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· Public charity
THE LIGHTHOUSE FOR THE BLIND
To assist individuals who are legally blind maintain dignity and independence by making available employment, education and support services.
$1.3M
Granted FY2024
10
Grants
3
Communities
$200k
Largest
01What you fund
0183% classified
What you funded, over time
Every grant clustered by its grantee’s IRS cause code (NTEE), by year — across FY2018–2024.
Health$1.4MHuman Services$577kArts & Culture$130kEducation$128kAnimals$50kOther$455k
02beneath the categories
Past the labels — and the year it shifted
Beneath the NTEE codes, this is what the grant descriptions actually say.
…and in their own words, year by year
2018
wellhockeyartworkdaily livingvisually impairedcampimpaired students
2019
traininglow visionvisually impairedchildren visualdevelopcampimpaired students
2020
cliniclow visiondevelopchildren visual
2021
cliniclow visionenjoy artworkvisually impairedstudentscampdevelop
2022
visually impaireddevelopstudents
2023
hockeyvisually impairedcampstudentsdevelop
2024
accessiblelouis visuallyimpaired fullfull rangerange visionvision rehabilitationrehabilitation adults
Words distinctive to each year’s grant purposes (TF-IDF) · event-driven terms in cyan.
03FY2024 · 10 grants
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- $10k–50k7 grants · $189k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $404k
$37,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$116M
Total assets
Largest grants
- MINDSEYE RADIO$199,611
- DELTA GAMMA CENTER FOR CHILDREN WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS$149,651
- ST LOUIS SOCIETY FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED$54,392
- US SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER$38,234
- ST LOUIS ZOO$37,500
- SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSTITY$37,500
- ST LOUIS SOCIETY FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED$28,785
- MO COUNCIL OF THE BLIND$27,000
- GREATER REGION YMCA$10,400
- ST LOUIS SOCIETY FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED$10,000
02The need
04
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
show:
Your human-services grants (FY18–24, $577k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16% — the area typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars reach neighborhoods with above-average need. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
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; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA, United Way ALICE — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
03Your edge
repeat funding
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
100%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$2.7M · 9 repeat orgs$10k to everyone else
9 repeat relationships — 7 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Re-uppedFunded once
Organizations
9
1
Total granted
$2.7M
$10k
Median revenue growth · since first grant
+9%
+11%
Still filing today
78%
100%
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.
RenewedFirst-time
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
HealthHuman ServicesArts & CultureEducationAnimalsOther
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
- DGDELTA GAMMA CENTER FOR CHILDREN WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS7× · 2018–2024 · $955k · revenue +48%
- MRMINDSEYE RADIO7× · 2018–2024 · $567k · revenue +28% · 31% of their budget
- LSLAUMIER SCULPTURE PARK5× · 2018–2023 · $130k · revenue +9%
Funded once
- GRGREATER REGION YMCAone grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue +11%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
04Your field
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
1
St Louis Chapter
Railroad history education through various meetings and events.
Arts & Culture
2
St Louis Shakespeare Festival
Fostering community and joy across the st. louis region through the shakespearean tradition of art for all.
Arts & Culture
3
Jewish Federation of St Louis
Preserve and enhance jewish life in st. louis, in israel, and around the world.
Philanthropy
4
University of Missouri Alumni
The mu alumni association proudly supports the best interests and traditions of missouri's flagship university and its alumni worldwide. lifelong relationships are the foundation of our support. these relationships are enhanced through…
Education
5
National Louis University
Nlu is an inclusive community providing educational opportunities to inspire & empower learners to prepare for & advance in meaningful lives and productive careers.
Education
6
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
Opera Theatre's mission is to shape a vibrant future for opera by connecting, inspiring, and entertaining our communities; to foster the next generation; and to make opera accessible and inclusive.
Arts & Culture
7
St Louis Reconciliation Network
Community Improvement
8
St Louis Service Bureau Foundation
—
9
Recovery St Louis
Health
10
Affiliated Blind of Louisiana
To provide daily life training for the blind, deaf/blind, and elderly blind.
Human Services
11
Saint Louis Symphony Endowment Trust
To support the st louis symphony orchestra.
Arts & Culture
12
Webster University
Webster university, a worldwide institution, ensures high quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence.
Education
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is St Louis Society for the Blind and the most unlike its peers is St Louis University. 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
8 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue.
1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
6/8
Grew since you first funded
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Health$1,362,156Human Services$576,925Other$455,047Arts & Culture$130,170Education$127,500Animals$49,500
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds DELTA GAMMA CENTER FOR CHILDREN WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS ↗
- Who funds MINDSEYE RADIO ↗
- Who funds ST LOUIS SOCIETY FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED ↗
- Who funds MO COUNCIL OF THE BLIND ↗
- Who funds LAUMIER SCULPTURE PARK ↗
- Who funds ST LOUIS UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds ST LOUIS ZOO ↗
- Who funds GREATER REGION YMCA ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
United Way of Greater St Louis IncMO18× affinity6 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →
Open a dossier: United Way of Greater St Louis Inc · St Louis Community Foundation Inc · Employees of Community Fund · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organisation THE LIGHTHOUSE FOR THE BLIND funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
typical government reliance, FY20–24
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. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.
05Through Plinth
Through Plinth
Your grantmaking, live and operational
This dossier was generated cold from public filings. In Plinth it’s a working system — every applicant assessed and every grant monitored. Here’s a taste, run on one of your grantees: MINDSEYE RADIO.
Agentic due diligence · confidence × risk
Financial management
high risk
~0 months of operating runway; revenue grew over 7 filed years.
Track record & reputation
low risk
7 years of Form 990 filings, still active.
Legal standing
low risk
US 501(c)(3); EIN 812553623 on file with current IRS Form 990 filings.
Governance
Live in Plinth
Board composition & governance documents — verified live in Plinth from the applicant.
Compliance & sanctions
Live in Plinth
OFAC / UN sanctions screening — run live in Plinth at assessment.
Program capacity
Live in Plinth
Staffing, M&E and activity alignment — assessed live in Plinth from submitted proposals.
Live · Plinth’s real DD engine
Run the actual assessment on MINDSEYE RADIO, cold from public data.
Generated live from public IRS filings + open web sources by Plinth’s agentic engine. Shown as an illustration of the product, not a formal assessment.
Post-award monitoring · continuous checks
- FlagFinancial stability— Roughly 0 months of cash on hand.
- On trackSustained operations— Filing through 2024; revenue grew over the period.
- On trackReliance on your funding— Your grants peaked at 31% of their budget — diversified.
- Awaiting reportEvidence of delivery— Plinth collects the grantee's own monitoring reports post-award.
What you see here is static and public. In Plinth it’s operational — the full six-pillar framework on every applicant (with their own documents + live registry and sanctions checks), monitoring dashboards on every award, custom board reports, and eligibility routing for intake.
Agentic due diligenceMonitoring dashboardsCustom board reportsEligibility routing
Preview generated from this grantee’s public IRS filings and independent reporting. Pillars marked “live in Plinth” require the applicant’s submitted documents. Shown as illustration, not a formal assessment.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPro
How do I get to The Lighthouse for the Blind?
Find your warmest path to The Lighthouse for the Blind through people who sit on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the introduction across shared trustees and officers.
Every link is a documented governance overlap in public IRS 990 filings — not a personal network — and each hop carries its own confidence tier. Low-confidence or distant paths are held back rather than guessed.
More from the funding graph
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars pass through an intermediary
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
Strange bedfellows
the named clusters of US funding
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines