Skip to content
The Marigold Project at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Private foundation

The Marigold Project

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$15k
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Civil Rights$211kCommunity Improvement$101kFood & Nutrition$94kArts & Culture$60kHuman Services$55kHealth$43kEnvironment$40kYouth Development$31kOther$0
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$2,500
Median grant
4
States reached
$104k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MUTUAL AID DISASTER RELIEF$5,000
UNMANAGEABLE$5,000
COBALT ABORTION FUND$2,500
BREAD & ROSES LEGAL CENTER$1,000
FARM AID$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 (FY18–22, $41k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 45% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%IDAHO HUNGER RELIEF TASK FORCE: $3k → 8%METCALF PARK COMMUNITY BRIDGES: $250 → 17%NC FIELD: $1k → 21%PROJECT WORTHMORE: $5k → 8%SECOND CHANCE CENTER: $5k → 10%SECOND CHANCE CENTER: $3k → 8%SECOND CHANCE CENTER: $5k → 10%PROJECT WORTHMORE: $3k → 8%ONE COLORADO: $5k → 12%ONE COLORADO: $5k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $5k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $3k → 12%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

ID
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
SD
IA
OH
PA
CA
CO
MO
WV
AZ
NM
TN
NC
DC
HI
LA
MS
AL
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.

57%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$483k · 42 repeat orgs$371k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +85% since the first grant, against +29% for those funded once.

42 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 39 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

42
83

Total granted

$483k
$363k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+85%
+29%

Still filing today

74%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Food & NutritionCivil RightsHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementArts & CultureHealthOther
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

  • THE COLORADO NONPROFIT DEVELOPMENT CENTER
    4× · 2019–2022 · $51k · revenue +23%
  • MR
    Missouri Rural Crisis Center
    5× · 2018–2023 · $40k · revenue +180%
  • FA
    FARM AID INC
    5× · 2018–2024 · $19k · revenue +45%

Funded once

  • TP
    THE PEOPLE'S FUND
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue -11%
  • IW
    INDIGENOUS WOMEN RISING INDIGEOUS WOMEN RISING
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue -34%
  • ACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE
    one grant, 2023 · $20k · 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
Colorado Center On Law and Policy

Colorado center on law and policy is an antipoverty organization advancing the rights of every coloradan.

Crime & Legal
2
Colorado People's Action

Colorado people's action (cpa) is a member-driven, racial justice organization dedicated to winning long-lasting progressive public policies in colorado. cpa builds power by mobilizing voters, electing our own people to office, holding…

—
3
Coloradans for Food Justice

Coloradans for food justice is building community power by making sure that every eater in colorado has a voice to make transformative change that represents a more just food system by mobilizing values-driven voters statewide.

—
4
Colorado Jobs With Justice Inc

Advance workers rights & social justice through building sustained relationships and taking direct action to create concrete change in the lives of working families

Employment
5
Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights

Colorado organization for latina opportunity and reproductive rights (color) is a community-rooted nonprofit organization that works to enable latinx individuals and their families lead safe, healthy, self-determined lives.

Health
6
350 Colorado

We are a grassroots movement working to build a fossil-free future powered by 100% renewable energy. we empower communities across colorado to join together to fight for environmental justice. through our volunteer-led teams, we use a…

Environment
7
The Alliance for Collective Action

The Alliance for Collective Action convenes leaders of environmental and social movements to advance solutions for a thriving planet. We advance our mission through the Alliance Center building and community, as well as through Collective…

Environment
8
Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Advancing the well-being of all coloradans through relationships free from abuse and oppression.

Human Services
9
Towards Justice of Colorado

Towards justice is a nonprofit law firm that seeks to advance economic equity and worker power through impact litigation, strategic policy advocacy, and collaboration with organizers and public agencies. we were founded in response to the…

Civil Rights
10
Boulder Watershed Collective

The Boulder Watershed Collective is a 501c3 non-profit stakeholder-driven organization established to address forested watershed health,resiliency and stewardship. We have three program areas: ClimateAdaptation and Resilience Watershed…

Environment
11
Forward Together

Forward Together is a national reproductive justice organization that centers people, families, and communities who experience reproductive oppression. They prioritize queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and other peoples of color and utilize…

Health
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Soul Fire Farm Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is Positive Vibrations Foundation. 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

87 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 87 of the 131 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)
35
Early backer (in before they grew)
85/87
Grantees still filing
59/87
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Missouri Rural Crisis Center: $40,000 · OtherMissouri Rural Crisis CenterINDIGENOUS WOMEN RISING INDIGEOUS WOMEN RISING: $25,000 · OtherVOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA INC: $21,570 · OtherACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE: $20,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $20,000 · OtherTHE EMERIL LAGASSE FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Other+81 more: $349,690 · Other+81 moreTHE COLORADO NONPROFIT DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $50,862 · Community ImprovementTHE COLORADO N…EARTHLINKS INC: $30,000 · Community ImprovementEARTHLINKS INCGROUNDWORK DENVER INC: $10,000 · Community ImprovementGROUNDWORK DEN…COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE: $7,500 · Community ImprovementCOLORADO FISCA…BIRDSEED COLLECTIVE: $5,000 · Community ImprovementNDN COLLECTIVE INC: $5,000 · Community ImprovementFARM AID INC: $18,750 · Food & NutritionFEDERATION OF SOUTHERN COOPERATIVES: $10,000 · Food & NutritionFarm to Pantry: $10,000 · Food & NutritionHUNGER FREE COLORADO: $8,500 · Food & NutritionGROW PITTSBURGH: $7,588 · Food & NutritionTHE CONSCIOUS ALLIANCE: $5,843 · Food & Nutrition+3 more: $3,250 · Food & NutritionTHE PEOPLE'S FUND: $25,000 · Human ServicesSecond Chance Center Inc: $12,500 · Human ServicesONE COLORADO: $10,000 · Human ServicesPROJECT WORTHMORE: $7,500 · Human ServicesCOLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $2,500 · Human ServicesIDAHO HUNGER RELIEF TASK FORCE INC: $2,500 · Human Services+2 more: $1,250 · Human ServicesUNMANAGEABLE: $15,000 · Arts & CulturePRESERVATION HALL FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · Arts & CulturePEOPLES ADVOCACY INSTITUTE: $10,000 · Arts & CulturePOSITIVE VIBRATIONS FOUNDATION: $9,145 · Arts & CultureThe Cultural ConservancySacred Land Foundation: $5,000 · Arts & CultureSAND CREEK MASSACRE FOUNDATION: $3,000 · Arts & CultureCOLORADO IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COALITION: $6,000 · Civil RightsSOUTHERNERS ON NEW GROUND INC: $5,000 · Civil RightsTexas Gun Sense: $5,000 · Civil RightsCONSERVATION COLORADO: $5,000 · Civil RightsNew Era Colorado Foundation: $5,000 · Civil RightsSOUTHWEST ORGANIZING PROJECT: $5,000 · Civil RightsMIDWEST ACCESS COALITION: $5,000 · Civil RightsCOBALT FOUNDATION: $2,500 · Civil Rights+1 more: $1,000 · Civil RightsCOLORADO DOULA PROJECT: $17,500 · HealthTRANSFORMATIVE FREEDOM FUND: $5,000 · HealthSTRONGHEARTS NATIVE HELPLINE INC: $5,000 · HealthWest Alabama Womens Center Inc: $5,000 · HealthTranslifeline DBA Trans Lifeline: $3,500 · Health+1 more: $1,000 · Health
Other$496,260Community Improvement$108,362Food & Nutrition$63,931Human Services$61,250Arts & Culture$57,145Civil Rights$39,500Health$37,000

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 COLORADO NONPROFIT DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $50,862 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMissouri Rural Crisis Center: $40,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetEARTHLINKS INC: $30,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetTHE PEOPLE'S FUND: $25,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetINDIGENOUS WOMEN RISING INDIGEOUS WOMEN RISING: $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE EMERIL LAGASSE FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetFARM AID INC: $18,750 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCOLORADO DOULA PROJECT: $17,500 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetUNMANAGEABLE: $15,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetPRESERVATION HALL FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetDENVER URBAN GARDENS: $12,825 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetSecond Chance Center Inc: $12,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC: $12,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRole Model Movement Inc (NFP): $11,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetRURAL ADVANCEMENT FOUNDATION INTERNATION: $10,517 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCENTRO DE TRABAJADORES UNIDOS EN LUCHA: $10,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetONE COLORADO: $10,000 over 2y, 7.0% of budgetDIGNITY BEST PRACTICES: $10,000 over 2y, 5.2% of budgetGROUNDWORK DENVER INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFEDERATION OF SOUTHERN COOPERATIVES: $10,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE DELORES PROJECT: $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFarm to Pantry: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSIERRA CLUB: $9,292 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPOSITIVE VIBRATIONS FOUNDATION: $9,145 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetAmp the Cause: $8,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHUNGER FREE COLORADO: $8,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGROW PITTSBURGH: $7,588 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetFREER RECORDS INC: $7,510 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetCOLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE: $7,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetPROJECT WORTHMORE: $7,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFOOD CHAIN WORKERS ALLIANCE: $6,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCOLORADO IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COALITION: $6,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetVETERANS COMMUNITY PROJECT: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBIRDSEED COLLECTIVE: $5,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetSOUTHERNERS ON NEW GROUND INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FIRM: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRANSFORMATIVE FREEDOM FUND: $5,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetThe Cultural ConservancySacred Land Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTexas Gun Sense: $5,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCONSERVATION COLORADO: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMUTUAL AID DISASTER RELIEF INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCREATIVE STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetWest Alabama Womens Center Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNorth Carolina Association of Black Lawyer Land Loss Prevention Projec: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNew Era Colorado Foundation: $5,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNEW YORK ABORTION ACCESS FUND: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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 Colorado Health F…The Denver FoundationRose Community Founda…Colorado Gives Founda…Amalgamated Charitabl…The Schmidt Family Fo…ImpactassetsincThe Women's Foundatio…Tides FoundationSchlessman Foundation…Caring for Colorado F…New Venture Fund
The Colorado Health FoundationCO39.7× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Colorado Health Foundation · The Denver Foundation · Rose Community Foundation · Colorado Gives Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Impactassetsinc · The Women's Foundation of Colorado Inc · Tides Foundation · Schlessman Foundation Inc · Caring for Colorado Foundation · New Venture Fund

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 100%
  • Farm Aid Inc: 100% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
25report 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 Marigold Project?

Find your warmest path to The Marigold Project 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 131 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 Marigold Project’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