Loading…
· Private foundation
THE MARK W BLACKMAN & DEBORAH
This foundation does not accept unsolicited requests — it funds preselected organizations.
$250k
Granted FY2024
18
Grants
7
Communities
$50k
Largest
01What you fund
01
What you funded, over time
By grantee IRS cause code (NTEE).
A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 77% of THE MARK W BLACKMAN & DEBORAH’s grantee dollars go to organizations outside the IRS cause taxonomy (common for large international and research funders), so a chart would be mostly “unclassified” and misrepresent the portfolio.
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
2019
—
2020
person
2021
person
2022
person
2023
justiceperson
Words distinctive to each year’s grant purposes (TF-IDF) · event-driven terms in cyan.
03FY2024 · 18 grants
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k4 grants · $20k
- $10k–50k13 grants · $180k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$10,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$2.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
- BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE$50,000
- PERSON TO PERSON$25,000
- ACLU FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT$25,000
- NATURE CONSERVANCY$25,000
- DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERSUSA$12,500
- PLANNED PARENTHOOD$12,500
- WILDERNESS SOCIETY$10,000
- NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND$10,000
- EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE$10,000
- NORWALK COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIO$10,000
- UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS$10,000
- PRISON POLICY INIATIVE$10,000
- CONNECTICUT FOODSHARE$10,000
- SAVE THE SOUND$10,000
- FOOD BANK OF LOWER FAIRFIELD COUNTY$5,000
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:
Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY19–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11% — the area typically sits at 10%. 56% of your 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.
93%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$718k · 16 repeat orgs$55k to everyone else
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +30% since the first grant, against -45% for the ones you funded once.
16 repeat relationships — 16 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Re-uppedFunded once
Organizations
16
4
Total granted
$718k
$35k
Median revenue growth · since first grant
+30%
-45%
Still filing today
50%
25%
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k went to new ones.
RenewedFirst-time
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
EnvironmentPhilanthropyCivil RightsAnimalsFood & NutritionOther
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
- PTPERSON TO PERSON5× · 2020–2024 · $110k · revenue +19%
- CFCONNECTICUT FOODSHARE2× · 2023–2024 · $20k · revenue +166%
EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE2× · 2023–2024 · $20k · revenue +92%
Funded once
- ACAMERICARES CLINICone grant, 2022 · $13k
- I-INSPIRCA -(ST LUKES LIFE WORKS)one grant, 2021 · $13k
- IINSPIRICAone grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue -45%
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
Connecticut Farmland Trust Inc
Protect Connecticuts farmland for agricultural use by purchasing and accepting donations of agricultural conservation easements
Food & Nutrition
2
Foodshare Inc
—
3
United Way of Connecticut Inc
The mission of united way of connecticut is to help the people of connecticut to thrive through trusted partnerships and innovative solutions.
Philanthropy
4
Food Bank for New York City
The mission of food bank for new york city is to end hunger by organizing food, information and support for community survival and dignity.
Community Improvement
5
Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc
We are ct's only locally owned media organization producing tv, radio, print and internet content with a mix of educational, new, public affairs, children's and entertainment programming.
Arts & Culture
6
Connecticut Court Appointed Special
Empower a statewide network of caring, consistent volunteer court appointed special advocates to advance the best interests of children who have experienced abuse or neglect, so every child can find a safe, permanent home to thrive.
Crime & Legal
7
The Community Action Agency of
Provide services to combat poverty & promote self sufficiency among residents of western ct
Community Improvement
8
Rhode Island Community Food Bank
To improve the quality of life for all rhode islanders by advancing solutions to the problem of hunger.
Food & Nutrition
9
United Food Bank
Uniting communities to alleviate hunger.
Food & Nutrition
10
Connecticut Association for
The connecticut association for community action and its member agencies are a statewide network that strengthens communities, empowers families, promotes public policy, develops leaders and implements strategies that address the causes…
—
11
Connecticut Housing Coalition Inc
To develop and advocate public policies to allow for decent and affordable housing in ct.
—
12
Sustainable Ct Inc
To inspire, support, and certify sustainability actions by connecticut towns and cities.
Education
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Connecticut Foodshare Inc and the most unlike its peers is The Nature Conservancy. 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
10 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue.
0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
6/10
Grew since you first funded
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Other$592,500Philanthropy$110,000Environment$30,000Civil Rights$20,000Animals$10,000Food & Nutrition$10,000
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 PERSON TO PERSON ↗
- Who funds NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds CONNECTICUT FOODSHARE ↗
- Who funds EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE ↗
- Who funds SAVE THE SOUND ↗
- Who funds KIDS IN CRISIS ↗
- Who funds CONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds FOOD BANK OF LOWER FAIRFIELD COUNTY ↗
- Who funds WILDERNESS SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds INSPIRICA ↗
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organisation THE MARK W BLACKMAN & DEBORAH 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.
2024
’20’21’22’23’24
- Kids in Crisis Inc — 49% of income from government
- Save the Sound — 37% of income from government
- Inspirica Inc — 30% of income from government
- Connecticut Foodshare Inc — 5% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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: PERSON TO PERSON.
Agentic due diligence · confidence × risk
Financial management
high risk
~2 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 061422248 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 PERSON TO PERSON, 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 2 months of cash on hand.
- On trackSustained operations— Filing through 2025; revenue grew over the period.
- On trackReliance on your funding— Your grants peaked at 0% 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 Mark W Blackman & Deborah?
Find your warmest path to The Mark W Blackman & Deborah 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