Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

The Muse Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.9M
Granted FY2024still arriving
24
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0192% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2024.

Education$2.2MEmployment$1.4MCommunity Improvement$1.2MInternational$925kEnvironment$569kHealth$568kPhilanthropy$507kHuman Services$505kOther$0
02FY2024 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k5 grants · $21k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $175k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $704k
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.0M
$25,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$50M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AIR FORCE ACADEMY FOUNDATION$500,000
AIR FORCE ACADEMY FOUNDATION$250,000
YEAR-UP$250,000
CHILD POVERTY ACTION LAB$200,000
JUBILEE PARK & COMMUNITY CENTER$150,000
THE COMMIT PARTNERSHIP$100,000
MILL CITY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION$79,301
INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE & ART$75,000
FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIVING$50,000
EMPOWERING THE MASSES$50,000
TRINITY PARK CONSERVANCY CDC$43,700
BUSINESS EXECUTIVES FOR NATIONAL SECURITY$25,000
FOREST FORWARD$20,000
RESTORATIVE FARMS$20,000
PRIMOS DALLAS$20,000
02The need
03

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:

Your human-services grants (FY20–24, $731k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOUNDATION INC: $10k → 11%THE PORCH SOCIETY: $5k → 15%JUBILEE PARK & COMMUNITY CENTER: $150k → 14%JUBILEE PARK & COMMUNITY CENTER: $100k → 14%METRO DALLAS HOMELESS ALLIANCE: $100k → 14%HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE - N TEXAS: $10k → 14%VIOLA'S HOUSE: $30k → 14%VIOLA'S HOUSE: $20k → 14%VIOLA'S HOUSE: $20k → 14%EMPOWERING THE MASSES: $50k → 14%EMPOWERING THE MASSES: $50k → 14%EMPOWERING THE MASSES: $18k → 14%EMPOWERING THE MASSES: $15k → 14%EMPOWERING THE MASSES: $8k → 14%SOUTHERN DALLAS LINK INC: $140k → 14%CONNECTING POINT OF PARK CITIES: $5k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
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 linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

IL
NY
MA
OH
PA
CA
CO
MO
NC
DC
LA
TX
FL

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 — 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.

80%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$7.2M · 39 repeat orgs$1.8M to everyone else

39 repeat relationships — 18 still active in FY2024, 21 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

39
48

Total granted

$7.2M
$1.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
+20%

Still filing today

67%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $95k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationCommunity ImprovementArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyOther

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

  • CP
    CHILD POVERTY ACTION LAB
    5× · 2020–2024 · $825k · revenue +373%
  • TT
    TEXAS TREES FOUNDATION
    2× · 2022–2023 · $213k · revenue +73%
  • BO
    Builders of Hope CDC
    2× · 2022–2023 · $200k · revenue +128%

Funded once

  • TP
    Trinity Park Conservancygraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $250k · revenue +504%
  • TU
    THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS - TX CHALLENGE MATCH
    one grant, 2022 · $250k
  • BO
    BUILDERS OF HOPE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
    one grant, 2020 · $150k

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
Downtown Dallas Inc

Downtown Dallas, Inc. (DDI), is the champion of a clean and safe Downtown and of the economic development and vibrancy of this community of diverse, unique neighborhoods. DDI: Mobilizes and amplifies the services of public agencies.…

—
2
COMMIT2DALLAS

Our mission is that by 2040, at least half of all 25 to 34 year old residents of Dallas County, irrespective of race, will earn a living wage. Together, we cultivate a collaborative educational ecosystem with school systems, higher…

Education
3
Progress Texas Institute

The Progress Texas Institute provides research and strategic communications on issues with the ultimate goal of increasing civic engagement.

Civil Rights
4
Dallas Innovation Alliance

The Dallas Innovation Alliance (DIA) is a 501(c)(3) public-private consortium of public, private, civic and academia to support smart city initiatives in Dallas. Our definition of a Smart City is one at the intersection of community, data…

Community Improvement
5
Dallas Citizens Council

To lead and serve in the moments that matter the most for the people of dallas.

—
6
Downtown Dallas Inc Foundation

Downtown Dallas, Inc. Foundation is the charitable arm of Downtown Dallas, Inc. whose purpose is to help make the area in and around Downtown Dallas a more vibrant and livable place for both daytime and permanent residents by promoting the…

Community Improvement
7
Dallas Regional Chamber

Together, with our business leaders and community partners, we will help lead the dallas region to become the best place in the united states for all people to live, work, and do business.

—
8
Center for Public Policy Priorities

At the Every Texan, we believe in a Texas that offers everyone the chance to compete and succeed in life. We envision a Texas where everyone is healthy, well educated, and financially secure. We want the best Texas, a proud state that sets…

Public Benefit
9
Dallas Bar Association

The Dallas Bar Association is a nonprofit corporation chartered by the State of Texas to protect and advance the professional interests of persons licensed to practice law in the Dallas area, to improve the relations between the Bench, the…

—
10
Dallas Contemporary

Dallas contemporary presents art in a forum that cultivates artists, ignites learning and inspires the community. dallas contemporary is a non-collecting art museum presenting new and challenging ideas from regional, national and…

Arts & Culture
11
Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council

The mission of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council is to drive evidence-based improvement in patient care and health equity throughout the region.

—
12
Dallas International University

As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Dallas Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyEnvironmental Conservation …Youth Development ServicesYouth Sports ProgramsAffordable Housing Developm…Immigrant Worker SupportPolicy Research and AdvocacyOrchestra and Ensemble Perf…Independent K-12 SchoolsCommunity Arts CentersHealth Access Advocacy and …Community FoundationsSenior Support ServicesCommunity Foundations
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 25 years old; the field is 12. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number26%5%<5yr16%12%5–10yr20%24%10–20yr16%28%20–35yr10%17%35–55yr13%14%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value26%1%<5yr16%7%5–10yr20%43%10–20yr16%31%20–35yr10%7%35–55yr13%12%55yr+

The field is 26% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 15% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/64
the rest of the field
15%
20,233/136,740

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

61 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 61 of the 95 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
61/61
Grantees still filing
39/61
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CHILD POVERTY ACTION LAB — $825,000 · OtherCHILD POVERTY ACTION LABST PHILLIPS SCHOOL & COMMUNITY — $396,142 · OtherST PHILLIPS SCHOOL & COMMUNITYTHE COMMIT PARTNERSHIP — $350,000 · OtherTHE COMMIT PARTNERSHIPTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS - TX CHALLENGE MATCH — $250,000 · OtherTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS - TX CHALLENGE MATCHABIDE WOMEN'S HEALTH — $240,000 · OtherABIDE WOMEN'S HEALTHTEXAS TREES FOUNDATION — $213,285 · OtherMILL CITY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION — $208,976 · OtherFIDELITY CHARITABLE GIVING — $175,000 · OtherBUILDERS OF HOPE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $150,000 · OtherICAA — $139,790 · OtherCombined Arms — $155,000 · Other+45 more — $990,312 · Other+45 moreYEAR UP INC — $1,200,000 · EducationYEAR UP INCUCLA FOUNDATION — $326,700 · EducationUCLA FOUNDATIONTHE INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE AND ART INC — $86,315 · EducationCORNERSTONE CROSSROADS ACADEMY — $65,000 · Education+7 more — $202,360 · Education+7 moreAIR FORCE ACADEMY FOUNDATION — $1,050,000 · PhilanthropyAIR FORCE ACADEMY…UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN DALLAS INC — $200,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF MET…COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC — $125,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITIES FOUND…THE CRYSTAL CHARITY BALL — $50,000 · Philanthropy+1 more — $6,500 · PhilanthropyJUBILEE PARK & COMMUNITY CENTER CORPORATION — $250,000 · Human ServicesJUBILEE P…EMPOWERING THE MASSES — $141,000 · Human ServicesEMPOWERIN…Southern Dallas Link Inc — $140,000 · Human ServicesSouthern …HOUSING FORWARD — $100,000 · Human ServicesHOUSING F…VIOLAS HOUSE — $70,000 · Human ServicesVIOLAS HO…ZAN WESLEY HOLMES JR COMMUNITY OUTREACH CENTER — $29,000 · Human Services+5 more — $34,800 · Human ServicesTrinity Park Conservancy — $250,000 · Community ImprovementBuilders of Hope CDC — $200,000 · Community ImprovementBRAVER TOGETHER TARRANT — $25,000 · Community ImprovementFOREST FORWARD — $20,000 · Community Improvement+2 more — $18,000 · Community ImprovementThe New Center — $375,000 · Civil Rights+1 more — $3,000 · Civil RightsHOSPICE OF EAST TEXAS FOUNDATION — $150,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF GREATER TEXAS INC — $133,000 · HealthABINGTON HEALTH FOUNDATION — $20,000 · Health+1 more — $10,000 · Health
Other$4,093,505Education$1,880,375Philanthropy$1,431,500Human Services$764,800Community Improvement$513,000Civil Rights$378,000Health$313,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetYEAR UP INC — $1,200,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetAIR FORCE ACADEMY FOUNDATION — $1,050,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetCHILD POVERTY ACTION LAB — $825,000 over 5y, 3.5% of budgetThe New Center — $375,000 over 2y, 27% of budgetUCLA FOUNDATION — $326,700 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTrinity Park Conservancy — $250,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetJUBILEE PARK & COMMUNITY CENTER CORPORATION — $250,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetTEXAS TREES FOUNDATION — $213,285 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN DALLAS INC — $200,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBuilders of Hope CDC — $200,000 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetCombined Arms — $155,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetHOSPICE OF EAST TEXAS FOUNDATION — $150,000 over 3y, 7.4% of budgetEMPOWERING THE MASSES — $141,000 over 5y, 12% of budgetSouthern Dallas Link Inc — $140,000 over 1y, 43% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF GREATER TEXAS INC — $133,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC — $125,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSING FORWARD — $100,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTHE INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE AND ART INC — $86,315 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetBUSINESS EXECUTIVES FOR NATIONAL SECURITY — $75,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetVIOLAS HOUSE — $70,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetCORNERSTONE CROSSROADS ACADEMY — $65,000 over 2y, 8.6% of budgetCARDBoard Project — $60,000 over 1y, 55% of budgetTHE CRYSTAL CHARITY BALL — $50,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE UC DAVIS FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GEORGE W BUSH FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDALLAS STARS FOUNDATION INC — $50,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetPRIMOS DALLAS — $40,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetGood Street Learning Center Inc — $35,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetZAN WESLEY HOLMES JR COMMUNITY OUTREACH CENTER — $29,000 over 1y, 8.2% of budgetPOLO TRAINING CENTER SANTA BARBARA — $26,800 over 2y, 14% of budgetHOCKADAY SCHOOL — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES — $25,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLONE STAR JUSTICE ALLIANCE — $25,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetBRAVER TOGETHER TARRANT — $25,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetRESTORATIVE FARMS — $20,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetFOREST FORWARD — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetABINGTON HEALTH FOUNDATION — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMILES OF FREEDOM — $12,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetGreen Dot Public Schools — $11,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBUSINESS AND COMMUNITY LENDERS OF TEXAS — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTEEL CITY SQUASH INC — $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE OF NORTH TEXAS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetEMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOUNDATION INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHIS BRIDGEBUILDERS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetDALLAS THEATER CENTER — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF GREATER DALLAS INC — $8,225 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFOOD BANK FOR NEW YORK CITY — $8,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
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.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Dallas FoundationCommunities Foundatio…United Way of Metropo…The Addy FoundationState Fair of TexasTexas Instruments Fou…Meadows Foundation IncHoblitzelle FoundationW P & Bulah Luse Foun…Texas Capital Foundat…The Rees-Jones Founda…Rainwater Charitable …
The Dallas FoundationTX42.9× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Dallas Foundation · Communities Foundation of Texas Inc · United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Inc · The Addy Foundation · State Fair of Texas · Texas Instruments Foundation · Meadows Foundation Inc · Hoblitzelle Foundation · W P & Bulah Luse Foundation · Texas Capital Foundation · The Rees-Jones Foundation · Rainwater Charitable Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization The Muse Family Foundation 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 or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%4%15%34%60%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Year Up Inc — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
11report 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

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 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

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Muse Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Muse 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 95 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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