshire international film festival (biff) is for filmmakers and film lovers alike to be entertained, educated and inspired. biff seeks to celebrate independent film and to recognize and pay tribute to accomplished artists on both…

Education
12
Doc Society Inc

We bring people together to unleash the transformational power of independent documentary film. we serve individual filmmakers and the growing network of partners who support them globally. we help build new models, aiming to innovate,…

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New York Foundation for the Arts Inc; the most unlike its peers is Media Collective 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

26 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. 26 of the 32 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/26
Grantees still filing
11/26
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $253,049 · Arts & CultureWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INCINTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC: $212,324 · Arts & CultureINTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INCTHE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC: $179,740 · Arts & CultureTHE FILM COLLABORATIVE INCTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $134,212 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INCCINEMA TROPICAL INC: $100,000 · Arts & CultureCINEMA TROPICAL INCPoints North Institute: $100,000 · Arts & CulturePoints North InstituteC ME GROW INC: $90,000 · Arts & CultureC ME GROW INCSundance Institute: $85,000 · Arts & CultureSundance InstituteADVANCE GENDER EQUITY IN THE ARTS: $65,000 · Arts & CultureTHE VII FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · Arts & Culture+10 more: $145,167 · Arts & Culture+10 moreINCITE PRODUCTIONS INC: $200,500 · OtherINCITE PRODUCTIONS INCIndividual grant recipient: $100,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientPAY OR DIE FILM LLC: $75,000 · OtherPAY OR DIE FILM LLCMMXX LLC - BAD AXE: $51,000 · OtherMMXX LLC - BAD AXEREPORT MEDIA LLC: $50,000 · OtherREPORT MEDIA LLCNEW YORK WOMEN IN FILM & TELEVISION INC: $26,316 · Other+2 more: $8,500 · OtherLINK GLOBAL: $75,000 · InternationalMEDIA COLLECTIVE INC: $52,632 · HealthVISUAL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA: $15,789 · Social ScienceALTERNATIVE NEWSWEEKLY FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Civil Rights
Arts & Culture$1,414,492Other$511,316International$75,000Health$52,632Social Science$15,789Civil Rights$15,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $253,049 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC: $212,324 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetTHE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC: $179,740 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $134,212 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetCINEMA TROPICAL INC: $100,000 over 1y, 32% of budgetPoints North Institute: $100,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetC ME GROW INC: $90,000 over 3y, 20% of budgetSundance Institute: $85,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLINK GLOBAL: $75,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetADVANCE GENDER EQUITY IN THE ARTS: $65,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetMEDIA COLLECTIVE INC: $52,632 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetTHE VII FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetNEW YORK WOMEN IN FILM & TELEVISION INC: $26,316 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetVIDEO VERACITY INC: $26,316 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetENTERTAINMENT 2 AFFECT CHANGE: $26,316 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetFull Spectrum Features NFP: $26,316 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetUTAH FILM CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $17,421 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVISUAL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA: $15,789 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetALTERNATIVE NEWSWEEKLY FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS INC: $10,526 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBROWN GIRLS DOC MAFIA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetINDEPENDENT PRODUCTION FUND INC: $3,500 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetThe Bay Area Video Coalition Incorporated: $3,200 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCoho Productions Inc: $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBag and Baggage Productions: $22 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.

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.

Catapult Film FundSilicon Valley Commun…Chicken & Egg Films I…Perspective Media Ini…The Ford FoundationJohn D and Catherine …Cinereach LtdInmaat FoundationAcademy FoundationThe Oregon Community …California Community …Gs Donor Advised Phil…
Catapult Film FundCA20× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Catapult Film Fund · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Chicken & Egg Films Inc · Perspective Media Initiatives Inc · The Ford Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Cinereach Ltd · Inmaat Foundation · Academy Foundation · The Oregon Community Foundation · California Community Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management 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 Denovo Initiative funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Denovo Initiative. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • The Center for Independent Documentary Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Coho Productions Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Advance Gender Equity in the Arts: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
5report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Denovo Initiative?

Find your warmest path to The Denovo Initiative 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 32 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Denovo Initiative’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