· Private foundation
The Ethan James 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.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| FAIRVOTE | $2,500 |
| DENVER DUMB FRIENDS LEAGUE | $1,000 |
| TRUSTEES OF TUFTS COLLEGE | $1,000 |
| PUBLIC BROADCASTING OF COLORADO INC | $1,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LAW SCHOOL FOUNDATION | $1,000 |
| FRIENDS OF CHAMBER MUSIC | $1,000 |
| TRUSTEES OF TUFTS COLLEGE | $1,000 |
| COLORADO COLLEGE | $1,000 |
| DENVER TENNIS PARK INC | $500 |
| FRIENDS OF THE DILLON RANGER DISTRICT A CO NONPROF | $500 |
| POMONA COLLEGE | $475 |
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.
Your human-services grants (FY20–20, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
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
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.
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.
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +54% since the first grant, against +26% for the ones you funded once.
9 repeat relationships — 7 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
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
- TCTHE COLORADO COLLEGE8× · 2017–2024 · $54k · revenue +39%
Trustees of Tufts College7× · 2017–2024 · $18k · revenue +50%
POMONA COLLEGE5× · 2020–2024 · $16k · revenue +87%
Funded once
- KCKIPP Colorado Schoolsone grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue +19%
- FBFOOD BANK OF THE ROCKIESone grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +23%
FRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INCgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $3k · revenue +361%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
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.
The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.
Columbia college improves lives by providing quality education to both traditional and nontraditional students, helping them achieve their true potential.
AIA Colorado,is the voice of the architecture profession in Colorado. Through advocacy, leadership development, education and resources for architects, the organization supports architecture professionals in designing a better world where…
The university of denver (du) is a higher educational institution, providing both undergraduate and graduate degrees - the mission of the university of denver is to promote learning by engaging with students (continued on schedule o)in…
To provide meaningful access to high quality, civil legal services in the pursuit of justice for as many low income persons and members of vulnerable populations throughout colorado as possible.
We connect people, ideas, and nonprofits to make good happen. our vision is that all of jeffco is thriving.
Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…
National public radio, inc. ("npr") works collaboratively with member public radio station licensees ("member stations") to create a more informed public, one that is challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of…
The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…
The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.
See schedule o colorado state university foundation assists in the promotion, development, and enhancement of facilities and educational programs and enhancements of faculty, students, and alumni of colorado state university (csu). this is…
See schedule ouniversity corporation for atmospheric research (ucar), on behalf of, and in cooperation with its member university members, is engaged in the management of long-term atmospheric and related research and educational…
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Denver Dumb Friends League and the most unlike its peers is Friends of the Dillon Ranger District. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
20 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.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
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.
- Who funds THE COLORADO COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds Trustees of Tufts College ↗
- Who funds POMONA COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds COLORADO ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds DENVER HEALTH AND HOSPITALS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LAW SCHOOL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds KIPP Colorado Schools ↗
- Who funds FOOD BANK OF THE ROCKIES ↗
- Who funds PUBLIC BROADCASTING OF COLORADO INC ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF CHAMBER MUSIC ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INC ↗
- Who funds ROAD TO HOPE OF HAITI ↗
- Who funds FAIRVOTE ↗
- Who funds Friends of the Dillon Ranger District ↗
- Who funds WILLIAM J BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC ↗
- Who funds Northwestern University ↗
- Who funds DENVER DUMB FRIENDS LEAGUE ↗
- Who funds ROCKY MOUNTAIN PUBLIC MEDIA INC ↗
- Who funds DENVER TENNIS PARK ↗
- Who funds MIGHTYCAUSE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Colorado Gives Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Ethan James 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.
- Trustees of Tufts College — 13% of income from government
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.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Ethan James Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Ethan James 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.