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The Lodestar Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Lodestar Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.8M
Granted FY2025still arriving
80
Grants FY2025still arriving
14
States reached
$250k
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, FY2020 to 2025.

Community Improvement$2.4MPhilanthropy$1.9MPublic Benefit$799kEducation$518kInternational$481kArts & Culture$292kHealth$214kCrime & Legal$192kOther$0
02FY2025 · 80 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k26 grants · $137k
  • $10k–50k46 grants · $910k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $485k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$15,000
Median grant
14
States reached
$131k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER PHOENIX$250,000
KEEP OUR REPUBLIC CHARITABLE FUND$160,000
TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA$75,000
CIVIC VENTURES$50,000
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMER$50,000
SOCIAL VENTURE PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL$50,000
SOCIAL VENTURE PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL$50,000
VALLEY OF THE SUN UNITED WAY$50,000
INDEPENDENT SECTOR$38,000
BARROW NEUROLOGICAL FOUNDATION$36,000
UNITED PHILANTHROPY FORUM$35,000
TRUSTEES OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY$35,000
GIVING TUESDAY INC$30,000
CDA COLLABORATIVE LEARNING PROJECTS INC$30,000
SEACHANGE CAPITAL PARTNERS INC$28,138
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 (FY21–25, $149k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT CENTER OF THE PERMIAN BASIN: $15k → 14%BOYS & GIRLS AID SOCIETY OF OREGON: $11k → 12%SOCIAL FINANCE INC: $18k → 16%AROUET FOUNDATION: $20k → 11%VALLEY OF THE SUN YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $41k → 11%VALLEY OF THE SUN YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION: $20k → 11%CIRCLE THE CITY: $15k → 11%ARIZONA HOUSING COALITION: $5k → 11%NOT MY KID INC: $5k → 11%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

ME
VT
NH
WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
OR
IA
IN
PA
NJ
RI
CA
VA
MD
AZ
DC
TX
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 22% of The Lodestar Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 30% of the giving stays in AZ; by stated purpose, 28%.

The Lodestar Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 3.3% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.2M · 35 repeat orgs$1.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +18% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

35 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 19 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

35
34

Total granted

$4.2M
$871k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
0%

Still filing today

91%
82%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 62% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $538k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationInternationalHuman ServicesPhilanthropyArts & CultureCommunity 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

  • ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2021–2025 · $175k · revenue +94%
  • CI
    CONTINA IMPACT
    4× · 2021–2025 · $121k · revenue ×13
  • TN
    THE NISKANEN CENTER INC
    3× · 2020–2022 · $100k · revenue +115%

Funded once

  • CF
    CORE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $150k
  • TB
    THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTIONgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +46%
  • AF
    ACUMEN FUND INC
    one grant, 2022 · $75k · revenue -24%
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
Partnership for Public Service Inc

Making our government work better is a daunting task, and we are a small organization seeking to transform a government that employs millions of civilians and manages trillions of dollars in taxpayer revenue needed to protect public…

Employment
2
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
3
Pro Publica Inc

Pro publica is an independent, non-profit, pulitzer prize-winning newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories. [see continuation on schedule o] we produce…

Arts & Culture
4
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
5
Accion International

Our mission is to create a fair and inclusive economy where underserved people have quality financial choices and opportunities to improve their economic well-being. we find and help build innovative companies with the potential to reach…

International
6
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
7
Common Impact Inc

Common impact's mission is to strengthen the capacity of social change organizations, enabling them to better run and scale their programs. through its partnership with companies, common impact taps into the business skills and expertise…

Unclassified
8
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
9
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
10
Partnership On Ai to Benefit People and Society

Bringing diverse voices together across global sectors, disciplines, and demographics so developments in ai advance positive outcomes for people and society.

Science & Tech
11
National Association of Corporate Directors

We empower directors and transform boards to be future ready.

Public Benefit
12
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Independent Sector; the most unlike its peers is Thoreau Farm Trust Inc. 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

95 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. 95 of the 100 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
90/95
Grantees still filing
44/95
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SEACHANGE CAPITAL PARTNERS INC: $2,244,472 · PhilanthropySEACHANGE CAPITAL PARTNERS INCARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $786,000 · PhilanthropyARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONJEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER PHOENIX: $480,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER PHOENIXVALLEY OF THE SUN UNITED WAY: $150,000 · Philanthropy+11 more: $502,200 · Philanthropy+11 moreARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $175,000 · EducationARIZONA S…CONTINA IMPACT: $121,000 · EducationCONTINA I…Indiana University Foundation: $75,000 · EducationIndiana U…TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $75,000 · EducationTRUSTEES …CDA COLLABORATIVE LEARNING PROJECTS INC: $40,000 · EducationCDA COLLA…BRIDGE ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND: $25,000 · EducationTESSERACT RESEARCH CENTER INC: $25,000 · EducationDEFENDING DEMOCRACY TOGETHER INSTITUTE: $25,000 · Education+5 more: $54,500 · Education+5 moreGlobal Impact: $225,000 · InternationalACUMEN FUND INC: $75,000 · InternationalTHE SYNERGOS INSTITUTE INC: $75,000 · InternationalFREEDOM HOUSE: $25,000 · International+7 more: $51,000 · InternationalKEEP OUR REPUBLIC CHARITABLE FUND: $160,000 · Civil RightsCIVIC VENTURES DBA COGENERATE: $125,000 · Civil RightsCalMatters: $57,250 · Civil RightsPROTECT DEMOCRACY PROJECT: $50,000 · Civil Rights+1 more: $5,000 · Civil RightsTHE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: $100,000 · OtherTHE REPORTERS COM…STAND UP REPUBLIC FOUNDATION INC: $65,000 · OtherSTAND UP REPUBLIC…BARROW NEUROLOGICAL FOUNDATION: $144,000 · OtherBARROW NEUROLOGIC…ARIZONA JUSTICE PROJECT: $161,000 · OtherARIZONA JUSTICE P…Valley of the Sun Young Men's Christian Association: $61,000 · OtherTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $100,000 · OtherTHE BROOKINGS INS…+37 more: $530,155 · Other+37 moreTHE NISKANEN CENTER INC: $100,000 · Public BenefitCITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS IN WASHINGTON INC: $75,000 · Public BenefitRepresentUs Education Fund: $55,000 · Public BenefitThe Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress: $50,000 · Public BenefitPROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT INC: $26,000 · Public Benefit+1 more: $10,000 · Public BenefitCORE FOUNDATION: $150,000 · Arts & CultureThoreau Farm Trust Inc: $26,500 · Arts & CultureINTERNEWS NETWORK: $25,000 · Arts & CultureTHE ST PAUL CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: $20,000 · Arts & CultureHISTORICAL LEAGUE INC: $10,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $5,000 · Arts & Culture
Philanthropy$4,162,672Education$615,500International$451,000Civil Rights$397,250Other$1,161,155Public Benefit$316,000Arts & Culture$261,500

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 budgetSEACHANGE CAPITAL PARTNERS INC: $2,244,472 over 6y, 13% of budgetARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $786,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER PHOENIX: $480,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetGlobal Impact: $225,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $175,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetARIZONA JUSTICE PROJECT: $161,000 over 3y, 4.4% of budgetCORE FOUNDATION: $150,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetVALLEY OF THE SUN UNITED WAY: $150,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetBARROW NEUROLOGICAL FOUNDATION: $144,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCIVIC VENTURES DBA COGENERATE: $125,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetCONTINA IMPACT: $121,000 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NISKANEN CENTER INC: $100,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: $100,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTHEAST IOWA: $92,200 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetINDEPENDENT SECTOR: $76,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS IN WASHINGTON INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetACUMEN FUND INC: $75,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIndiana University Foundation: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SYNERGOS INSTITUTE INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTAND UP REPUBLIC FOUNDATION INC: $65,000 over 2y, 9.9% of budgetTHE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC DBA FORWARD GLOBAL: $64,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetValley of the Sun Young Men's Christian Association: $61,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCalMatters: $57,250 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetRepresentUs Education Fund: $55,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetPROTECT DEMOCRACY PROJECT: $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetThe Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBALBOA PARK CONSERVANCY: $30,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetGIVING TUESDAY INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSERVICE YEAR EXCHANGE INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetThoreau Farm Trust Inc: $26,500 over 1y, 29% of budgetPROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT INC: $26,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetBRIDGE ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND: $25,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetINTERNEWS NETWORK: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGranite VNA Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFREEDOM HOUSE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTESSERACT RESEARCH CENTER INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDEFENDING DEMOCRACY TOGETHER INSTITUTE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ST PAUL CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $25,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetAZ IMPACT FOR GOOD: $24,750 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetCENTRAL ARIZONA SHELTER SERVICES INC: $22,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Renew Democracy Initiative Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSocial Finance Inc: $17,500 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.

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.

Arizona Community Fou…Virginia G Piper Char…Burton Family Foundat…Thunderbirds CharitiesJewish Community Fede…BHHS Legacy FoundationGarcia Family Foundat…The William & Flora H…New Venture FundImpactassetsincRockefeller Philanthr…American Express Foun…
Arizona Community FoundationAZ40.2× affinity24 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Arizona Community Foundation · Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust · Burton Family Foundation · Thunderbirds Charities · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · BHHS Legacy Foundation · Garcia Family Foundation · The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation · New Venture Fund · Impactassetsinc · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · American Express Foundation

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 Lodestar Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Lodestar Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Social Finance Inc: 12% of income from government
  • The Boys & Girls Aid Society of Oregon: 3% of income from government
  • The Bottom Line Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
18report 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 Lodestar Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Lodestar 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 100 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 Lodestar’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