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The Great Adventure Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Great Adventure Foundation

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.

$43k
Granted FY2025still arriving
12
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$13k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

International$72kReligion$67kHealth$49kEducation$37kPhilanthropy$29kRecreation & Sports$29kHousing & Shelter$23kHuman Services$9kOther$0
02FY2025 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $21k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $23k
$1,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$959k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ST JOHN'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURC$12,500
BRIGHTSTONE$10,000
AGAPE HEART INTERNATIONAL ORG$9,000
MONTANA STATE ALUMNI ASSOC$3,250
KARITAS FOUNDATION$2,000
YWCA-HELENA$1,000
BETHESDA PROJECT$1,000
HUMANITIES MT$1,000
THE COMMON PLACE$1,000
RYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES$1,000
CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY$1,000
Individual grant recipient$250
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 (FY19–25, $18k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%YWCA-HELENA: $3k → 9%NATIONAL BLACK CHILDRENS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: $4k → 8%YWCA-HELENA: $1k → 9%YWCA-HELENA: $1k → 9%YWCA-HELENA: $1k → 9%HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: $2k → 10%YWCA-HELENA: $1k → 9%HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: $1k → 10%RYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES: $2k → 6%RYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES: $1k → 6%RYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES: $1k → 6%RYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES: $600 → 6%RYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES: $400 → 6%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.
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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$265k · 16 repeat orgs$40k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

16 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
6

Total granted

$265k
$29k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+23%

Still filing today

75%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 74% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsHousing & ShelterInternationalOther
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

  • SO
    SPECIAL OLYMPICS MONTANA INC
    4× · 2019–2022 · $21k · revenue +36%
  • NN
    NEEDLINK NASHVILLE
    2× · 2020–2021 · $10k · revenue +121%
  • YH
    YWCA HELENA
    5× · 2021–2025 · $7k · revenue +93%

Funded once

  • TC
    THE CLEAR FUND
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue +23%
  • SO
    SPECIAL OLYMPICS-BIG SKY AREA
    one grant, 2024 · $8k
  • TR
    TIDES-PROJECT REDWOOD
    one grant, 2020 · $5k
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
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
2
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The children's hospital of philadelphia, the oldest hospital in the united states dedicated exclusively to pediatrics, strives to be the world leader in the advancement of health care for children by integrating excellent patient care,…

Health
3
Children's Scholarship Fund Philadelphia

With over 20 years of experience and over 30,000 scholarships awarded, csfp provides philadelphia children with eight-year, needs-based scholarships to attend safe, quality, k-8th grade schools. continued on schedule o.supporting…

Education
4
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
5
The Philadelphia School

The philadelphia school educates children for a future that is impossible to know but not impossible to shape. learn here. go anywhere.

—
6
Residential Opportunities Inc

We partner with children and adults with disabilities and their families so they may live more meaningful, healthy, and independent lives in their homes and communities.

Human Services
7
United Children's Services of Bennington County Inc

Children's services

Human Services
8
Common Impact Inc

Common impact's mission is to strengthen the capacity of social change organizations, enabling them to better run and scale their programs. through its partnership with companies, common impact taps into the business skills and expertise…

Unclassified
9
Commonwealth Care Alliance Inc

Commonwealth care alliance, inc.'s mission is to improve the health and well-being of people with significant needs by innovating, coordinating and providing the highest quality, individualized care.

Health
10
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
11
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
12
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation

The neighborhood reinvestment corporation (d.b.a neighborworks america) is a congressionally chartered public non-profit corporation that creates opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives, and strengthen…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Bethesda Project; the most unlike its peers is Evan M Lewis Memorial Scholarship. 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

19 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. 19 of the 28 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
14/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ST JOHN'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURC: $66,500 · OtherST JOHN'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCGIVE WELL FOR GIVE DIRECTLY: $17,000 · OtherGIVE WELL FOR GIVE DIRECTLYNEEDLINK NASHVILLE: $10,000 · OtherNEEDLINK NASHVILLEMONTANA STATE ALUMNI ASSOC: $9,387 · OtherMONTANA STATE ALUMNI ASSOCAGAPE HEART INTERNATIONAL ORG: $9,000 · OtherAGAPE HEART INTERNATIONAL ORGSPECIAL OLYMPICS-BIG SKY AREA: $8,000 · OtherSPECIAL OLYMPICS-BIG SKY AREATIDES-PROJECT REDWOOD: $5,000 · Other+5 more: $6,550 · OtherBRIGHTSTONE INC: $44,000 · EducationBRIGHTSTONE INCEVAN M LEWIS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP: $9,000 · EducationEVAN M LEWIS MEMORIAL SCH…TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $7,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSIT…Church Farm School: $6,500 · EducationChurch Farm SchoolCORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY: $5,500 · EducationCORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN ACA…One World Childrens Fund: $50,500 · PhilanthropyOne World Childrens FundTHE CLEAR FUND: $10,000 · PhilanthropyTHE CLEAR FUNDTIDES FOUNDATION: $9,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDATIONSPECIAL OLYMPICS MONTANA INC: $21,000 · Recreation & SportsYWCA HELENA: $6,900 · Human ServicesRYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES: $4,500 · Human ServicesNATIONAL BLACK CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: $4,000 · Human ServicesHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL OF DISTRICT IX INC: $3,000 · Human ServicesBETHESDA PROJECT: $5,500 · Housing & ShelterCENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE: $2,500 · InternationalThe Common Place Inc: $1,000 · Youth Development
Other$131,437Education$72,000Philanthropy$69,500Recreation & Sports$21,000Human Services$18,400Housing & Shelter$5,500International$2,500Youth Development$1,000

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 budgetOne World Childrens Fund: $50,500 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetBRIGHTSTONE INC: $44,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS MONTANA INC: $21,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetNEEDLINK NASHVILLE: $10,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTHE CLEAR FUND: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $9,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetEVAN M LEWIS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP: $9,000 over 3y, 13% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYWCA HELENA: $6,900 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetChurch Farm School: $6,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY: $5,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetBETHESDA PROJECT: $5,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetRYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES: $4,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL BLACK CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: $4,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL OF DISTRICT IX INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE: $2,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLa Casa de las Madres: $1,000 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.

  • Who funds One World Childrens Fund ↗
  • Who funds BRIGHTSTONE INC ↗
  • Who funds SPECIAL OLYMPICS MONTANA INC ↗
  • Who funds NEEDLINK NASHVILLE ↗
  • Who funds THE CLEAR FUND ↗
  • Who funds TIDES FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds EVAN M LEWIS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
  • Who funds YWCA HELENA ↗
  • Who funds Church Farm School ↗
  • Who funds CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds BETHESDA PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds RYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL BLACK CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL OF DISTRICT IX INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds La Casa de las Madres ↗
  • Who funds The Common Place Inc ↗
  • Who funds Humanities Montana ↗

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.

Montana Community Fou…Dennis & Phyllis Wash…The William Penn Foun…The Chicago Community…Vanguard Charitable E…Charities Aid Foundat…Enterprise Holdings F…The Pfizer Foundation…American Endowment Fo…The Blackbaud Giving …Network for GoodNational Philanthropi…
Montana Community Foundation IncMT13.4× affinity4 shared granteesties to 10 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Montana Community Foundation Inc · Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation · The William Penn Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Charities Aid Foundation America · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Network for Good · National Philanthropic Trust

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 Great Adventure Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Great Adventure Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%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
    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 Great Adventure Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Great Adventure 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 28 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 Great Adventure’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