· Private foundation
The Helen R Buck Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k12 grants · $47k
- $10k–50k8 grants · $108k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $88k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Somerset County Park Foundation | $87,544 |
| Triangle Land Conservancy Inc | $20,000 |
| Johns Hopkins University | $18,000 |
| Blithewold | $15,000 |
| District Of Columbia Green Spaces Allian | $15,000 |
| Sibley Memorial Hospital Foundation | $10,000 |
| Dutchess Land Conservancy Inc | $10,000 |
| Botanical Garden of the Piedmont | $10,000 |
| Cultivate Charlottesville | $10,000 |
| Historic Morven | $6,000 |
| Community Food Bank of New Jersey | $6,000 |
| Our Lady of Victory Church | $6,000 |
| NPR Foundation | $6,000 |
| Newport Tree Conservancy | $5,000 |
| Hudson Valley Clubhouse Inc | $4,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY22–24, $12k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, 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.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.
27 repeat relationships: 17 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (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 FY2025, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $49k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SCSomerset County Park Foundation5× · 2021–2025 · $386k · revenue +34% · 38% of their budget
- BGBOTANICAL GARDEN OF THE PIEDMONT5× · 2021–2025 · $57k · revenue +822%
- BIBLITHEWOLD INC4× · 2022–2025 · $57k · revenue +31%
Funded once
- SCSomerset County Park Foundationone grant, 2020 · $61k
- NHNATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATIONone grant, 2021 · $15k · revenue -40%
- DODistrict of Columbia Green Spaces Allianceone grant, 2020 · $12k
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.
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.
The new york botanical garden is a museum of plants and a scientific research center devoted to the study of plants and their uses. it is the garden's mission to improve public understanding of the natural world, horticulture, and the…
The organization's mission is to conserve and promote new england's native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes.
To cultivate and develop an expansive collection of trees, gardens, and plants for all to explore, enjoy and study; and to provide through education and stewardship, a greener, healthier, more beautiful environment.
To enrich life by perpetuating tropical plants, ecosystems and cultural heritage through discovery, scientific research, conservation, and education.
New england botanic garden at tower hill creates experiences with plants that inspire people and improve the world.
The mission of the jenkins arboretum & gardens is to preserve natural, tranquil woodlands for community enjoyment, to showcase native plants and a world class collection of rhododendrons and azaleas, and to promote environmental…
To preserve the unique character and natural resources of harvard.
To protect and restore the ecological health of forest park and marquam nature park, maintain and enhance their extensive trails networks, promote equitable access, and inspire diverse community appreciation and stewardship of these iconic…
Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.
Eastern national promotes the public's understanding and support of america's national parks and other public trust partners by providing quality educational experiences, products and services.
The mission of denver botanic gardens is to connect people with plants, especially plants from the rocky mountain region and similar regions around the world, providing delight and enlightenment to everyone.
Overview - founded in boston by pioneering landscape architect and open space visionary charles eliot in 1891, the trustees is the nation's first and the commonwealth's largest conservation and preservation nonprofit.
How this is measured
25 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. 25 of the 57 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 Somerset County Park Foundation ↗
- Who funds BOTANICAL GARDEN OF THE PIEDMONT ↗
- Who funds BLITHEWOLD INC ↗
- Who funds DUTCHESS LAND CONSERVANCY INC ↗
- Who funds JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds SIBLEY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Community Food Bank Of New Jersey Inc ↗
- Who funds HISTORIC MORVEN INC ↗
- Who funds NPR FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ST GEORGE'S SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds TRIANGLE LAND CONSERVANCY INC ↗
- Who funds BLUE HILL HERITAGE TRUST ↗
- Who funds THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF NEWPORT COUNTY ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds PEAPACK GLADSTONE FIRE CO 1 INC ↗
- Who funds THE SAFE CHILDREN FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY INC ↗
- Who funds THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds The Newport Tree Conservancy ↗
- Who funds Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Inc ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM ↗
- Who funds Cultivate Charlottesville ↗
- Who funds CARY INSTITUTE OF ECOSYSTEM STUDIES 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.
Open a dossier: Ibm International Foundation · The Hartfield Fdn Inc 0739-80-42 · Van Beuren Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Helen R Buck Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Helen R Buck Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
- Shelburne Museum Inc: 9% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Helen R Buck Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Helen R Buck 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.
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