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· Private foundation

The India Benton Lesser Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$33k
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it funds
0187% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$208kHealth$54kRecreation & Sports$49kAnimals$43kEducation$39kArts & Culture$37kHousing & Shelter$36kHuman Services$30kOther$0
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k15 grants · $18k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $15k
$1,200
Median grant
4
States reached
$74k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DAVIS LOVE FOUNDATION$15,000
Individual grant recipient$3,600
SOLO PARENT SOCIETY$2,000
HOLIDAY HOUSE SRQ$1,500
CHILDREN FIRST$1,500
Individual grant recipient$1,500
YMCA OF ATHENS$1,200
RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA$1,200
WESLY GLEN MINISTRIES$1,000
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB$1,000
STATE COLLEGE OF FLORIDA$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY$500
HUMANE SOCIETY$368
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS$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 (FY17–25, $38k) land where the poverty rate runs at 20%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GA: $18k → 23%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GA: $2k → 23%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GA: $2k → 23%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA: $1k → 23%REBUILDING MACON INC: $1k → 23%YMCA OF ATHENS: $1k → 27%SOUTHEASTERN GUIDE DOGS: $1k → 10%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA: $1k → 23%SAFE CHILDREN COALITION: $750 → 9%SOUTHEASTERN GUIDE DOGS: $1k → 10%SOUTHEASTERN GUIDE DOGS: $1k → 10%REBUILDING MACON: $1k → 23%SOUTHEASTERN GUIDE DOGS: $500 → 10%MANASOTA SOLVE: $1k → 10%MANASOTA SOLVE: $750 → 10%REBUILDING MACON: $500 → 23%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GA: $300 → 23%RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GA: $300 → 23%HOLIDAY HOUSE SRQ: $2k → 9%PINES OF SARASOTA: $500 → 9%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

IL
WI
MI
NY
MD
TN
DC
HI
OK
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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$514k · 38 repeat orgs$117k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +75% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

38 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 30 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

38
38

Total granted

$514k
$109k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+75%
+16%

Still filing today

47%
37%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k 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 ServicesAnimalsArts & CultureEducationPhilanthropyOther
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

  • RM
    RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA INC
    7× · 2018–2025 · $26k · revenue +75%
  • AR
    Animal Rescue Coalition Inc
    2× · 2018–2019 · $20k · revenue +272%
  • PO
    PETS ON WHEELS INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $11k · revenue +12%

Funded once

  • PT
    PGA TOUR CHARITY EVENT
    one grant, 2024 · $19k
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF HAWAII CHARITIES INC
    one grant, 2017 · $11k · revenue -82%
  • HC
    HOUSTON CHARITY ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2017 · $11k
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
Pines of Sarasota Foundation Inc

Pines of sarasota foundation secures funding to provide compassionate care, vital resources, and financial assistance for the seniors, children, and the nursing community serving them.

Health
2
Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness

Lead agency in the community for providers of homeless/prevention services in manatee/sarasota. responsible to plan strategies with community partners, assist with grants, educate the public, advocate with local leadership, administer the…

Human Services
3
Animal Care Sanctuary

Animal care sanctuary's lifesaving mission as a no kill organization envisions a community that promotes turning compassion into action for companion animals by: 1.) adopting healthy pet companions into loving homes. 2.) promoting the…

Animals
4
Suncoast Humane Societyinc

Our mission is to encourage, honor and support the human-animal bond in the suncoast region of florida. our vision is to celebrate a community whose pets are safe and loved. suncoast humane society provides sheltering, prevention and…

Animals
5
Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County Inc

None

Animals
6
Florida Community Health Centers Inc

Florida community health centers, inc. (fchc) is a federally qualified health center serving medically needy populations in south florida, with an emphasis on serving rural and farm worker communities.

—
7
Sarasota Opera Association Inc

Sarasota Opera produces impassioned opera performances true to the vision of the composer, to entertain, enrich, educate, and inspire a life-long love of opera in our diverse and growing communities.

Arts & Culture
8
Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee Inc

The mission of the realtor association of sarasota and manatee is to advance members' professionalism through delivery of education and resources, and to advocate for real estate in the communities served.

—
9
The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast Inc

Suncoast hospice's mission is to be the center to improve life for those touched by advanced illness, death, dying, grief, bereavement and other end-of-life issues.

Human Services
10
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for Monterey County

The SPCA Monterey County's Mission is assuring compassionate treatment of all animals through rescue, rehabilitation, protection and education. The SPCA shelters homeless, neglected, and abused pets, including dogs, cats, horses, exotic…

Animals
11
Humane Society of Sarasota County Inc

As the areas premier no-kill shelter, the humane society of sarasota county engages the hearts, hands, and minds of the community to help animals.

Animals
12
Seniors in Service of Tampa Bay Inc

Our mission is to provide solutions to community challenges by engaging volunteers aged 55+. we help at-risk children, elders, adults with disabilities, caregivers, & veterans. our volunteers benefit from staying active & living with sense…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Girls Incorporated of Sarasota County; the most unlike its peers is Fandango Sanctuary Inc. 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

37 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. 37 of the 84 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)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/37
Grantees still filing
28/37
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DAVIS LOVE FOUNDATION: $119,262 · OtherDAVIS LOVE FOUNDATIONMISC QUALIFIED CHARITIES: $65,339 · OtherMISC QUALIFIED CHARITIESIndividual grant recipient: $36,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientUNIV OF GEORGIA: $27,975 · OtherUNIV OF GEORGIAMITSUBISHI CORP FOUNDATION: $25,200 · OtherSARASOTA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FOUNDATION INC: $21,400 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $21,210 · OtherPGA TOUR CHARITY EVENT: $19,058 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $18,650 · Other+46 more: $145,374 · Other+46 moreRESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA INC: $25,745 · Human ServicesSoutheastern Guide Dogs Inc: $4,000 · Human ServicesREBUILDING MACON INC: $2,500 · Human ServicesMANASOTA-SOLVE INC: $1,750 · Human ServicesHOLIDAY HOUSE SRQ INC: $1,500 · Human Services+3 more: $2,450 · Human ServicesAnimal Rescue Coalition Inc: $20,200 · AnimalsPETS ON WHEELS INC: $10,800 · Animals+3 more: $2,200 · AnimalsAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $10,500 · HealthEAGLE RANCH INC: $5,250 · HealthMACON VOLUNTEER CLINIC INC: $2,750 · HealthTIDEWELL FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 · HealthGeorgia Transplant Foundation Inc: $2,500 · HealthJAY'S HOPE FOUNDATION: $1,950 · Health+2 more: $1,000 · HealthASOLO THEATRE INC: $7,835 · Arts & CultureARTIST SERIES CONCERTS OF SARASOTA: $3,820 · Arts & CultureEMBRACING OUR DIFFERENCES INC: $1,250 · Arts & CultureFLORIDA STUDIO THEATRE INC: $500 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF HAWAII CHARITIES INC: $11,365 · PhilanthropyChildren First Inc: $7,200 · EducationTHE CIRCUS ARTS CONSERVATORY INC: $2,000 · Education+1 more: $100 · Education
Other$499,468Human Services$37,945Animals$33,200Health$26,450Arts & Culture$13,405Philanthropy$11,365Education$9,300

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetRESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA INC: $25,745 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetSARASOTA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FOUNDATION INC: $21,400 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetAnimal Rescue Coalition Inc: $20,200 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetPETS ON WHEELS INC: $10,800 over 8y, 1.8% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $10,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetASOLO THEATRE INC: $7,835 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetChildren First Inc: $7,200 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetEAGLE RANCH INC: $5,250 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSoutheastern Guide Dogs Inc: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetARTIST SERIES CONCERTS OF SARASOTA: $3,820 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMACON VOLUNTEER CLINIC INC: $2,750 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTIDEWELL FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetREBUILDING MACON INC: $2,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetWesley Glen Ministries Inc: $2,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGeorgia Transplant Foundation Inc: $2,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CIRCUS ARTS CONSERVATORY INC: $2,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJAY'S HOPE FOUNDATION: $1,950 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMANASOTA-SOLVE INC: $1,750 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetGIRLS INCORPORATED OF SARASOTA COUNTY: $1,650 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHOLIDAY HOUSE SRQ INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSISU OF GEORGIA INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEMBRACING OUR DIFFERENCES INC: $1,250 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMeals on Wheels of Sarasota Inc: $1,250 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFANDANGO SANCTUARY INC: $1,100 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetMAUI FOOD BANK INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAFE CHILDREN COALITION INC: $750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCallaghan Tire Charity Pro Am Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetParkinson Research Foundation Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSafe Place and Rape Crisis Center Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPINES OF SARASOTA INC: $500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFLORIDA STUDIO THEATRE INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROVIDENCE COMMUNITY SCHOOL INC: $100 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 RESCUE MISSION OF MIDDLE GEORGIA INC ↗
  • Who funds SARASOTA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Animal Rescue Coalition Inc ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF HAWAII CHARITIES INC ↗
  • Who funds PETS ON WHEELS INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds ASOLO THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds Children First Inc ↗
  • Who funds EAGLE RANCH INC ↗
  • Who funds Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc ↗
  • Who funds ARTIST SERIES CONCERTS OF SARASOTA ↗
  • Who funds MACON VOLUNTEER CLINIC INC ↗
  • Who funds TIDEWELL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds REBUILDING MACON INC ↗
  • Who funds Wesley Glen Ministries 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 Community Foundation of Sarasota Co IncFL30.3× affinity13 shared granteesties to 9 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Sarasota Co Inc · Gulf Coast Community Foundation Inc · Publix Super Markets Charities Inc · Manatee Community Foundation Inc · Tarr Charitable Family Foundation Inc · Georgia Power Foundation Inc · Junior League of Sarasota Inc · Theda Bohrer Wendy and Tracey Shapiro Charitable Foundation Inc · The Louis and Gloria Flanzer Philanthropic Trust · William G and Marie Selby Foundation Inc · Perkins-Ponder Foundation · James Hyde Porter Testamentary 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 India Benton Lesser Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The India Benton Lesser Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Children First Inc: 100% of income from government
  • Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center Inc: 23% of income from government
  • Pines of Sarasota Inc: 18% of income from government
  • Spca Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Safe Children Coalition Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Animal Rescue Coalition Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Cat Depot: 0% of income from government
  • Florida Studio Theatre Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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 India Benton Lesser Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The India Benton Lesser 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 84 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

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