Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

The Effenesse Foundation

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.

$3.0M
Granted FY2022
4
Grants FY2022
2
States reached
$2.1M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2019–2022.

Philanthropy$5.0MHealth$2.0MEnvironment$73kArts & Culture$58kHuman Services$57kAnimals$57kFood & Nutrition$50kEducation$30kOther$0
02FY2022 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2022

  • Under $10k1 grant · $1k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $250k+2 grants · $2.9M
$794,543
Median grant
2
States reached
$1k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHARLES SCHWAB CHARITABLE GIVING FUND$2,149,300
CHARLES SCHWAB CHARITABLE GIVING FUND$794,543
AMERICAN RED CROSS$10,000
CHARLES SCHWAB CHARITABLE GIVING FUND$1,189
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY19–22) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 2% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE HILL SCHOOL: $2k → 7%CHARLES SCHWAB CHARITABLE GIVING FUND: $2.1M → 11%CLYDE BAKER TRANSPLANT: $25k → 22%IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS: $10k → 8%US FRIENDS OF DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST: $25k → 10%MERCY FOR ANIMALS: $7k → 14%AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: $7k → 17%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $20k → 14%BIG LIFE FOUNDATION: $7k → 9%LOVE TO LANGA: $5k → 7%CHARLES SCHWAB CHARITABLE GIVING FUND: $795k → 11%PHILABUNDANCE: $15k → 22%AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: $10k → 17%NO KID HUNGRY: $10k → 14%JPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-ORIONS BELT: $652k → 11%PHILADELPHIA ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY: $5k → 22%ANIMAL OUTLOOK: $7k → 14%JPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-AGAPE FUND: $476k → 11%GREENPEACE: $20k → 14%JPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-AGAPE FUND: $300k → 11%JPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-ORIONS BELT: $250k → 11%JPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-ACADIA FUND: $250k → 11%JPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-ORIONS BELT: $115k → 11%JPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-ACADIA FUND: $25k → 11%GOOD SHEPHERD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: $25k → 11%BOYERTOWN AREA MULTI SERVICE: $17k → 11%BOYERTOWN AREA MULTI SERVICE: $16k → 11%BOYERTOWN AREA MULTI SERVICE: $15k → 11%COLEBROOKDALE RAILROAD PRESERVATION TRUST: $10k → 11%COLEBROOKDALE RAILROAD PRESERVATION TRUST: $10k → 11%COLEBROOKDALE RAILROAD PRESERVATION TRUST: $10k → 11%BOYERTOWN COMMUNITY LIBRARY: $9k → 11%BOYERTOWN COMMUNITY LIBRARY: $9k → 11%BOYERTOWN AREA UNITED WAY: $8k → 11%BOYERTOWN COMMUNITY LIBRARY: $8k → 11%BOYERTOWN AREA UNITED WAY: $8k → 11%BOYERTOWN AREA UNITED WAY: $7k → 11%BUILD A BETTER BOYERTOWN: $5k → 11%BOYERTOWN LIONS COMMUNITY AMBULANCE: $5k → 11%GENERAL SPATZ MUSEUM: $5k → 11%BUILD A BETTER BOYERTOWN: $5k → 11%BOYERTOWN LIONS COMMUNITY AMBULANCE: $5k → 11%GENERAL CARL SPAATZ NATIONAL USAAF MUSEUM: $5k → 11%BOYERTOWN LIONS COMMUNITY AMBULANCE: $5k → 11%THE SALVATION ARMY: $4k → 11%BUILD A BETTER BOYERTOWN: $3k → 11%THE SALVATION ARMY: $3k → 11%THE STATE THEATRE PRESERVATION SOCIETY: $2k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

WA
NY
MA
IA
PA
CA
VA
DC

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your 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.

57%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$4.2M · 15 repeat orgs$3.2M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +91% since the first grant, against +44% for the ones you funded once.

15 repeat relationships — 0 still active in FY2022, 15 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
24

Total granted

$4.2M
$284k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+91%
+44%

Still filing today

60%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.0M went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22
AnimalsHealthArts & CultureEducationFood & NutritionEnvironmentOther

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

  • TC
    THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA
    3× · 2019–2021 · $2.0M · revenue +59%
  • BA
    BOYERTOWN AREA MULTI-SERVICE INC
    3× · 2019–2021 · $48k · revenue +94%
  • CR
    Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust
    3× · 2019–2021 · $30k · revenue +217%

Funded once

  • UF
    US FRIENDS OF DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST
    one grant, 2020 · $25k
  • Feeding Americagraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +40%
  • GS
    GOOD SHEPHERD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
    one grant, 2020 · $25k

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

04Your 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
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
2
Rainforest Trust

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

International
3
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
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
Central Pennsylvania Food Bank

Our mission is to solve hunger in central pennsylvania by ensuring that everyone struggling with hunger has access to enough wholesome food every day. we will achieve this bold goal with the help of our generous donors, volunteers and…

Food & Nutrition
6
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
7
Oceana Inc

To advocate for policy changes by governments and corporations in order to preserve ocean life and return the oceans to their former abundance.

Environment
8
Zoological Society of Philadelphia

At philadelphia zoo, our mission is to flourish as an urban oasis, where people and animals thrive, transformational memories are made, and our passion for conservation saves wildlife (see schedule o).guided by a three-year strategic plan,…

Animals
9
Animal Agriculture Alliance

The animal agriculture alliance is a nonprofit organization that helps bridge the communication gap between farm and fork. we connect food industry stakeholders, engage food chain influencers and promote consumer choice by helping key…

Food & Nutrition
10
Wildaid Inc

Wildaid's mission is to inspire change and empower the world to protect wildlife and vital habitats from critical threats.

Animals
11
Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente

To strenghten people's ability to guarantee their individual and collective right to a healthy environment, via the development, implementation, and effective enforcement of national and international law.

Crime & Legal
12
American Water Works Association

To promote public health, safety, and welfare through the improvement of the quality and quantity of drinking water and the development and furtherance of understanding of the problems relating thereto.

Public Benefit

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Mercy for Animals Inc and the most unlike its peers is Love to Langa. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 35 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr19%24%10–20yr17%24%20–35yr14%36%35–55yr15%16%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr19%2%10–20yr17%3%20–35yr14%7%35–55yr15%88%55yr+

The field is 21% 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 — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/26
the rest of the field
13%
3,903/29,821

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.

04the grantee network

26 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. 26 of the 41 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/26
Grantees still filing
24/26
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CHARLES SCHWAB CHARITABLE GIVING FUND — $2,945,032 · OtherCHARLES SCHWAB CHARITABLE GIVING FUNDJPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-ORIONS BELT — $1,016,713 · OtherJPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-ORIONS BELTJPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-AGAPE FUND — $775,576 · OtherJPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-AGAPE FUNDJPM CHARITABLE GIVING FUND-ACADIA FUND — $275,000 · Other+20 more — $287,750 · Other+20 moreTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA — $1,985,000 · HealthTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHI…+2 more — $30,000 · HealthColebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust — $30,000 · Arts & CultureBOYERTOWN MUSEUM OF HISTORIC VEHICLES — $6,000 · Arts & CultureSTATE THEATRE PRESERVATION SOCIETY — $6,000 · Arts & CultureFeeding America — $25,000 · Food & NutritionPhilabundance — $15,000 · Food & NutritionIN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS — $10,000 · AnimalsANIMAL OUTLOOK INC — $7,000 · AnimalsBIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA — $7,000 · AnimalsMERCY FOR ANIMALS INC — $7,000 · AnimalsPHILADELPHIA ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY — $5,000 · AnimalsORPHAN KITTEN CLUB INC — $3,000 · AnimalsENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $20,000 · EnvironmentCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION — $6,000 · EnvironmentBUILDING A BETTER BOYERTOWN — $13,000 · Community Improvement
Other$5,300,071Health$2,015,000Arts & Culture$42,000Food & Nutrition$40,000Animals$39,000Environment$26,000Community Improvement$13,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA — $1,985,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBOYERTOWN AREA MULTI-SERVICE INC — $48,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetColebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust — $30,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetBOYERTOWN COMMUNITY LIBRARY — $26,250 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetFeeding America — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREENPEACE INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOYERTOWN LIONS COMMUNITY AMBULANCE SERVICE INC — $15,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetPhilabundance — $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBUILDING A BETTER BOYERTOWN — $13,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetIN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANIMAL OUTLOOK INC — $7,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBIG LIFE FOUNDATION USA — $7,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF THE USA INC — $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMERCY FOR ANIMALS INC — $7,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOYERTOWN MUSEUM OF HISTORIC VEHICLES — $6,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION — $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTATE THEATRE PRESERVATION SOCIETY — $6,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetLove to Langa — $5,000 over 1y, 8.8% of budgetPHILADELPHIA ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetORPHAN KITTEN CLUB INC — $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR BOYERTOWN EDUCATION BOYERTOWN AREA EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $2,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE HILL SCHOOL — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Gabelsville Athletic …Pottstown Regional Co…Berks County Communit…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Gabelsville Athletic Association IncPA17.9× affinity6 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gabelsville Athletic Association Inc · Pottstown Regional Community Foundation Fka Pottstown Area Health and Wellness · Berks County Community Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization The Effenesse Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    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 41 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2022, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    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