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The Mark W Blackman & Deborah Blackman Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Mark W Blackman & Deborah Blackman Family 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.

$255k
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$50k
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, FY2019 to 2025.

Civil Rights$208kEducation$193kEnvironment$160kPhilanthropy$145kHealth$135kCrime & Legal$63kFood & Nutrition$40kInternational$35kOther$0
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k13 grants · $195k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$12,500
Median grant
7
States reached
$2.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE$50,000
ACLU FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT$35,000
PERSON TO PERSON$25,000
NATURE CONSERVANCY$25,000
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERSUSA$12,500
EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE$12,500
PLANNED PARENTHOOD$12,500
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND$12,500
PRISON POLICY INITIATIVE$10,000
WILDERNESS SOCIETY$10,000
CONNECTICUT FOODSHARE$10,000
NORWALK COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIO$10,000
UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS$10,000
SAVE THE SOUND$10,000
SUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION$5,250
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 29% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $10k → 14%EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $13k → 18%ACLU FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT: $38k → 11%SAVE THE SOUND: $10k → 12%NATURE CONSERVANCY: $25k → 7%NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND: $13k → 17%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $10k → 14%EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $10k → 18%ACLU FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT: $35k → 11%SAVE THE SOUND: $10k → 12%NATURE CONSERVANCY: $25k → 7%NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND: $10k → 17%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $10k → 14%EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $10k → 18%ACLU FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT: $25k → 11%SAVE THE SOUND: $10k → 12%NATURE CONSERVANCY: $25k → 7%BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: $50k → 17%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $10k → 14%ACLU FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT: $25k → 11%CONNECTICUT FOODSHARE: $10k → 12%NATURE CONSERVANCY: $25k → 7%BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: $50k → 17%WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $10k → 14%ACLU FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT: $25k → 11%CONNECTICUT FOODSHARE: $10k → 12%BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: $10k → 17%ACLU FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT: $25k → 11%CONNECTICUT FOODSHARE: $10k → 12%ACLU FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT: $13k → 11%PERSON TO PERSON: $25k → 9%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $25k → 11%PERSON TO PERSON: $25k → 9%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $25k → 11%PERSON TO PERSON: $25k → 9%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $13k → 11%PERSON TO PERSON: $25k → 9%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $13k → 11%PERSON TO PERSON: $25k → 9%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $13k → 11%PERSON TO PERSON: $10k → 9%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $13k → 11%PERSON TO PERSON: $10k → 9%NORWALK COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIO: $25k → 9%NORWALK COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIO: $25k → 9%NORWALK COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIO: $13k → 9%INSPIRCA -(ST LUKES LIFE WORKS): $13k → 9%AMERICARES CLINIC: $13k → 9%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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$893k · 17 repeat orgs$45k to everyone else

17 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
4

Total granted

$893k
$35k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+9%
+10%

Still filing today

88%
25%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Civil RightsEnvironmentEducationPhilanthropyInternationalFood & NutritionOther
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

  • AC
    AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $185k · revenue +95%
  • PT
    PERSON TO PERSON INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $145k · revenue +19%
  • MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $35k · revenue +1%

Funded once

  • AC
    AMERICARES CLINIC
    one grant, 2022 · $13k
  • I-
    INSPIRCA -(ST LUKES LIFE WORKS)
    one grant, 2021 · $13k
  • II
    INSPIRICA INC
    one grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue +10%
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
Connecticut Farmland Trust Inc

Protect Connecticuts farmland for agricultural use by purchasing and accepting donations of agricultural conservation easements

Food & Nutrition
2
Native Plant Trust Inc

The organization's mission is to conserve and promote new england's native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes.

Environment
3
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
4
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
5
Council for Court Excellence

Council for court excellence's (cce's) mission is to bring people together to conduct research, educate, and advocate to make d.c.'s unique legal systems more just, equitable, and accountable to the community.

—
6
Liberty Justice Center

To advance economic and social liberties and a free enterprise society through strategic litigation, training, communication, activism and research. in addition, the center will train law students, lawyers and policy activists in the…

Crime & Legal
7
Eastern National

Eastern national promotes the public's understanding and support of america's national parks and other public trust partners by providing quality educational experiences, products and services.

Recreation & Sports
8
Nantucket Conservation Foundation Inc

The nantucket conservation foundation owns, protects, and stewards over 9,000 acres of land and coastal shoreline, conserves nantucket's rare and significant natural resources, and engages in impactful ecological research to inform…

Environment
9
Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut Inc

Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut Inc. SLS empowers low-income people in Connecticut to obtain justice by providing tools to address their civil legal needs. SLS provides its clients with high volume brief or in-depth legal advice…

Crime & Legal
10
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
11
New York League of Conservation Voters

See schedule onylcv is a non-partisan policy making and political action organization that works to make environmental protection a top priority with elected officials, decision-makers and the voters by evaluating incumbent performance and…

—
12
American Flood Coalition Inc

To drive transformational adaptation to protect communities across the country from higher seas, stronger storms, and more frequent flooding.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Connecticut Foodshare Inc; the most unlike its peers is Prison Policy Initiative. 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

19 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. 19 of the 24 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
13/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $100,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYPLANNED PARENTHOOD: $100,000 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOODCONNECTICUT FOODSHARE INC: $30,000 · OtherCONNECTICUT FOODSHARE INCUNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: $30,000 · OtherUNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTSAMERICARES CLINIC: $12,500 · OtherINSPIRCA -(ST LUKES LIFE WORKS): $12,500 · Other+5 more: $40,000 · Other+5 moreAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT INC: $185,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNIO…EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $32,500 · Civil RightsEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVEPrison Policy Initiative: $30,000 · Civil RightsPrison Policy InitiativeNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC: $22,500 · Civil RightsNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FU…WILLIAM J BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC: $110,000 · EducationWILLIAM J BRENNAN CEN…NORWALK COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $82,500 · EducationNORWALK COMMUNITY COL…PERSON TO PERSON INC: $145,000 · PhilanthropyPERSON TO PERSO…SAVE THE SOUND: $30,000 · EnvironmentTHE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $20,000 · EnvironmentSUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION: $5,250 · EnvironmentDARIEN NATURE CENTER INC: $5,000 · EnvironmentMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $35,000 · InternationalTHE FOOD BANK OF LOWER FAIRFIELD COUNTY INC: $10,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$325,000Civil Rights$270,000Education$192,500Philanthropy$145,000Environment$60,250International$35,000Food & Nutrition$10,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT INC: $185,000 over 7y, 2.6% of budgetPERSON TO PERSON INC: $145,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetWILLIAM J BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC: $110,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $100,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNORWALK COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $82,500 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $35,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $32,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT FOODSHARE INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSAVE THE SOUND: $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPrison Policy Initiative: $30,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC: $22,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WILDERNESS SOCIETY: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FOOD BANK OF LOWER FAIRFIELD COUNTY INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSHATTERPROOF A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKIDS IN CRISIS INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetINSPIRICA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

National Philanthropi…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
National Philanthropic TrustPA10.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Mark W Blackman & Deborah Blackman Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Mark W Blackman & Deborah Blackman Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • 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
  • Person to Person Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Shatterproof a Nonprofit Corporation: 2% of income from government
  • Darien Nature Center Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 Mark W Blackman & Deborah Blackman Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Mark W Blackman & Deborah Blackman 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 24 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 Mark W Blackman & Deborah Blackman 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