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· Private foundation

The Ellen Knowles Harcourt Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$183k
Granted FY2024still arriving
21
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$40k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 FY2017–2024.

Education$485kHuman Services$289kEnvironment$133kArts & Culture$115kPublic Safety & Disaster$81kFood & Nutrition$65kAnimals$53kHealth$46kOther$0
02FY2024 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k17 grants · $91k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $92k
$6,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$3.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JOHN PETTIBONE SCHOLARSHIP FUND$40,000
NORTHVILLE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT$22,000
THE CHILDREN'S CENTER INC$20,000
CONNECTICUT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$10,000
BRIDGEWATER LAND TRUST$9,250
CT ANTIQUE MACHINERY ASSOCIATION$8,500
SUSAN B ANTHONY PROJECT$7,500
UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS$7,000
NEW MILFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY$7,000
TOWN OF NEW MILFORD SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT$6,500
FISH OF NORTHWESTERN CONNECTICUT INC$6,500
NEW MILFORD HIGH SCHOOL$6,000
THEATREWORKS NEW MILFORD$6,000
WHEELS PROGRAM OF GREATER NEW MILFORD$5,400
LITTLE BRITCHES THERAPEUTIC RIDING$5,000
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:

Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $101k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%REGIONAL YMCA OF WESTERN CONNECTICUT: $10k → 9%REGIONAL YMCA OF WESTERN CONNECTICUT: $10k → 9%ABILITY BEYOND: $9k → 9%REGIONAL YMCA OF WESTERN CONNECTICUT: $10k → 9%SUSAN B ANTHONY PROJECT: $8k → 9%SUSAN B ANTHONY PROJECT: $8k → 9%SUSAN B ANTHONY PROJECT: $8k → 9%THRIFT MART OF NEW MILFORD INC: $11k → 9%THRIFT MART OF NEW MILFORD INC: $8k → 9%WHEELS PROGRAM OF GREATER NEW MILFORD: $5k → 9%WHEELS PROGRAM OF GREATER NEW MILFORD: $5k → 9%WHEELS PROGRAM OF GREATER NEW MILFORD: $5k → 9%WHEELS PROGRAM OF GREATER NEW MILFORD: $5k → 9%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.

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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.2M · 36 repeat orgs$223k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +44% since the first grant, against +33% for the ones you funded once.

36 repeat relationships — 16 still active in FY2024, 20 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
29

Total granted

$1.2M
$208k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
+33%

Still filing today

75%
52%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $16k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationHuman ServicesPublic Safety & DisasterAnimalsOther

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

  • PF
    PARTNERS FOR SUSTAINABLE HEALTHY COMMUNITIES INC
    4× · 2017–2022 · $55k · revenue +552%
  • NV
    NORTHVILLE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT
    3× · 2019–2024 · $50k · revenue +21%
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS INC
    5× · 2018–2024 · $46k · revenue +90%

Funded once

  • FC
    FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH - NEW MILFORD
    one grant, 2022 · $20k
  • NM
    NEW MILFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY
    one grant, 2022 · $20k
  • GV
    GAYLORDSVILLE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT
    one grant, 2023 · $20k · revenue -9%

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
Newtown Forest Association Inc

The Newtown Forest Association is the oldest private land trust organization in Connecticut. It has been dedicated for one hundred years to securing for the residents of Newtown and for posterity generally the benefits derived from open…

Environment
2
Land Conservancy of Ridgefield Inc

The Land Conservancy of Ridgefield, Inc. ("the Land Conservancy"), founded in 1967, preserves and protects, for the general benefit of the public, Ridgefield, Connecticut's natural resources including land and water resources, the plant…

Environment
3
Wyndham Land Trust Inc

Conserve the natural resources of northeast connecticut-the watercourses, swamps, woodlands and open spaces, the plant and animal life therein, and the scenic natural and historic sites.

Environment
4
New Hartford Land Trust Inc

Land Trust - To preserve, steward, and protect open space in New Hartford, CT in perpetuity.

—
5
Redding Land Trust Inc

The primary mission of Redding Land Trust is to preserve the natural resources of the Town of Redding, CT and to promote the scientific and educational study of local and natural resources, and to acquire, by gift or purchase, land or…

Environment
6
Winchester Historical Society
—
7
Vna Home Inc Co RVNAhealth

The mission of VNA Home, Inc. is to provide short-term or long-term non-medical home care services to people who reside in the greater New Milford, Connecticut area.

—
8
Northern Connecticut Land Trust Inc

Preserve the natural resources on the northern CT region including agricultural land and other ecologically significant open space.

Environment
9
Candlewood Valley Regional Land Trust

The Candlewood Valley Regional Land Trust protects open spaces that contribute to the Candlewood Valley iconic rural New England character.

—
10
Norwalk River Watershed Association Inc

To protect water quality and wildlife habitat in the seven-town Norwalk River Watershed

Environment
11
Farmington Land Trust

The Farmington Land Trust Inc protects open space in the town of Farmington CT through the acquisition of open space, stewardship of acquired land, education of the public about the importance of open space and advocacy that ensures…

Environment
12
Burrillville Land Trust

The burrillville land trust is dedicated to maintaining the town's rural character by preserving open space, protecting the beauty and viability of our farms, and preserving the woodlands, meadows, ponds, and rivers around us.

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy Inc and the most unlike its peers is Ripley Inc. 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 backsteadyVolunteer Emergency ServicesCommunity Grantmaking Found…Animal Rescue and Rehabilit…Community Arts EducationYouth and Family Support Se…Youth Baseball and Softball…Early Childhood EducationConnecticut Community Organ…Community Arts EducationLocal History and Land Cons…
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 41 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%0%<5yr12%4%5–10yr19%15%10–20yr19%20%20–35yr13%30%35–55yr19%30%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%0%<5yr12%4%5–10yr19%15%10–20yr19%19%20–35yr13%26%35–55yr19%36%55yr+

The field is 18% 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 10% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/48
the rest of the field
10%
782/7,870

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

46 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. 46 of the 70 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)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/46
Grantees still filing
33/46
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

JOHN PETTIBONE SCHOLARSHIP FUND — $255,000 · OtherJOHN PETTIBONE SCHOLARSHIP FUNDTOWN OF NEW MILFORD SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT — $122,000 · OtherTOWN OF NEW MILFORD SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENTTHE CHILDREN'S CENTER INC — $70,000 · OtherTHE CHILDREN'S CENTER INCNEW MILFORD HIGH SCHOOL — $45,000 · OtherFISH OF NORTHWESTERN CONNECTICUT INC — $37,500 · OtherHARRYBROOKE PARK AND HARDEN HOUSE — $35,000 · Other+37 more — $353,500 · Other+37 morePARTNERS FOR SUSTAINABLE HEALTHY COMMUNITIES INC — $55,000 · EducationPARTNERS FO…UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS INC — $46,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY …MVP SOS FOUNDATION INC — $20,000 · EducationMVP SOS FOU…LITERACY VOLUNTEERS ON THE GREEN — $15,225 · EducationLITERACY VO…LVA SCHOOL INCORPORATED — $8,000 · EducationLVA SCHOOL …Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust Inc — $30,000 · EnvironmentPRATT NATURE CENTER INC — $20,000 · EnvironmentSTEEP ROCK ASSOCIATION INC — $20,000 · EnvironmentBridgewater Land Trust — $13,250 · EnvironmentNORTHWEST CONNECTICUT LAND CONSERVANCY INC — $10,000 · EnvironmentWARREN LAND TRUST INC — $10,000 · EnvironmentREGIONAL YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN CONNECTICUT INC — $30,000 · Human ServicesSUSAN B ANTHONY PROJECT INC — $22,500 · Human ServicesTHE WHEELS PROGRAM OF GREATER NEW MILFORD INC — $20,400 · Human ServicesTHRIFT MART OF NEW MILFORD INC — $19,000 · Human ServicesABILITY BEYOND DISABILITY INC — $9,000 · Human ServicesNORTHVILLE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT — $50,200 · Public Safety & DisasterGAYLORDSVILLE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT — $20,000 · Public Safety & DisasterKENT VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT INC — $7,500 · Public Safety & DisasterAFTER SCHOOL ARTS PROGRAM INC — $20,000 · Arts & CultureSHERMAN PLAYERS INC — $14,100 · Arts & CultureNORTHWEST CONNECTICUT ASSOCIATION FOR THE ARTS INC — $10,000 · Arts & CultureBROOKFIELD CRAFT CENTER INC — $7,500 · Arts & CultureTHE INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES — $7,500 · Arts & CultureTHEATREWORKS NEW MILFORD — $6,000 · Arts & CulturePILOBOLUS INC — $3,950 · Arts & CultureTHE CONNECTICUT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $30,000 · Philanthropy
Other$918,000Education$144,225Environment$103,250Human Services$100,900Public Safety & Disaster$77,700Arts & Culture$69,050Philanthropy$30,000

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 budgetPARTNERS FOR SUSTAINABLE HEALTHY COMMUNITIES INC — $55,000 over 4y, 17% of budgetNORTHVILLE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT — $50,200 over 3y, 7.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS INC — $46,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFlanders Nature Center & Land Trust Inc — $30,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetREGIONAL YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN CONNECTICUT INC — $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CONNECTICUT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNEW MILFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC — $24,400 over 3y, 10% of budgetRIPLEY INC — $24,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetSUSAN B ANTHONY PROJECT INC — $22,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTHE WHEELS PROGRAM OF GREATER NEW MILFORD INC — $20,400 over 4y, 6.4% of budgetGirl Scouts of Connecticut Inc — $20,250 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPRATT NATURE CENTER INC — $20,000 over 2y, 4.8% of budgetLITTLE BRITCHES THERAPEUTIC RIDING INC — $20,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetSTEEP ROCK ASSOCIATION INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetMVP SOS FOUNDATION INC — $20,000 over 2y, 30% of budgetGAYLORDSVILLE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT — $20,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetAFTER SCHOOL ARTS PROGRAM INC — $20,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetTHRIFT MART OF NEW MILFORD INC — $19,000 over 2y, 6.0% of budgetHORSE of Connecticut Inc — $17,100 over 5y, 2.8% of budgetNEW MILFORD REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT — $16,000 over 3y, 7.5% of budgetLITERACY VOLUNTEERS ON THE GREEN — $15,225 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetSHERMAN PLAYERS INC — $14,100 over 3y, 14% of budgetBridgewater Land Trust — $13,250 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetCAMELLAS CUPBOARD INCORPORATED — $13,000 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetNORTHWEST CONNECTICUT LAND CONSERVANCY INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWARREN LAND TRUST INC — $10,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetNORTHWEST CONNECTICUT ASSOCIATION FOR THE ARTS INC — $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetABILITY BEYOND DISABILITY INC — $9,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES — $7,500 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetHandy Dandy Handyman Co — $7,500 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetKENT VILLAGE HOUSING FOR THE ELDERLY INC — $7,500 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetKENT VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT INC — $7,500 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetTHEATREWORKS NEW MILFORD — $6,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetRVNAHEALTH INC — $5,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Center For Empowerment And Education Inc — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetJULIA'S WINGS FOUNDATION INC — $5,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetVERMONT FOODBANK — $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPILOBOLUS INC — $3,950 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNEW MILFORD COMMUNITY AMBULANCE INC — $3,400 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSAVE GIRLS ON FYER INC — $2,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetVNA Northwest Inc — $600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANIMALS FOR LIFE INC — $500 over 1y, 0.4% 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 Connecticut Commu…Union Savings Bank Fo…Savings Bank of Danbu…The Kestrel FoundationMurray & Susan Haber …Northwest Connecticut…Northwest Community B…Connecticut Humanitie…The Diebold Foundatio…Albert and Helen Mese…Eversource Energy Fou…Fairfield County's Co…
The Connecticut Community FoundationCT56.2× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Connecticut Community Foundation · Union Savings Bank Foundation Inc · Savings Bank of Danbury Foundation Inc · The Kestrel Foundation · Murray & Susan Haber Charitable Foundation · Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation Inc · Northwest Community Bank Foundation Inc · Connecticut Humanities Council Inc · The Diebold Foundation Inc · Albert and Helen Meserve Mem Fund · Eversource Energy Foundation Inc · Fairfield County's Community Foundation 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.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization The Ellen Knowles Harcourt 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 180%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Partners for Sustainable Healthy Communities Inc — 68% of income from government
  • The Wheels Program of Greater New Milford Inc — 65% of income from government
  • Steep Rock Association Inc — 19% of income from government
  • Vermont Foodbank — 13% of income from government
  • Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy Inc — 9% of income from government
  • Girl Scouts of Connecticut Inc — 2% of income from government
  • Rvnahealth Inc — 2% of income from government
  • After School Arts Program Inc — 1% of income from government
  • Pilobolus Inc — 1% of income from government
  • Little Britches Therapeutic Riding Inc — 0% of income from government
  • Susan B Anthony Project Inc — 0% of income from government
  • Pratt Nature Center Inc — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
18get no government money at all
12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
2rely on government for over half their income
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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Ellen Knowles Harcourt Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Ellen Knowles Harcourt 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 70 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

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