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The Forest Fund Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Forest Fund Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$281k
Granted FY2025still arriving
28
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$29k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Health$389kHuman Services$278kArts & Culture$225kEnvironment$209kEducation$199kFood & Nutrition$153kPublic Safety & Disaster$132kCommunity Improvement$85kOther$0
02FY2025 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k13 grants · $55k
  • $10k–50k15 grants · $226k
$10,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$5.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GASTRO-INTESTINAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC$28,500
THE SALVATION ARMY$25,000
MIDWEST FOOD BANK$20,000
PARK TUDOR FOUNDATION$20,000
NEW HOPE OF INDIANA$20,000
SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH$15,000
FIRST PRINCIPLES FORUM$15,000
LAKE MAXINKUCKEE ENVIRONMENTAL FUND INC$12,000
SAMARITAN'S PURSE$10,000
COBURN PLACE SAFEHAVEN II INC$10,000
NEHEMIAH GROUP (DBA CHICAGO ECO HOUSE)$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
SAM'S WISH INC$10,000
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION (DBA RILEY CHILDREN'S ENDOWMENT)$10,000
ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER$10,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $298k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 78% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%THE FAMILY PLACE: $5k → 14%SAM'S WISH INC: $10k → 5%SOJOURNER TRUTH HOUSE INC: $10k → 15%MIDWEST FOOD BANK: $25k → 11%SAM'S WISH INC: $10k → 5%MIDWEST FOOD BANK: $20k → 11%SAM'S WISH INC: $10k → 5%MIDWEST FOOD BANK: $15k → 11%SAM'S WISH INC: $10k → 5%MIDWEST FOOD BANK: $15k → 11%SAM'S WISH INC: $5k → 5%ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER: $10k → 16%SAM'S WISH INC: $5k → 5%ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER: $10k → 16%SAM'S WISH INC: $5k → 5%ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER: $10k → 16%SAM'S WISH INC: $5k → 5%ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER: $10k → 16%SAM'S WISH INC: $5k → 5%ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER: $5k → 16%COBURN PLACE SAFEHAVEN II INC: $10k → 16%ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER: $5k → 16%COBURN PLACE SAFEHAVEN II INC: $10k → 16%COBURN PLACE SAFEHAVEN II INC: $10k → 16%COBURN PLACE SAFEHAVEN II INC: $10k → 16%ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER: $5k → 16%COBURN PLACE SAFEHAVEN II INC: $10k → 16%COBURN PLACE SAFEHAVEN II INC: $10k → 16%ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER: $3k → 16%RANDOM ACTS OF FLOWERS INDIANAPOLIS INC: $5k → 16%RANDOM ACTS OF FLOWERS INDIANAPOLIS INC: $5k → 16%RANDOM ACTS OF FLOWERS INDIANAPOLIS INC: $5k → 16%RANDOM ACTS OF FLOWERS INDIANAPOLIS INC: $5k → 16%RANDOM ACTS OF FLOWERS INDIANAPOLIS INC: $5k → 16%WHEELER MISSION MINISTRIES INC: $500 → 16%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

MN
IL
NY
IN
PA
CO
MO
VA
NC
DC
GA
TX
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 32 repeat orgs$279k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against -3% for those funded once.

32 repeat relationships: 19 still active in FY2025, 13 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

32
33

Total granted

$1.7M
$224k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
-3%

Still filing today

75%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $55k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
HealthHuman ServicesEnvironmentEducationCommunity ImprovementYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • EM
    EITELJORG MUSEUM OF AMERICAN INDIANS AND WESTERN ART INC
    5× · 2017–2021 · $200k · revenue +24%
  • CF
    CENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC
    4× · 2017–2023 · $130k · revenue +455%
  • RF
    ROARING FORK CONSERVANCY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $108k · revenue +27%

Funded once

  • CW
    CITIZEN WARM HEART WARM HOME FDN
    one grant, 2022 · $25k
  • WT
    Wine to Water
    one grant, 2024 · $20k · revenue 0%
  • CP
    CULVER PARK & RECREATION DEPT
    one grant, 2024 · $16k
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
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
2
Cicp Foundation Inc

Cicp foundation, inc. (the foundation) operates exclusively for the benefit of and carries out the mission of central indiana corporate partnership, inc. (cicp) by engaging in and supporting activities in furtherance of purposes that are…

Community Improvement
3
University Family Physicians Inc

Engage actively and continuously in medical research, education and training in the practice of medicine in conjunction with the department of family medicine of the indiana university school of medicine and indiana university…

—
4
Leadership Indianapolis Inc

Educate, Inspire, Connect and Mobilize Community Leaders to serve and strengthen greater Indianapolis.

Public Benefit
5
Indiana University Health Foundation Inc

Indiana university health foundation leverages the power of philanthropy to support the iu health goal of making indiana one of the healthiest states in the nation.

Health
6
Indiana University Health West Hospital Inc

Lead the transformation of healthcare through quality, innovation & education, and make Indiana one of the nation's healthiest states.

Health
7
Feeding Indiana's Hungry Inc

By drawing on varied resources within public agencies and the private sector, we hope to provide hunger relief for those in need throughout Indiana.

Human Services
8
Indiana Statewide Independent Living Council Inc

To empower its peers with disabilities to lead and control their own lives.

Human Services
9
The Indianapolis Foundation Inc

To mobilize people, ideas, and investments to make this a community where all individuals have equitable opportunity to reach their full potential - no matter place, race or identity.

Community Improvement
10
Indiana University Health Frankfort Inc

Lead the transformation of healthcare through quality, innovation & education, and make Indiana one of the nation's healthiest states.

Health
11
Enroll Indy Inc

Enroll indy helps families choose schools that meet their children's needs by providing a one-stop enrollment process, school information that is relevant and easy to understand, and data to inform school improvement in indianapolis,…

Education
12
Metropolitan Indianapolis Public Media Inc

Trusted journalism, inspiring stories and lifelong learning.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Christamore House Inc; the most unlike its peers is Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation. 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

61 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. 61 of the 77 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
59/61
Grantees still filing
29/61
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SALVATION ARMY: $115,000 · OtherSALVATION ARMYSECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $105,000 · OtherSECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHFIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF INDIANAPOLIS: $56,000 · OtherFIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF INDIANAPOLISFAIR FOUNDATION AGAINST INTOLERANCE: $30,000 · OtherSECOND HELPINGS INC: $65,000 · OtherSECOND HELPINGS INCFIRST PRINCIPLES FORUM INC: $55,000 · OtherFIRST PRINCIPLES FORUM INCSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $30,000 · Other+38 more: $326,361 · Other+38 moreMIDWEST FOOD BANK NFP: $75,000 · Human ServicesMIDWEST FOOD BAN…SAM'S WISH INC: $65,000 · Human ServicesSAM'S WISH INCCOBURN PLACE SAFEHAVEN II INC: $60,000 · Human ServicesCOBURN PLACE SAF…ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER INC: $57,500 · Human ServicesST MARY'S CHILD …RANDOM ACTS OF FLOWERS INDIANAPOLIS INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesRANDOM ACTS OF F…Sojourner Truth House Inc: $10,000 · Human Services+2 more: $5,500 · Human ServicesBrooke's Place for Grieving Young People: $56,000 · HealthBrooke's Plac…DYSLEXIA INSTITUTE OF INDIANA INC: $55,000 · HealthDYSLEXIA INST…GASTRO INTESTINAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $53,500 · HealthGASTRO INTEST…STEP-UP INCORPORATED: $25,000 · HealthSTEP-UP INCOR…CROHN'S & COLITIS FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · HealthCROHN'S & COL…INDIANA WISH INC: $12,000 · HealthST VINCENT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · Health+3 more: $17,500 · Health+3 moreEITELJORG MUSEUM OF AMERICAN INDIANS AND WESTERN ART INC: $200,000 · Arts & CultureEITELJORG M…+1 more: $5,000 · Arts & CultureROARING FORK CONSERVANCY: $107,500 · EnvironmentROARING FOR…Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund Inc: $71,000 · EnvironmentLake Maxink…Wine to Water: $20,000 · EnvironmentWine to Wat…+2 more: $2,250 · EnvironmentPARK TUDOR FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 · EducationPARK TUDO…Butler University: $50,000 · EducationButler Un…English in Action: $15,000 · EducationEnglish i…+2 more: $7,500 · EducationCENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC: $130,000 · Public Safety & Disaster+1 more: $1,000 · Public Safety & Disaster
Other$782,361Human Services$298,000Health$244,000Arts & Culture$205,000Environment$200,750Education$172,500Public Safety & Disaster$131,000

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 budgetEITELJORG MUSEUM OF AMERICAN INDIANS AND WESTERN ART INC: $200,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetCENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC: $130,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetROARING FORK CONSERVANCY: $107,500 over 9y, 4.4% of budgetPARK TUDOR FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMIDWEST FOOD BANK NFP: $75,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund Inc: $71,000 over 9y, 5.5% of budgetSECOND HELPINGS INC: $65,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetSAM'S WISH INC: $65,000 over 9y, 48% of budgetCOBURN PLACE SAFEHAVEN II INC: $60,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetST MARY'S CHILD CENTER INC: $57,500 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetBrooke's Place for Grieving Young People: $56,000 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetFIRST PRINCIPLES FORUM INC: $55,000 over 5y, 13% of budgetDYSLEXIA INSTITUTE OF INDIANA INC: $55,000 over 8y, 3.8% of budgetGASTRO INTESTINAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $53,500 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetButler University: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSTEP-UP INCORPORATED: $25,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetRANDOM ACTS OF FLOWERS INDIANAPOLIS INC: $25,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNEW HOPE OF INDIANA INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWine to Water: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetEnglish in Action: $15,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF INDIANA AND KENTUCKY INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCROHN'S & COLITIS FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetST RICHARD'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetST VINCENT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSojourner Truth House Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHRISTAMORE HOUSE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetNehemiah Group dba Chicago Eco House: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPENNSYLVANIA 30 DAY FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL INDIANA INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRandom Acts of Flowers: $7,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMINNIES FOOD PANTRY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGIRLS INC OF CHICAGO: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBROAD RIPPLE VILLAGE ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPATRIOTIC KENNY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetHORIZON HOUSE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetILLINOIS COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Family Place: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Illinois: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF INDIANAPOLIS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFOREVER FORTUNATE FELINES: $4,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetNOURISHING HOPE: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCULVER COMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER FOUNDATION: $3,500 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetTHE INDIANAPOLIS COLTS FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSING OPPORTUNITIES AND MAINTENANCE FOR THE ELDERLY INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

  • Who funds EITELJORG MUSEUM OF AMERICAN INDIANS AND WESTERN ART INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC ↗
  • Who funds ROARING FORK CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds PARK TUDOR FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MIDWEST FOOD BANK NFP ↗
  • Who funds Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund Inc ↗
  • Who funds SECOND HELPINGS INC ↗
  • Who funds SAM'S WISH INC ↗
  • Who funds COBURN PLACE SAFEHAVEN II INC ↗
  • Who funds ST MARY'S CHILD CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds Brooke's Place for Grieving Young People ↗
  • Who funds FIRST PRINCIPLES FORUM INC ↗
  • Who funds DYSLEXIA INSTITUTE OF INDIANA INC ↗
  • Who funds GASTRO INTESTINAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Butler University ↗
  • Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE ↗
  • Who funds STEP-UP INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds RANDOM ACTS OF FLOWERS INDIANAPOLIS INC ↗
  • Who funds THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW HOPE OF INDIANA INC ↗
  • Who funds Wine to Water ↗
  • Who funds English in Action ↗
  • Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF INDIANA AND KENTUCKY INC ↗
  • Who funds CROHN'S & COLITIS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ST RICHARD'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds INDIANA WISH INC ↗
  • Who funds ST VINCENT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Sojourner Truth House Inc ↗
  • Who funds Central Indiana Community Foundation Inc ↗

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.

The Indianapolis Foun…Lilly Endowment IncCentral Indiana Commu…United Way of Central…Lumina Foundation for…Hoover Family Foundat…Nicholas H Noyes Jr M…The Brave Heart Found…Nina Mason Pulliam Ch…Griffith Family Found…Ayres Foundation IncThe Clowes Fund Incor…
The Indianapolis Foundation IncIN38.1× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Indianapolis Foundation Inc · Lilly Endowment Inc · Central Indiana Community Foundation Inc · United Way of Central Indiana Inc · Lumina Foundation for Education Inc · Hoover Family Foundation · Nicholas H Noyes Jr Memorial Foundation · The Brave Heart Foundation Inc · Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust · Griffith Family Foundation Inc · Ayres Foundation Inc · The Clowes Fund Incorporated

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 Forest Fund Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Forest Fund Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    18report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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.

    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 77 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Forest’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