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The Joseph S Bruno Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Joseph S Bruno Charitable Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$550k
Granted FY2024still arriving
40
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2024.

Health$786kEducation$600kHuman Services$440kYouth Development$423kArts & Culture$341kFood & Nutrition$214kHousing & Shelter$126kInternational$113kOther$0
02FY2024 · 40 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k10 grants · $63k
  • $10k–50k29 grants · $387k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$18M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE BELL CENTER FOR EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS$100,000
AUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$40,000
YOUTHSERVE$25,000
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF ALABAMA$25,000
FOUNDATIONS EARLY LEARNING AND FAMILY CENTER$20,000
THE SALVATION ARMY$15,000
WOOLEY INSTITUE FOR SPOKEN LANGUAGE$15,000
BIRMINGHAM TALKS$15,000
HICA$13,000
M-POWER MINISTRIES$12,500
ONE PLACE METRO FAMILY JUSTICE CENTER$12,000
AG GASTON BOYS & GIRLS CLUB$12,000
Individual grant recipient$11,000
THE WELLHOUSE$11,000
MCWANE SCIENCE CENTER$10,500
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 (FY17–24, $355k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 95% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%M-POWER MINISTRIES: $15k → 16%KING'S HOME: $10k → 7%M-POWER MINISTRIES: $13k → 16%M-POWER MINISTRIES: $13k → 16%SPECIAL EQUESTRIANS INC: $8k → 7%M-POWER MINISTRIES: $7k → 16%CHRISTIAN SERVICE MISSION: $5k → 16%CHRISTIAN SERVICE MISSION: $5k → 16%KID ONE TRANSPORT SYSTEM: $10k → 16%KID ONE TRANSPORT SYSTEM: $10k → 16%GRACE KLEIN COMMUNITY: $10k → 16%COLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES: $15k → 16%COLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES: $15k → 16%COLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES: $7k → 16%COLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES: $5k → 16%GATEWAY: $10k → 16%GATEWAY: $10k → 16%GATEWAY: $8k → 16%CHILDCARE RESOURCES: $10k → 16%GRACE HOUSE MINISTRIES: $8k → 16%CHANGED LIVES CHRISTIAN CENTER: $10k → 16%GRACE HOUSE MINISTRIES: $8k → 16%CHANGED LIVES CHRISTIAN CENTER: $10k → 16%GRACE HOUSE MINISTRIES: $5k → 16%BIRMINGHAM TALKS: $20k → 16%BIRMINGHAM TALKS: $15k → 16%YWCA CENTRAL ALABAMA: $12k → 16%YOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF BIRMINGHAM: $11k → 16%PATHWAYS: $10k → 16%PATHWAYS: $10k → 16%FIRST LIGHT: $10k → 16%FIRST LIGHT: $10k → 16%YWCA CENTRAL ALABAMA: $9k → 16%YMCA OF GREATER BIRMINGHAM: $5k → 16%FIRST LIGHT: $5k → 16%PATHWAYS: $3k → 16%YOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSN OF BIRMINGHAM: $3k → 16%ALABAMA ASSOCIATION OF NONPROFITS: $8k → 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.
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.
$2.8M · 69 repeat orgs$672k to everyone else

69 repeat relationships: 33 still active in FY2024, 36 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

69
53

Total granted

$2.8M
$588k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
+31%

Still filing today

83%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $84k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesHealthEducationArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentCommunity 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

  • YOUTHSERVE INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $200k · revenue +30%
  • MM
    M-POWER Ministries
    7× · 2017–2024 · $82k · revenue +48%
  • BB
    BETTER BASICS INC
    5× · 2018–2023 · $61k · revenue +149%

Funded once

  • TC
    The Children's Hospital of Alabama
    one grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue +9%
  • WC
    WOODLAWN COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL (I3 ACADEMY)
    one grant, 2021 · $25k
  • LS
    Legacy Schoolsgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +203%
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
Alabama Partnership for Children

To work in partnership with families and organizations to ensure that all alabama children (birth to five) get everything they need to develop to their fullest potential.

Education
2
Legal Aid Society of Birmingham

The Organization is a nonprofit community defender providing legal assistance through court appointment to children and other indigent persons.

Crime & Legal
3
Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center

Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center, Inc. is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to ending child abuse through education, advocacy, counseling, family support, and the pursuit of justice.

Crime & Legal
4
The Alabama Center for Law and Civic Education

The mission of ACLCE is to prepare youth to become active, engaged, and informed participants in a democratic society.

—
5
Alabama Alliance Network

The alabama alliance netowrk works to strengthen and enhance alabama's civic society through research, education, and grantmaking

Public Benefit
6
Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils

Coordinate rc&d activity in alabama

Environment
7
Community Kitchens of Birmingham

Assistance to homeless and needy persons.

Food & Nutrition
8
Greater Birmingham Ministries

To serve people, build community, pursue justice.

—
9
A Best Practices Center

The alabama best practices center helps teachers and administrators develop the competence, commitment and courage to do whatever it takes to improve student learning.

Education
10
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Birmingham Inc

Match adult volunteers with at-risk children. To promote a friendship which will build confidence and self-esteem in order to promote improved decision-making and reduce problems into adulthood.

—
11
Nami Alabama Inc

Encourage and enhance advocacy and family support services on behalf of individuals suffering from mental illness.

Health
12
Child Advocacy Center of Cullman Inc

Nurturing hope, encouraging health, and promoting healing in troubled families through community collaboration, communication and cooperation

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Stair of Birmingham; the most unlike its peers is College Admissions Made Possible. 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

101 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. 101 of the 129 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)
26
Early backer (in before they grew)
100/101
Grantees still filing
72/101
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE SALVATION ARMY: $100,000 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMYJONES VALLEY TEACHING FARM: $74,000 · OtherJONES VALLEY TEACHING FARMALABAMA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $65,000 · OtherGIRLS INCORPORATED: $50,000 · OtherRAILROAD PARK FOUNDATION: $50,000 · OtherBETTER BASICS INC: $60,500 · Other+56 more: $836,800 · Other+56 moreTHE BELL CENTER FOR EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS: $350,000 · HealthTHE BELL CENTER FOR E…The Children's Hospital of Alabama: $100,000 · HealthThe Children's Hospit…SMILE-A-MILE: $32,500 · HealthMITCHELL'S PLACE INC: $25,000 · HealthSIGHT SAVERS OF AMERICA INC: $22,500 · Health+13 more: $141,220 · Health+13 moreM-POWER Ministries: $81,700 · Human ServicesM-POWER Ministr…KID ONE TRANSPORT SYSTEM INC: $49,580 · Human ServicesKID ONE TRANSPO…COLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES OF BIRMINGHAM: $42,000 · Human ServicesCOLLAT JEWISH F…SMALL MAGIC: $35,000 · Human ServicesSMALL MAGICYOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSN OF BIRMINGHAM: $34,200 · Human ServicesYOUNG WOMENS CH…Gateway: $28,400 · Human ServicesGatewayFIRST LIGHT INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesFIRST LIGHT INCTHE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesTHE FOUNDRY MIN…PATHWAYS INC: $23,000 · Human ServicesGRACE HOUSE MINISTRIES INC: $20,900 · Human ServicesCHANGED LIVES CHRISTIAN CENTER INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesGirls on the Run Birmingham: $17,000 · Human Services+7 more: $60,000 · Human Services+7 moreAUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $140,000 · EducationAUBURN UNIVERS…STAIR OF BIRMINGHAM: $60,000 · EducationSTAIR OF BIRMI…Teach for America Inc: $40,000 · EducationTeach for Amer…LITERACY COUNCIL OF CENTRAL ALABAMA: $40,000 · EducationLITERACY COUNC…THE BREAKTHROUGH COLLABORATIVE: $40,000 · EducationTHE BREAKTHROU…FOUNDATIONS EARLY LEARNING AND FAMILY CENTER INC: $35,000 · EducationFOUNDATIONS EA…PRESCHOOL PARTNERS: $30,000 · EducationPRESCHOOL PART…Legacy Schools: $25,000 · EducationLegacy Schools+4 more: $27,500 · Education+4 moreYOUTHSERVE INC: $200,000 · Youth DevelopmentYOUTHSERVE…A G GASTON BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $59,000 · Youth DevelopmentA G GASTON…Bridgeways Inc: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentBridgeways…BUILD UP: $15,000 · Youth Development+2 more: $20,000 · Youth Development+2 moreSPACE ONE ELEVEN INC: $40,000 · Arts & CultureMCWANE SCIENCE CENTER: $35,500 · Arts & CultureChildrens Dance Foundation: $30,000 · Arts & CultureRED MOUNTAIN THEATRE COMPANY INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureTHE STATE OF ALABAMA BALLET INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureBIRMINGHAM CHILDREN'S THEATRE INC: $20,000 · Arts & CultureSTUDIO BY THE TRACKS INC: $20,000 · Arts & CultureVOICES for Alabama's Children: $10,000 · Arts & CultureCOMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF CENTRAL ALABAMA: $60,000 · Food & NutritionMEALS ON WHEELS OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC: $43,000 · Food & NutritionTHE SOCIETY OF ST ANDREW INC: $28,500 · Food & NutritionMAGIC CITY HARVEST INC: $8,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$1,236,300Health$671,220Human Services$461,780Education$437,500Youth Development$319,000Arts & Culture$215,500Food & Nutrition$139,500

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 budgetTHE BELL CENTER FOR EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMS: $350,000 over 6y, 4.1% of budgetYOUTHSERVE INC: $200,000 over 8y, 10% of budgetAUBURN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $140,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetThe Children's Hospital of Alabama: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetM-POWER Ministries: $81,700 over 7y, 2.1% of budgetBETTER BASICS INC: $60,500 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF CENTRAL ALABAMA: $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSTAIR OF BIRMINGHAM: $60,000 over 5y, 3.8% of budgetA G GASTON BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $59,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetRAILROAD PARK FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetKID ONE TRANSPORT SYSTEM INC: $49,580 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC: $43,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetCOLLAT JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES OF BIRMINGHAM: $42,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetSOUTHEASTERN DIABETES EDUCATION SERVICES INC: $40,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $40,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLITERACY COUNCIL OF CENTRAL ALABAMA: $40,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetTHE BREAKTHROUGH COLLABORATIVE: $40,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetSPACE ONE ELEVEN INC: $40,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetMCWANE SCIENCE CENTER: $35,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetFOUNDATIONS EARLY LEARNING AND FAMILY CENTER INC: $35,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetBirmingham Zoo Inc: $35,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSMALL MAGIC: $35,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetCahaba River Society Inc: $35,000 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetYOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSN OF BIRMINGHAM: $34,200 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetSMILE-A-MILE: $32,500 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetALABAMA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CENTER: $32,500 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetTHE WELLHOUSE INC: $31,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetChildrens Dance Foundation: $30,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetRED MOUNTAIN THEATRE COMPANY INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE STATE OF ALABAMA BALLET INC: $30,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetPRESCHOOL PARTNERS: $30,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetTHE SOCIETY OF ST ANDREW INC: $28,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGateway: $28,400 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF ALABAMA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFIRST LIGHT INC: $25,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetEAST LAKE INITIATIVE: $25,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetBridgeways Inc: $25,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetMITCHELL'S PLACE INC: $25,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetHOLY FAMILY CRISTO REY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCommunity Care Development Network: $25,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetLegacy Schools: $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE FOUNDRY MINISTRIES INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetPATHWAYS INC: $23,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetSIGHT SAVERS OF AMERICA INC: $22,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetGRACE HOUSE MINISTRIES INC: $20,900 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetHISPANIC AND IMMIGRANT CENTER OF ALABAMA: $20,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetUNITED ABILITY INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBIRMINGHAM CHILDREN'S THEATRE INC: $20,000 over 2y, 1.1% 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.

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 Daniel Foundation…Protective Life Found…The Community Foundat…Susan Mott Webb Chari…Mike and Gillian Good…Robert R Meyer Founda…Hill Crest Foundation…Alabama Power Foundat…Orlean & Ralph W Bees…Altecstyslinger Found…The Hugh Kaul Foundat…Junior League of Birm…
The Daniel Foundation of AlabamaAL145.6× affinity76 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Daniel Foundation of Alabama · Protective Life Foundation · The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham · Susan Mott Webb Charitable Trust · Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation · Robert R Meyer Foundation · Hill Crest Foundation Inc · Alabama Power Foundation Inc · Orlean & Ralph W Beeson Fund · Altecstyslinger Foundation · The Hugh Kaul Foundation · Junior League of Birmingham 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 Joseph S Bruno Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Joseph S Bruno Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%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
    0get no government money at all
    40report 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 Joseph S Bruno Charitable Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Joseph S Bruno Charitable 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 129 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Joseph S Bruno’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