Skip to content
The Esperance Family Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Esperance Family Foundation Inc

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.

$284k
Granted FY2022
45
Grants FY2022
15
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

100% of The Esperance Family Foundation Inc’s FY2023 grant dollars went to National Philanthropic Trust, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2023 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2022, the last year The Esperance Family Foundation Inc named its own grantees at scale: 39 organizations, $284k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

15
’19
25
’20
18
’21
39
’22
0
’23

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2023.

Environment$1.1MEducation$1.0MHealth$608kFood & Nutrition$144kHuman Services$129kAnimals$102kInternational$45kPhilanthropy$43kOther$0
02FY2022 · 45 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2022

  • Under $10k40 grants · $37k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $73k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $175k
$250
Median grant
15
States reached
$173k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GROUNDWORK CENTER FOR RESILIENT COMMUNITIES INC$100,000
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN CARDIOVASCULAR CENTER$75,000
KERN ASPEN LIPID CONFERENCE$37,750
TIBETAN NYINGMA RELIEF FOUNDATION$20,000
INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET$15,000
MERCY FOR ANIMALS$5,000
CHASING TWO RABBITS AT ONCE$5,000
WORLD ANIMAL PROTECTION$5,000
PSP AND CBD FOUNDATION$4,000
UNITED STATES ASSOCIATION FOR UNHCR$4,000
CHASDEI DEVORAH INC$3,500
THE SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION$500
GROUNDWORK CENTER FOR RESILIENT COMMUNITIES INC$500
WOMENS RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE GRAND TRAVERSE AREA$500
WORLD VISION$500
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:

Its human-services grants (FY19–22, $132k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 29% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%TIBETAN NYINGMA RELIEF FOUNDATION: $40k → 10%STARR COMMONWEALTH: $500 → 14%4 PAWS FOR ABILITY INC: $250 → 9%TIBETAN NYINGMA RELIEF FOUNDATION: $30k → 10%SUSIE QS KIDS INC: $500 → 10%T WALL FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%STARR COMMONWEALTH: $250 → 14%TIBETAN NYINGMA RELIEF FOUNDATION: $20k → 10%SUSIE QS KIDS INC: $250 → 10%DENVER ACTIVE 20-30 CHILDRENS FOUNDATION: $7k → 12%DENVER ACTIVE 20-30 CHILDRENS FOUNDATION: $2k → 12%DENVER ACTIVE 20-30 CHILDRENS FOUNDATION: $2k → 12%DENVER ACTIVE 20-30 CHILDRENS FOUNDATION: $1k → 12%THE WOMENS CENTER OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: $250 → 14%WOMENS RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE GRAND TRAVERSE AREA: $2k → 7%WOMENS RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE GRAND TRAVERSE AREA: $500 → 7%OZONE HOUSE INC: $1k → 14%PEACE NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER: $20k → 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

WA
MN
IL
MI
NY
OR
OH
PA
CT
CA
CO
MO
VA
MD
KS
NC
DC
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.

60%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.9M · 26 repeat orgs$1.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +30% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

26 repeat relationships: 17 still active in FY2022, 9 since wound down; 26 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call). Read against FY2022, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
24

Total granted

$1.9M
$1.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
+21%

Still filing today

85%
92%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $27k 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
InternationalHuman ServicesAnimalsEducationArts & CultureEnvironmentOther
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

  • GC
    GROUNDWORK CENTER FOR RESILIENT COMMUNITIES INC
    4× · 2019–2022 · $671k · revenue +80%
  • TN
    Tibetan Nyingma Relief Foundation
    3× · 2020–2022 · $90k · revenue +20% · 32% of their budget
  • MF
    MERCY FOR ANIMALS INC
    4× · 2019–2022 · $76k · revenue +49%

Funded once

  • SM
    STEPHEN M ROSS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS UNIVERSITY OF
    one grant, 2021 · $500k
  • LC
    LAFAYETTE COLLEGEgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $252k · revenue +43%
  • TU
    THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $150k · revenue +57%
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
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…

International
2
Waterorg

Water.org's goal is to bring safe water and sanitation to the world through access to small, affordable loans.

International
3
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
4
Wildaid Inc

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

Animals
5
Wildlife Conservation Network Inc

Connect conservationists and supporters, deploy resources to the field, provide conservationists with tools and support they need to succeed.

Animals
6
Animal Outlook Inc

Animal outlook is a national animal protection organization working to end the abuse of farmed animals using a variety of strategies, including investigations, legal advocacy, corporate and food system reform, and vegan outreach.

Animals
7
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
8
Nuru International

Nuru is a global collective that enables inclusive and sustainable prosperity by identifying communities at the stability tipping point, strengthening rural livelihoods and market systems, and fostering stabilizing connections that repair…

International
9
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
10
Global Poverty Project Inc

Our mission is to build a movement of global citizens whose actions will help achieve our vision of a world without extreme poverty.

Social Science
11
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
12
Eden Peopleplanet

To offer the dignity of fair employment to people living in impoverished communities, who become transformational agents of global forest restoration.

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Feed My Starving Children Inc; the most unlike its peers is Hearts & Bones Animal Rescue. 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

68 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. 68 of the 78 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)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
68/68
Grantees still filing
47/68
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GROUNDWORK CENTER FOR RESILIENT COMMUNITIES INC: $670,500 · OtherGROUNDWORK CENTER FOR RESILIENT COMMUNITIES INCSTEPHEN M ROSS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS UNIVERSITY OF: $500,000 · OtherSTEPHEN M ROSS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS UNIVERSITY OFREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $355,000 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGANUNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN CARDIOVASCULAR CENTER: $150,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN CARDIOVASCULAR CENTERAMERICAN NUTRITION ASSOCIATION INC: $140,000 · OtherAMERICAN NUTRITION ASSOCIATION INCKERN ASPEN LIPID CONFERENCE: $71,750 · Other+27 more: $156,450 · Other+27 moreLAFAYETTE COLLEGE: $252,000 · EducationLAFAYETTE COLLEGETHE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 · EducationTHE UNIVERSITY OF…ACNPE: $100,000 · EducationACNPE+3 more: $10,250 · EducationLEELANAU CONSERVANCY: $375,000 · EnvironmentLEELANAU CONS…+2 more: $4,000 · EnvironmentTibetan Nyingma Relief Foundation: $90,000 · Human ServicesPeace Neighborhood Center: $20,000 · Human ServicesThe Denver Children's Foundation: $11,000 · Human ServicesT WALL FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Human Services+7 more: $7,750 · Human ServicesMERCY FOR ANIMALS INC: $76,000 · AnimalsREWILD: $5,250 · AnimalsWORLD ANIMAL PROTECTION: $5,000 · Animals+5 more: $3,000 · AnimalsNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $43,269 · PhilanthropyCOLORADO OPEN GOLF FOUNDATION INC: $8,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $250 · PhilanthropyINTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET: $25,000 · InternationalASHOKA: $7,500 · InternationalUnited States Association for UNHCR: $4,000 · InternationalGLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN INC: $3,500 · InternationalCHASDEI DEVORAH INC: $3,500 · InternationalChildren International: $2,000 · International+8 more: $3,550 · International
Other$2,043,700Education$512,250Environment$379,000Human Services$133,750Animals$89,250Philanthropy$51,519International$49,050

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetGROUNDWORK CENTER FOR RESILIENT COMMUNITIES INC: $670,500 over 4y, 10% of budgetLEELANAU CONSERVANCY: $375,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetLAFAYETTE COLLEGE: $252,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN NUTRITION ASSOCIATION INC: $140,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetTibetan Nyingma Relief Foundation: $90,000 over 3y, 32% of budgetMERCY FOR ANIMALS INC: $76,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetTitle Track: $52,000 over 2y, 20% of budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $43,269 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPackard Health Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET: $25,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetPeace Neighborhood Center: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetThe Denver Children's Foundation: $11,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLORADO OPEN GOLF FOUNDATION INC: $8,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetASHOKA: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAIM HIGH SCHOOL: $7,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetREWILD: $5,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD ANIMAL PROTECTION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHASING TWO RABBITS AT ONCE: $5,000 over 1y, 6.6% of budgetUnited States Association for UNHCR: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FIRST TEE OF BENTON HARBOR INC: $4,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetFOOD GATHERERS: $3,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN INC: $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetECOLOGY CENTER: $3,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHASDEI DEVORAH INC: $3,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetWOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER GRAND TRAVERSE AREA: $2,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSOUTHERNERS ON NEW GROUND INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GUIDANCE CENTER: $2,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFAMILY LEARNING INSTITUTE: $2,250 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetTHE WOMEN'S CENTER OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: $2,250 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetRebel Dogs Detroit Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetMARIA DROSTE SERVICES OF COLORADO INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetChildren International: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPUSHBLACK: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOZONE HOUSE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALLIANCE FOR THE GREAT LAKES: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Land Institute: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMERCY EDUCATION PROJECT: $1,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNeutral Zone: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHILD & FAMILY SERVICES OF NORTHWESTERN MICHIGAN INC: $750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSTARR COMMONWEALTH: $750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSUSIE QS KIDS INC: $750 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetWORLD VISION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $500 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.

Community Foundation …Harry a and Margaret …Ann Arbor Area Commun…James a and Faith Kni…The Buhr FoundationUnited Way of Washten…Michigan Health Endow…Kiwanis Club of Ann A…The Carls FoundationComerica Charitable F…United Way for Southe…The Pfizer Foundation…
Community Foundation for Southeast MichiganMI25.4× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · Harry a and Margaret D Towsley Foundation · Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation · James a and Faith Knight Foundation · The Buhr Foundation · United Way of Washtenaw County · Michigan Health Endowment Fund · Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor Foundation Inc · The Carls Foundation · Comerica Charitable Foundation · United Way for Southeastern Michigan · The Pfizer Foundation 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 Esperance Family Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Esperance Family Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 30%
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Esperance Family Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to The Esperance Family Foundation Inc 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 78 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record but names no grant recipient in the published copy, so the figures above are from FY2022, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Esperance Family’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