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The Groundtruth Project Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Groundtruth Project Inc

The groundtruth project, inc.

$3.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
151
Grants FY2024still arriving
44
States reached
$175k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2023 to 2024.

Public Benefit$3.4MArts & Culture$2.2MEducation$500kHuman Services$62kAnimals$56kCommunity Improvement$40kPhilanthropy$30kEnvironment$24kOther$0
02FY2024 · 151 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 151 grants below total $2,296,508, the rows itemized in this filing. The $3,509,931 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,213,423 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k39 grants · $307k
  • $10k–50k111 grants · $1.8M
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $175k
$12,500
Median grant
44
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS$175,078
THE TEXAS TRIBUNE$42,992
Individual grant recipient$35,194
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES$32,530
INVESTIGATE WEST$31,925
Individual grant recipient$30,621
WISCONSIN WATCH$30,477
MISSISSIPPI FREE PRESS$29,174
KOSU RADIO$28,058
BUFFALO'S FIRE$27,398
ENLACE NC$26,859
WHQR PUBLIC MEDIA$26,024
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE$25,543
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS$25,037
BERKELEYSIDE$24,011
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 (FY23–24, $62k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%DOCUMENTED: $42k → 17%DOCUMENTED: $20k → 17%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

AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
IA
IN
OH
PA
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
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.

71%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.4M · 113 repeat orgs$1.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

113 repeat relationships: 113 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 33 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

113
63

Total granted

$4.4M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+13%

Still filing today

51%
46%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $553k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationPublic BenefitHuman ServicesAnimalsCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • SN
    STATES NEWSROOM
    2× · 2023–2024 · $97k · revenue +61%
  • TEXAS TRIBUNE INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $81k · revenue +1%
  • WI
    WCIJ INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $75k · revenue +106%

Funded once

  • AP
    ASSOCIATED PRESS
    one grant, 2023 · $384k
  • BC
    BAY CITY NEWS FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $38k · revenue +3%
  • SH
    SIJ Holdings
    one grant, 2023 · $29k
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
Press Watch

To educate journalists and the public, and foster public debate, about improving political journalism to reflect public needs and hold the powerful accountable.

—
2
Nashville Public Media Inc

To empower the people of Nashville to make informed decisions by providing non-partisan journalism from an independent, nonprofit newsroom.

Arts & Culture
3
Independence Public Media of Philadelphia Inc
Arts & Culture
4
Springfield Daily Citizen Inc

The mission of the springfield daily citizen is to inform our community and be a catalyst for good.

Arts & Culture
5
Institute for the Advancement of Journalistic Clarity

To provide credible reporting and commentary on its website (counterpunch.org) and through its podcast, helping readers make informed and balanced assessments - vital for a healthy democratic society - on the public issues of the day.

Arts & Culture
6
Trusting News Inc

Trusting News improves the quality of news reporting by studying trust in news and training and coaching journalists to demonstrate credibility and actively earn trust. Their work equips thousands of journalists every year to better…

Arts & Culture
7
Canary Media Inc

Canary Media is an independent, nonprofit newsroom covering the transition to clean energy.

Environment
8
Journalism New England

The organization is non-profit organization working to build and sustain local news and ensure that local news organizations across new england are supported with the kinds of tailored problem-solving, training and partnerships they need…

Civil Rights
9
CalMatters

Our team of experienced journalists, with the time and resources to dig deep, is committed to meaningfully informing Californians about the players, politics, and interests that shape the issues that affect their lives.

Civil Rights
10
Institute for Public Accuracy

To teach and disseminate educational materials to the public.

Arts & Culture
11
Center for Austin Independent Journalism

To equip Austinites to make informed decisions through independent, in-depth reporting, diverse opinions, and civil dialogue. A strong local press is essential for a healthy community and democracy. We work to make Austin a more empowered…

Arts & Culture
12
America's Newspapers

Providing research, education and practical information all aimed at optimizing newspapers' business operations, deepening their community engagement and enhancing the quality of their journalism.

Employment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New Bedford Light; the most unlike its peers is Wake Forest University. 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

99 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 99 of the 209 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)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
99/99
Grantees still filing
67/99
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ASSOCIATED PRESS: $383,987 · OtherASSOCIATED PRESSTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS: $175,078 · Other+108 more: $2,911,516 · Other+108 moreSTATES NEWSROOM: $97,208 · Arts & CultureWCIJ INC: $75,177 · Arts & CultureTHE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE INC: $69,320 · Arts & CultureCITYSIDE JOURNALISM INITIATIVE: $66,211 · Arts & Culture+65 more: $1,556,253 · Arts & Culture+65 moreTEXAS TRIBUNE INC: $80,658 · EducationTEXAS TRIB…INVESTIGATIVE NEWSOURCE: $66,567 · EducationINVESTIGAT…Oklahoma State University Foundation: $56,953 · EducationOklahoma S…BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP: $56,811 · EducationBLOCK CLUB…Sahan Journal: $44,788 · EducationSahan Jour…WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: $42,687 · EducationWAKE FORES…INDIGENOUS MEDIA FREEDOM ALLIANCE: $42,505 · EducationINDIGENOUS…Voice of Orange CountyOrg: $39,440 · EducationVoice of O…University of South Florida Foundation Inc: $32,050 · EducationUniversity…NEW YORK FOCUS INC: $29,950 · EducationMarquette University: $27,819 · EducationTHE LENS: $22,732 · Education+4 more: $56,366 · Education+4 moreFORT WORTH REPORT: $56,961 · Public BenefitEL PASO MATTERS INC: $33,613 · Public BenefitDocumented LTD: $62,142 · Human ServicesTucson Investigative Reporting Center Inc: $56,247 · AnimalsGREY MATTERS PROJECT INC: $40,000 · Community Improvement
Other$3,470,581Arts & Culture$1,864,169Education$599,326Public Benefit$90,574Human Services$62,142Animals$56,247Community Improvement$40,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetSTATES NEWSROOM: $97,208 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCHICAGO SUN-TIMES MEDIA INC: $89,373 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTEXAS TRIBUNE INC: $80,658 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWCIJ INC: $75,177 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetTHE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE INC: $69,320 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetINVESTIGATIVE NEWSOURCE: $66,567 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetCITYSIDE JOURNALISM INITIATIVE: $66,211 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetDocumented LTD: $62,142 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetCOASTALASKA INC: $59,071 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetENLACE LATINO NC INC: $58,820 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetFORT WORTH REPORT: $56,961 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetOklahoma State University Foundation: $56,953 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP: $56,811 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetTucson Investigative Reporting Center Inc: $56,247 over 2y, 12% of budgetUNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC: $51,035 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetInvestigateWest: $49,925 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetMISSISSIPPI JOURNALISM AND EDUCATION GROUP: $45,245 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetSahan Journal: $44,788 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: $42,687 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetINDIGENOUS MEDIA FREEDOM ALLIANCE: $42,505 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetGREY MATTERS PROJECT INC: $40,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetFriends of Public Radio DBA WHQR: $39,845 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetVoice of Orange CountyOrg: $39,440 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetPUBLICSOURCE: $39,056 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetBAY CITY NEWS FOUNDATION: $38,250 over 1y, 8.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT NEWS PROJECT INC: $38,113 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetKENTUCKY PUBLIC RADIO INC: $37,730 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetIndependent Arts & Media: $36,880 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCENTRO DE PERIODISMO INVESTIGATIVO INC: $36,739 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetNORTHEAST FLORIDA JOURNALISM COLLECTIVE INC: $35,775 over 2y, 6.1% of budgetVERMONT PUBLIC CO: $35,070 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetARIZONA CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: $34,900 over 2y, 5.2% of budgetTHE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM: $34,900 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY COMMUNICATIONS INC: $33,745 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetEL PASO MATTERS INC: $33,613 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetWhite Ash Broadcasting Inc: $33,366 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetMIDWEST CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING INC: $33,300 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetMUCKROCK FOUNDATION INC: $32,809 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetUnderscore Media Collaboration: $32,250 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetMission Local SF Inc: $32,238 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetUniversity of South Florida Foundation Inc: $32,050 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCAPITAL PUBLIC RADIO FDBA KXPR/KXJZ INC: $31,651 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEW BEDFORD LIGHT: $31,588 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetNORTH TEXAS PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC: $31,462 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAdvocate Foundation Inc: $30,475 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetAtlanta Educational Telecommunications Collab: $29,988 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEW YORK FOCUS INC: $29,950 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetNORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION ASSOCIATION: $29,925 over 2y, 0.2% 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 STATES NEWSROOM ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO SUN-TIMES MEDIA INC ↗
  • Who funds TEXAS TRIBUNE INC ↗
  • Who funds WCIJ INC ↗
  • Who funds THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE INC ↗
  • Who funds INVESTIGATIVE NEWSOURCE ↗
  • Who funds CITYSIDE JOURNALISM INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds Documented LTD ↗
  • Who funds COASTALASKA INC ↗
  • Who funds ENLACE LATINO NC INC ↗
  • Who funds FORT WORTH REPORT ↗
  • Who funds Oklahoma State University Foundation ↗
  • Who funds BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP ↗
  • Who funds Tucson Investigative Reporting Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds InvestigateWest ↗
  • Who funds MISSISSIPPI JOURNALISM AND EDUCATION GROUP ↗
  • Who funds Sahan Journal ↗
  • Who funds WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds INDIGENOUS MEDIA FREEDOM ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds GREY MATTERS PROJECT 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.

Institute for Nonprof…The Miami Foundation …Local Independent Onl…The Lenfest Institute…Pro Publica IncAmerican Journalism P…Solutions Journalism …Inasmuch FoundationCorporation for Publi…Fund for Investigativ…Local Media Associati…Cars for Charity Inc
Institute for Nonprofit NewsCA121.7× affinity61 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Institute for Nonprofit News · The Miami Foundation Inc · Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc · The Lenfest Institute for Journalism Special Asset Fund of Tpf · Pro Publica Inc · American Journalism Project Inc · Solutions Journalism Network Inc · Inasmuch Foundation · Corporation for Public Broadcasting · Fund for Investigative Journalism Inc · Local Media Association · Cars for Charity 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 Groundtruth Project Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Groundtruth Project Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 120%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Sacred Heart University Incorporated: 1% of income from government
  • New England Public Media Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Vermont Public Co: 0% of income from government
  • Vermont Journalism Trust Ltd: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
12get no government money at all
22report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
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 209 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Groundtruth Project’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