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· Private foundation

The McSweeney Foundation Inc

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.

$83k
Granted FY2025still arriving
14
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$22k
Largest
01What it funds
0190% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Health$290kHuman Services$95kReligion$74kPublic Safety & Disaster$58kArts & Culture$52kAnimals$46kEducation$33kHousing & Shelter$32kOther$0
02FY2025 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k12 grants · $51k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $32k
$4,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$786k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LEWIS COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION$22,000
RED CROSS$10,000
LEWIS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY$8,000
LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY$5,000
ABIGAIL'S ATHLETES INC$5,000
ST PETERS CHURCH$5,000
LOWVILLE RURAL CEMETERY ASSOCIATION$4,000
CARE NET OF NORTHER NEW YORK$4,000
CARE NET PREGNANCY CENTER OF CNY$4,000
THE ARC ONEIDA-LEWIS CHAPTER$4,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
LOWVILLE FREE LIBRARY$3,000
SISTERS OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD$3,000
RESCUE MISSION OF UTICA$3,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $6k → 14%RED CROSS: $15k → 14%THE ARC ONEIDA-LEWIS CHAPTER: $29k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $5k → 14%RED CROSS: $10k → 14%The Red Cross: $6k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $5k → 14%RED CROSS: $5k → 14%RESCUE MISSION OF UTICA: $5k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $5k → 14%RED CROSS: $5k → 16%Lewis County Humane Society: $5k → 14%RED CROSS: $5k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $5k → 14%LEWIS COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $78k → 14%ST PETERS CHURCH: $6k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%LEWIS COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%Care Net Pregnancy Center of CNY: $5k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%LEWIS COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $22k → 14%ST PETERS CHURCH: $5k → 16%Lowville Rural Cemetery: $18k → 14%LEWIS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $18k → 14%THE COMMUNITY FOUND- ABIGAIL FUND: $5k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY HEADSTART PLAYGROUND: $10k → 14%LEWIS COUNTY HEAD START: $9k → 14%ST PETERS CHURCH: $5k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $8k → 14%LEWIS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $8k → 14%St Peters Church: $5k → 16%CARE NET OF NORTHER NEW YORK: $7k → 14%ST PETERS CHURCH: $5k → 14%ST PETERS CHURCH: $5k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $5k → 14%LEWIS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5k → 14%COMMUNITY FOUND - ABIGAIL'S FUND: $5k → 16%ST PETERS CHURCH: $5k → 14%ST PETERS CHURCH: $5k → 14%ST PETERS CHURCH: $5k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $5k → 14%Care Net of Norther New York: $5k → 14%COMMUNITY FOUND - ABIGAIL'S FUND: $5k → 16%LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $5k → 14%CARE NET OF NORTHER NEW YORK: $5k → 14%CARE NET OF NORTHER NEW YORK: $5k → 14%LEWIS COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%ABIGAIL'S ATHLETES INC: $6k → 16%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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$727k · 16 repeat orgs$43k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +64% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.

16 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
5

Total granted

$727k
$43k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+64%
+11%

Still filing today

38%
20%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
AnimalsHealthMembership BenefitEducationOther
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

  • LC
    LEWIS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
    8× · 2017–2025 · $48k · revenue +17%
  • LC
    LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $46k · revenue +589%
  • TR
    THE RESCUE MISSION OF UTICA INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $32k · revenue +64%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $18k
  • LC
    LEWIS COUNTY HEADSTART PLAYGROUND
    one grant, 2020 · $10k
  • LC
    LEWIS COUNTY HEAD START
    one grant, 2023 · $9k · revenue +11%
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
04the grantee network

7 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. 7 of the 21 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
7/7
Grantees still filing
7/7
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LEWIS COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $230,000 · OtherLEWIS COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONRED CROSS: $58,000 · OtherRED CROSSTHE ARC ONEIDA-LEWIS CHAPTER: $57,000 · OtherTHE ARC ONEIDA-LEWIS CHAPTERLEWIS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $47,500 · OtherLEWIS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETYST PETERS CHURCH: $46,000 · OtherST PETERS CHURCHCARE NET OF NORTHER NEW YORK: $41,000 · OtherCARE NET OF NORTHER NEW YORKTHE RESCUE MISSION OF UTICA INC: $32,000 · OtherCare Net Pregnancy Center of CNY: $29,000 · OtherSISTERS OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD: $28,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $24,000 · OtherLowville Free Library: $24,000 · Other+6 more: $53,288 · Other+6 moreLEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $46,000 · AnimalsABIGAIL'S ATHLETES INC: $31,000 · HealthLOWVILLE RURAL CEMETERY ASSOCIATION: $14,000 · Membership BenefitLEWIS COUNTY HEAD START: $8,500 · Education
Other$669,788Animals$46,000Health$31,000Membership Benefit$14,000Education$8,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLEWIS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $47,500 over 8y, 8.2% of budgetLEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $46,000 over 9y, 3.9% of budgetTHE RESCUE MISSION OF UTICA INC: $32,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetABIGAIL'S ATHLETES INC: $31,000 over 6y, 55% of budgetLowville Free Library: $24,000 over 9y, 2.1% of budgetLOWVILLE RURAL CEMETERY ASSOCIATION: $14,000 over 5y, 5.3% of budgetLEWIS COUNTY HEAD START: $8,500 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

  • Who funds LEWIS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds LEWIS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds THE RESCUE MISSION OF UTICA INC ↗
  • Who funds ABIGAIL'S ATHLETES INC ↗
  • Who funds Lowville Free Library ↗
  • Who funds LOWVILLE RURAL CEMETERY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds LEWIS COUNTY HEAD START ↗

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.

Northern New York Community Foundation IncNY13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Northern New York Community Foundation Inc · 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 McSweeney Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The McSweeney Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report 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 McSweeney Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to The McSweeney Foundation Inc 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 21 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

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