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The Donald & Evelyn Bensman Foundation at a glance

· Public charity

The Donald & Evelyn Bensman Foundation

Support of the community foundation of shelby county (a non-profit organization)

$90k
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$20k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$257kReligion$82kHealth$50kHuman Services$50kRecreation & Sports$36kMembership Benefit$25kArts & Culture$20kEducation$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 7 grants below total $75,400, the rows itemized in this filing. The $90,400 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $15,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $62k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SHELBY COUN$20,000
SPIRITUAL CENTER OF MARIA STEIN$12,000
WILMA VALENTINE CHILDCARE$10,000
VILLAGE OF ANNA$10,000
COMPASSINATE CARE OF SHELBY COUNTY$10,000
MARIA STEIN SHRINE OF THE HOLY RELI$7,400
PETER PENSE RELIGIOUS LIBRARY$6,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%SPIRITUAL CENTER OF MARIA STEIN: $20k → 8%SACRED HEART OF JESUS CHURCH: $16k → 9%SPIRITUAL CENTER OF MARIA STEIN: $12k → 8%VILLAGE OF ANNA: $10k → 9%MARION TOWNSHIP PARK BOARD: $10k → 8%ANNA ATHLETIC BOOSTERS: $10k → 9%MARIA STEIN SHRINE OF THE HOLY RELI: $8k → 8%ANNA ATHLETIC BOOSTERS: $10k → 9%MARIA STEIN SHRINE OF THE HOLY RELI: $7k → 8%ANNA ATHLETIC BOOSTERS: $6k → 9%COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SHELBY CO: $89k → 9%COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SHELBY CO: $79k → 9%COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SHELBY CO: $69k → 9%COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SHELBY COUN: $20k → 9%MORGAN'S PLACE CEMETERY INC: $15k → 9%SHELBY COUNTY FAIR: $10k → 9%MORGAN'S PLACE CEMETERY INC: $10k → 9%WILMA VALENTINE CHILDCARE: $10k → 9%CHRISTIAN ACADEMY SCHOOLS: $10k → 9%WILMA VALENTINE CHILDCARE: $10k → 9%COMPASSIONATE CARE OF SHELBY CO IN: $10k → 9%COMPASSIONATE CARE OF SHELBY CO IN: $10k → 9%COMPASSIONATE CARE OF SHELBY CO IN: $10k → 9%SHELBY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 9%WILMA VALENTINE CHILDCARE: $10k → 9%WILMA VALENTINE CHILDCARE: $10k → 9%COMPASSINATE CARE OF SHELBY COUNTY: $10k → 9%WILMA VALENTINE CHILDCARE: $10k → 9%COMPASSIONATE CARE OF SHELBY CO IN: $10k → 9%PETER'S PENSE RELIGIOUS LIBRARY: $6k → 9%PETER PENSE RELIGIOUS LIBRARY: $6k → 9%PETER PENSE RELIGIOUS LIBRARY: $6k → 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.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$216k · 7 repeat orgs$66k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +16% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
5

Total granted

$216k
$56k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
0%

Still filing today

86%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24’25
ReligionHealthMembership BenefitRecreation & SportsEducationOther
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

  • WV
    WILMA VALENTINE CHILDCARE INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $50k · revenue +3%
  • SC
    SPIRITUAL CENTER OF MARIA STEIN
    2× · 2024–2025 · $32k · revenue +46%
  • MP
    MORGAN'S PLACE CEMETERY INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $25k · revenue +111%

Funded once

  • SH
    SACRED HEART OF JESUS
    one grant, 2021 · $16k
  • CA
    CHRISTIAN ACADEMY SCHOOLS INC
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue +7%
  • MC
    MARION COMMUNITY PARK BOARD INC
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue 0%
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
The Christine Center Inc

Offering contemplative support to persons of all spiritual paths in a natural woodland sanctuary

Arts & Culture
2
St Marys Weller Cemetery Association

Cemetery

—
3
Mount Calvary-Holy Family Cemetery

A mutual cemetery association which provides for the sale of burial lots and crypts and perpetual care of the cemetery.

—
4
Shelbyville Cemetery Company

Cemetery operations

Membership Benefit
5
Sharon Community Trusts

Community trust

Philanthropy
6
Calvary Cemetery Association of Dayton Ohio

To operate a catholic cemetery as well as a mausoleum and columbarium.

—
7
Marian Wayside Shrine Foundation Inc
Religion
8
Clinton Cemetery Association Inc

The clinton cemetery association has been incorporated to maintain and operate the sunset hill cemetery in the town of kirkland, county of oneida, ny, to provide for the disposal of human remains, promote and serve socially and culturally…

Membership Benefit
9
Mount Moriah Cemetery Company

Cemetery association

—
10
St Patricks Cemetery Association

Church cemetery

—
11
Oheb Shalom Cemetery Association

Bury the dead and maintain the grounds

—
12
Saint Mary Coptic Orthodox Church

Religious

Religion
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics; the most unlike its peers is Morgan's Place Cemetery 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

10 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. 10 of the 14 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
6/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SHELBY COUNTY: $256,706 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SHELBY COUNTYWILMA VALENTINE CHILDCARE INC: $50,000 · OtherWILMA VALENTINE CHILDCARE …PETERS PENSE INC: $18,000 · OtherPETERS PENSE INCSACRED HEART OF JESUS: $16,444 · OtherSACRED HEART OF JESUSCHRISTIAN ACADEMY SCHOOLS INC: $10,000 · OtherCHRISTIAN ACADEMY SCHOOLS …VILLAGE OF ANNA: $10,000 · OtherVILLAGE OF ANNASHELBY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10,000 · OtherSHELBY COUNTY HISTORICAL S…SHELBY COUNTY FAIR: $10,000 · OtherSHELBY COUNTY FAIRCOMPASSIONATE CARE OF SHELBY COUNTY INC: $50,000 · HealthCOMPASSION…SPIRITUAL CENTER OF MARIA STEIN: $31,960 · ReligionSPIRITUAL…MARIA STEIN SHRINE OF THE HOLY RELICS: $15,400 · ReligionMARIA STE…ROCKET ATHLETIC BOOSTERS: $26,000 · EducationMORGAN'S PLACE CEMETERY INC: $25,000 · Membership BenefitMARION COMMUNITY PARK BOARD INC: $10,000 · Recreation & Sports
Philanthropy$256,706Other$124,444Health$50,000Religion$47,360Education$26,000Membership Benefit$25,000Recreation & Sports$10,000

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 budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SHELBY COUNTY: $256,706 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetWILMA VALENTINE CHILDCARE INC: $50,000 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetCOMPASSIONATE CARE OF SHELBY COUNTY INC: $50,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetSPIRITUAL CENTER OF MARIA STEIN: $31,960 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetROCKET ATHLETIC BOOSTERS: $26,000 over 3y, 6.7% of budgetMORGAN'S PLACE CEMETERY INC: $25,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetMARIA STEIN SHRINE OF THE HOLY RELICS: $15,400 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCHRISTIAN ACADEMY SCHOOLS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMARION COMMUNITY PARK BOARD INC: $10,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetSHELBY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10,000 over 1y, 1.2% 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.

Community Foundation …Dayton Foundation Dep…The Blackbaud Giving …Amazonsmile Foundation
Community Foundation of Shelby CountyOH30.5× affinity12 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Shelby County · Dayton Foundation Depository · The Blackbaud Giving 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 Donald & Evelyn Bensman Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Donald & Evelyn Bensman Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Donald & Evelyn Bensman Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Donald & Evelyn Bensman 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 14 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 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 Donald & Evelyn Bensman’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