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The Kooken Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Kooken Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$37k
Granted FY2025still arriving
15
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Health$58kHuman Services$42kArts & Culture$39kEnvironment$39kReligion$34kEducation$33kPhilanthropy$16kHousing & Shelter$16kOther$0
02FY2025 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$2,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$996k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AUGSBURG LUTHERAN CHURCH$5,000
PIVOT MINISTRY INC$4,000
LUTHERAN DISASTER RESPONSE$3,000
THE DWELLING$3,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
MUSICAL EMPOWERMENT$3,000
HEART MATH TUTORING$2,000
PBS NORTH CAROLINA$2,000
SAWTOOTH SCHOOL FOR VISUAL ARTS$2,000
FRIENDS OF THE SMOKIES$2,000
Individual grant recipient$2,000
CANCER SERVICES$2,000
ARTS FOR LIFE$2,000
FORSYTH JAIL & PRISON MINISTRIES$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
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, $25k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%SENIOR SERVICES INC: $1k → 15%PIEDMONT ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE: $2k → 15%PIEDMONT ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE: $5k → 15%PIEDMONT ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE: $2k → 15%PIVOT MINISTRY INC: $4k → 15%PIVOT MINISTRY INC: $2k → 15%PIEDMONT ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE: $6k → 15%FAMILY SERVICES: $3k → 15%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 6% of The Kooken Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 89% of the giving stays in NC; by stated purpose, 87%.

The Kooken Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

43%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$129k · 13 repeat orgs$172k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
50

Total granted

$129k
$156k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+7%
+29%

Still filing today

62%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 57% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $16k 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
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentEnvironmentOther
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

  • PE
    PIEDMONT ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE INC
    4× · 2017–2024 · $15k · revenue +395%
  • CS
    CANCER SERVICES INC
    6× · 2017–2025 · $12k · revenue +49%
  • TS
    THE SAWTOOTH SCHOOL FOR VISUAL ART
    3× · 2017–2025 · $6k · revenue +64%

Funded once

  • SE
    STATE EMPLOYEES' CREDIT UNIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $7k · revenue +76%
  • NC
    NORTH CAROLINA OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOLgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $6k · revenue +29%
  • THE CENTERS FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN INC
    one grant, 2024 · $6k · revenue +0%
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
North Carolina Symphony Society Inc

To be north carolina's state orchestra, an orchestra achieving the highest level of artistic quality and performance standards, and embracing its dual legacies of statewide service and music education.

Arts & Culture
2
North Carolina Biotechnology Center

The north carolina biotechnology center aids the biotechnology-related efforts of researchers, businesses, state and federal governments, and other agencies primarily through awards of grants and loans related to specific programs and…

Science & Tech
3
Wake County Smart Start Inc

Wake county smart start invests in young children, their families, and a connected early childhood system that supports and prepares them for school and life ahead.

Education
4
Greater Winston-Salem Development Corp

To recruit new businesses to winston-salem and forsyth county in order to facilitate growth and economic diversification in the area.

Community Improvement
5
North Carolina Museum of Life & Science Inc

To create a place of lifelong learning where people, from young child to senior citizen, embrace science as a way of knowing about themselves, their community, and their world.

Arts & Culture
6
Nc Budget & Tax Center

As a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, we work to document and analyze fiscal and economic conditions in partnership with community leaders and north carolinians with lived experience of poverty to advance systemic solutions through…

Civil Rights
7
North Carolina Council On Economic Education Inc

The nccee provides economic and financial education for educators and students throughout north carolina. this mission is accomplished through standards based workshops and a variety of resources for educators, academic competitions for…

Social Science
8
North Carolina Business Leaders for Educ

The mission of north carolina business leaders for education (dba best nc) is to unite an engaged and informed business perspective to dramatically transform and improve north carolina's education system. our goal is for every student to…

Education
9
North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law
Crime & Legal
10
Care Share Health Alliance Inc

Care share health alliance is a north carolina-based nonprofit organization advancing community health and wellbeing through systems change. guided by the mission of collaborating for health and a vision of communities that are healthy and…

Health
11
Greater Winston-Salem Inc

Greater winston-salem inc. is a leading business organization in winston- salem and forsyth county. the organization is focused on establishing winston-salem as a technology-driven economic center. greater winston-salem inc. offers…

—
12
Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina Inc

Our mission is to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for all north carolinians. we do this by collaborating with state, regional, local, and private-sector partners in new business recruitment, existing employer support,…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Women's Center Inc; the most unlike its peers is North Carolina Coastal Land Trust. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

47 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. 47 of the 73 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)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/47
Grantees still filing
29/47
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AUGSBURG LUTHERAN CHURCH: $27,000 · OtherAUGSBURG LUTHERAN CHURCHTHE DWELLING: $11,000 · OtherTHE DWELLINGSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER: $10,000 · OtherSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTERSECU FAMILY HOUSE: $7,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY CARE CENTER OF: $7,000 · OtherSTATE EMPLOYEES' CREDIT UNION: $6,500 · OtherThe Good Stuff: $6,000 · Other+33 more: $85,400 · Other+33 moreArts For Life: $12,000 · Arts & CultureArts For LifeKALEIDEUM: $8,000 · Arts & CultureKALEIDEUMTHE SAWTOOTH SCHOOL FOR VISUAL ART: $6,000 · Arts & CultureTHE SAWTOOTH S…Winston-Salem Mixxer Inc: $5,000 · Arts & CultureWinston-Salem …MUSICAL EMPOWERMENT INC: $4,800 · Arts & CultureMUSICAL EMPOWE…PIEDMONT CRAFTSMEN INC: $2,000 · Arts & CultureKIDZNOTES INC: $2,000 · Arts & CultureARTS CENTER: $1,400 · Arts & CulturePIEDMONT ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesPIEDMONT E…PIVOT MINISTRY INC: $6,000 · Human ServicesPIVOT MINI…LOVE OUT LOUD: $5,000 · Human ServicesLOVE OUT L…FAMILY SERVICES INC: $2,500 · Human ServicesFAMILY SER…SENIOR SERVICES INC: $1,000 · Human ServicesCANCER SERVICES INC: $12,000 · HealthCANCER SER…THE CENTERS FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN INC: $6,000 · HealthTHE CENTER…HopeWay Foundation: $6,000 · HealthHopeWay Fo…THE NORTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURAL FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 · HealthTHE NORTH …PLANNED PARENTHOOD SOUTH ATLANTIC INC: $1,000 · HealthCAROLINA ABORTION FUND: $1,000 · HealthThe Winston-Salem Foundation: $14,200 · PhilanthropyDOORS TO DREAM: $4,000 · PhilanthropyHAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,000 · PhilanthropyTHE ENRICHMENT CENTER AN AFFILIATED CHAPTER OF THE ARC: $1,500 · PhilanthropyThe Arts Based School: $5,000 · EducationIMPRINTS CARES: $5,000 · EducationWINSTON-SALEM STREET SCHOOL: $3,000 · EducationNORTH CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC: $2,000 · EducationACTION4EQUITY: $2,000 · EducationBOOK HARVEST: $2,000 · EducationHeart Math Tutoring Inc: $2,000 · EducationNORTH CAROLINA OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOL: $6,000 · EnvironmentNORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST: $6,000 · EnvironmentPIEDMONT LAND CONSERVANCY: $2,500 · Environment
Other$159,900Arts & Culture$41,200Human Services$29,500Health$29,000Philanthropy$21,700Education$21,000Environment$14,500

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 budgetPIEDMONT ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE INC: $15,000 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetThe Winston-Salem Foundation: $14,200 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCANCER SERVICES INC: $12,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetArts For Life: $12,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKALEIDEUM: $8,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSTATE EMPLOYEES' CREDIT UNION: $6,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SAWTOOTH SCHOOL FOR VISUAL ART: $6,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOL: $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPIVOT MINISTRY INC: $6,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetTHE CENTERS FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN INC: $6,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHopeWay Foundation: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Good Stuff: $6,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA COASTAL LAND TRUST: $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEXCHANGE CLUB CENTER FOR THE PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE OF NORTH CAROLINA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLOVE OUT LOUD: $5,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetWinston-Salem Mixxer Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetTHE WOMEN'S CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetIMPRINTS CARES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMUSICAL EMPOWERMENT INC: $4,800 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetDOORS TO DREAM: $4,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetWINSTON-SALEM STREET SCHOOL: $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NORTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURAL FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPIEDMONT LAND CONSERVANCY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFAMILY SERVICES INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetACTION4EQUITY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetPIEDMONT CRAFTSMEN INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPIEDMONT RENEWAL NETWORK: $2,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetBOOK HARVEST: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKIDZNOTES INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHeart Math Tutoring Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARTS CENTER: $1,400 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD SOUTH ATLANTIC INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBE LOUD SOPHIE FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSENIOR SERVICES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAROLINA ABORTION FUND: $1,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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 Winston-Salem Fou…Reynolds American Fou…Triangle Community Fo…Ta John W and Anna H …Duke Energy FoundationThe Cannon Foundation…Foundation for the Ca…James G Hanes Memoria…The Lovett FoundationForsyth Memorial Hosp…Strickland Family Fou…Z Smith Reynolds Foun…
The Winston-Salem FoundationNC56.1× affinity28 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Winston-Salem Foundation · Reynolds American Foundation · Triangle Community Foundation Inc · Ta John W and Anna H Hanes Foundation · Duke Energy Foundation · The Cannon Foundation Inc · Foundation for the Carolinas · James G Hanes Memorial Fund · The Lovett Foundation · Forsyth Memorial Hospital Inc · Strickland Family Foundation Cynthia a S Graham · Z Smith Reynolds Foundation 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 Kooken Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Kooken Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%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
    17report 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 Kooken Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Kooken Family 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 73 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 Kooken Family’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